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Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Correspondent
THE Bulawayo Fire Brigade yesterday expressed concern over false alarm reports it is receiving from residents saying such acts are causing a strain on its resources.

Bulawayo Chief Fire Officer Mr Richard Peterson told The Chronicle they would engage the police to deal with some cases.

“It is unfortunate that there are people who call the brigade and give false information on emergency incidents. After receiving the reports we respond because we don’t doubt any call that we receive. But we are sometimes shocked to discover that some of the calls will be false alarms or false malicious reports,” said Mr Peterson.

“We are concerned about false malicious alarm cases. I want to urge members of our community that they should not raise false alarm reports when there are no such cases. The public should know that resources (time and fuel) would be used to attend to those incidents yet there would be none.”

He said in some instances the brigade is forced to forego some desperate situations as a result of false alarm reports.

“Sometimes it’s difficult to identify the callers. And you’ll find that sometimes we engage the police to apprehend these culprits, because one, they would be wasting our time and two, there could be an emergency somewhere else but because they would have called first we will respond to them,” said Mr Peterson.

He appealed to members of the public to respect the emergency services.

Mr Peterson said during the recent politically motivated violent protests, emergency services were subjected to attacks from rioters.

The Fire Brigade, he said, had to be escorted by police officers and in some cases they failed to attend to some emergency cases.

“Emergency services employees should be respected while they execute their duties because their duty is to respond to rescue emergency situations. They can even attend to rioters when they are injured. But we encourage members of the public to exercise restraint and avoid venting their anger on other citizens, destroying their property,” said Mr Peterson.

He said after the protests, the fire brigade could not quantify the value of property lost in the looting and vandalism attacks although damage is running into millions.

— @nqotshili