LONDON (AP) -- British firefighters left their picket lines Saturday and returned to their station houses as planned after an eight-day strike over pay, but they stressed they were back only temporarily.
The first national walkout by firefighters in 25 years has left Britain relying for protection on 19,000 soldiers and their antiquated military fire trucks.
With their union and Prime Minister Tony Blair's government still far from agreement, the 50,000 firefighters say they will walk out for another eight days starting Wednesday.
If there is still no deal by then, firefighters plan a third eight-day strike beginning Dec. 16.
Blair's government has said it cannot afford the 40 percent pay increase the union wants, and rejected a proposed settlement of 16 percent.
Ministers have said that if firefighters want more than 4 percent, they must agree to cost-saving changes in working practices.
The union says that would mean thousands of layoffs.
Fire Brigades Union general-secretary Andy Gilchrist said the government had resorted to ``hysterical ranting.''
``In order to protect the indefensible public sector pay policy they're quite prepared to play with people's lives,'' he told a Manchester rally Saturday.
Soldiers answered 10,000 emergency calls during the strike, and Blair said Friday they had performed ``brilliantly.''
The firefighters said they were happy to be going back to work -- but were determined not to give in.
``No one likes sitting on the picket line,'' said Nick Hurwood, a firefighter in London. ``We're doing this because we want a guaranteed wage scale, we do not want a couple of quid (pounds) this year and a couple of quid next year. We want an agreement that will last.''
