A 17-YEAR-OLD hoax caller who twice claimed people were trapped in a burning house has been caught.

The malicious calls made by the youth from Clitheroe cost the Lancashire fire service almost £1,800 after it deployed firefighters to the scene of the alleged incidents.

The youth made both calls from a phone box in Pendle Road, Clitheroe, in November and December last year each time claiming he had witnessed a house fire.

He was caught after fire chiefs examined CCTV footage from local businesses and listened to voice recordings.

After he was questioned by detectives the youth admitted making the calls citing curiosity and peer pressure from friends as the reason.

He appeared in court and pleaded guilty to the charge of making a call which gave a false alarm of fire.

He received a nine-month referral to the youth offending team.

Ribble Valley station manager Liam Wilson, praised the investigation.

He said: “Malicious calls can cost lives, due to resources being needlessly deployed rather than being available for genuine incidents.

“Neither the fire service or Lancashire Police will tolerate this form of behaviour and they will continue to actively work together to take whatever actions necessary to prosecute anyone involved.”

Last year 1,389 hoax calls were made to the Lancashire Fire Service. Fire chiefs said this type of call could have a devastating impact.

Mr Wilson said: “A hoaxer most probably took a life in 1996, when he sent fire crews racing to Victoria Hospital, Blackpool on a false fire call, just as fire erupted in the house of five-year-old Jason Walsh.

“Though the back-up fire crews were there in under four minutes, precious seconds were needlessly lost by the hoax call which might possibly have made the difference. Jason died in hospital later that day.”