I AM a firefighter and I live in Davyhulme. I see, on a regular basis the devastation a fire can cause, I am too fully aware of the possible consequences of a strike by firefighters and I sincerely hope that the current dispute is resolved before industrial action occurs. But I must make my position absolutely clear ... I will go on strike for a basic salary of £30,000.

The number of firefighters in this country (and county) has fallen every year for the last 20, so now we have far fewer firefighters than we have had for decades. Our workload has gone up and up, and the level of expertise required, with the introduction of trauma technicians, water rescue, rope rescue and a whole range of specialist equipment is rising all the time.

So far the firefighters of this country have managed to continue to provide what the public agree is an outstanding service.

Fire services across the UK have had regional strikes in recent years, to protect the level of fire cover the public receive.

While most of your readers will receive a fire engine within five minutes of their house going on fire, others will wait eight minutes and some possibly even 12 minutes - those are Government guidelines.

Next year we will have 60 or so less firefighters in the brigade, and those people that wait eight or 12 minutes will continue to do so.

Personally I believe that in areas where fire calls are reduced those resources need re-deployment. The reason fire calls are going down in some areas is due to the community work we do ... re-deploy those resources to other parts of the county that need community fire safety officers to try and reduce the hundreds of devastating fire injuries and dozens of preventable deaths that occur in the region year on year.

This time the issue is pay - I honestly believe the public support us on that issue - but the background is one of a shrinking service struggling to meet the growing needs of the communities that we are from and serve. It's about time politicians started talking about improving the levels of fire cover the public receive.

What is wrong with our service that leads to it being constantly attacked by politicians that just want to make it look like they can do it cheaply, when we all know that you can't get an excellent public service by constant cuts.

As for Mr Blair's comments about the 40p per house per month that our pay-rise would cost the public, so it would send interest rates soaring and cripple the country would it - yeah right, what cost and effect your war with Iraq Mr Blair? Not to mention the lives! I used to be in the army and pity my colleagues that may pay with their lives for what once again amounts to politics.

My colleagues and I laid our cards on the table when we joined this great service of which we are most proud .... 'Every time I get on the pump I will risk my life if it saves yours - who ever you are.' But please, give me a wage worthy of the task, that's all we ask.

Firefighter, name and address supplied