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Kelowna firefighters save family of ducklings

The Kelowna Fire Department reunites a mom and nine baby ducklings on Sunday
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After they were rescued, the ducklings and mother recuperated in a garage before moving on. - Image: Donna Treiber.

It wasn’t your typical call for the Kelowna Fire Department, but when a non-emergency call came in on Sunday afternoon, firefighters were able to respond to some drama unfolding on Dilworth mountain.

Duck drama, you might call it.

It all began when the nine ducklings ended up down a storm a drain in front of several Dilworth homes on Sunday. The drain was under a car, leaving the mother standing above the grate, looking down.

“The mother would not leave her babies and sat under the car,” said resident Donna Treiber. “It was difficult getting the mother to move but the car was moved and she was making noise a short distance away.”

It was then that residents realized they would need help to lift the grate. Enter the KFD.

“These things do happen and we usually try to help the public where ever it makes sense and without putting our guys at risk, of course,” said platoon captain Steve Wallick.

When firefighters arrived, they removed the grate and used a borrowed fishing net to scoop the nine newborns out of the water and reunite them with their mother.

“All the babies were exhausted with their first touch of water which could have been a disaster,” said Treiber. “It took a short while for the family to rest and then they moved on. Our firemen came to the rescue.”

Firefighters act as first-responders and go out to medical emergencies every day, as well as accidents and fire calls. Wallick said some of the more serious calls can be marine rescue or industrial rescues. However he said this was a nice community effort on Sunday that had everybody smiling.

“Everybody was happy and it even shows in the report,” he said. “It’s kind of nice when we can do that because we’re usually responding to fairly serious events. When we can do something like this it’s a nice thing.”

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Kelowna firefighters prepare to save a family of ducklings. - Image: Donna Treiber