The series of strikes will start on 29 October after almost 90% of Northern Ireland's firefighters voted in favour of action.

They are calling for a pay rise of 40% to increase their salaries to �30,000.

Friday's result of the national ballot showed overwhelming support for strike action which would be their first in 25 years.

National employers

Jim Barbour of the Northern Ireland Fire Brigades' union said: "Clearly we are pleased with the massive yes vote that we have.

"This amounts to some 96.6% in Northern Ireland. We also want to avoid strike action if that is possible.

"Perhaps the figures that have emerged today will refocus the attention of senior government ministers and indeed our national employers.

"What we want is a negotiated settlement and a fair deal for our firefighters right across Northern Ireland and the UK."

He said the Green Goddesses which were on stanby "are antiquated and were out-of-date during the last strike in the 1970s".

Before the result was announced, Jim Quinn of the Fire Brigade's Union said his members did not want to strike - but had no alternative.

No firefighter joins the job to go on strike, we join to save lives and save property

Jim Quinn Fire Brigade's Union

"All we are asking for is to be paid a professional wage for the professional job we do, in line with such other workers as police, midwives, engineers etc," he said.

"Their average pay is in or around �30,000 so we think our claim is quite reasonable.

"No firefighter joins the job to go on strike, we join to save lives and save property.

"That is what we intend to do and to that end we ask the government and the employers to get back around the table and talk to us."

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Services, which is responsibile for the Fire Service, said: "Contingency plans have been made."

Tax rises

The police and army have been asked to fill the void and it is understood there are about 35 of the so-called Green Goddesses, the Army's fire engines, on stand-by in England.

They will be shipped over to the province next week if needed.

The firefighters demands will open the floodgates and lead to big tax rises, say their employers.

More than 50,000 firefighters throughout the UK were asked to vote on whether to stage their first national strike for 25 years.

Employers have offered 4% as an interim deal, plus whatever an independent government review recommends should be linked to new ways of working.

'Sensible conclusion'

John Ransford of the LGA said agreeing to a 40% pay rise would seriously damage the country.

"If all public service workers got the rise fire workers are looking for that would mean a dramatic increase in income tax something like 4p on the basic rate," he told the BBC.

The government launched a review into the pay and conditions of firefighters in an attempt to stop industrial action.

Nick Raynsford, the government minister responsible for the fire service, called for a "sensible conclusion".

He warned that industrial action could put lives at risk.

Industrial action is being opposed by the Retained Firefighters Union (RFU), which represents thousands of part-time professional fire-fighters.

Retained firefighters serve more rural areas which do not have their own full-time manned station.