Firefighters who broke their strike to help rescue an elderly woman from her blazing mid Wales home have called off their picket - but not their strike - as a mark of respect following her death.

Full-time officers who were picketing at Newtown, Powys, arrived just minutes behind an RAF Green Goddess crew on Wednesday.

Firefighters are in a very difficult moral position here

Dick Pearson, Fire Brigades Union

The 10 strike-breakers helped pull 76-year-old Violet Davies from her smoke-filled bedroom and out of the house and was treated by paramedics at the scene but later died in hospital.

Meanwhile, police have threatened tough action against people making hoax calls to the stand-in fire service after a number of malicious false alarms were received.

Mrs Davies was one of three people to die in the UK as the 48-hour dispute - the first strike for 25 years - began on Wednesday.

The RAF Green Goddess team was sent to the woman's home barely an hour after the strike began at 1800 GMT.

The military crew arrived in just nine minutes, with the professional firefighters behind them.

No. of callouts

North Wales 30 Mid Wales 28 South Wales 14

It was the most serious incident of the first night of the stoppage which saw the military fire teams called out more than two dozen times.

In North Wales, Green Goddess crews directed from an emergency command centre in Colwyn Bay attended nine incidents.

RAF Green Goddess crews in mid Wales were called out 28 times overnight and on 14 occasions in south Wales.

But the stand-in fire service has also been plagued by hoax calls - one in north Wales, received 25 minutes before the fire strike started, has led to one man having his mobile phone disconnected.

Violet Davies: Smoke-filled bedroom

Hoax fire callers were expected to be fast-tracked through the courts as bogus call-outs stretched the reduced fire cover to the limit.

Bill Brereton, Deputy Chief Constable of North Wales Police, said: "We will deal with that very robustly. We will get their service provider to cease their service on that telephone and we will prosecute them.

"We will get them taken to court and we will make sure there is as much publicity as we can get because clearly we can do without that."

The ageing Green Goddesses - last seen on the streets 25 years ago - have been operating out of 37 fire stations.

They are directed by special command centres in the north, south, and west staffed by military personnel and senior fire officers.

All the vehicles are accompanied by a police patrol car.

'Moral position'

Dick Pearson, Wales Regional Officer of the Fire Brigades Union, said it appeared the woman's death would not have been avoided even if a regular fire crew had been the first on the scene.

He said: "The striking firefighters did receive the message, they investigated, and they turned out to the incident.

"Firefighters are in a very difficult moral position here and in this case the serving firefighters at Newtown actually turned out to attempt to assist their community."

Mid and West Wales 24-hour helpline - 01267 223044/229286.

South Wales Fire Service home safety helpline - 0800 328 1830.

North Wales Community Fire Safety Team - 01745 343431.