999 call pranksters putting lives at risk

Fire chiefs have warned that it's only a

matter of time before one of these calls coincides with a genuine emergency.

The latest call happened on Sunday - the busiest day of the year so far for fire crews in Winchester.

City crews have been called out to three identical false alarms in a fortnight, wasting more than £600 of taxpayers' money.

The calls have all been made from the same phone box outside The Ship Inn, Wales Street, and always report a heath fire on the Winnall Moors.

Leading Firefighter Paul Derrick said: "I suspect that it is the same person who is doing this.

"Sadly, this is becoming increasingly common in this area. They are putting people's lives at risk by continuing to make false calls to the fire brigade."

The latest wind-up was received at 7.30pm on Sunday evening.

As a suspected hoax call, the fire control

centre sent a single appliance to the scene but yet again there was no blaze when firefighters arrived.

LF Derrick, pictured, added: "The problem is that we go up there, have a walk around for about half an hour to check if there is a fire on the moors. In the meantime there could be a property fire in town and we could have wasted precious time.

"We treat every call as if it's the real thing. At this time of year it's very feasible to have a lot of heath on fire in the Winnall Moors areas."

A spokesman for Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service added: "If we or the police catch somebody making hoax calls they will be prosecuted. The courts take a very dim view of it.

"Normally, offenders receive a hefty fine or community service. If it's a repeated offence and it's a young person responsible, they can be sent to a young offenders' institution.

"With the sophisticated telephone systems now available to us, we can not only see the number of the caller on British Telecom lines but also on mobile phones. We also have an agreement with mobile phone operators to ensure hoaxers will be blacklisted."