Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service Appeals to Young People Not To Make Hoax 999 Calls this Easter
Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) is appealing to young people off school for the Easter Holidays not to make hoax 999 calls to the Fire Service as it wastes valuable time with resources being deflected away from real incidents.
While the number of hoax 999 calls made to NIFRS has been decreasing in recent years, 4412 in 06/07 compared to 4960 in 05/06 and 5826 in 04/05 statistics show that hoax calls peak in school holidays especially Easter and summer.
Peter Craig, Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Director of Community Development, Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service said – "Children and young people aged 9-14 are the biggest offenders of making hoax calls and we would ask them not to waste valuable emergency services time by making hoax 999 calls during the Easter break.
"Hoax calls made from landlines and mobile phones are easily traceable and the person who owns the phone can be held responsible and mobile phone companies may even disconnect phones.
"From April 2006 to March 2007 4412 hoax calls where made to our Regional Control Centre which handles all the emergency 999 calls made to the Fire Service. Our Control Room staff who receive the 999 calls are extremely well trained and in many cases are able to determine hoax calls quickly. Unfortunately not all hoax calls can be detected and this means NIFRS commits Fire Appliances and Fire Crews to incidents which are not real therefore deflecting resources away from real incidents in which people genuinely need our help.
"We would ask children and young people to act responsibly and think about the fact that it could be their friend or family that needs the Fire & Rescue Service but is unable to get immediate help as Fire Crews are out responding to what turns out to be a hoax call. We want children and young people to enjoy themselves on their school holidays but not to make hoax 999 calls as these are now easily traceable and can have serious consequences for the wider community."
