Firefighters would be hard pressed to rescue people trapped by flooding because they are only equipped to work in water to shin depth, union leaders claim.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said the inability to cope with severe floods was part of a wider shortage of adequate rescue services in Brighton and Hove and the rest of East Sussex.

Union leaders said too much money was being diverted to administration and the recent name change to East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service had given the wrong impression.

But the service's bosses said they were confused by the FBU's comments, defending a name change they said more accurately reflected the wide range of work carried out by their firefighters.

Jim Parrott, secretary of the FBU's East Sussex branch, said: "East Sussex Fire Brigade's principal managers have been economical with the truth about the rescue capability.

"We believe the name change may lead the public into a false sense of security."

He said fire chiefs agreed a three-stage series of improvements after the severe flooding of 2000 but only the first, to rescue people in low levels of flood water, had been achieved.

He said fire crews were concerned about heavy rescue, which would deal with incidents such as a train crash and trench rescues.

But he said the ability to cope with terrorist attacks using bacteriological, chemical or radioactive weapons was improving because of increased Government spending.

East Sussex Fire Authority has been a stand-alone organisation since Brighton and Hove split from East Sussex and became a unitary council.

In West Sussex, by contrast, the authority is part of the county council and can rely on the parent body for some administrative and logistic support.

Des Prichard, chief fire officer and chief executive of the East Sussex service, said: "I'm slightly confused by these comments because they know their members and our staff are frequently dealing with road traffic accidents, maritime incidents, flooding, people stuck or trapped in lifts, animal rescues, chemical spillages - incidents that are not fires.

"The new name better communicates to the public what their fire service actually does."

He cited incidents including the rescue of workmen trapped after a major trench collapse and the rescue of a father and son from mudflats, adding: "We have specialist trained teams throughout the county.

"If we have an incident anywhere in the county we would mobilise one of our specialist teams.

"I'm very happy for the public to look at what we do and take their own view."