Hoax Calling: The Dangers And Preventions

Hoax calling: The dangers and preventions

by

Kerry Lawrence

Making hoax calls to the Fire Brigade is extremely irresponsible and dangerous; as I’m sure many of you reading this are already aware. Sadly there are thousands of irresponsible individuals out there who aren’t aware or simply don’t care about the danger they put people in by making hoax calls. In 2007 alone the Fire Services attended 21,000 incidents across the country that were the result of hoax calls and in total there were nearly 38,000 fraud calls made.

Prank calls of this nature put members of the public in serious danger. When fire crews are busy responding to false alarms their resources can’t be used to help people who are genuinely in danger. Hoax calls are also very costly for the tax payer, with The Times estimating that 42 million a year is wasted by the Fire Service responding to these types of calls.

Here at Active Fire Management we spend a lot of time consulting businesses on how they can improve fire safety on their commercial properties. A major element to our consultation is ensuring the accessibility of fire exits in your property. The reason we do this is because time is your most valuable commodity in a fire. Extra minutes or seconds exposed to smoke can have serious and even fatal consequences. Even with fire exits and sufficient fire equipment in place, hoax callers can still put you and your staff in serious danger.

The fire service’s response times are dramatically increased if they have to spend extra time dealing with hoax calls.. A horrific example of this occurred in Lancashire in 1996 when five year old Jason Walsh was killed in a fire after crews were unable to get to him in time because they had been responding to a hoax call.

So what can we do to stop hoax calls? The majority of callers are children and teenagers, so a certain amount of responsibility rests with parents. If you have young children we would recommend teaching them, from a young age, about the consequences of hoax calling. Your local fire service would happily allow you to visit the station where they can speak to fire fighters and learn about the repercussions within a friendly but authoritative environment. Children, particularly young boys, respond really well because they idolise fire crews and will naturally respect the information passed on to them.

If your children are older we would recommend showing them stories in the papers, as well as news coverage on the TV. Most teenagers’ behaviour is strongly influenced by their peers, so arranging time for your children and their friends to learn about the risks of hoax calling together could be extremely beneficial.

There are strict punishments for individuals found guilty of hoax calling. The emergency services make a record of all the calls they receive; any suspect phone numbers are passed on to the police for them to make further enquires. Most guilty callers who are caught face a fine of up to 5,000 and a criminal record; however repeat offenders can expect a custodial sentence of around six months. Reminding your children of the punishments they could face if caught and the long term consequences should hopefully deter them.

The Fire Service understands that a minority of young people, for whatever reason, are not educated on the risks surrounding hoax calling. This is why they actively run national advertising and promotional campaigns, outlining the dangers.

As well as running advertising campaigns, the Avon Fire Service has also taken a more direct approach to preventing hoax calls. They have set up a system where phone operators send text messages to mobile phones that have been used for hoax calls. When a phone is first used they are sent a warning message saying if they continue they will have their phone cut off. If the same mobile is for a second time, the operator passes on the details to the relevant mobile phone provider, who then disconnects the phone. The scheme has been an absolute success, with 70% of people who received the first text message have resisted in making further calls.

Sadly there isn’t anything one individual or organisation can do to prevent hoax calling altogether. However, it’s important that collectively we remain vigilant and at all times and work towards identifying criminals in your local area. In simple terms, hoax calls highlight just how important it is to have comprehensive fire procedures in your work place.

Although we would never suggest that you should try to take on the work of the Fire Service, there are a number of steps you can take to help save them valuable time in the event of a fire. For example, if you appoint a responsible person to call a register of everyone in your building at a prearranged meeting place, fire fighters will know straight away if someone is missing. This may not sound like a lot, but if a fire crew is already running late due to a hoax call, having out this kind of information immediately will compensate lost time.

If you would like information or training on how to improve fire safety at your work place, please get it touch with us to discuss our fire protection services. We can arrange to carry out a proper fire risk assessment that will work out what needs to be improved in your workplace to make it safer for you and your staff.

Kerry Lawrence is a director at

Active Fire Management

. Active Fire Management provides a variety of

fire safety services

including fire training and fire risk consultancy.

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Hoax calling: The dangers and preventions