A group of teenagers pretending to be trapped in a drain in Otumoetai last night sparked a large emergency services response.
Fire fighters were called to the drain on Pillans Rd and Maxwells Rd at 7.30pm to reports of three people trapped in a tunnel.
Tauranga senior station officer Mark Keller said the teens had walked into the large drain and as it got smaller they began yelling and screaming, saying they were trapped.
"Local residents called us very concerned, which was the right thing to do."
Three fire trucks and a specialist rescue truck raced to the scene, as well as a number of police cars, to find the four teens were not trapped and could just walk straight out the way they came.
"It definitely was a waste of everyone's time," Mr Keller said.
Every fake call out was taking key resources away from other potentially dangerous situations, he said.
The four teens were talked to by police, he said.