A dog-owner's failed "rescue attempt" to free two dogs stuff on a cliff face in remote bush ended with fire trucks and rescue teams being dispatched from Napier, Hastings, and Wairoa to help pull the man off the same cliff-face.
Napier Fire Station senior station officer Jamie Nichol said two trucks from Napier and one each from Hastings and Wairoa attended the incident in a remote area near Kotemaori at about 6.30pm on Saturday.
"With the assistance of the police, we found where the person was, put someone over the bank, hooked them up. They then hooked up the person stuck on the ledge and pulled him up the top."
Fire crews left the scene, in a forestry block at Kotemaori, about four hours later.
A Police spokeswoman said police received a call about the same incident at 6.50pm.