Red goddesses were ready to fight blazes in Bradford as the latest firefighters' strike got underway today.

But the county's fire chief said he thought the dispute was damaging and could be protracted.

Talks aimed at preventing the 24-hour strike, which began at 9am, failed yesterday.

West Yorkshire's chief fire officer Phil Toase said six red engines from the fire authority's reserve fleet would be replacing some of the green goddess machines in West Yorkshire.

The county will now be covered by 23 green godesses and the six red ones.

The red engines have a high pressure hose reel to help fight fires more effectively.

"It has not got all the equipment that a normal fire engine has got but one of the main things is the high pressure hose reel which deals with the vast majority of our work," Mr Toase said.

One red engine will be based at Thornbury barracks and another at Belle Vue barracks in Manningham.

The others will be at Carlton barracks in Leeds, as well as Killingbeck, Morley and Huddersfield bases.

Deputy chief fire officer Kevin Arbuthnot said the red machines, which are faster and not as old as their green counterparts, were being sited in the areas which were busiest in previous strikes.

Mr Arbuthnot said the six being used were scheduled for disposal and had already been replaced with new appliances, so the reserve fleet was not missing any appliances.

They were not used in the previous strikes because Mr Toase said they did not want to relinquish the appliances into a national pool without an assurance they would be used in West Yorkshire.

Mr Toase said the bitterness which had built up during the dispute was bad for the service.

He said he had hoped yesterday's talks might bring a resolution but as they had not, he could not see the dispute being settled in the immediate future.

He said the latest strike had come at a important time for the service.

It has emerged that firefighters choosing to work - there are at least ten in the county - during the strike have allegedly been subject to discrimination.

Mr Toase said two incidents involving officers working during strikes were being investigated by police.

Councillor Ray Mitchell, chairman of West Yorkshire Fire Authority, said Mr Toase and his senior officers had suffered verbal abuse.

However he stressed that the majority of FBU members were hardworking people looking for a reasonable increase in their salary.

Sean Cahill, secretary of West Yorkshire Fire Brigades Union, said: "We are disappointed that there has been no movement from the national employers and they are still insisting on conditions that will lead to job cuts and worsening conditions, including the pension scheme. Anger is growing at the lack of movement from government.

"We have gone to ACAS and cancelled strikes, but they are insisting on these conditions and us signing up to everything that is in the Bain review, which we can't do."

Further 48-hour walkouts are planned from 9am next Tuesday, January 28, and Saturday, February 1.