THE voices of hoax fire callers are to be broadcast for the first time
as part of a continuing campaign to stamp out the menace.
In a unique partnership between Strathclyde Fire Brigade and Westsound
Radio, tape recordings of people who have made malicious calls to the
fire service will go out on the air.
If the pilot project in Ayrshire is successful, it will be tested in
other parts of the region.
The initiative has come from the brigade's West Command based in Ayr
where Assistant Firemaster David Kennedy disclosed that malicious calls
represent 22% of all calls received by the brigade.
He warned: ''The net is closing on those who carry out this crime. We
intend, with the help of the police, to catch them and bring them to
justice. This is a crime and an anti-social practice and sooner or later
people will die because of it.''
Earlier this year a schoolboy died in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, when he
was struck by a fire appliance answering a call which turned out to be
malicious.
Between April 1993 and March 1994, 12,837 malicious calls were
received and the cost to the region was more than #3.5m. Conviction on
summary procedure can mean a #2500 fine or three months' imprisonment
while, if the charges are on indictment, the penalties are unlimited.
Mr Kennedy praised the assistance given to the initiative by police in
Ayr and Kilmarnock, local procurators-fiscal and the Crown Office.
He added: ''Since March of this year, 5766 malicious calls have been
received, 1055 of them within the West Command area. This is a totally
unacceptable figure and one which society must not ignore.
''We answer all calls as though they were genuine and thus manpower
and resources are wasted. Worse still, the lives of firefighters and
members of the public are put at risk. If a crew and an appliance are
answering a hoax call, they may well be out of position for a genuine
incident.''
Mr Kennedy was fire officer in charge at the scene of the West Street
bus tragedy in Glasgow last Sunday and he is in no doubt that further
lives could have been lost if emergency services had not responded as
quickly as they had.
Last night listeners to Westsound heard a man making a 999 call
claiming that a school was on fire in the New Farm Loch area of
Kilmarnock. The call was instantly traced by sophisticated technology to
a phone box nearby but so far no-one has been traced in connection with
the call.
Mr Kennedy added: ''I hope that if someone recognises this voice, or
any of those which are broadcast, they will get in touch with our
special hotline. We will then pass the information on to the police for
investigation and possible prosecution.''
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