Stand-in Green Goddess engines have been called into action seven times in Sussex since the start of the firefighters' strike.

The full-time brigade staff walked out at 6pm yesterday and the first came at 6.20pm.

Two crews based at the Territorial Army's Quebec Barracks in Dyke Road, Brighton, were called to an alleged car fire in Fitch Drive, Bevendean. The call was the first of two hoaxes.

At 9.30pm, two Green Goddesses and a breathing apparatus rescue team were called to a fire in a first-floor bedroom in Barnham, near Bognor.

The crews were accompanied by a police escort and took 24 minutes to reach the building in Kingsmill Road.

No one was injured and the fire, which started on a mattress, was out by 10.19pm.

Other incidents saw two Green Goddesses called to a fire at French and Sons hauliers on an industrial estate in Hastings.

A crew from Crawley was called to two car fires in Old Shoreham Road.

The second hoax was at 5.49am, when Brighton crews were told there was a house fire in Florence Road.

At 11.30am one Green Goddess attended a fire at a property in Worthing Road, Horsham.

Royal Navy Lieutenant Kerry Relf, based at the county's joint operations control centre at Sussex Police headquarters in Lewes, said: "The Green Goddesses have performed well so far and their response times have been good considering.

"We are all very relieved there have been no fatalities or injuries."

Firefighters in Brighton manned a picket outside their fire station in Preston Circus throughout the night.

Blue Watch, which was due to begin work at 9am, took over from Green Watch to continue the protest.

The firefighters were angry at allegations made in The Sun newspaper, claiming union leaders were Saddam Hussein sympathisers. This morning they burnt newspapers in disgust.

Among the 15 Blue Watch firefighters was branch chairman of the Fire Brigades' Union Gary Smith.

Mr Smith, 36, has three children and, having worked in the fire service for 13 years, earns £21,500.

He said: "The support we have been receiving from the public has been excellent, with people driving past and hooting their horns.

"There have been about half a dozen dissenters, who have been generally abusive to us, but there has been no trouble."

Mr Smith said there was relief among firefighters that there had been no major incidents across the county overnight.

He said it would be down to individuals to decide whether or not to attend an emergency call.

Emergency calls to the fire service are being diverted to a joint operations control centre at Sussex Police headquarters in Lewes.

The centre is manned by police call-handling personnel and officials from the Royal Navy.

If the incident is within range of a retained fire station crew which is not striking, it is called into action. There are 16 retained stations in West Sussex and 11 in East Sussex.

If an emergency falls outside those areas the nearest Green Goddess will take to the road, accompanied by a police escort.

There are 369 Army personnel stationed at the eight temporary stations across Sussex, each housing two Green Goddesses and one breathing apparatus rescue team at Brighton, Chichester, Horsham, Crawley, Worthing, Crowborough, Eastbourne and Hastings.

The operations are being pulled together by Royal Navy Commander Simon Hardern, from HMS Kent in Portsmouth.

Striking firefighter Martin Combs, 42, who has served at Preston Circus for 18 years, said: "I feel sorry for the Army. They have no choice, this has been thrust upon them.

"I'm sure they are mostly young recruits and don't know how they'll react when confronted with the heat without the know-how of how a fire behaves."

Mr Combs, whose wife is expecting their second child in a few months, said: "This could not have come at a worse time for me. But that is how strongly I feel about this.

"We hope this makes a difference. The Government are happy to give themselves fantastic pay rises. I would say I'm worth £30,000 per year and a take-home pay of £9 per hour."

Brendan O'Meara, 41, of Hove, said: "This is my 20th year of service and I have had one pay rise in the last 16 years."

His Green Watch colleague Rick McGowan, 35 from Brighton, added: "I would rather be at home with my kids but to make ends meet we have to take on other jobs."

Doctors and nurses have been banned from making toast until after the firefighters' strike is over.

Doctors and nurses in the county's hospitals usually have toasters in their residences at the hospital.

But late night snack sessions among hospital staff often resulted in toast being burnt, which set off smoke alarms and automatically called out fire-fighters.

Officials at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust Board yesterday removed dozens of toasters to prevent such emergencies.

There will also be a ban on out-of-hours toast for patients in the wards of hospitals including the Royal Sussex in Brighton and the Princess Royal at Haywards Heath.