Fire Chief concerned about ‘significant’ increase in prank calls

The Guyana Fire Service is sounding the alarm over a worrying rise in prank calls to its 912 emergency line, warning that such actions waste resources and could cost lives.

“Prank calls [are] something that the Guyana Fire Service would have noticed a large increase over the recent times,” Fire Chief, Gregory Wickham said on Tuesday.

Speaking on this week’s episode of “Safeguarding Our Nation,” Wickham said that the increase in false reports in recent times has forced fire tenders and crews to respond to incidents that turn out to be hoaxes.

In cases of fire emergencies, persons in distress can call 912 for support.

Wickham said while this hotline has experienced some issues in the past, it has since been resolved, and now all cell phone users can access this number.

However, he reiterated that the growing number of prank calls is now becoming a major concern.

“Consider the waste of resources it takes to go to a call when there is eventually no need for the appliance to be there,” he said.

Wickham appealed to those engaging in prank calls to desist, stressing that they not only waste fuel and manpower but could also delay responses to real emergencies where lives and property are at stake.