Three further strikes have been announced by the national Fire Brigades Union (FBU) in the ongoing dispute with the Government over the firefighters pension.

Its members will now take industrial action on Friday May 2, between 12 noon and 5pm, Saturday May 3, between 2pm and 2am and Sunday May 4, between 10am and 3pm.

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) has plans in place to ensure it can still answer 999 calls for life-threatening incidents such as house fires, road traffic collisions and vehicle fires.

Chris Strickland, deputy chief fire officer at CFRS, said: “We have attended all 999 calls made during the previous periods of industrial action last year and we are now putting in place our robust contingency plans to ensure we have sufficient emergency cover next week.

“We are working hard to maintain a good level of service to the communities of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

“Quite a few of our rural stations will be available as normal and we will crew stations in urban areas with operational officers from station commander right up to chief fire officer.

“The public can help us by being extra cautious to reduce the chances of a fire or road traffic collision happening.”