MOBILE phones might be a benefit to most people but they are proving to be a tough challenge for the fire service.

In a recent large fire the brigade took 120 calls in the first hour, many of which were from mobile phones.

Steve McGuirk, Cheshire's Fire Chief, said: "Whilst we need to know where an emergency exists in order to get there as quickly as possible, we have little or no control over numerous people at varying locations who can see an incident. There is no obvious way of each individual knowing if someone else has placed a call or not.

"It is up to us to find solutions to this problem utilising technology and working with the service providers."

The fire brigade is also working with mobile phone providers to get users disconnected after making hoax calls.

Increasing calls are also coming from mobiles in cars, particularly on the motorways, where the caller is unaware of their location.

Mr McQuirk said: "This may be as vague as "there is a lorry on fire on the M6 northbound."

He advises people to be sure of their location before dialling 999 and callers should realise that using a hand-held phone while driving is an offence.

Drivers should pull onto the hard shoulder, switch on hazard lights and telephone 999, possibly from an orange phone box.