A man with rings stuck on his penis and a kitten with its head trapped in a bongo drum are amongst a host of bizarre incidents to be highlighted by us as part of a Christmas Twitter campaign.
We'll be tweeting about some of the time-wasting and non-emergency calls it has received in a bid to drive down incidents in the capital.
All of the incidents will follow a festive theme and will feature the hashtag #12DaysXmas
. We hope to reach millions of Twitter users, urging them to only dial 999 in a genuine emergency.
The incidents include a man with rings stuck on his penis (five gold rings), a goose trapped on a roof (six geese a laying), and a woman wanting firefighters to warm up her baby's milk (eight maids a milking).
Recent statistics from the Brigade show that in the last five years (2010-2014), there have been:
Our Director of Operations, Dave Brown, said: "It's a bit of festive fun, but the message is serious – don’t call 999 unless it's a genuine emergency.
"You wouldn't believe some of the incidents crews are called out to, including a woman who asked if firefighters could warm her baby’s milk up and several people with rings stuck on their genitals.
"We are also keen to reduce the number of animals firefighters are called to rescue and want people to call the RSPCA if they see an animal stuck, not 999.
"We are regularly called to deal with a lot of incidents which could be avoided. We want everyone to have a good Christmas, but remember that silly pranks and time wasting calls cost us time, money and resources."