Staggering number of hoax fire brigade calls

THE majority of emergency phone calls to Dublin Fire Brigade that turned out to be false alarms are hoax, according to figures published earlier this month.

The figures for Dublin were detailed in national statistics obtained by Mayo Fine Gael TD, John O’Mahony, and they show that in 2011 almost 850 out of 1,300 false alarm calls were malicious. Just over 450 were made with good intention.

Fine Gael representative for Drumcondra and Glasnevin, Noel Rock, described the figures as

“alarming

?.

“This is an urgent problem,

? he said.

“Dublin City is the only place in the entire country where hoax phone calls outnumbered well-intentioned false alarm calls in 2011. The ratio of hoax phone calls to false alarms is now 2:1 and this costs us a huge amount.

?

Mr Rock is calling on the Government to address the situation urgently and wants Dublin City Council to communicate the problem more effectively.

“Mayo County Council has outlined that it charges

?¬1,000 per call-out and that many other councils charge up to

?¬1,500,

? said Mr Rock.

“These hoax calls use vital resources and can potentially slow down response times. We need to have more serious punishments for those who abuse these services, waste time and potentially put lives at risk.

?

The figures obtained by Deputy O’Mahony show the number of malicious phone calls in Dublin doubled from 2007 to 2008 and have not decreased since. Genuine false alarms have fallen by more than 60 per cent between 2010 and 2011.