Around 55,000 firefighters across the UK will vote over the next few weeks on whether to stage the first national walkout in the fire service for 25 years.
A series of 24 or 48-hour strikes could begin at the end of October unless the deadlock is broken.
The ballot was sanctioned by a special conference of the Fire Brigades Union today when 242 delegates from all 58 brigades unanimously agreed the move.
Delegates voted on a show of hands unanimously in favour of a strike ballot and again in a card vote showing 51,849 supporting a ballot and none against.
The delegates stood and applauded when the result of the card vote was announced.
Arrangements will now be made to ballot firefighters across the UK as part of the union's campaign for a near 40% pay rise to boost salaries from £21,500 to £30,000.
The union, which has rejected a 4% offer, served notice on the government and local authority employers that they were determined to achieve a decent pay rise even if that leads to the use of green goddesses - military vehicles used as substitute fire engines.
FBU officials from all parts of the country spoke out in support of the pay claim and strike ballot, and several launched angry attacks against the employers and the government, especially the prime minister, who has warned that meeting the pay claim would hit the economy.
A review into the fire service announced last week by the government was described as a "stitch up" by delegates, who made it clear they will not play any part in the inquiry.
For the next two and a half hours firemen and women, retained firefighters, control room staff and national union officials united to warn the government that they were prepared to take industrial action unless their demands were met.
The union's retiring president, Mick Harper, said he believed an agreement made after the last national strike in 1977/8 would settle firefighters' pay forever.
"It really is sad that 25 years later we are back here again having to take a decision that none of us wants to take."
Mr Harper urged all union members to support the campaign but said it was important they stood together over the coming weeks in the face of the inevitable "vengeance" from employers.
Andy Gilchrist, the union's general secretary, said the FBU was determined this year to tackle low pay in the fire service.
He attacked employers for behaving in an "unforgivable" way and said they were not prepared to put a figure on how much they believed a firefighter was worth.
The 4% increase which had been offered was probably less than the "outdated" current wage formula would have thrown up.
"We are not asking for the moon - we just want justice on pay.
"We are simply asking the rate for the job. Our research informs us that would be £30,000, which I believe is reasonable."
Mr Gilchrist said it was "plain daft" for the prime minister to warn that meeting the claim would hit people's mortgages, adding: "The potential to precipitate a third world war might affect people's mortgages."
He predicted the public would understand the justice of the union's claim for a salary of £30,000.
"Most government ministers would not get out of bed for £30,000 and they certainly wouldn't crawl under a derailed train to help free trapped passengers."
Mr Gilchrist said he was under no illusion about the gravity of the decision to press ahead with a strike ballot and said there was still time to avoid industrial action.
"We want to avoid a strike but the responsibility for peace lies with the employers who have to put a substantial offer on the table."
Mr Gilchrist received a one-minute standing ovation when he formally proposed that firefighters had no option other than to press ahead with an industrial action ballot.
