This hilarious photo shows a firefighter who arrived for an emergency with half his head shaved after being called out during a haircut.

Firefighter Joe Cartwright was getting a short back and sides but had to jump out of the barber's chair mid-trim when his pager went off.

Much to the delight of Cartwright's colleagues, from Buckfastleigh Fire Station in Devon, England, the 31-year-old turned up with a stripe of hair shaved off around the sides.

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“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 smoldering. 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."

Cartwright has been a firefighter for two and a half years – on call for 84 hours a week while also working his day job as a student paramedic.

He said his colleagues were delighted when he turned up with his unusual do.

“Some of the older ones thought I was trend-setting and it was some modern new look,” he said. "When I told them what had happened they said, 'Oh my God I thought you'd just got an [unfashionable] haircut.' My boss just thought it was hilarious, he laughed and laughed. I'll never live it down.”

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Luckily the situation was resolved safely and Joe was stood down – he went straight back to finish getting his trim.

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.”