Hoax fire brigade calls cost city €4m

Hoax calls to Cork city fire brigade could have cost the city more than €4m over the last five years.

New figures show almost a quarter of all the false alarm calls made to the city’s fire service between 2007 and 2011 were made with malicious intent.

With each call-out costing up to €1,000, it is estimated the malicious calls could have cost a staggering €4.6m, as well as wasting valuable emergency service time and resources.