Hoax caller condemned by Keighley fire chief (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Hoax caller condemned by Keighley fire chief

12:00pm Sunday 17th February 2013 in News By Claire Armstrong, T&A Reporter

Malicious callers who sent firefighters to a false alarm nearly delayed their response to a genuine house fire early today.

At 5.24am, a call was made to emergency services claiming there was a fire at the Globe Inn pub on Parkwood Street, Keighley.

But when firefighters from Keighley and Bingley rushed to the scene, they discovered the call had been a hoax.

Only ten minutes later, the genuine call came in about a blaze at a home in Drury Road, Keighley.

Keighley crew manager David Knox said: “I had just finished dealing with the malicious one and we were able to go to the other fire.

“But we could have been a few minutes late at that job.”

He said now Keighley had only one fire engine, the station was relying more and more on help from neighbouring fire stations.

This meant while Keighley firefighters were dealing with hoaxes, they could not attend genuine calls and crews from further away would have to be sent out.

Mr Knox said at Drury Road, a cooker had been on fire but the occupants of the home had managed to get themselves out safely.