Around 30,000 firefighters and control staff are set to go on strike after voting overwhelmingly for industrial action.
Members of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) will walk out for the first time in 20 years as anger grows over a rejected 5% pay rise offer.
The union said 999 workers have been forced to use foodbanks after years of "derisory" pay increases.
This afternoon the FBU said 88% of members who voted had backed the walkout, giving a "decisive mandate" for industrial action.
No dates have yet been set for nationwide strikes - the first since 2003 - but the union says an announcement will be made "in the coming weeks" if an improved offer isn't made.
Since the Tories took power in 2010, the FBU says, firefighters have endured a 12% real-terms pay cut – equivalent to around £4,000 a year on average.
It adds that in the same period around one in five firefighter jobs have been cut.
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary, said the move is a "last resort" - and said the union has given the government 10 days to make an improved offer.
He said: "Firefighters across the UK have spoken. The Fire Brigades Union has a decisive mandate for strike action.
"This is an overwhelming vote for strike action against an offer which would mean further significant cuts to real terms wages for firefighters and control room staff. They have already lost at least 12% of the value of their pay since 2010.
"This is an absolute last resort for our members. The responsibility for any disruption to services lies squarely with fire service employers and government ministers.
"Rishi Sunak's government has refused to make funding available for a decent pay offer to firefighters and control staff."
Polling shows around 58% of the public support firefighters and control room staff in taking industrial action.
Labour's Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Firefighters run towards danger when the rest of us run away. They put their lives and their health at risk to rescue others and they need fair pay and conditions.
“No one, including firefighters themselves, wants a strike. It is this Conservative government’s reckless behaviour that has crashed the economy, and their failure to get a grip on inflation means working people are struggling more and more. This is their mess to fix."
The Prime Minister's official spokesman this afternoon described the decision to strike as "disappointing".
Last month the FBU contrasted the pay of top fire chiefs with that of a “competent wholetime firefighter” who is paid £32,244.
Mr Wrack said then: “Firefighters and control staff are facing yet another real terms pay cut while fire chiefs rake in huge salaries.
“FBU members are increasingly facing real in-work poverty, with firefighters having to rely on foodbanks and take on additional jobs to afford the basics.
“At the same time, some fire chiefs are also trying to persuade firefighters and control staff to step back from industrial action, to simply shut up about salaries that are several times smaller than their bosses’.
“It’s insulting and stinks of the hypocrisy of some chief officers who refuse to make the case for better pay for their workers.
“Chief fire officers are not worth six times more than firefighters - it was the latter who were called key workers during the pandemic delivering vital services, including moving the bodies of the deceased.
“Firefighters and control staff are being left with no other choice but to take action.”
The Home Office has drawn up plans to draft in the military if tens of thousands of 999 heroes walkout over pay.
