North Wales Police have warned hoax callers they could face prosecution after 14 bogus calls were made during the 48-hour fire strike.

Deputy Chief Constable Bill Brereton warned that malicious callers would be "robustly" dealt with.

Bill Brereton: Bogus calls "will not be tolerated"

"People who make these calls is the kind of stupid behaviour which will not be tolerated," he said.

All areas of the UK reported an unusually large number of false calls within the first few hours of the industrial action.

From emergency phone calls made to the north Wales control centre, 23 incidents required the assistance of Green Goddesses.

The 48-hour strike began when firefighters, demanding a 40% pay rise, walked out at 1800 GMT on Wednesday.

The Fire Brigades Union has already rejected as "derisory" an offer of 11% over two years combined with modernisation, but insists it wants a settlement.

Strike dates

13-15 November Starts and ends at 1800 GMT 22-30 November Starts/ ends 0900 4-12 December Starts/ ends 0900 16-24 December Starts/ ends 0900

Bogus callers caused a number of problems in north Wales - one man made a false emergency call from a mobile telephone at 1735 GMT - 25 minutes before the national walkout began.

The mobile was traced and disconnected to prevent the user from calling again.

During Wednesday evening one person phoned and said coaches were on fire at Llandudno Junction.

A local police officer investigated and the call was declared a hoax.

A number of the false emergency calls were also made from public telephone boxes from as far afield as Wrexham to Anglesey.

The Green Goddesses have been called out

Alyn and Deeside MP Mark Tami said the hoax callers were putting lives at risk.

"Making hoax calls at any time is dangerous and irresponsible but to do so at this time is abhorrent," he said.

In north Wales 13 of the 44 fire stations in the region were staffed by retained firefighters and operated as normal.

However, there were seven Green Goddesses covering a region which usually has 73 fire appliances.

North Wales Fire Service employs 288 full-time firefighters and 578 retained firefighters.

A control room had been set up at North Wales Police headquarters in Colwyn Bay to deal with emergency calls.

An army spokesman said Green Goddesses had been sent to two fires in Denbighshire during the first night of strike action.

First casualties

A military crew based at Kinmel Bay was called to a fire in a market stall in Prestatyn and an abandoned car fire in Rhuddlan.

There were no injuries.

Wales' three fire services have each issued a telephone number people can ring for more information on how to protect themselves:

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.