Our ref: FOI 23 140

 

Good Afternoon,

 

Thank you for your request for information in relation to hoax calls.

 

We received your request on 28^th September 2023 and we are dealing with
it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We will supply
you with our findings as soon as possible, on or before 26^th October
2023.

 

If you have any queries regarding this request, please contact me
directly, quoting the reference number above.

 

Kind regards

 

Debbie Lowe

Information Governance Officer

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service

Five Rivers Health & Wellbeing Centre

Hulse Road | Salisbury | SP1 3NR

01722 691315

dwfire.org.uk

@DWFireRescue

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Good Morning Cat,

 

Further to your request of 28^th September 2023, which we have treated as
a Freedom of Information request, please find below our response to the
information you requested.

 

Query and Response:

 1. Please could you provide the information on how many hoax calls the
fire service has received in the last five years?
How many hoax calls have been received per month in 2023?

Within the service we class a  hoax call as a call we don’t attend because
we believe its malicious, if we attend it and determine it was not a
genuine call, then it becomes a malicious false alarm.

 

Attended Not Attended Total
January 2023 18 10 28
February 2023 21 7 28
April 2023 19 4 23
May 2023 19 6 25
June 2023 14 8 22
July 2023 16 9 25
August 2023 24 4 28
September 2023 14 2 16

The table above shows that:

• In January 2023, DWFRS received 28 malicious calls.  Of those calls we
attended 18 only for the crews to determine it was not a genuine call
and we did not attend 10 as the our control room were confident enough
that these were hoax calls.
• In February 2023, DWFRS received 28 malicious calls.  Of those calls
we attended 21 only for the crews to determine it was not a genuine
call and we did not attend 7 as the our control room were confident
enough that these were hoax calls.
• In April 2023, DWFRS received 23 malicious calls.  Of those calls we
attended 19 only for the crews to determine it was not a genuine call
and we did not attend 10 as the our control room were confident enough
that these were hoax calls.
• In May 2023, DWFRS received 25 malicious calls.  Of those calls we
attended 19 only for the crews to determine it was not a genuine call
and we did not attend 6 as the our control room were confident enough
that these were hoax calls.
• In June 2023, DWFRS received 22 malicious calls.  Of those calls we
attended 14 only for the crews to determine it was not a genuine call
and we did not attend 8 as the our control room were confident enough
that these were hoax calls.
• In July 2023, DWFRS received 25 malicious calls.  Of those calls we
attended 16 only for the crews to determine it was not a genuine call
and we did not attend 9 as the our control room were confident enough
that these were hoax calls.
• In August 2023, DWFRS received 28 malicious calls.  Of those calls we
attended 24 only for the crews to determine it was not a genuine call
and we did not attend 4 as the our control room were confident enough
that these were hoax calls.
• In September 2023, DWFRS received 16 malicious calls.  Of those calls
we attended 14 only for the crews to determine it was not a genuine
call and we did not attend 2 as the our control room were confident
enough that these were hoax calls.

 

 2. In the last five years how much has this cost the fire service?

This is dependent on whether the appliance is was crewed by a wholetime
appliance or by our on – call crews,  A wholetime appliance attending
could result in crews being divert from other duties (training, working
within the community or other duty), but would not incur additional costs
to the service.  An appliance crewed by on – call fire fighters would cost
the service additional money to attend the malicious call.

 

Oct 2018-Sept 2023

The service attended 898 malicious false alarm incidents over the 5-year
period.  This resulted in 878 wholetime appliances being sent and 398
On-Call appliances being sent.  The approximate cost to the Service for
the On-Call appliances being sent to these incidents is £108,200.      

                                                                                 

Costs supplied are only approximate and are calculated using an average
cost per incident.

 3. What has been the cost of this per month in 2023?

January 2023 £2,174.88
February 2023 £4,893.48
March 2023 £2,446.74
April 2023 £2,174.88
May 2023 £2,990.46
June 2023 £2,446.74
July 2023 £2,174.88
August 2023 £2,174.88
September 2023 £1,903.02

 

Costs supplied are only approximate and are calculated using an average
cost per incident.

 

 4. How much time, on average, do hoax calls add to delays for getting
help to genuine calls?

          Hoax calls do not delay getting help to genuine calls, all calls
are treated as an emergency.

 

 

I trust that this answers your queries, however, if you are unhappy with
the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make
a complaint or request a review of the decision, you should write to the
Information Governance Team, Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service,
Five Rivers Health and Wellbeing Centre, Hulse Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire
SP1 3NR within 40 working days of receipt of the original
decision. Alternatively, you can
email [1][email address] .

 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint or review, you
may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a
decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have
exhausted the complaints procedure at the Fire Authority. The ICO can be
contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

0303 123 1113

 

[2]www.ico.org.uk

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Debbie Lowe

Information Governance Officer

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service

01722 691315

dwfire.org.uk

@DWFireRescue

Internet e-mail is not to be regarded as a secure means of communication.
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service monitors all Internet e-mail
activity and content. This communication and any files transmitted with it
is intended for the person(s) to whom it is addressed and may be
confidential, legally privileged and protected in law. Unauthorised use,
disclosure, copying or distribution is prohibited. Please notify the
sender if received in error then delete it from your system. Opinions
expressed in this communication may not be official policy. Whilst every
effort is made to carefully choose websites that we may provide links to,
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service cannot guarantee the standards
of these sites. Virus Disclaimer: Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue
Service takes all reasonable steps to ensure electronic communications are
protected from virus infection but cannot accept any liability for any
loss or damage sustained as a result of software viruses. Intended
recipients are responsible for carrying out virus checking as is necessary
before opening any attachments.

References

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1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/