Malaysia’s Fire and Rescue Department riled by prank calls

JOHOR BAHRU - It was midnight. A call had been made to the Fire and Rescue Department about a forest fire in Tanjung Bungah, Penang.

Firefighters rushed to the scene only to discover there was no such blaze.

On average, the department gets a prank call every other day. Many of these calls are usually made about an hour before or after midnight.

Its exasperated director-general Nor Hisham Mohammad is now calling for a multi-pronged approach to deal with the problem.

“There should be stricter enforcement, use of technological enhancement, more public education and also operational improvements,” he said.

He added the department had wasted much time, manpower and unnecessary burning of fuel in attending to such calls, which had been increasing about 30 per cent in the past few years.

In 2023, the department received 141 prank calls, which then went up to 196 in 2024.

“Last year, we received a total of 255 such calls,” Mr Nor Hisham said.

As at mid-April, it recorded a total of 63 cases.

Mr Nor Hisham said that each prank call caused the department about 60 minutes of wasted time, which includes mobilisation of men and equipment, travel time to the location, on site verification and their trip back to the station.

“For each call that requires rushing to a fire scene, we would mobilise a team which includes a fire truck that consumes about 5.73 litres of diesel each minute.

“Normally, our mobilisation will include a fire engine and an ambulance, which is usually manned by seven personnel,” he told The Star.

Mr Nor Hisham stressed that such prank calls temporarily reduces the department’s availability to attend to a genuine case elsewhere.

“This can be critical if another emergency occurs at the same time,” he said, adding that most of the prank calls the department has received so far in 2026 had been for bush fires and building fires.

Citing examples, he said that on April 3, the department received a call at 11.13pm about a forest and hill fire in Tanjung Bungah in Penang, which the department promptly responded to and turned out to be false.

“On March 25, we got a call at 10.08pm about a fire at the City Hall training institute in Kuala Lumpur, which also turned out to be a prank.”

Most of the prank calls were made at night, with Kedah and Penang topping the list with the most number of such calls in 2026.

Asked about the profile of these pranksters, Mr Nor Hisham said that there was no dominant demographic pattern.

“Maybe they are influenced by easy accessibility of communication devices or anonymity when using mobile phones or due to behavioural factors such as curiosity or misuse.”

Asked about nabbing these offenders, Mr Nor Hisham said that the jurisdiction was mainly under the Communications Ministry and the Malaysian Comm­unication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

“Under Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act, those making false ­emergency calls are liable to a maximum fine of RM500,000 (S$160,925), jail time of up to two years, or both.” THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK