Royal Navy firefighters were on emergency duty once more as the first of a series of three planned national firefighters’ strikes started this morning at 9am.

This first strike is scheduled to last for 24 hours; the next two, starting on January 28 and February 1, are 48-hour stoppages.

The dispute, over pay and conditions - including the linking of pay awards to modernisation – saw members of the three armed Forces taking Green Goddesses out to deal with emergencies in the latter part of last year.

Fire Brigade unions have rejected the local authority employers’ offer of a four per cent rise, climbing to 11 per cent in two years – with conditions attached.

But there are increasing numbers of more modern red fire engines – inevitable dubbed Red Goddesses – have been brought into action with the Service teams, and there are now a total of 177 Red Goddesses at their disposal alongside the 671 veteran Green Goddesses, built in the 1950s.

The Royal Navy is the lead service in ten regions:
Central Scotland (10 appliances, including 3 Red Goddesses, and 197 personnel in total)
Fife (9 appliances, including 3 Red Goddesses, and 201 personnel)
West Sussex (8 appliances, including 3 Red Goddesses, 177 personnel)
East Sussex (8 appliances, including 4 Red Goddesses, 177 personnel)
Hampshire (20 appliances, including 2 Red Goddesses, 399 personnel)
Isle of Wight (2 appliances, including 1 Red Goddess, 58 personnel)
Avon (12 appliances, including 1 Red Goddess, 272 personnel)
Somerset (5 appliances, including 1 Red Goddess, 141 personnel)
Devon (12 appliances, including 5 Red Goddess, 274 personnel)
Cornwall (6 appliances, 179 personnel).