Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THERE WERE 242 malicious phone calls made to Dublin Fire Brigade stations last year according to the county-wide emergency service.
That number means that fire services had to deal with an average of nearly five fake calls per week.
The figures were released to Dublin City Council’s emergency management council following a question by Sinn Féin councillor Noeleen Reilly, and showed that fake calls to fire services have been increasing every year for the last three years.
Malicious calls
In 2014, 243 fake calls were made to Dublin Fire Brigade while 242 were made in 2013.
The Dublin fire station that dealt with the most malicious calls last year was Tallaght Fire Station.
Station D7 in Tallaght received 70 calls last year that turned out to be fake.
While that number way exceeds the station with the second highest, 27 in Dolphin’s Barn, this is partly to do with the number of people Tallaght station caters for.
Dublin Fire Brigade also collates the number of calls that were made to them in good faith but ultimately turned out to be false alarms. Tallaght also tops that list with 135 calls last year that were well-intentioned but turned out to be false alarms.
That number also increased steadily over the last three years, from 776 in 2013 to a total of 1,062 last year.
The only fire station that received no malicious calls last year was in Skerries.
People who make fake calls are liable for prosecution, with Cllr Reilly saying that the hoaxes can lead to serious consequences as resources are diverted from genuine emergencies.
“I think it is a despicable act by anyone to ring a service under false pretences that exists to save the lives of Dubliners,” the councillor says.
Dublin Fire Brigade is already stretched to the max due to a severe lack of funding. They have a shortage of staff and ambulances. So for anyone to think it is a laugh to put them under further pressure is not acceptable.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Need to make a few examples of these idiots.
Not all false alarms are fake calls, if you have a fire you manage to put out before they arrive the €500 call out fee is an incentive to claim it was a false alarm.
Wow, it really takes a special kind of idiot to do that.
Tallaght had the highest number with almost 50% of calls bring false alarms
@bog. Your reading it wrong
You’re
These people need to be prosecuted without delay . Can’t understand their mentality atal, despicable behaviour.
A Defence Forces firefighter died on the Curragh Camp after such a hoax call the Fire tender overturned responding to the call, the call was suppose to be a house on fire, the guy involved was tracked down but couldn’t be done for nothing other than a disturbance of the peace or something like that?, anything after that was just coincidental, yet it left a young family grieving.
Just saw your comment now. I remember it clearly. I was there at the time of the accident. Such a waste of a life. It’s disgraceful that there is no proper punishment for people involved.
Yeah Liam and it was miraculous that there was only one fatality?.
A mixed message putting False alarm good intents with malicious calls in this article. No firefighter has an issue with responding to a call made by a member of the public in good faith. Better to be safe than sorry.
“Fake calls increasing every year”? 2015 – 242 fake calls, 2014 – 243 fake calls, 2013 – 242 fake calls. It’s still a lot of time wasting s(umbags!
Absolute g@bsh!tes . . .
What horrible people waste Emergency services time and prevent them going to “real” emergencies. I remember in 1996 in the Curragh in Kildare a fireman was killed when the fire vehicle overturned and crashed against a tree when responding to a call. It turned out afterwards that a twelve year old thought it be funny to ring a hoax call. Such a sad waste of life.
As long as payphones exist this will always happen,
Can’t identify the caller, can’t be prosecuted.
You’re dancing with the Krabs man now.
have your say