A strike by more than 1,000 firefighters over the next eight days is now "almost inevitable", union leaders have said.

Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) on Merseyside will walk out at 1000 BST on Thursday for four days.

A second four-day stoppage will start two hours after the first one ends. The union has accused the fire authority of planning to cut 120 posts.

A senior fire officer said the strike shows "total disregard" for safety.

The union said the fire authority is planning to cut one in 10 of the workforce, 15 emergency control operator posts and introduce a new shift system.

No military cover will be provided during the strike, because of ongoing conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Fire brigade managers - all former firefighters - have been retrained to man engines during the stoppages.

Les Skarratts, the union's Merseyside Brigade secretary, said: "These are some of the worst cuts ever proposed in any local fire service and will inevitably damage our operational capability.

"The planned cuts are ill-thought-out panic measures which are the result of a failure of financial management."

On Tuesday the authority decided not to take action over an FBU letter which called for firefighters to "show solidarity".

Merseyside's Assistant Chief Fire Officer Bill Evans said: "Withdrawing labour is not resolving the issue and I am sure the residents and businesses of Merseyside will share my disappointment that the FBU are taking this stance instead of taking a more responsible approach."

The authority claimed its proposals offered an opportunity for firefighters to work differently and earn more money.

It said there are no plans to sack any firefighters.

The stalemate between the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and fire chiefs in Merseyside continues after more than 1,000 FBU members walked out.

The action - scheduled for eight days with a two hour resumption of normal service on Monday - will leave around a million people with reduced fire cover.

The strike, in pro-*test*-('") over planned job cuts, has left non-union members and senior managers running the service.

Both sides claim they want to negotiate but say the other is unwilling.

The dispute centres on claims by the FBU that the Merseyside Fire Authority plans to cut 138 firefighter and 15 emergency control operator jobs.

They also claim that new shift patterns will lead to firefighters spending 96 hours at a time at their stations.

However, the authority says there will be no job cuts, and firefighters will be able to earn more.

Les Skarratts, Secretary of the FBU Merseyside branch, said: "We would like to have talks tonight or tomorrow, to find a resolution as quickly as possible, and we have put that request to them. So far, it has not been met.

"They offered to meet us on Saturday or Sunday, so we have already said we will meet them on Saturday morning."

A spokesman for Merseyside Fire Service said: "Our negotiator, Bill Evans, has sent the FBU five letters asking for talks.

"They had ample opportunity to talk to him before the strike, and his request for talks still stands."

More than 170 staff based at 22 fire stations handled emergency calls throughout the first day of industrial action.

They also attended a variety of incidents, ranging from rubbish fires and minor kitchen fires, to the odd hoax call.