Green Goddesses were forced to abandon Castle Point, Southend, during the first night of the fire strike to answer emergency calls as far away as Orsett and Chelmsford.
Troops had to trek to Chelmsford to deal with two burning abandoned cars, to Grays where there was a minor fuel spillage and Bulphan to put out a small rubbish fire.
The incident in Orsett - which is about 18 miles away from the temporary Army Green Goddess base at the TA Centre, in East Street, Southend - turned out to be a false alarm.
A spokesman for the MoD said there had been no call-outs in Castle Point during the first night of the strikes.
There were concerns, particularly on Canvey, about the speed in which the ageing Green Goddesses could get to an emergency as the nearest crews are based in Laindon and Southend.
Two ageing Green Goddesses are based in Southend, but the Ministry of Defence was unable to confirm whether they were both sent out of the area at the same time to handle calls elsewhere.
An MoD spokesman said there was "no time" during the night when Castle Point and Southend weren't covered.
Published Thursday November 14, 2002
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