ARSONISTS and hoax 999 callers in Bolton have cost the fire brigade a staggering £3.4 million in just one 12 month period.

The figure was revealed as fire chiefs hit out at arsonists and hoax callers for wasting valuable resources and manpower.

They warned that someone could be killed if a fire appliance was attending a hoax or nuisance call when a genuine 999 call came in.

The £3.4 million bill amounts to 29 per cent of Bolton's annual fire budget of £11,635,380.

Each call-out to nuisance fires - rubbish, grass and skip fires deliberately started - costs £1,650. And the cost of fire crews going out on a hoax call is £400.

In the year to this March, crews across Bolton went out 2,410 times on either hoax calls or minor incidents of arson, such as rubbish fires - an average of 201 calls every month.

Of that total, 473 were hoax calls.

Station officer Dave Pimblett, of Bolton Central fire station, said the fire authority was determined to fight back.

He said: "It is very frustrating. The whole range of incidents are a great waste of our resources and time.

"Anyone making malicious calls should know their numbers will be traced wherever they're phoning from.

"The nuisance calls are a great drain on our resources. We have now begun getting phone companies to bar their phones, which means they can't call anyone. It is a good way of fighting back."

Bolton fire commander Vinny Simpson said the public had a role to play in reducing the number of malicious fires.

"If someone is going to walk along and set fire to conifer trees there's nothing we can really do" he said.

"Most normal, decent people know it's wrong. One big issue we have is with wheelie bins. We are asking residents to put out bins on the morning of the collection.

"We understand if they can't because some collections come very early. But once the binmen have been, bins should be put away out of sigh

"Also, bins should be kept away from property where a potential fire could spread, or the bin could be used to break into someone's home.

"When a wheelie bin is set alight, it burns dramatically and has to be put out slowly and with real care. It is essential residents don't leave them out night after night."

He said firefighters regularly visit schools to spell-out the dangers and costs of starting nuisance fires and making hoax calls.