OXFORDSHIRE’S Fire and Rescue Service has pledged to respond to every 999 call during its forthcoming strike over pension reforms.

The next industrial action by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) is for 24 hours from 9am on Thursday, June 12 and from 10am to 5pm on Saturday, June 21.

A mixture of non-striking full-time personnel and on-call staff will provide cover locally, according to the fire service.

Deputy chief fire officer Nathan Travis said: “I want to reassure the county's public that every emergency call made to their fire and rescue service during these scheduled strike periods will be responded to.

“We have a cover plan in place which we have utilised well during previous FBU-called strike periods and there is an agreement with the FBU locally that striking firefighters will return to work if an incident occurred which required a significant amount of firefighters to attend.”

He said residents could help keep Oxfordshire homes and roads safe by checking that smoke alarms work, electrical sockets are not overloaded and vehicles are roadworthy.

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