Fine Gael Deputy for Wicklow, Andrew Doyle TD, has expressed concern that nearly one in every five false alarm incidents made to the fire service in County Wicklow ends up being a hoax or malicious call. Deputy Doyle was commenting after the publication of figures, breaking down good intent against malicious call-outs for false alarm incidents throughout the country. In the statistics, it revealed that between 2007 and 2011, 17% of call-outs to false alarms made by the Wicklow Fire and Rescue Service turned out to be a hoax, against the remaining 83% that were well intended.
Speaking after the publication of the figures, Deputy Doyle said, “Between 2007 and 2011, more than 30,000 false alarm calls were made throughout the country to fire services. In Wicklow alone, 761 call-outs were made, with 130 of them turning out to be a hoax. This unfortunately means that when genuine calls come in from assistance from the fire service, their emergency response may be unnecessarily delayed.”
“There is no doubt the true scale of this problem is finally coming to light. Our fire and rescue services throughout the country do a tremendous job. Every year, they save countless lives in situations where there is real and imminent danger. These hoax and malicious calls are wasting taxpayer’s money, plain and simple. These hoax calls are putting severe strain on local authority services.”
“Every year, thousands of call-outs are requested by the public to the fire service. While an exact figure can’t be put on the cost of these malicious calls, a conservative estimate would be tens of thousands. Measures now need to be brought forward to tackle those who make hoax and malicious calls to this emergency service.”
“Later this year, the statistics for the 2012 year will become available. It will be interesting to see if this level of hoax calls continues. If so, I will be seeking for the Minister to bring forward measures so those who put an additional wasteful burden onto the fire service are dealt with appropriately through penalties and other means”, concluded Deputy Doyle.