ONE feature is instantly obvious on a walkabout of Bolton's Territorial Army centre. It was not built to be a fire station writes Ruth Jolley

But, as long as the firefighters' dispute continues, the Nelson Street barracks, on the outskirts of Bolton town centre, will be "home" for soldiers and Royal Navy personnel who are providing life-saving round-the-clock fire coverage for the town.

Sixty soldiers from the Queen's Royal Hussars Regiment are currently living at the TA centre.

And the facilities -- although many of the troops have seen far worse -- can hardly be described as luxurious.

The main bedroom for example is actually the centre's band practice room.

When soldiers finish their 12 hour shifts they catch up on sleep in the room where 25 beds have been hastily set up. The room's size means the beds have been put up within close proximity to each other.

Because of the scarce sleeping facilities, soldiers must "hot bed" -- which means as one shift goes off they climb into beds that have been vacated by the on-duty crew.

The drill room has become an eating area and beds have been set up for the on-duty crew -- who must be ready at all times for immediate action. Two army cooks -- one of them an award winning armed forces chef -- must use a small kitchen to serve up four meals a day.

There are little recreational facilities for the soldiers to use, apart from a television and a pool table.

The barracks also has no gym facilities and the soldiers cannot practise operating the Green Goddesses in their spare time as they would have to unpack the vehicles to utilise them -- which would slow down response times.

An operations room has been set up where calls are sent through to the soldiers from the control centre which receives 999 calls. A number of phone lines have been set up in the room with mobile phones as back up as well as a fax machine.

But army chief Major Marcus Simson said that Bolton was much better than some other TA bases.

He added: "Both Bolton and Wigan have modern TA centres. Bolton does provide us with basic facilities but it is perfectly adequate."

The Queen's Royal Hussars Regiment soldiers are recruited from Birmingham, the West Midlands and Northern Ireland and are based in Paderborn -- coincidentally Bolton's twin town -- in Germany.

About 300 soldiers from Germany have been stationed in the North-west to provide temporary fire cover. The regiment is used to working as crews on large vehicles. Normally they operate tanks and the regiment has served in the Gulf War, Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Kosovo.

Major Simson, who is in charge of fire cover in both Bolton and Wigan, explained the soldiers would cover fire calls in Bolton by drawing upon their army experiences and training and the specific fire training they have been undergoing since September.

There are three Green Goddesses at the TA centre. A crew of six man each vehicle including a commander, who is responsible for planning how to tackle incidents, a driver and four other members of the crew who will operate pumps and hoses. Major Simson said that despite their age, the vehicles could pour high pressure water onto fire and were "hugely effective in delivering water to fires." The Green Goddesses are being supported by a Royal Navy breathing apparatus and rescue team.