Latest fire strike will not be the last

It comes after two nights of strike action across the Fylde Coast, which passed without major incidents on Friday and Saturday.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) representative for Blackpool, Chris Molloy, said: “This dispute will continue and I have no doubt that there will be more strike dates put forward in the future.

“We have had a ballot recently where 87 per cent of voters were in favour of taking action short of strike in addition to the strike.”

Firefighters who are members of the FBU went on strike between 6pm and 10pm.

Mr Molloy said: “All we want is a fair negotiation over our pensions, which as proposed bears no relation to the physical demands of the job.

“A lot of the fire service runs on good will, but at the moment there is no good will from firefighters.

“This additional action, which is yet to be announced, could see us taking a lot of things away like overtime and acting up to promotions.”

FBU members have now taken strike action six times in recent months.

A spokesman for Lancashire Fire and Rescue said the majority of its fire engines remained operational for the duration of the weekend’s strike.

On Friday contingency crews attended a rubbish fire in Blackpool, a smoke alarm sounding in South Shore and a fire which was started deliberately in a wooden shelter in a St Annes park. On Saturday they were called to remove a sign which had been dislodged by the wind on Church Road, Lytham.

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A man died in a blaze in north London during the firefighters strike.
Fire crews were called to a ground-floor flat in Oakfield Road, Harringay, just before 10pm on Saturday.
About a dozen firefighters tackled the blaze for more than an hour before they went in and found the man’s body.
In Lancashire, contingency crews dealt with nine incidents on Friday during the strike and six on Saturday.

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