Firefighter responds to emergency with half his head shaved after 999 call during haircut

'Some of the older firefighters thought I was trend-setting and it was some modern new look,' says Joe Cartwright

Joe Cartwright has teased by colleagues after leaving a haircut mid-trim (Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service)

A firefighter turned up to tackle a blaze with a half-shaven head after receiving a 999 call while at the barbers.

Joe Cartwright, 31, was five minutes into a hair cut when he was alerted to a fire at a farm in Ashburton, Devon.

To the delight of his colleagues at Buckfastleigh station, he arrived with a strip of hair sheared off around head.

“It was only five minutes in, she’d just started cutting the sides,” he said.

“The call was to some bales of hay piled up next to a barn that were smouldering. They get very hot this time of year and sometimes they self-ignite.

“I ran out of the barber’s with tissue still hanging out of my t-shirt after taking the apron off.”

Joe Cartwright has been a retained firefighter for two-and-a-half years (Joe Cartwright)

Mr Cartwright drove to the station and picked up a wildfire 4x4 pump to back up the main fire engine in Ashburton, on the edge of Dartmoor.

He said his colleagues were amused when he turned up with his half-finished cut.

“Some of the older ones thought I was trend-setting and it was some modern new look,” he added.

“When I told them what had happened they said, ‘Oh my God I thought you’d just got a naff haircut’.

“My boss just thought it was hilarious, he laughed and laughed. I’ll never live it down.”

After the fire was safely extinguished, Mr Cartwright went back to finish his trim.

He has been a retained firefighter for two-and-a-half years, meaning he is on call for 84 hours a week while also working his day job as a student paramedic.

In a statement Buckfastleigh fire station said: “To be a retained firefighter takes a certain type of person. To respond to your alerter 24 hours a day, seven days a week takes dedication, stopping what you’re doing no matter what.

“However, leaving a haircut half-way through when your alerter goes off is on another level.”