FIRE controllers could be moving out of the centre they share with police and ambulance colleagues in Devizes to form a regional set-up.

Emergency controllers could form part of a regional emergency call centre made up of fire service representatives from seven authorities across the south west.

If the plan gets the go-ahead Wiltshire would join forces with Gloucestershire, Avon, Dorset, Somerset, Devon and Cornwall in a strategic control centre, which has yet to be built.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott has suggested the idea as the Government tries to put in place robust plans to combat any possible terrorist threat in the wake of the September 11 atrocity and last week's Madrid train attacks.

Metropolitan Police chief Sir John Stevens says it is a matter of when, not if, a terrorist attack happens in the UK.

Now Mr Prescott feels fire services would be better equipped to co-ordinate and respond to widespread emergencies if they were housed under one roof.

But Phil Appleby, Wiltshire's deputy chief fire officer, insists that the system serving the people of Wiltshire at present is working very well.

He said: "This has come about because of the terrorism threat and the ability to be able to pool resources for large-scale incidents in the region.

"It should be up and running within the next few years.

"We understand things have changed since September 11, but still feel the control centre we have in Devizes is the best for the people of Wiltshire.

"There is nothing wrong with what we have got already and it works really well. Our control room is one of a kind and is absolutely superb.

"If we were to go to a regional control centre I just don't think people would get a better service than they have already."

A South West Regional Management Board has been set up to discuss the issue in detail.

Wiltshire is one of three counties in the country to share a tri-control centre.

Gloucestershire and Cleveland also have similar set-ups to the one in Devizes, which opened in July last year at a cost of £7 million.

Controllers from each of the emergency services man phones in the building, which is housed on the site of Wiltshire police headquarters, in London Road.

Last year Fire Brigades Union boss Andy Gilchrist urged Swindon firefighters to strike if the pioneering control room did not meet their demands. They have not.

Sue Smith, the clerk designate to the South West Regional Management Board, said: "There are a number of regional management boards around the country and each will have a regional control centre."

Giles Sheldrick