THE government is on a fresh collision course with firefighters today after making clear there will be no improvement on a "final" pay offer rejected by union leaders. With the threat of more strikes looming, Dean Kirby found out why the crews are preparing to stand their ground.

FIREFIGHTERS across Bolton watched the television news with dismay yesterday. Their union leaders were urging them to turn down the latest pay offer from the government -- a rise of 16 per cent over three years.

They do not want to go on strike again. But their dismay was not with their own union leaders, it was with the government's renewed efforts to drastically alter their working conditions.

Earlier in the day the Fire Brigades Union leaders held a meeting and decided there were too many strings attached to the pay offer and called for a fresh series of strikes.

They claimed that firefighters' employers wanted the union to drop its ban on overtime and to change shift patterns.

They also said local fire officers would be able to order crews to be deployed at any station with 14 days' notice, giving them freedom to move staff and reduce night cover.

Bolton crews are worried that these conditions could put the public at risk as well as putting their home-lives under pressure.

They are now waiting to find out exactly what the conditions will be before deciding whether or not to vote for further strikes.

Firefighter Simon Connor, FBU representative at Bolton Central fire station, said: "People might think that the union is wrong to turn down a 16 percent offer, but our fight now is just as much about working conditions as about pay.

"In some ways we are still in the dark. We are waiting to find out exactly what the conditions will be.

"Nobody here wants to go on strike again, but we might have to if the conditions are not right."

Fire crews in Bolton showed how much they cared about members of the public when they broke their picket lines during recent strikes.

A crew from Bolton Central rescued two policemen from a trapped car in Moor Lane and a crew from Bolton North broke their strike to help a girl who had been knocked down in Crompton Way.

FBU officials said there was still a lot of anger among union leaders about the government's stance following meeting of party activists yesterday.

Geoff Ellis, one of the union's national officers, said he believed the offer of a 16 per cent rise over three years might have been acceptable if it had not been linked to such "drastic" changes in working conditions.

"A pay offer will never be acceptable if it is linked to the decimation of the fire service," he said.

Mr Ellis said if firefighters accepted the changes in conditions they would be moved from station to station at a moment's notice under the guise of modernisation.

The union's president Ruth Winters said the FBU was seeking a meeting with Mr Prescott as soon as possible in a renewed bid to solve the dispute.

She said many FBU officials questioned whether the union should have a recalled national conference later this month because they wanted to strike immediately.

Others said that if the overtime ban was lifted the amount of overtime worked by firefighters would be equivalent to 4,500 jobs. National officer John McGhee said reintroducing overtime and changing shift patterns was hardly the way to modernise the fire service.

He claimed that 7,000 jobs have been created in the fire service since the union banned overtime in 1974.

The union pointed out that under the proposed deal firefighters would receive a four percent pay rise, with the rest dependent on agreeing to new working practices.

General Secretary Andy Gilchrist said he had ideas he would be able to put to John Prescott offering a possible solution to the dispute.

Firefighters' employers said they were "amazed" that the union's executive decided to reject the offer so quickly last night.

The deputy Prime Minister said yesterday that the offer would not be improved and it was now up to firefighters to decide what to do next.

Despondent fire crews in Bolton today were still waiting to find out exactly what the government was offering.

They stress they do not want to form their picket lines again, but they fear another battle with the government could be just days away.