A HOAX caller tied up all but one of York's fire engines by sending them to a non-existent blaze at a children's home, a court heard.

Four of the city's fire appliances raced to rescue children "trapped" in a burning foster home on New Year's Day.

But when they arrived they found no fire, and no trapped children.

The 16-year-old culprit from York, who cannot be named for legal reasons, later admitted to foster workers that he had made the prank call to scare staff at the home.

Prosecuting at York Magistrates Court, Colette Dixon said: "The emergency services received a call at 9.30pm on January 1 this year, which they believed to be genuine.

"The caller said there was a fire at a children's home, and people were trapped. His call was taken very seriously.

"As a consequence, both appliances from Acomb and both from York attended, 22 fire officers in total.

"A senior fire officer also attended in a car, as well as police officers and an ambulance.

"The last fire engine returned to base at 10.06pm.

"Had a genuine call been received while the fire engines were out, the only one left available in the whole city would have been in Huntington. The defendant was later arrested and interviewed by police, and admitted making the call."

Mitigating, Sandra Keen said: "The defendant wanted to scare staff at the home.

"Once he realised how far it had gone he scared himself more than anyone else.

"Initially, he didn't realise the potential serious consequences of what he did when he made this hoax call.

"He is now extremely anxious to put his life in order, and wants to put things right."

Mrs Keen said the defendant now wanted to go to college and get on with his life.

Presiding magistrate Pauline Wilkinson said: "The impact of what you did was considerable.

"There was only one fire engine available that night, and there should have been six."

The hoax caller pleaded guilty to giving a false alarm of a fire, and was put under the supervision of York's youth offending team for three months.

He was also given a 24-hour reparation order, which means he will have to spend time with members of the fire service and learn more about it.

Updated: 10:26 Wednesday, April 13, 2005