THE willingness to go on strike for the first time in a quarter of century and leave emergencies to be tackled by makeshift crews of military personnel demonstrates the sense of grievance felt by Britain's firefighters.

They are a dedicated profession, and it is with great reluctance that they support industrial action, and the risk to lives and property that it entails.

Members of the Fire Brigades Union are among the most respected people in our community. And, no doubt, they hope the public will understand their stance.

However, they must not take it for granted that they will retain the sympathy of the public.

We sympathise with their sincerely-held belief that their levels of pay have failed to keep pace with police officers, nurses and doctors who have benefited from the Government's priority to invest in health and law and order.

But we cannot sympathise with their demand for a 40 per cent pay rise. And we suspect the public shares our view.

With inflation running at barely two per cent, such a pay claim verges on the preposterous. It risks alienating the public support on which most of the FBU's hopes are pinned.

To accede to such an outlandish demand will throw the public sector into turmoil. It will encourage other public sector workers to pursue claims which bear no relation to the prevailing economic conditions or financial restraints.

Our sympathies are with the firefighters' employers - the local authorities who are having to close care homes and cut services because of the squeeze on public spending.

The employers' offer on the table, and thus far rejected by the FBU, appears equitable.

They accept the firefighters' case for special treatment, and are undertaking a review aimed at revising the pay structure in line with other public sectors and in return for modernisation.

Such an undertaking appears to be a sensible starting point from which to reach a just settlement.

It is a matter of great regret that it is an option rejected out of hand by the FBU.