Fire brigade reveals weirdest calls in drive to encourage common sense before dialling 999

From a child with a toilet seat stuck on their head to a bus driver locked in a loo, a fire brigade has revealed some of its weirdest 999 calls in a bid to get people to use their common sense.

The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said in the past three years calls have included a child with their head stuck in a potty in Westminster, West London and a hamster wedged between a toilet and a wall in Tower Hamlets, east London.

The stereotypical cat in a tree went one step further when they were called to a woman who got stuck in a tree while trying to rescue her pet cat in Hillingdon, West London, the brigade said.

Other calls included a pet snake trapped in a ring in Hounslow, west London, and a pigeon stuck in a chimney in Richmond, south west London.

Deputy Commissioner Tom George said: “No matter how strange a call may seem, we will always attend if there is a genuine emergency but you should always think carefully about how to use our resources.

“A number of the more unusual calls we attend involve children or animals so we would always urge Londoners to keep an eye on their youngsters or pets to ensure they aren’t getting themselves into sticky situations which could be avoided.”

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The brigade urged people not to risk their own safety to rescue their animal, and also to consider whether it would be better to call the RSPCA first in certain circumstances.

Despite getting a large number of unusual calls, LFB said it has seen a drop in the number of hoax calls made in the last five years.

The brigade took more than 8,500 hoax calls in 2014, though control officers challenged almost 85% so no fire engines were sent to them, but that number had dropped by 63% last year to around 5,400, with almost four in five calls challenged.

Deputy Commissioner George added: “With the help of our control officers challenging calls, we have been able to reduce the number of hoax calls we receive and this enables us to be available for when there is a genuine emergency.”

Mobile phone recording devices and a decline in public phone boxes have contributed towards the reduction in hoax calls, an LFB spokesperson said, adding: “Our control officers have worked very hard to reduce the numbers too.

“A bit of common sense to reduce these calls will allow our firefighters to go to genuine emergencies.”