HOAX CALLER SPARKS ALERT
Police and fire crews race to tower block
A “sinister” hoax call sparked a major emergency response at an East Kilbride tower block on Monday night.
Fire, police and ambulance crews and a rapid response team raced to Calder Tower after a report of casualties trapped in a ‘serious fire’ on the 12th floor.
Shocked residents of the multi-storey looked on in horror as blue lights flooded the area at Mount Cameron Drive South.
However, as firefighters swept the building, it quickly became clear the alarming call was just a sick prank.
And East Kilbride fire chief Eddie Kelly yesterday blasted the culprit for putting lives in danger and wasting “critical” emergency resources. He said: “The fire service sent a full response unit which consisted of four appliances – two from East Kilbride, one from Cambuslang and one from Hamilton – along with a senior officer, two paramedics from the Scottish Ambulance Service, two police officers and the SORT team from Johnstone was mobilised.
“This left the whole of East Kilbride without any fire cover for an hour-and-a-half, endangering the lives of the local community.
“In light of the Grenfell Tower incident in London, the fire service are treating this incident very seriously and are assisting police to trace the call.”
The call was made by an adult male from a mobile phone in the Hamilton area
at around 9pm.
The caller stated that people were trapped within the property and that a serious blaze had engulfed a 12th-floor flat.
Residents were not evacuated but fire crews sealed off the building while a thorough inspection was carried out.
Families and elderly residents living on the 12th floor were given further reassurance with a home fire safety check.
Mr Kelly said: “Residents understandably got a fright after seeing the level of response and all the blue flashing lights. “The man living in the flat the call was made about was just as surprised as anyone else – so it was clear the house number had been selected by the caller at random. “We were able to determine relatively quickly that there was no fire but we couldn’t let anyone in or out of the building while we checked the lifts.
“This was a particularly unusual hoax call as it contained so much detail – generally they don’t and are more than likely to have been made by kids.
“Because of the serious nature it really was quite sinister.
“Our control room are working with the police to trace the phone and if the caller is caught they will be prosecuted.”
In the aftermath of the Grenfell fire tragedy, 21 highrise residential blocks in East Kilbride were inspected by South Lanarkshire Council to give further reassurances to residents that none were clad with the same highly
flammable materials.
The fire service confirmed they carry out two-yearly inspections of each block and an additional inspection when called out to incidents of fire.
Sending out a stark warning, Mr Kelly said: “Whoever did this needs to think of the consequences which could have been fatal.
“If there had been a genuine fire during that time we wouldn’t have been able to deal with it. We will pursue this with police to find out who done it.”
Inspector Bob Bryce from Police Scotland said: “This was a malicious call which took up the time of critical resources.
“Had there been an emergency incident elsewhere this would have been detrimental to the health and safety of the public.”