The Figures
From 1st June 2010 to 30th June 2011, 1397 malicious call were received by Lancashire’s Control Room operators. These operators are trained to challenge every call received into the control room to establish whether it is a genuine incident or of a malicious nature. By successfully challenging hoax callers, fire cover can be maintained throughout the county and decreasing the response times to genuine incidents. In addition, the control room operators prevented firefighters being sent to incidents that do not exist and as a consequence, this saved the Service in the region of £275,000.
The Dangers
Hoax calls result in fire engines being sent to incidents that are not real, thus placing other genuine caller’s lives in danger.
In 1996, a young schoolboy tragically lost his life in Blackpool in a house fire due to a hoax call. The two nearest fire engines were sent to Blackpool Victoria Hospital, after a hoax call was made. This meant that fire engines had to come from fire station further away to attend the real incident, which drastically increased the response time.
What The Law Says
The law states that people found guilty of making repeat and persistent malicious calls, a maximum of a £50,000 fine and upto 51 weeks imprisonment can be issued.
In 2009, the Service worked with Lancashire Constabulary to prosecute a malicious caller who had made in excess of 200 calls over a two week period. Following the investigation and subsequent court appearance, the caller was found guilty and was sentenced to 12 weeks in prison.
How We Receive Calls
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service’s Control Room receives a large number of emergency calls on a daily basis. It is the job of the Control Room Operators to process the information gained during these calls and mobilise the appropriate resources. If the operator believes that the call is not genuine, they will employ a call challenge procedure where by they will interrogate the caller to ascertain if the incident is real. This process ties up the control operator which prevents them from answering genuine emergency 999 calls.
Landlines
When a malicious call is received from a landline, the control operator can trace the landline to the property/premise it is registered to. LFRS control is able to pinpoint the location it was made from. It may then be possible to send the police to the location of the call. Some malicious callers try to hide their number by using 141 – This Does Not Work
Mobile Phones
When a malicious call is received from a mobile phone, LFRS control has access to information that can be used to find the exact location of the caller. If a mobile phone is used to make a malicious call, LFRS can make a request to bar the caller’s mobile phone via their service provider. This prevents the mobile from sending or receiving calls or SMS messages.
All calls received by LFRS Control, regardless of how they’re passed, are recorded
Be Aware – if you make a hoax call – we have recorded your voice.