STRIKING firemen gathered outside their stations in Gwent last night to begin a national 48-hour strike over pay.
The military's Green Goddess fire trucks were on standby as most of Gwent's 22 fire stations closed at 6pm, with fire-fighters joining picket lines to protest at an 11 per cent pay offer. They have asked for forty per cent.
Firefighters in Gwent were working right up to the deadline, with crews called to deal with a three-car crash on the Risca bypass yesterday evening.
A woman was cut free from the wreckage of her car after the 4.45pm crash and firefighters returned to their stations minutes before the strike began.
In the first 12 hours the South Wales police HQ at Bridgend received 84 calls across South Wales, most of which were faulty alarms, but a Green Goddess crew dealt with a car fire in Rogerstone last night. There were also several suspected hoax calls.
Across Britain, three people died in house fires last night. A 76-year-old woman died after a fire broke out at her home in Newtown, Powys, just an hour after the strike began. Green Goddess firefighters were joined by two crews from the Newtown station, who broke their strike to attend.
In Burnley an elderly man died following a house fire after the strike began, a hospital spokeswoman confirmed today. And an elderly man died after a fire in a flat in Halesowen, West Midlands, at 1.06am today.
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