Mount Maunganui firefighters rush to top of Mauao - for clouds

Fire crews have rushed to the top of Mauao only to find reported plumes of smoke to be clouds.

A Fire and Emergency NZ spokesman said two crews responded to a call-out that smoke had been spotted on the top of Mauao about 8pm yesterday.

The Mount Maunganui fire crews rushed to the Mount Maunganui Surf Club to borrow a four-wheel drive to dash up the summit, he said.

After investigating for about 15 minutes it was concluded that there was no fire, just clouds, he said.

When asked if fire crews got annoyed about dud call-outs, he said they "didn't mind" as "people don't do it maliciously".

Only last week, crews had been kept up after receiving multiple call-outs to the moon, he said.

The orange glow that came off it had many people think there was a fire going on in front of it or nearby.

The informants would then sheepishly call back once they realised, he laughed.