Residents who make prank calls would be tracked down and arrested, Divisional Officer III Ebenezer Yenzu, the Public Relations Officer for the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), Tema Regional Command, has said.
He noted that the GNFS continued to see a significant number of hoax calls and have put mechanisms in place to address the situation.
DO III Yenzu said travelling to a site based on a hoax call with the limited resources is worrying and has an impact on the operations of the service.
“Imagine that after leaving Tema for Sakumono, we finally realise that the call was a joke, but by this time Tema Community Two had experienced a true emergency.
“For instance, millions of Ghana cedis worth of property would have been lost before we get to the real fire scene,” he said.
He warned Ghanaians, in particular the youth, to refrain from such bad behaviour because those arrested would face appropriate punishment.
DO III Yenzu said some persistent hoax callers were detected and dealt with in the past and emphasised that plans are in place to make sure that hoax callers are arrested and dealt with appropriately.
He said investigations have shown that most hoax callers are teenagers who find the prank calls amusing.
GNA
