Firefighters walked out on strike yesterday in Huddersfield and promised there could be more strikes.

At 10am around 20 firefighters walked out of Huddersfield Fire Station until 2pm in the fourth nationwide strike over changes to pension arrangements.

Daryl Schofield, Fire Brigades Union branch rep at the Birkenshaw HQ of the West Yorkshire Fire Service, said all public sector workers had been hit by the changes and firefighters were not prepared to give in without a fight.

“The scheme will be unfair and unworkable,” he said. “It’s a new scheme that will come in in 2015.

“A lot of firefighters will leave the scheme and the Government will find it very difficult indeed to keep it going.”

Howard Lewis, 54, who has worked for the fire service for almost 29 years and who is due to retire in February, said: “I don’t think I will be personally affected by the changes but I am supporting my colleagues who will be. I want them to have what they signed up for.”

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) praised the public for its vigilance during yesterday’s industrial action by members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU).

Although the strike period, between 10am and 2pm, passed without major occurrence WYFRS was mobilised to 13 incidents.

Of these, eight were automatic fire alarms which turned out to be false alarms. Three were in Leeds, four in Bradford and one in Wakefield.

Assistant Chief Officer Dave Walton said: “The number of calls received during this period of industrial action has reflected what we would expect at this time of day on a Wednesday.

“A significant number of the calls attended were received from automatic fire alarm systems, and ultimately proved to be false alarms.

“I would like to thank the public of West Yorkshire for taking extra care during this period of strike action, allowing us to ensure that those that needed our help were able to get it.

“Whilst this particular period of strike action is now over our message remains that people should always take extra care to protect themselves, their families, homes and businesses from fires and other emergencies”.