Rock Community Fire Protection District firefighters saved 10 ducklings that fell down a pipe in a grassy area of the Water Tower Shopping Center in Arnold.
Firefighters were called at about 6:20 p.m. Tuesday, May 13, to the area that is near the Local House Restaurant and Bar, 2236 Michigan Ave, and the AT&T Store, 2245 Michigan Ave., spokeswoman Alyson Rotter said.
Karen Druley of Arnold said she and her husband, David, had dined at the Local House earlier that evening, and as they were leaving, she noticed a duck she thought was acting strange near the side of the road. She said she had her husband drive by the duck again before he parked near where the duck was, and she called the Arnold Police non-emergency line after initially calling Wildlife Command Center in Imperial.
After an Arnold Police dispatcher told Druley an officer would be sent to the area, Druley said she went to see what was happening with the duck.
“I saw one baby (duckling with the mother duck), and I wondered where the other ones were,” Druley said. “I kept hearing something. I looked down and there was this pipe, and I thought there was something down there.”
Druley said the mother duck appeared to be in distress.
“She was sitting on the pipe,” she said. “She would get up and look around.”
Druley said she called Arnold Police again to tell them there was something in the pipe, and when an officer arrived, he saw the ducklings as well. Due to Arnold Animal Control being closed at that time, the officer called Rock Fire, she said.
Firefighters arrived at about 6:30 p.m., Rotter said.
Firefighter Matt Burnett said the crew believed the ducklings had fallen into the sewer as they made their way to the shopping center.
“We assumed we would pop a sewer lid and get the ducks out,” he said. “When we got there, we saw a 3 to 3 1/2 inch PVC pipe that they were all stuck in. We could see the top of the first couple.”
Burnett said the ducklings were about 2 1/2 to 3 feet down the pipe, and the firefighters heard chirping coming from the pipe. He said the firefighters were not sure how they would extract the ducks, but he got a tool called the Big EZ, which is a long rod with a hook on the end used to unlock vehicles from the outside.
“I thought I could get that underneath (the ducklings) and try to pull them up,” he said. “It was a little difficult at first. You had to get them balanced on it. Then I started pulling them out.”
Burnett said the firefighters thought there were only five or six ducklings in the pipe at first.
“They just kept coming,” he said. “There ended up being 10 total in the pipe.”
Burnett said the mother duck and the other duckling went under a nearby bush as firefighters pulled the ducklings out of the pipe.
“As we pulled them out, the other guys delivered them to the mother duck,” he said. “The first couple (ducklings) that we pulled up, we set them on the ground. (The ducklings) started taking off running, and the guys had to chase them down. Once the guys put (the ducklings) with their mom, they stayed there.”
Druley said she posted a video she took of the firefighters pulling the ducklings out of the pipe to highlight how first responders serve the community.
“We thought the world of them for doing this,” she said. “These guys are heroes, and they get called for bad things all the time. This ended up with a happy ending. I’m glad we were able to help.”
Burnett said he has worked at Rock Fire for 26 years, and he typically is called about an animal rescue once or twice a year. He said animal-related calls typically are to help rescue domestic pets.
Burnett said the duckling rescue was not the oddest call he has responded to, but it is high on the list.
“We do run a lot of odd calls,” he said. “That is what makes the job great. You never know what you are doing to get each day.”