Firefighters in Northern Ireland may be balloted over an all-out strike.

On Wednesday, they joined an unofficial strike spreading across the UK and are currently answering only emergency calls.

The action has been taken in support of colleagues in Greater Manchester who have been suspended because of their refusal to use a new piece of equipment.

They said the action was because the employers failed to honour a 3.5% pay deal agreed last November.

The Northern Ireland Fire Brigade says emergency cover is continuing as normal, despite the industrial action.

Fire service employers are meeting on Thursday in an attempt to resolve the dispute.

Northern Ireland Fire Authority Chairman Bill Gillespie said he was disappointed at the action being taken, but that firefighters were still answering emergency calls.

He told BBC Radio Ulster on Thursday that firefighters had responded to 121 calls since 1800 BST on Wednesday.

"These include gorse fires in Annalong, where there is a real risk to life and property, and a house fire where one casualty was saved," he said.

"That indicates to me that during this mythical stand down time, nobody had much time to stand down last night."

'Issues'

Speaking on Wednesday, Jim Quinn of the Fire Brigade Union said they were keen to avoid a strike.

"The ball is now firmly in the court of the employers, and probably New Labour, who seem to be using these people to propagate their own ends," he said.

Mr Quinn said the public would not notice any difference, but duties such as training and station administration would cease.

He said union members were "frustrated and angry" that the employers still had to pay 3.5% from last November's pay deal.

Crews in a number of brigades are only answering 999 calls, in response to the suspension of 19 firefighters in Salford.

The firefighters said they had not received an agreed pay rise and refused to use new anti-terror equipment.

The dispute quickly spread to parts of Yorkshire, the West Midlands, Wiltshire, Gloucester and Tayside.

The Fire Brigades Union has told the BBC that the crews in Avon and Cornwall could also take action.

There is also no fire cover in the Broughton area of Greater Manchester, after crews walked out in protest about the treatment of the Salford crews.

Managers 'disappointed'

Following agreements made in June last year for a staged 16% pay rise, which settled the UK-wide dispute from the previous year, fire crews were expecting to get a rise in November.

However, the FBU says the pay rise has still not been received and so it has withdrawn from the agreement.

Firefighters in Wales last week refused to operate the anti-terrorist equipment, leading to warnings that unofficial action could escalate.

A spokeswoman for the Office of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, which has responsibility for the fire service, said: "There is no justification for any such action, which could put lives and property at risk."

She said discussions between the union and employers was still on-going.

"But the union and its members must recognise that the June 2003 settlement made payment of salary increases dependent on progress in modernisation and this will be put in jeopardy by further industrial action," she added.