Firefighters will go on strike next week in a move that could leave the whole of Hertfordshire relying on just a handful of fire engines for emergency cover.

The fire authority was this week given notice of industrial action set for Monday and next Saturday from 2pm to 10pm. It follows the breakdown of emergency talks between the county's fire chiefs and the Fire Brigades Union (FBU), and a union ballot overwhelmingly in favour of strike action in protest at fire service cuts.

The FBU dismissed late proposals from Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue chiefs as too little, too late' and an attempt to gloss over cuts to frontline services.

Two Watford firefighters facing the axe were apparently offered a stay of execution in the negotiations.

But Tony Smith, Hertfordshire FBU vice-chairman and station commander of Radlett Fire Station, which was earmarked for closure on March 28, said: "We're not interested in the sugar-coated package. Saving two of the 40 jobs is not good enough.

"We want a better offer than that. Our phones are on and we're willing to talk. If they want to avoid a strike, they know where we are."

County Councillor David Lloyd, who has executive responsibility for fire and rescue, said: "I'm very much shocked and dismayed that we're at this situation.

"Unfortunately, it appears that we're back to Seventies-style union negotiations where we have a lot of bully-boy tactics telling us that we're going to go on strike and we have a union which is to put the residents of the county at risk.

"It's something which is worrying but something we have to face up to."

Contingency plans are being put in place which include asking retired firefighters for help and written letters to all firefighters to re-think their decisions.

No military support will be available to help the authority after the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister refused to help last month.

Under the so-called Gold Command system, used in emergencies such as the Buncefield Oil depot blaze, the fire service can call on national and local fire crews for help.

But this only applies when an individual incident requires at least eight fire engines.

Hertfordshire's fire chief, Roy Wilsher, said: "The strike will put residents' lives at risk, my proposals won't.

"Our contingency arrangements, as they stand at the moment, are two or three part-time stations working in their own village areas and maybe one or two full-time fire engines.

"What we would ideally like is seven full-time fire engines as a minimum standard for the county and we are nowhere near that at the moment.

"Ideally, my professional requirement would be that we need 40 full-time engines for residents to be properly protected.

"We will need people to be particularly vigilant. We won't be attending minor incidents such as bin fires, people locked out of houses and people trapped in lifts, only real, major emergencies such as property fires."

Derek MacLeod, chairman of Hertfordshire FBU said: "Hertfordshire's brigade has no room for cuts.

"Cosy politicians in their houses won't be the ones who suffer local people will."

Hertfordshire County Council this week asked residents not to call 999 unnecessarily and urged people to take note of the fire safety advice on their web site, www.hertsdirect.org Mr Wilsher confirmed that fire and rescue services would not attend minor incidents during the eight-hour walkouts.