Fire Brigades Union officials decided to attend the meeting after the employers said they would respond to a union demand for a 16% rise by November this year.
Although there appeared little prospect of the response being positive, FBU general secretary Andy Gilchrist called off a proposed tour of fire stations in south-west England to attend Acas.
Authority leaders had pulled back from tabling a three-year deal in an attempt to break the deadlock and the FBU would have risked a public backlash had it rejected the opportunity of further discussions.
Tony Blair, however, was in uncompromising mood. He indicated that the government is prepared to give no ground in the dispute, with troops once again on standby to provide emergency cover.
"We believe strike action is wrong, dangerous and unjustified," the prime minister said in a televised press conference. "And the government's position remains as it is - we support the Bain reforms, we will hold firm to those reforms and we believe that is the only justifiable basis upon which to settle the dispute."
Ted George, the chairman of the local government employ ers, said: "There is nothing new available at the moment but we'll have ideas of where we want to go."
Mr Gilchrist had said it would "not be worth the bus fare" to attend today's Acas talks if the employers insisted that the union accept the 11% over two years, tied to reform of the fire service, recommended by Sir George Bain's review.
The FBU said it was seeking 16% by November this year, in effect a two-year deal in line with an offer tabled by local employers before Christmas, before it was blocked by the deputy prime minister, John Prescott.
Union leaders said they would reject any three-year offer worth 16% because it would be artificially inflated by extending the settlement period, and outlined opposition to most of the "modernisation" proposals.
Geoff Ellis, an FBU national official, said the 11% was linked to plans to close 150 fire stations and cut 4,500 jobs. With a 24-hour strike from January 21 to be followed by 48-hour stoppages from January 28 and February 1, Mr Ellis said future walkouts would be shorter than the eight-day strike before Christmas.
"We need to be looking at the least impact on our members and the most impact on the government and employers," he said.
