Papamoa firefighters encountered a fluffy rescue at the weekend when they were called to pluck a family of ducklings from a drain in Tara Road.

The rescue on Saturday evening follows a similar event in Auckland's Sandringham last Wednesday where firefighters spent hours plucking the ducklings from a drain with a final one being flushed out by hose.

Papamoa firefighters rescued a number of trapped ducklings from a drain in Tara Road.

Papamoa firefighters received the 111 emergency call after children found about half a dozen ducklings trapped in the drain, says chief fire officer Allan Bicker.

Allan, who says it is the first time Papamoa firefighters have been called to rescue ducklings, admits it's a rather unusual callout.

He says even police police pulled over to see what was going on.

'Some children found about half a dozen ducklings stuck in the drain; they were in a culvert covered with a steel drain grate, which stops people [from entering], but the ducklings could just hop through.”

Allan says the water level of the drain was six to eight inches and it is understood the ducklings could be heard but not seen.

'We unbolted the grate and managed to scoop out the ducklings with a butterfly net the children had.”

With the ducklings safely back with their mother, Allan says firefighters placed a ramp onto the drain 'for the ducklings to walk out next time”.

'Talking to a Fire Service spokesperson it is quite unusual and it is the second in the last few days, with the same thing happening in Sandringham,” says Allan.

'But it was a first for us.”

Firefighters in the Auckland suburb of Sandringham spent about an hour down a drain rescuing the ducklings one by one, until they couldn't reach the final one.

The last duckling had gone too far and couldn't be reached. After all else failed firefighters used a trusty hose to flush the duckling into a pond.

It was then reunited with its siblings and mother.