Cleveland Fire Brigade dealt with 35 incidents during the latest strike by firefighters.
Fire crews from across Teesside walked out of the stations from 7am yesterday, joining thousands of officers across the country on picket lines.
The crews returned to work at 7am today.
Incidents included a house fire, a car fire, rubbish and grass fires, automatic fire alarms, false alarms.
Cleveland Fire Brigade’s chief fire officer Ian Hayton praised the work of the professional and auxiliary fire fighters and said the service had been able to cope with callouts.
Speaking about the 24-hour strike, Mr Hayton said: “The arrangements we had in place to respond to emergencies worked extremely well as we attended a range of incidents.
“Whilst our contingency arrangements never fully replace the 21 fire engines and professional firefighters normally available to the Brigade, the people of Cleveland and those visiting the area can be assured that we have, and will continue to provide an effective emergency response service at all times.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has accused ministers of offering an “unworkable” guarantee to protect firefighters aged over 55 who fail fitness tests “through no fault of their own”.
The walkout was part FBU’s national dispute over pensions with central Government.
The FBU has accused fire minister Penny Mordaunt of misleading Parliament after she told MPs that if a firefighter loses fitness through no fault of their own they should getanother role or a full, unreduced pension.
The union said fire authorities across the country had failed to backup the minister’s “guarantee”.
Davy Howe, Cleveland Fire Brigade Union’s secretary, said: “It is clear that when Penny Mordaunt gave the guarantee in Parliament
she would have been aware that no fire authority ever planned to implement the ‘guarantee’.”
He said Ms Mordaunt had “misled” fire service staff and Parliament, and firefighters were “unbelievably angry with the disgraceful actions of this government”.
Mr Hayton added: “I’m sure that we all want to see our firefighters back working normally delivering the best possible prevention, protection and emergency response services we can to our local community. Therefore we continue to urge both parties to come back together to resolve this dispute.
“I would like to take the opportunity to personally thank those who have volunteered their services to provide contingency cover during this latest strike. Their efforts, commitment and professionalism in difficult circumstances has been excellent throughout once again.”
For more safety advice for your home, business or when you are out and about on the roads, visit http://ift.tt/1qemvw9 . You can also follow us on Twitter (@clevelandfb) or Facebook (/clevelandfb) for information about the industrial action and much more.
If you do not have access to the internet and need some fire safety advice, call: 01429 872311 during the industrial action.
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