In the 1941 children’s story “Make Way For Ducklings” by Robert McCloskey, the Boston police come to the aid of a mother duck and her ducklings trying to make their way across busy Boston streets to get to the Boston Public Garden and swim in the lagoon. A bronze statue commemorates the story and is situated in the Boston Public Garden.
This time it was the Londonderry Fire Department to the rescue.
On July 9 Londonderry Fire received a call that ducklings had fallen into a storm drain near 12 Morrison Drive.
According to Lt. Jeremy Mague, Londonderry Fire Rescue was dispatched to the area to investigate.
“Residents nearby had heard the ducklings and determined that they were in the storm drain and called us,” Mague said. “That’s when the Rescue Company out of Central Station went to investigate.”
Mague said every storm drain can be different.
“Some are larger and deeper than others,” he said. “Sometimes you can just reach in and take care of it, but in this case it was too deep. Lt. Gary Dion knew of the Aquatic Adventures Scuba shop in the area and borrowed a long-handled pool net to reach down into the drain after the cover was removed and rescue the ducks.”
A press release issued by Battalion Chief Doug-las Cardwell said the ducklings had fallen 6 to 8 feet into the catch basin.
Mague said all five ducklings were rescued and returned to an adult duck nearby at the woods.
Cardwell said in his press release, “the family of ducklings was unharmed and left the scene under their own power and without any apparent injuries.”
Mague said the de-partment has purchased its own net for future rescues. He noted that this isn’t the first time the department has reunited ducklings from a storm drain to their mother. A similar incident happened last year by Exit 4 on Nashua Road (Route 102).
Fire departments are famous for rescuing kittens from trees, but in Londonderry, the department makes way for ducklings.