FIREFIGHTERS in North Yorkshire fear they might not be covered by insurance if they are injured or killed in a terrorist attack.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) says typical life insurance exclusion clauses could leave firefighters unprotected if they ever have to go out to cover a terrorist incident in the county.

The union's North Yorkshire secretary, John Mitchell, says this could, for example, mean that if a firefighter was killed their partner would be left without their mortgage being paid off.

The union has written to North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service to ask if it would be prepared to underwrite insurance cover to get round the problem.

The issue is also being raised by the union at a national level with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM).

Mr Mitchell said firefighters across the county were being given training in how they should respond to a chemical, biological or radiological terrorist incident, and a specially-equipped vehicle was being taken from its base in Acomb to fire stations to be used in the training.

But there was concern that they might lose their insurance cover if they ever had to go out and deal with a real terrorist incident.

Temporary assistant divisional officer Cecil Pugh, of North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said the potential problems involved personal life and endowment policies, which often included clauses excluding death or injury caused by terrorism.

He said this was a matter of concern to police and ambulance officers as well as firefighters, but was being investigated at a national level by the ODPM. The service's own insurance cover against claims by its own employees did not have such exclusions, he added. A spokeswoman for the ODPM confirmed there some concerns about personal insurance cover, and said that the ODPM and other Government departments were in discussions with the insurance industry to establish the extent of the problems and whether there were implications for the emergency services.

Updated: 10:46 Tuesday, May 04, 2004