The Rock Community Fire Protection District firefighters were called upon to rescue ducklings for the second time in just more than a year at an Arnold shopping plaza.
Firefighters were called at 2:47 p.m. Wednesday, July 1, after someone called 911 to report the need for an animal rescue at the Arnold Commons shopping plaza off Hwy. 141 in Arnold. Rock Fire spokeswoman Alyson Rotter said two ducklings fell down a storm drain near a pond that is close to the Diebergs grocery store, 860 Arnold Commons Drive.
Firefighters arrived at 2:49 p.m., and the two ducklings were rescued and reunited with their mother, who was in the pond, at 3:23 p.m., Rotter said.
Rotter said firefighters were told the mother duck was visibly upset about being separated from the ducklings. She said the mother duck remained mainly in the pond during the rescue, occasionally getting out of the water but not approaching the firefighters.
Rotter said Firefighter Granger Sheppard, who has worked at Rock Fire for more than two years, climbed into a storm drain pipe from a manhole on the sidewalk. He was able to reach the ducklings who were trapped inside a smaller pipe and hand them off to another firefighter on the sidewalk.
“We shined lights down there, and he was listening for chirps,” Rotter said of Sheppard. “He was able to retrieve the ducklings by hand.”
She said the ducklings were then put in the pond, and they swam to the mother duck.
“This is our second duckling rescue in about a year,” Rotter said. “The last one was at the Local House, when we got 10 ducklings out.”
Rock Fire rescued 10 ducklings that fell down a pipe in a grassy area of the Water Tower Shopping Center on May 13, 2025. The pipe was in a grassy area near the Local House Restaurant and Bar, 2236 Michigan Ave, and the AT&T Store, 2245 Michigan Ave.
In May 2025, Firefighter Matt Burnett said the crew believed the ducklings had fallen into the sewer as they made their way through the shopping center.
He 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.
Rotter said Capt. Ben Mayer responded to the calls at Arnold Commons this week and the call to the Water Tower shopping plaza last year.