WIDNES must be beginning to resemble the set of Animal Hospital if you work for the Fire Brigade's green watch.

First Widnes Fire Brigade were called in to assist in saving a whale trapped on a riverbed.

Then they had to save a parrot called Oliver from a smoke-logged building on Hale Road, Widnes on Monday.

The fire, at a flat above DGA builders, started at about 6pm on Monday evening.

Timber was being burned in an external incinerator, which was connected to the chimney flue inside the flat.

The intense heat radiated by this burning caused the flat's kitchen to catch fire.

Fire officers managed to control the fire and stop Oliver becoming a smoked meal.

Leading firefighter Kevin Hughes said: "First we had a whale, then it was a parrot, and it was the same watch too!"

Oliver declined our requests for an interview, saying he just wanted to rebuild his life.

Expect Rolf Harris any day.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.