A hoax fire call in Redhill in the early hours of this morning drew 16 firefighters and two police officers away from potential genuine emergencies.
Firefighters were called to a fire alarm that was set off at the back of Iceland on Queensway at 2am before a hoax call ten minutes later in which someone claimed there "was a fire in the kitchen of The Sun pub".
Four crews from Reigate, Salfords, Godstone and Banstead fire stations were called to the false call with two Surrey Police officers also in attendance.
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Firefighter Trevor Smith said: "A couple of kids or young adults broke the glass of the fire alarm around the back of Iceland by the car park at 2am in the morning.
"Where we were there sorting out the alarm by the snooker hall of the complex, one of the inebriated people called the fire service saying there was a fire in the kitchen of The Sun pub but there was nothing there at all."
Police officers did look for the culprits around the scene by the car park but there was no one in the area.
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CCTV in the area may be able to pick up the culprits.
Firefighter Smith said the fire service gets fewer hoax calls than several years ago due to more work being done to educate young people in school of the risks of hoax call.
But he said: "We clearly need to warn people of the stupidity and risk of such ridiculous actions."
He added: "To waste the time of 16 firefighters and two police officers on a false call is not only ridiculous, it's unacceptable. It may have been a kid or a young immature adult who was intoxicated, given the time.
"We can't be wasting resources and time like this, what if that had prevented us from attending a fire elsewhere?"
Surrey Police have been asked about whether they are looking into the incident further.
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If the person responsible is caught and found guilty of making the hoax call under Section 49 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004, they could be jailed for 51 weeks or fined up to £2,500, or both.
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