HOAX calls to emergency services are a waste of resources.
That was the tweet from Limerick City Fire and Rescue Service this Thursday night after they were sent to a hoax call at Thomond Bridge.
Gardai at Henry Street are now investigating the circumstances of Thursday evening’s call out which alerted three units of Limerick City Fire and Rescue service to attend Thomond Bridge shortly after 5:30pm.
At 5:29pm, a call was made that a person had entered the water near the bridge.
Scrambling crews to the scene within minutes, FireSwift was launched by the Fire Service and Swift Water Rescue swimmers were deployed but it soon became apparent that the call was a hoax.
Crew have just returned from hoax call to a River Rescue on Thomond Bridge. Hoax calls are a waste of resources. Gardai are investigating.
— Limerick Fire (@LimerickFire) July 27, 2017
Taking to social media, Limerick Fire posted messages on facebook and twitter that hoax calls were waste of resources.
Last year, Limerick Gardai said that they would use telecommunications tracking technology to identify hoax callers who send the city’s emergency services on bogus call-outs.
Chief Superintendent Dave Sheahan has confirmed to the Limerick Post that Gardaí can now trace callers by triangulating mobile phone positioning, voice recognition software and reviewing CCTV footage in areas where a public phone has been used.
“Once a complaint is received, we can use a number of assets to bring those involved before the courts. Even if the hoax callers try to hide their identity or position by removing the SIM card from a mobile before making the 999 call, we still have the ability to trace the call through the IMEI number,” Chief Supt Sheahan explained.
Former Garda and Metropolitan Mayor, councillor Sean Lynch, previously said that hoax calls could cost lives as there could be genuine cases in desperate need while the emergency services were responding to a scam
“Individuals playing in this “deceitful practice” should be held to account and “named and shamed”.
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