Fire chief Tom Carroll has assured the public that the brigade's 999 system can cope with the Millennium bug.

But at a meeting of Oxfordshire County Council's public protection committee, Mr Carroll warned that trouble could come from companies whose fire alarms could not cope with the change.

And he said it would be difficult to predict exactly what might happen on the night.

Committee chairman Tony Stockford said: "The chief assured us that the main thing was the command and control system. He said that has been tested and that it is Year 2000 compliant.

"The problem is going to be with all the fire alarms and if the service will cope if they all go down.

"There is no way of knowing if it's false or a real fire. Nobody knows what's going to happen."

Mr Stockford said the fire service had been given authority to make preparations for potential failures that might occur, affecting things such as alarms and lifts.

"Our big problem is other people," he said. "At midnight on December 31, 1999, every fire alarm might go off at the same time." All leave has been cancelled for staff so that firefighters are available to cope with such problems.

Mr Carroll said in his report that there was a misconception that there was adequate time to upgrade or replace systems which did not work as there were only 325 working days left.

Councillors approved an extra £76,000 for extra staffing costs and replacement computer equipment.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.