Bob Crow, leader of the railway workers' union, the RMT, said staff would not agree to work as their safety and that of passengers could not be guaranteed.
He said that Green Goddesses, the 50-year-old Army fire engines which will take to the streets from 29 October for the first of 36 days of national action, were inadequate to deal with large-scale incidents such as rail accidents.
The shutdown of the rail network would signal a large-scale escalation of the dispute and was greeted with alarm by Government Ministers. 'This appears to be going from bad to worse,' said one Whitehall source. 'People need to stop and take stock of what they are risking.'
In an interview with The Observer , Crow said that the 'entire network' was at risk and not just the London Underground, which has already agreed to close 19 of its deepest stations because of lack of fire cover.
'Around the network, if an accident takes place like Ladbroke Grove, there is no cutting equipment or breathing apparatus in Green Goddesses,' said Crow. 'They [the soldiers] have not got the experience of getting people out of tunnels and trains. It is an absolutely scandalous situation to put the travelling public in.
'All the safety representatives we have spoken to say it is unsafe. If it is unsafe on the Underground, the other train-operating companies should shut the system down. If they are not prepared to do that, if any of our members have safety concerns we will ballot for industrial action.'
The Government admitted yesterday that 'lives would be put at risk' by the dispute, which will see firefighters out on strike every few days until Christmas. Asked if people could die because of the strike, Nick Raynsford, the Minister with responsibility for the fire service, said: 'Yes. I think there is a very, very real risk.'
Tomorrow the Government will activate its Cobra emergency-response unit in a bunker under the Cabinet Office in Whitehall. Ministers, Army personnel and officials will discuss the best way to prepare the country.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has refused to talk to an official review - due to report in mid-December - about its 40 per cent pay claim, as it says the process is under Government control.
The first splits in fire service support for the strike appeared yesterday when the Retained Fire-fighters Union, representing 4,000 part-timers, said that it disagreed with the industrial action.
