Over 500 hoax fire calls made last year

One-third of all hoax fire calls were reported by the two local authorities in Cork. Cork City Fire Service battling gorse fires in The Glen area. File Picture.

One in seven calls to fire brigades last year were false alarms, and fire services reported a 12% increase nationwide in the number of mistaken or hoax callouts.

Figures provided by local authorities show false alarms accounted for just over 14% of almost 41,000 calls for assistance in 2019.