What would you do if you found a little girl in a car trapped under a lorry? Or a boy wedged down a ravine by his ears? How would you cope if a child fell into a gorilla pit at the zoo you were visiting? This book contains 15 extraordinary stories about incidents like these. Each story conveys the horror and dangers encountered by the victims and the rescuers, and special spreads offer sound and practical 999 safety tips to enable the reader to handle life-threatening situations should they reach the scene before professional help arrives. Having the knowledge of how to treat smoke inhalation, burns, heart attacks or post-traumatic stress disorder really can be the difference between life and death for the victim. "999" stories involve fire crews, ambulance teams, air sea rescue squads and coastguards, paramedics and police officers but, more often than not, they involve ordinary people who have been caught up in extraordinary situations. There are people like Haley Rogers' friend who saved her life by giving Haley mouth-to-mouth resuscitation underwater when her hair got trapped in the duct of a swimming pool, and Robert Legg, a flying instructor, who flew alongside Alan Anderson's plane to show him how to land after the pilot, his father-in-law, had died at the pilot controls. "999" is dramatic and often amazing but, perhaps most importantly, it is comforting as it demonstrates that all of us have the potential to help save a life.