A firefighter from the Oak Bay Fire Department caused a stir on social media after rescuing some ducklings Friday morning.
The Oak Bay Fire Department Acting Assistant Chief Duane Adsett pulled the ducklings out from a storm drain after the department was alerted by residents that a duck and a one duckling were wandering around a drain on Bee Street. Several ducklings were trapped in the drain, Adsett said.
Acting Assistant Chief Duane Adsett helps the ducklings out of the storm drain. Credit: Oak Bay Fire Department.
“I was able to come down and get the drain off and with the help of the people that found them, they got me a basket, I was able to reach down in and scoop them out,” Adsett said.
“They ran off back to mama.”
One of those residents who alerted the fire department was Dr. Daisy Dulay. She was on her way to work when another individual flagged her down and told her there were ducks in the storm drain. She did not have a cellphone so she asked Dulay to call the fire department.
“It’s just all in a days work I suppose,” Dulay said.
The mother and ducklings. Credit: Oak Bay Fire Department
Acting Assistant Chief Duane Adsett helps the ducklings out of the storm drain. Credit: Oak Bay Fire Department.
Adsett said he thinks the ducklings potentially fell into the drain when they were following the mother duck across the parking lot. While they were taken out of the drain, Adsett said they were a bit panicked but quickly went with their mother down into Bowker Creek.
During the rescue, Adsett said the mother was close by.
“She was wandering around here, quacking at us and keeping a close eye on what was going on,” Adsett said.
Adsett has been with the fire department for almost 18 years and said he hasn’t had a call involving ducklings in a drain before.
“It was definitely a first.”
The mother and ducklings. Credit: Duane Adsett
The mother and ducklings. Credit: Duane Adsett
Alexa Huffman
