A HOAX caller claimed a person was trapped inside a burning house in Burnley this morning.
15 firefighters, police and paramedics rushed to the property in Grey Street, Daneshouse, at around 3am.
The caller reported that a person was trapped in the property and was in urgent need of help.
But when the emergency crews arrived there was no fire.
It comes as figures show the number of malicious calls to fire stations looks set to double.
Last year, 20 hoax calls were made to Burnley Fire Station.
However, since January this year, fire crews have already responded to 10 malicious calls.
Crew manager Tony Spencer said: "It is a really stupid and irresponsible thing to do.
"While these fire crews were looking for a fictitious blaze, they are being diverted away from dealing with a real incident elsewhere in the area.
"Calls like this are extremely dangerous and can have very serious consequences.
"They put lives at risk as they are a drain on our resources."
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