Strikers in the firing line?

IT WAS the anonymous Christmas presents left on the doorstep for David Grange's three children which summed it up. The 30-year-old firefighter had endured almost six bitter weeks on the picket lines with his colleagues at the North Yorkshire brigade's HQ in Crosby Road, Northallerton.

Times had been tough before the fire strike started on November 14, 1977, but without the help of the public he would not have had a fat goose for Christmas nor those carefully wrapped presents for his children, Ian, Sharon and Amanda.

The gifts were to epitomise the way the public supported the firefighters through their nine-week battle for better pay during the infamous Winter of Discontent.

David, who retired from the brigade two years ago after 30 years' service, recalls: "The public's support was amazing. We would get wagons going by dropping off cartons of food and tins, and people would pass and beep their horns in support. We couldn't have survived without that support."

At the time, firefighters worked a basic 48-hour week for which they were paid an average of £71.10, which amounted to £3,700 a year. The national average weekly earnings were £78.60

The firefighters' demand for a 30 per cent pay increase had been turned down by the Labour Government, which was battling a wave of industrial unrest and rampant inflation.

"It was a matter of money, you just couldn't afford to live," says David, a Bridlington town councillor who sits on the Humberside Fire Authority.

"We were in a subsidised fire brigade house in Northallerton which made it a little bit easier, but the guys with mortgages were really struggling. We could have claimed free school meals on what we were earning, but we didn't until the strike.

"We used to have a burner outside the fire station where we picketed and we would burn wood. There would be about half a dozen of us at a time and there was a lot of comradeship. The Richmond lot used to come down and help us picket. But after about four weeks I think people became a bit harder. There was just no talk of money on the table. Nobody seemed to listen to us. The Government was not interested, it was either take it or leave it and that was it."

As thousands of angry firemen joined the picket lines, 10,000 servicemen from the army, navy and air force stepped in as emergency fire cover. They were reinforced by part-time firemen who were not involved in the dispute.

Their equipment included the celebrated Green Goddess engines, which dated from the 1950s. The public were advised to take matters into their own hands and keep a crude form of firefighting equipment readily available - buckets of water and sand. Indeed, the number of calls for firefighters in the region was cut dramatically. The Cleveland County Brigade recorded 435 calls in the first five weeks of the strike, 30-40 per cent less than usual for that time of year.

The Fire Brigade issued an essential safety guide, advising checking for smouldering cigarettes and leaving only essential electrical appliances like fridges plugged in.

The Green Goddesses, maintained by the Forces and held in reserve for national emergencies, were immediately put to use. As the strike wore on, stories emerged of how the over-stretched, inexperienced and poorly-equipped stand-ins were struggling to stay on top of the job.

It was perhaps with this in mind that many firefighters stepped in to help when they felt people's lives were at risk. Station Officer Norman Dye, of Barnard Castle, helped rescue John Purkiss from his flat above a blazing shop on January 10, 1978. "We just had to put all thoughts of the strike out of our minds," Mr Dye said at the time.

But firefighting equipment and even the likelihood of accidents and fires has changed considerably since the strike of '77. There are more cars on the roads, faster trains and more electrical equipment in the home. The soldiers, says David Grange, could be less well equipped now to deal with a fire than they were 25 years ago.

"The soldiers did a marvellous job in 1977 but they were given instructions to just stand outside and pour the water on the burning building because they didn't have the equipment - and they still don't have it," he says.

"The Green Goddesses aren't a patch on a modern engine. The hose reel on a modern engine will put a house fire out a lot quicker because it creates a fog which comes out in smaller particles. We learned to tackle fires from the top, where the gas was, to stop it spreading and put it out, not from the bottom. Modern furniture gives off more toxic fumes and today the smoke is a bigger killer than the fire. They won't have the specialist breathing equipment to go inside a burning house and they won't have any foam or chemical protection suits either. I think the job today is certainly more technical, which is why firefighters should be paid the right price for the right job."

But it is at road accidents where the brigade comes into its own -with its specialist cutting equipment - and where the soldiers may have to resort to the old fashioned ways of crow bars and hacksaws.

David Grange says: "I think the strike is bound to have a great effect on the roads. People will have to accept they are going to be trapped for longer and probably receive more injuries through it."

In 1977, negotiations continued between the Fire Brigades Union and the Home Office, but it took until January for a settlement to be brokered. The firefighters finally agreed to settle for a ten per cent pay rise with guarantees of future increases and they went back to work on January 16.

Cleveland's firemen and women voted to go back by overwhelming majorities. Six out of seven of the county's fire stations decided to join colleagues throughout the North-East in wanting an end to the dispute. Only Redcar firemen voted to stay out, but they had to conform to the 3-1 majority across the country for an end to the strike.

David says: "When people went back after the strike there was some bitterness at first, but the fire service went forward. It had been in a timewarp since the Second World War and the offer made us more professional.

"When we first went out I thought 'what are we doing'? But at the end of the day, I would have done it again - and I would now. But I think what will hurt them most, is if they don't get the public support."