Everyone can recognise the unmistakable sound of the emergency services' sirens. Their particular tones each distinctively different, be they belonging to the fire brigade, police or ambulance; and if you chose to believe the Automobile Association's advertising campaign, you would think that they had sirens too.

Curious pedestrians turn their heads to watch as the noisy vehicles race by, their giant blue lights flashing and their klaxon's wailing. Fellow motorists giving way to them as they hurtle past. But are these emergency crews really always engaged on desperate life-saving missions of mercy.

Hardly, a good deal of these crews are busy responding to incidents that at best could be described as strange or perhaps more as 'flaming ridiculous'.

Consequently, after having carried out a little research, a whole host of very 'ridiculous' incidents have come to my attention. Situations where the fire crews training and expertise have been put to some very bizarre uses; as you will see if you read on.

Not only are they strange, but many of these incidents have been reported by the world's media, in one form or another. Some have achieved urban legend status. As to how much truth there is in each story I cannot personally vouch for, so you will just have to make up your own mind. Interspersed with these accounts and urban legends are a few associated jokes and even a little bit of background history.