Here, Gillian Fox from Blackburn explains why her husband deserves more money:

I am the wife of a firefighter. We have been married for 18 years, my husband has been a fireman for 23 years.

We have struggled financially all our married life

I wish the media would stop harping on about 40 per cent.

The firefighters are asking for �30,000 a year, a figure that was arived at after they had their job assessed by an independent body, arranged by the unions.

They looked at what the firefighters do and their level of professionalism and valued them at �30,000.

It is only because they have been so poorly paid in the past that this figure is 40 per cent behind what they currently earn.

We have struggled financially all our married life. My husband goes to work on a bicycle because we cannot afford a car for him.

Enough is enough

Why don't you work out what percentage the �22,000 a year salary rise for Chief Fire Officers amounts to? Why should they get this amount but not the firefighters?

It is with great regret that my husband and his colleagues have arrived at the point of striking and it weighs very heavily on their minds. But the time has come to say enough is enough.

The government can find the money. They say it would cost the taxpayer. This is a ploy to turn public sympathy against the firefighters, but the public at large are no fools.

Mrs Gillian Fox, Blackburn