Emergency calls to Derbyshire's fire service dropped by about 30% last year compared to 2003, figures have revealed. Fire chiefs attributed the reduction to a number of initiatives, including a crackdown on hoax callers.
Crews attended 4,598 incidents in 2004 - 2,032 less than in the previous 12-month period.
The number of road accidents fell by 27%, though there was a small rise in accidental house fires.
The control room received 570 hoax calls in 2004, compared to 616 in 2003.
Dave Drew, from Derbyshire Fire Service, said: "We have got a number of initiatives we have been quite successful with.
"We now interrogate the caller if we suspect a call is suspicious.
"We inform them that the call is being recorded and we will pass it on to the police if it turns out to be a hoax call."
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