The British army is taking over fire duties in Northern Ireland this morning as 2,000 firefighters begin another 24-hour strike as part of their pay dispute.
It is the third stoppage in just over two months by about 35,000 members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) across the United Kingdom.
Some 500 military personnel are to man the 32 Yellow Goddesses used in Northern Ireland during the last strike in November.
Britain's Deputy Prime Minister, Mr John Prescott, claimed there was no need for industrial action that he warned would "achieve nothing".
Mr Prescott insisted the Bain report into the fire service, which recommended an 11 per cent pay rise over two years, heavily linked to modernisation, gave the framework for a deal.
But the FBU has complained the report's conditions include a 2 per cent cut in jobs every year for the next four years, changes to the pension scheme and fewer firefighters on duty at night.
Mr Jim Barbour, local FBU representative, said the union did not want to take strike action again but had no alternative.
"The last thing we want to do here in Northern Ireland is take any more strike action, we have done everything we humanly can to avoid that.
"We have had talks with ACAS, it is the Government and the national employers who say they won't abide by arbitration, we have indicated clearly we will do that," he said.
We don't want to be going on strike, we want a proper fair negotiated settlement to this dispute and to do that the employers must be allowed to negotiate in a free and fair way. The government must, quite simply, take the shackles off."