The total increase on the pay bill was 16%.

The deputy prime minister wanted to see what the package was to give approval to the employers' side and he failed to do that

Tony Maguire NI Fire Brigades' Union

The negotiations in London stalled with hours to go before the planned strike, after the employers made a final offer of an initial 4%, with a further 12% over the next year if the union accepted a package of modernisation.

'Green light'

Tony Maguire of the Fire Brigades Union said he was contacted by the Northern Ireland negotiators on Friday morning to say the strike was going ahead.

"At 6.30 this morning our executive had taken a decision to suspend this morning's strike," he said.

"The deputy prime minister wanted to see what the package was to give approval to the employers' side and he failed to do that.

Fire pay dispute

FBU demand: 40% Old offer: 11.3% Expected offer: 16% New offer: 4% Old wage: �21,000

"He actually scuppered the deal that had been brokered - we think it's an absolute disgrace."

The FBU's Northern Ireland leader, Jim Barbour, blamed the government for not giving the green light to a last minute deal with employers.

"We can't actually have modernisation of the kind the government and the employers want without talking about it," he said."

Left picket line

He added: "I think the difficulty is that there are elements within the government who simply wanted this strike to go ahead."

Within minutes of the strike starting, firefighters left their picket line in Londonderry to help people involved in a minor road accident outside their station.

No-one was hurt in the crash.

Des Browne, the minister with responsibility for public safety, said he regretted "a second period of potentially dangerous and damaging industrial action".

"We all have a role to play in minimising the risks during this difficult time and I call on everyone to make themselves aware of the dangers," he said.

Des Browne: "Minimising the risks"

"It is more important than ever that people take additional precautions to protect against the risk of fire, that they take extra care when driving and, perhaps most important of all, that they fit and maintain smoke alarms in their homes. It is also important that you should continue to ring 999 in an emergency requiring the Fire Service."

Peter Craig of the Northern Ireland Fire Service warned the public to be vigilant over the next eight days.

"Everybody in Northern Ireland has to take this extremely seriously," he said.

"They have to do everything they possibly can to mitigate the risk - manage out the risk of fire in their home and do everything they can to drive safely and considerately on the roads."

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland said if more demands were put on the police they would cope with them.

"We've got to bear in mind that we have a limited resource, and we have got to decide and prioritise where we need to put that resource."

During the 48-hour strike last week, there were no serious incidents in the province which 500 security force personnel using 32 Yellow Goddess tenders were not able to deal with.

There were no fire-related deaths.

Meanwhile, a fireworks display planned by Lisburn City Council has been cancelled because of concerns over safety during the firefighters' strike. The display was to be part of Friday night's switching on of the Christmas tree lights.