Hoax calls for Dublin Fire Brigade on the increase
By Maurice Garvey
HOAX calls to Dublin Fire Brigade stations in South Dublin County Council have increased over the last three years.
DFB have logged 28 hoax calls in the county this year – up until October 25 – three of which were reported to gardai.
‘Time taken up with hoax calls takes away from the time they serve communities’
This is up slightly from 19 such incidents in 2017 and 26 in 2018.
The figures were provided to Councillor Emer Higgins (FG), at the monthly council meeting this week.
“To be honest, I feel the numbers are quite high,” said Cllr Higgins.
“Any hoax call is one too many. DFB and gardai provide life-saving services for the community, and time taken up with hoax calls takes away from the time they serve communities.”
Cllr Higgins asked for information on hoax calls from 2017, 2018 and 2019 to date, reported hoax calls to gardai and prosecutions.
In response, the council said: “DFB log incidents as either reporting ‘False Alarm, Good Intent’ (FAGI) or as ‘Malicious False Alarms’ (MFA).
“DFB do not have records on prosecutions for these incidents as these would be dealt with by An Garda Síochána.”
Figures provided by the council indicated 134 FAGIs were reported in the county this year up until October 25 – as opposed to 147 last year and 61 in 2017.
The figures showed 95 MFA’s for the whole of DFB in 2019 to date, with 28 such incidents related to the South Dublin county area.
