WHY should our highly-trained firefighters be the ones to bear the brunt of the feebler-brained in our nanny society?

As if it isn't bad enough to be chasing after hoax calls, they find themselves tackling the most amazing incidents.

The latest is freeing a parakeet in Burnley from behind a cooker hood. Often it's pigeons in chimneys, kids with heads trapped in railings, toddlers stuck in washing machines -- the list goes on.

So fire crews are called to tackle problems which anyone with a modicum of commonsense, a big spanner, a car jack and a bottle of washing-up liquid could solve.

And while they're messing about someone could be burning in a house fire or bleeding to death trapped in a crashed car.

So why call the fire brigade instead of a plumber/builder/neighbour?

Because they're selfish and thoughtless, that's why.