LIVES are being put at risk because firefighters have had to cover more than 150 hoax 999 calls across Wiltshire, new figures show.

Freedom of Information request figures show that between January 2015 to April 2018, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Rescue crews attended 162 malicious calls across the county.

Firefighters attended 12 malicious calls in Trowbridge, another 12 in Chippenham in that period six in Bradford on Avon, five in Calne and Melksham, four in Corsham and Marlborough and two in Devizes and Malmesbury.

The fire service said that on average a crew of five attending an incident for once hour, on a 10-mile round trip would cost £125.

This could mean that more than £20,000 of the public’s money has been wasted.

Station watch manager at Trowbridge, Guy Tadman, said: “The main issue that we have is that we are unable to be in two places at once - that means that people’s lives could be in danger.

“We have a finite amount of fire engines and resources which means if our team is tied up at a hoax call, we cannot attend a fire or a car crash elsewhere.

“If our resources are out dealing with malicious calls we are unable to tackle one with a more serious problem.”

“The cost of it is secondary. Using our resources in the correct way is so important as people really need us.

“I have attended many calls where we have attend hoax calls and there has been nothing there.

“Please bear in mind not to put in malicious calls.”

By far and away Swindon firefighters had to go to the most hoax calls during that period, with 63 separate incidents.

Group Manager Dave Jacomb said: “When crews attend an incident that is found to be a hoax, they will advise Fire Control, who will then pass the details to the police.

"Our Control room system alerts the operator if a 999 call is being made from a number previously known to have made hoax calls; the operator can choose to review and the call may be challenged. "Where a pattern of hoax calls is identified, operators can create a warning prompt around a specific address if deemed appropriate.

"As a Service, we always support the police with any information we can provide to support their investigations into hoax callers.”