Figures Show Extent Of Malicious Calls Made To Fire Service

Some 4,640 false calls were made to Cork City fire services from 2007 to 2011, figures obtained by Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony have revealed.

Fine Gael Cork South Central Deputy, Jerry Buttimer, said: "Figure released by the Department of the Environment show that the number of false alarm calls to the fire services in Cork city between 2007 and 2011 amounted to 4,640. Of these, a staggering 1,113 were reported to be calls made with malicious intent.

The figures show that in 2007, some 1,152 calls made were "malicious in nature". 2008 saw some 908 false calls, of which 228 were considered to be malicious. In 2009, 212 malicious calls were made from a total of 877 false alarm calls.

In 2010, a total of 919 false alarm calls made, of which 298 were malicious, and in 2011, of the total of 712 false alarm calls reported, 214 were thought malicious.

The TD added: "This means that more than one in every four calls made to the fire services in Cork city, or 26% of the calls phoned in, is a complete waste of the emergency response’s time and resources.

"With some Councils estimating that each call-out can cost upwards of €1,000, the extent to which hoax calls are effecting Local Authorities is evident.

"The situation in the city, when compared to the figures obtained by Cork County Council, indicates that this sort of time wasting is much more prevalent in the urban areas as just 136 calls out of a total of 1,14 false alarm calls reported during this five year time frame were said to have been made with malicious intent.

"People need to be made aware that when the emergency services are responding to prank calls, there may be someone in distress who they cannot reach as a result, making hoax calls of this nature, literally, a matter of life and death."

(MH/CD)