FIREFIGHTERS across the borough will vote next week on whether to strike.

The ballot follows a refusal by firefighters at certain stations to use new anti-terrorist equipment until a 3.5 per cent pay increase due last November is paid.

In response, Greater Manchester's County Fire Officer Barry Dixon has ordered defiant crews home without pay. A total of 12 engines and 162 crew members have been affected by the order on a daily basis since the dispute began last week. Yesterday, crews at Whitefield, Bury and Ramsbottom were only responding to 999 calls in support of their colleagues across the county. Their action could result in crews being sent home or asked to continue working without pay.

Ongoing talks between the national employers and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) have failed to resolve the dispute.

Station officer Bill Gibbon, at Whitefield Fire Station, said the current dispute would not have happened had employers paid the wage increase. "However, the bullyboy tactics used by Barry Dixon, by sending crews home without pay, has angered many people and this could prompt firefighters to take industrial action in support of our suspended colleagues," he said.

Mr Dixon, who lives in Whitefield, has welcomed the FBU's decision to hold an official ballot of its Greater Manchester members.