Take extra care during today's (Thursday) fire strike

Members of the Fire Brigades Union will hold their longest period of industrial action sparked by the dispute between 9am today and 9am on Friday after the Government pressed ahead with a new pension scheme.
A second strike, lasting seven hours between 10am and 5pm, will be held on Saturday, June 21.
In addition, between the two strikes, firefighters will not carry out any voluntary overtime — which is routinely needed by many fire and rescue services to maintain fire cover — or conduct training of strikebreakers between the beginning of the first strike and 9am on Sunday 22 June.
General secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, Matt Wrack, said: “The minister has decided to bury his head in the sand, but he must accept that firefighters simply will not give up fighting for their futures — and our fire and rescue service.
“Concerns over these unworkable proposals remain as valid and grave as ever, and the government has ignored all the evidence including it’s own reports.
“It is, as ever, a difficult decision for us to take, but the only way for us to resolve this unnecessary and costly dispute is for the government to start listening to reason.”
The Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service has put contingency arrangements in place to provide cover during the industrial action.
Berkshire’s Chief Fire Officer, Andy Fry, said: “Although we will still be answering and responding to 999 calls, we will again be asking you to be especially careful during these upcoming periods of strike action.
“As we have done previously, we will be prioritising ‘life critical’ incidents, such as house fires and road traffic collisions where people are trapped.
“You have helped us during previous strikes by dialling 999 only in a genuine emergency and we are
asking you to do the same this time.
“The strike action will take place as the football World Cup gets under way so you may be celebrating or entertaining friends and family. If so, please remember to take extra care when cooking or, weather permitting, you are having a barbecue.”
Mr Fry urged people to take fire safety precautions, including checking batteries in a smoke detector.
He added that people should contact the relevant organisation for non-emergencies, such as the local authority if a tree had fallen in the road.
The latest strikes will be the thirteenth and fourteenth over pensions since the first in September last year.