NEARLY £4,500 has been spent on hoax calls by HWFRS (Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service) in the last three years.

Figures obtained through a Freedom Of Information request show the time spent on the calls, or what the service calls “malicious false alarms”, comes to a total of 20hrs 32mins.

A break down shows that in 2009 firefighters spent 10.35 hours being called out, in 2010 it 3.54 hours and last year it was just over the six hour mark with 6.02.

The times are taken from the time of the send message to the station and the time that the appliance books off at the incident as available for further duty.

Based on an average cost of £217 per hour for the attendance by pumping appliance inclusive of crew, the total cost is £4,457.

Speaking about the problem, HWFRS watch commander Chris Wainwright said: “We treat all hoax calls extremely seriously.

“They divert resources away from genuine emergencies, and precious minutes lost really can mean the difference between life or death for someone in trouble.”

He confirmed that calls to the emergency services are voice recorded and it only takes a few moments to find out the location of the caller and this will be passed to the police if a hoax call is believed to have been made.

HWFRS also works with service providers who can deactivate any mobile phones known to have been used to make hoax calls.

“Emergency calls are closely monitored and we liaise with the local policing teams to investigate any calls believed to be malicious,” he added.

“Anyone making a hoax call should be aware that they are committing a criminal offence, and if caught, could face court proceedings, a fine of up to £5,000 or even six months in prison.”