When a Mango Park woman told firefighters from Station 4 about a couple ducklings trapped in a storm drain, they jumped into action.
Firefighters arrived in the 2000 block of 91stStreet NW to a mother duck walking frantically around a storm drain. They could hear the ducklings chirping in the drain. Firefighters removed storm drains on both sides of the road.
The ducklings were in a pipe between the road and a retention pond. The ducklings couldn’t escape on their own because the pipe was clogged.
Firefighters began removing debris from the pipe, hoping to make a large enough opening for the ducklings to escape.
But with all the work at the pipe, the ducklings moved back to the area of the storm drain.
Firefighters flowed water on one side of the street with a garden hose, while another firefighter used a crab net to try and catch the ducklings.
One was caught by hand in the manhole. Another popped out of the pipe and swam to its mother.