Fire chiefs rushed 18 crew, three engines, a Land Rover and a rescue boat to a 999 call - to save a trapped duck.
Residents feared a child had drowned as teams raced up to 35 miles to the scene with blue lights flashing and sirens blaring, reports The Sun.
Locals were stunned to find the "casualty" was Daffy, a white Aylesbury, trapped in a drainage tunnel.
A woman called 999 after finding the duck stuck between sluices near Earlswood, West Midlands.
Residents blasted the three-hour operation to free the bird, which lives on a nearby lake, as a "waste of money".
Retired fireman Neil Guest, 54, said: "It was unbelievable.
"There were five men to each engine, an officer in charge and two with the dinghy. That duck got treated better than people did in the floods."
Warwickshire fire bosses said it was their "good deed for the day".