FIRE chiefs have voiced their “serious concerns” about a potentially deadly social media craze which has engulfed two local schools.

Dreghorn Fire Chief Gregor McPherson this week warned pupils at Greenwood and Kilwinning Academies after a mindless online 'game’ via Facebook and Twitter led to several false alarm call-outs for local fire services.

Last week, there were SEVEN false alarms at Greenwood along with a deliberate fire in the school’s dry riser box which is used to assist officers with putting out fires.

The bogus calls put serious strain on the services at Dreghorn Fire Station which could have prevented fire fighters from reaching another incident, potentially putting lives at risk.

The craze spread to social media sites Facebook and Twitter, but many pupils were quick to blast their classmates taking part in the game which simply involves seeing who can set off the most fire alarms.

Stark warnings have now been issued to pupils about the dangers of the reckless game and how those who continue to take part could face criminal charges.

Gregor McPherson, (pictured) Station Commander at Dreghorn Fire Station said: “On Tuesday, March 25 there were three alarm activations within the school as well as a deliberate fire within a dry riser box designed to assist fire fighters to get water onto a fire quickly.

“Following the incidents on Tuesday there was a further three false alarms at the school on Wednesday and one more on Thursday.

“Of all the incidents that occurred over the three days only one of the alarm activations was caused by a genuine false alarm. It would appear that there was an ongoing social media frenzy relating to which school could attain the highest record for false alarms.” Station Commander McPherson is also the Fire Investigator for the Procurator Fiscal and insists that if pupils continue to take part in the craze then they could potentially be responsible for someones death.

He added: “I had several conversations with the head of the school and expressed my serious concern for this dangerous game. Several incidents have occurred within Ayrshire over recent months where the current resources have been stretched over a very short time frame.

“The fire service has built in resilience for such events but if this is routinely tested and stretched over a prolonged period of time an incident will occur where a member of the public will have to wait for appliances from surrounding areas to attend as the local appliances are tied up with a false alarm activation.

“I was made aware that several pupils have now been identified as having been involved, this is both within the local and surrounding area and the police and the school are working together to resolve the issue.

“A programme of short talks has been carried out this week where the fire service school liason officer met all of the pupils in their year groups and gave them the hard facts that if the alarm activations continue, someone will be seriously injured if not killed.

“The Area Commander for North Ayrshire has been fully briefed on the details of all the incidents and he has passed on that if anyone is caught deliberately starting a fire or causing a false alarm he will pursue the matter for a prosecution.” A spokesperson for North Ayrshire Council said: “While the number of hoax fire alarms is minimal, our schools are well aware of the impact they can have and take the matter very seriously.

“Pupils are regularly reminded of the impact false alarms has on the school and the Fire and Rescue services - including the risk of diverting fire officers from genuine alarms and the costs involved in calling the service out.

“Fire officers hold a number of presentations to pupils to tackle the issue.”