Lives were "endangered" through hoax Falmouth call

9:29am Friday 8th August 2008

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Lives were put in danger last night after a hoax call in the Falmouth area, the town’s fire service has warned.

At 8pm yesterday a 999 call was made to the fire control room from a person claiming there was a house fire with people trapped inside.

Two fire crews were sent, along with the police and an ambulance crew. When they arrived they found that the alert was a hoax.

A spokesperson for the fire service said: “Hoax calls endanger the lives of others. If a fire crew is attending a hoax call they are not available to attend a real emergency.

“While attending this incident the resources were not available for any real life threatening incidents in the area.”

Police are now investigating the call, with a view to potentially prosecuting the caller.

The spokesperson said that if a fire brigade control operator suspected a call was suspicious, the caller would be “challenged” by being asked: “This call is being recorded, if it is a false alarm we will inform the police – do you wish to continue?”

The telephone number the call is made from is instantly known by the operator and all calls to the fire brigade control room are recorded.

It is illegal to make a hoax emergency call and anyone prosecuted faced a potential fine of up to £5,000 or six months in prison, the spokesperson added.