The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) has called off two 48-hour walkouts planned for tomorrow, Wednesday and next weekend so negotiations over its 40% pay claim can resume.
The two sides will meet on Wednesday and Thursday for the first time since early September when negotiations ground to a halt and the union balloted its members for industrial action.
The FBU executive decided after a five-hour meeting on Saturday that the strikes should be suspended, but it warned that if no progress was made this week, stoppages planned for later in November will go ahead.
An eight-day strike could start on November 6, the day after Bonfire Night, followed by further walk-outs until Christmas Eve.
But employers expressed optimism this weekend that the dispute could now be resolved, although they stressed they still believed that pay rises must occur alongside modernisation of the service.
John Ransford, an official of the employers' organisation, said: "We are very pleased that the union has called off the strikes planned for this week because we always believed they were totally unnecessary.
"Our position remains the same - further progress on pay and modernisation must go hand in hand."
The FBU's general secretary, Andy Gilchrist, personally telephoned the deputy prime minister, John Prescott, on Saturday evening to tell him that this week's strikes had been suspended.
But he made no public comment about the prospects for permanent peace and it is clear there is still a lot of hard bargaining ahead.
The union has rejected a 4% offer and is refusing to take part in an independent review into the fire service, including pay, which is headed by Sir George Bain.
It now appears that Mr Prescott has persuaded Sir George to bring forward some aspects of his review, which was not due to report until mid-December. Sir George had said last week that the process could not be rushed.
Mr Prescott, who met FBU officials last week in the search for a settlement, said: "I am delighted that the FBU has agreed to sit down with the employers for talks on pay and modernisation. I hope that this can now lead to a final settlement of the dispute."
Meanwhile, military Green Goddess vehicles will remain on standby in case they are needed to provide emergency cover if this week's talks break down.
The union had come under increasing pressure over the last week to stop the strikes because of the danger to public life.
The employers, the government and leaders of other unions had called on the FBU to take part in fresh negotiations rather than go ahead with the first national walkout since 1977.
The union is seeking a new salary of £30,000 a year for qualified firefighters and has launched a huge publicity drive to win public support for its case.
However, leaders are increasingly aware of the danger of losing public support if the strikes go ahead and the military are unable to cope.
