Firefighters have said they would not stop troops using modern fire engines in any future walkout, as the strike continued for a second full day.

The government has warned it would order troops to cross the picket lines if "public safety" required it.

It said troops would complete training on 15 modern fire engines by the time a threatened eight-day strike is due to start next week.

Firefighters said they would not hinder troops crossing picket lines.

However, one fire authority chairman has turned down a request by the military for fire appliances and equipment.

Terry Walker of Avon Fire Authority said: "It takes 16 weeks to train a firefighter and we do not know how long they are going to train the soldiers to do that job.

"It might well be that they're a danger to themselves as well as to the people they are trying to save."

Firefighters have made an attendance at life threatening incidents and that will continue

FBU leader Andy Gilchrist

The government has refused to rule out any action if the next planned strike - for eight days from next Friday - went ahead.

This could include asking the courts for a ban on strike action.

However, the chairman of the Commons trade and industry committee, Labour MP Martin O'Neill, warned that any attempt to obtain a legal injunction would only make matters worse.

The prime minister's spokesman admitted there were "issues" about how many troops would be able to operate the modern equipment.

Since the strike began military Green Goddess crews have attended more than 1,200 incidents across the country.

Overnight a house fire in Wiltshire killed a mother and three children, even though firefighters broke their strike to attend.

That has brought the total deaths in fires to seven since the action began on Wednesday evening.

The FBU says none of the deaths could be blamed on the industrial action as firefighters had broken picket lines and would continue to do so.

Sticking point

The two sides remain bitterly opposed in the dispute, although both said they were keen to restart negotiations.

Mr Blair's spokesman said the ball was now in the FBU's court, but the government was encouraged by Mr Gilchrist's comments that he had his own ideas for modernisation.

John Monks of the Trades Union Congress warned that sending troops across picket lines would be seen as a sign from the government that it was going to "war" with the firefighters.

Future planned strikes

22-30 November Starts/ ends 0900 4-12 December Starts/ ends 0900 16-24 December Starts/ ends 0900

And one army leader said he was not prepared to put his men into any confrontational picket-crossing situation.

"If anyone is going to give me better kit than I have got at the moment, through the normal democratic process, then I will have it," said Brigadier Robert Aitken, in charge of the army in Wales during the dispute.

"But I'm not going to cross picket lines."

Firefighters remain adamant that they want a 40% pay rise, while the local authority employers say 11% over two years is still the only deal on the table.

The current strike is not due to finish until 1800 GMT on Friday.

Elsewhere around the country:
• There were fewer hoax calls in most areas on the second night of the strike, although Belfast suffered from 50% malicious calls.

• Tube disruption continued on Friday, with drivers refusing to work normally because of safety concerns linked to the strike - despite some stations and lines already being closed.

• Tube workers are to be balloted on strikes in relation to the firefighters dispute, the RMT rail union said.

• Firefighters in Ayr left a picket line to tackle a house blaze in their own cars because fire engines were locked.

• Engineers in Manchester are deciding whether to demolish a fireworks warehouse destroyed by Thursday's fire which sparked a spectacular pyrotechnics display.