Fire Service angry at prank calls

An "idiot with a cellphone" who called the Rotorua Fire Service to three fake incidents is lucky someone wasn't killed because of his stupid prank, fire officers say.

Senior station officer Colin Rolfe described the prank calls as malicious and said they could easily have cost lives and property. The caller rang from a cellphone three times on Friday night claiming there were fires at Ngongotaha School, Jackson Rd and Hamurana Rd.

Mr Rolfe said what made it worse was that the false incidents were all out of the city and took significant time to get to.

The Fire Northern Communications centre was last night attempting to block the cellphone, and this morning a Fire Service spokesman said there had been no further prank calls.

Mr Rolfe said if the caller could be tracked, charges would be laid. However, if it was a prepaid cellphone, the user might not be traceable.

The prank calls are not believed to be related to the spate of arsons in the city.

"It is probably someone living in Ngongotaha who is getting a buzz out of hearing the sirens and seeing the engines race past," he said.

- NZPA