Dundee school pupils have been warned that hoax calls to the fire brigade could cost lives.
Dundee City Council heard on Monday evening that 11 “malicious” instances of Dundee school pupils needlessly calling emergency services were recorded.
Between October and December the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service were called to city schools 11 times after pupils sounded fire alarms for no reason.
In all, 32 malicious false alarms were reported during the three-month period.
Of the 32, 11 false alarms were recorded from city schools.
Broughty Ferry councillor Laurie Bidwell said on Monday evening some of these instances were only reported to Dundee City Council after teachers uncovered an online contest between two schools to see who could rank up the most false alarms.
Pupils from the schools in question, believed to be Harris Academy and Baldragon Academy, allegedly challenged each other to sound as many false alarms as they could.
Mr Bidwell described the reports as “very serious” and confirmed that he had reported his concerns to the head teachers of both schools.
Graham MacKay, from the Harris Academy Parent Council, said he was unaware of the instances, but said the issue had been added to the parent council’s agenda at a meeting held this week.
Mr MacKay added that he has been in correspondence with the school’s head teacher Barry Millar, who confirmed a spate of fire alarms had taken place, but that the issue has eased in recent weeks.
Dundee children and families services convener Stewart Hunter however insisted after contacting both schools there is “no substance” to Mr Bidwell’s reports.
Councillor Hunter said: “Both schools are unaware.
“There’s no evidence to support it.
“It’s disappointing that something which was said in committee is not true.
“The time spent contacting the schools would have been better spent doing something else.”
Commenting on the importance for all call outs to be genuine, a spokesperson for The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has attended 27 false alarms at schools in Dundee since July 2016.
“When firefighters have to attend false alarms they could be taken away from genuine emergencies where lives are at risk.
“An emergency is very time critical and malicious calls have a potential to delay us.
“Firefighters have visited the local schools and given advice on the dangers in getting involved in hoax calls.
“Those responsible for malicious calls need to ask themselves how they would feel if someone was killed or injured because firefighters were tied-up at a hoax incident caused by their reckless behaviour.”