A BASE for specialist firefighters equipped to deal with major national emergencies and disasters is set to be built on land near junction two of the M40 at Beaconsfield.

Twenty of the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) centres are being set up in England and Wales after the Government was spurred into action by the September 11 attacks in New York in 2001.

Beaconsfield has been chosen because of its position close to the motorway network, to London and to Heathrow and Luton airports. A team could also be in Birmingham in an hour.

The centre will be manned by 30 firefighters, paid for by the Government, but employed by Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes Fire and Rescue Service.

For the past year Buckinghamshire's fire chief Damian Smith has led the national work, reviewing what was needed to effectively deal with major civil emergencies.

He told the Free Press that the biggest risk was in London, so there would be four centres in the capital itself, plus another four, including Beaconsfield, around London.

Firefighters will be equipped to respond to all types of major emergencies.

Such situations include the collapse of buildings, damage and death resulting from a terrorist attack or from a rail, or plane crash or the effects of an environmental disaster such as the flooding in Boscastle, Cornwall, last summer.

Lorries will carry specialist equipment for searching, lifting, cutting and also for shoring up buildings.

They will carry cameras, lighting and specialist small vehicles able to travel over rough ground.

Support vehicles will carry a crew of five plus personal kit including bedding and food.

The M40 site will also house a regional training centre which is set to be the new home for Beaconsfield Fire Station.

All are expected to be up and running in a year.

The Government will pay for the equipment and new posts of which 16 will be full time and the rest the equivalent of retained fire officers.

Mr Smith said that the officers would have specialist training.

"They will be able to be mobilised so that anywhere in the UK there will be specialist teams in attendance within two hours and in most cases within 30 minutes."

The fire chief pointed out that for many years fire officers had responded to calls from the UN and also from the EU for help in disasters all over the world, but never before in the UK.

"The 9/11 disaster forced the Government to consider what it could do," he said.

He also added that the urban search and rescue team would also respond to local incidents on a day-to-day basis. The exact site near the M40 roundabout has not yet been finalised, but there are four privately owned pieces of land being considered.