MOBILE phones have been handed out at Swindon Fire Station in case power cuts sever the link to retained crews needed for emergencies.

In the last month, the Drove Road station has suffered a mains power failure, and the generator which provides backup power to the building has also failed.

A report to go before Wiltshire and Swindon Fire Authority on Thursday states that the alerting system for firefighters at the site relies on the electricity supply.

If the breakdown of the generator had gone undetected it would have resulted in "an inability to contact and mobilise crew during an emergency".

The brigade is now replacing the generator, at a cost of £26,000, and as a contingency measure the station's personnel have been provided with mobile phones until the backup system is installed and tested.

A spokesman for the brigade was today unavailable for comment.

But leading firefighter Joe Tray, Wiltshire Fire Brigades Union representative, said: "The sad fact is it took a power cut to highlight the problem when it should have been robust maintenance."

He said that during power cuts, full-time crews usually rely on radio contact to respond to any emergency calls.

But as retained crews are alerted to shouts from an automatic system which contacts their pagers, it is thought these firefighters would need to carry mobiles in case of power failure so they can be contacted manually.

The brigade's call handling system came under the spotlight last week.

Fire Brigades' Union leader, Andy Gilchrist, raised concerns about the new joint emergency services control room in Devizes when he visited Swindon to rally support for more fire strikes.

Police and ambulance services accept the scheme, but from stage one of the planning process the firefighters have consistently opposed it on the grounds that it will slow down the response to emergency calls.

They are asking for guarantees that the project will not lead to job cuts, and are considering strike action.

Swindon firefighters look set to join another proposed national 24-hour strike on Thursday. It will be the sixth of the dispute, which began in November.