West Midlands firefighters last night announced a third strike date as the military stepped in to cover for the first of the walk-outs.

Last night's three-hour strike by members of the Fire Brigades Union began at 6pm after last-minute talks to resolve the increasingly bitter dispute over a new shift system collapsed.

A 380-strong task force of Army, Navy and RAF personnel using their own modern red appliances responded to emergency calls across the region until 9pm.

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Deployed at 11 Territorial Army bases across the West Midlands and Queens Road police station in Aston, Birmingham, they attended 18 incidents, none of which were serious or life-threatening.

They included a fire at a disused house in Bloxwich, Walsall, a chip fan fire in Sheldon, Birmingham, and a tree fire in Wolverhampton.

The next three-hour strike had already been pencilled in for Thursday morning and last night it emerged that the FBU had notified West Midlands Fire Authority of a third strike date, a five-hour stoppage scheduled for next Monday.

The brigade said the FBU had rejected a "last ditch" offer from management yesterday in an attempt to avert the strike.

Chief Fire Officer Frank Sheehan said the latest offer to the FBU had been rejected at 3pm by the union's brigade committee.

He said: "This is the fourth offer which the FBU committee has thrown back in our faces without giving our firefighters the opportunity to have a say.

" To say I am bitterly disappointed is an understatement.

"The public should take every care during periods of strike action and beyond for their own safety from fire as the military emergency cover is not a replacement professional fire service."

The service said management had offered concessions on all three of the consequential issues at the centre of the current dispute, which stems from the introduction of a new shift system.

The latest proposals included an offer of up to six days additional annual leave and an enhancement of 12.5 per cent on firefighters' hourly rate when working a late split-shift pattern.

However, Dave Whatton, FBU executive council member for the West Midlands, said a last-minute proposal from the union to management was rejected on cost grounds.

He said: "The decision to strike is always the last resort. But we have been in meetings with the management all over the weekend and in the hours leading up to the action, and we do not think that they are taking our position seriously.

"We have tried to minimise the effect that this will have on the public, but we have to make our point."

Brigadier Chris Murray, the Commander of all Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force operations in the Midlands, said the services personnel were prepared following weeks of talks with the fire service.

But he warned that the task force was not a "replacement service" for the West Midlands, as it could not match the brigade in terms of manpower or equipment.

However, Brigadier Murray added: "There is an expectation from the people of the West Midlands that we will take care of them - and we will."