During the industrial action by members of the Fire Brigades’ Union between noon and 5pm today, Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service attended seven incidents.

These were: • A fire involving a fork lift truck battery at a warehouse on South Marston Industrial Estate, Swindon – this was attended by a crew from Cricklade and a ‘resilience’ appliance operating in the Swindon area.

• A chimney fire at a house in Southampton Road, Salisbury, which was dealt with by a crew from Wilton.

• Rescuing a man whose van was stuck in a ford at Winterbourne Earls – this was carried out by a crew from Amesbury.

• A false alarm at premises in Faraday Road, Dorcan – which was attended by the Swindon resilience appliance.

• A tractor fire on the B3092 near Kilmington, which was extinguished by a crew from Gillingham and a crew from Westbury.

• A false alarm at premises in Brookdene, Haydon Leigh, attended by the Swindon resilience appliance.

The crew from Royal Wootton Bassett attended a co-responder incident in the town, which is providing assistance to South Western Ambulance Service.

Crews at ten of Wiltshire’s 24 fire stations were unavailable to respond to incidents during the strike, but the Service had contingency plans in place to maintain cover across the county using on-call firefighters and alternative locations as appropriate. As a result, there were nine appliances available ‘on station’ and a further four ‘on call’.

As at 5pm, all striking crews returned to duty. Further industrial action is planned for 2pm tomorrow until 2am on Sunday, and then from 10am to 3pm on the Sunday.

A range of home fire safety advice can be found at www.wiltsfire.gov.uk