Britain's first national firefighters' strike for 25 years is due to start this evening and will last for 48 hours.
Ill-equipped military personnel are on stand-by to answer fire alarms. Some 52,000 firefighters want an immediate 40 per cent pay rise, after their union leaders rejected a government pay review's suggestion of an 11 per cent increase over two years.
The strike was not expected to affect Britain's airports or Eurostar trains through the Channel tunnel. But 19 stations on the London Underground were to be shut down for safety reasons.
"We have no alternative other than to reject the insulting offer which has been made to some the finest public servants in the world," Fire Brigades Union (FBU) leader Mr Andy Gilchrist said after pay talks collapsed yesterday.
The 48-hour walkout was to start at 6 p.m. with further action on November 22nd, December 4th and December 16th.
Standing by to answer the most serious emergency calls were 10,000 military personnel manning 827 antiquated fire trucks - nicknamed "green goddesses" - that lack the sophisticated gear on conventional fire engines.
They saw action during the last national firefighters' strike, which lasted nine weeks in the winter of 1977-78.
AFP