Fire union to meet employers

Striking firefighters at Lambeth in London keep warm

Firefighters' union representatives and their employers are due to meet for talks, according to the conciliatory service ACAS.

A meeting is due to be held on Thursday - a day after the first 24-hour stoppage this year ended.

Earlier Fire Brigades Union (FBU) leader Andy Gilchrist told the BBC there was "every chance" that two further strikes - scheduled for 28 January and 1 February - may be suspended.

He said he had written to ACAS, suggesting both sides should be invited back into talks on Wednesday or Thursday.

Union leader Gilchrist says talks will resume

But he warned the employers talks would only resume if there were no pre-conditions attached.

However, John Ransford, of the Local Government Association, said the pre-conditions would remain in place.

"We're asking them to accept the service has got to change fundamentally," he told the BBC.

"The way in which it does that, and the service conditions and rewards as a result of that, are a matter of negotiation."

Who has backed down over the pre-conditions for talks is still unclear.

Four deaths

The latest strike - which ended at 0900 GMT on Wednesday - lasted for 24 hours.

Some 19,000 military personnel were on standby to cover the gap with their ancient Green Goddess engines.

They also had the use of 177 red appliances - 90 more than during the last walkout.

STRIKE SCHEDULE

28 January: 48 hours

1 February: 48 hours

Despite their best efforts, four people died in fires during the strike.

Green Goddesses were called to a ground floor flat in Birmingham at 0738 GMT where the body of a man in his 30s was found.

The fire was out before the troops arrived.

Earlier on Wednesday a person died in a "suspicious" car fire tackled by two Green Goddess crews in Penzance, Cornwall.

After the fire was extinguished, it was discovered that someone had died but police were unable to give further details. House rescue

On Tuesday 63-year-old Edmund Heenan was found dead after a fire at his home in the Springburn area of Glasgow.

Strathclyde Police later said the apparent cause of fire was from an unattended cooking pan.

A second, unidentified person died in a car fire in west Lothian in Scotland.

Our members don't want to be on strike - it is always a last resort

FBU spokesman

Shortly before the strike ended, army firefighters rescued a woman and child trapped in a house in Swindon after a car ploughed into it, destroying a staircase.

A Wiltshire Police spokeswoman said the woman and her 10-year-old son were trapped upstairs after the Renault Espace crashed through into the front of the living area.

Police arrested a 32-year-old man who was later being treated at hospital for what are thought to be serious injuries.

An FBU official said all its members remained "absolutely determined" to get professional pay for the service they provide.

"We are hopeful that talks can be held this week, but they will only happen if the employers drop pre-conditions," he said.

Firefighter's funeral

Local authority employers have stood firm on a 4% pay offer, rising to 11% over two years, based on a review of the fire service by Sir George Bain.

They and the government say anything more must be funded by modernisation moves - which the FBU has been opposing as meaning job cuts and a reduced service.

The funeral of a Sussex fireman who died trying to rescue his family from their burning home is being held on Wednesday.

Twenty five-year-old Alex Kent from Fermor Way in Crowborough, saved his parents, but died after returning for his brother Philip, 23, who was trapped inside the family home on 8 January.

Firefighters from Mr Kent's own station managed to pull the two brothers from the burning building, but they later died in hospital.