Wollongong firefighters, police, paramedics called to hoax emergencies

Just after midnight on Monday a triple-0 call was received to report a man had stabbed his sister, she was bleeding profusely and he was threatening to burn down their Osborne Street house in Wollongong.

The call prompted a multi-agency response with police, paramedics and firefighters rushing to the home, only to find its residents fast asleep.

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Two hours earlier, at 10.20pm on Sunday, firefighters received a triple-0 call that the house next door to where the alleged stabbing occurred was on fire. When they arrived there was no fire.

In the past 60 days Fire and Rescue NSW crews has received 11 "malicious calls" to this street, nine of those have been to these two properties.

"At seven of them we've had multi-station responses," FRNSW Inspector Andrew Erlik said.

The calls have been traced to a payphone in Sydney.

The hoax calls are not only illegal, they're putting lives at risk, emergency service crews say.

"The police think 'we've got something serious' and they send the appropriate resources," Insp Erlik said.

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At the 'stabbing' call on Monday firefighters from Wollongong and Warrawong stations went, meaning if there was a real emergency in those areas firefighters from further afield - possibly Bulli or Dapto - would have to be called.

"The consequences for these services being tied up could be fatal. It could mean the loss of life due to delays," Insp Erlik said.

As an example, he said an extra few minutes could mean the difference between a fire being contained to a room, or destroying your entire house.

Jacinda Lumtin lives in the home where the stabbing was alleged to have occurred, and said it's distressing to be woken night after night by police, fire and ambulance crews called to fake emergencies.

She said Monday night's hoax call was the biggest, with six or seven police and two fire trucks called to her home.

"It's a bit scary because you don't know what's going on," she said. "It's happened four or five times in the last two weeks.

"I'm worried that if someone does call in for real they're not going to take it seriously, it's like the boy who cried wolf."

NSW Ambulance Inspector Norm Rees said emergency crews are obliged to treat every call as an emergency.

"Not only are we putting people at risk by responding under lights and sirens, you're depriving the community of that resource," he directed his anger towards the caller of the fake emergencies.

Unfortunately hoax calls are nothing new for emergency services, Insp Rees said.

"I've had calls where they've put old chairs or boxes on the road to see if we run into it," he said.

NSW Police declined to comment on the hoax calls to Osborne Street, and a spokeswoman said at this stage no report has been made to officers.

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"Hoax or non-genuine calls to emergency services are a severe drain on resources, especially where it requires a multi-agency response," she said.

"While a crew responds to a hoax situation, there may be someone genuinely in need of urgent assistance, and they might have to wait, which could potentially cost someone their life."

Improper use of emergency call service is a crime in the Criminal Code Act 1995, with a penalty of three years in jail.

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