Rescuers save 5 ducklings

Five ducklings were rescued Thursday from deep in a storm sewer near the New Castle County Government Center.

A county employee called 911 at 9:51 a.m. after seeking the ducks drop down the drain.

Crews were sent from Wilmington Manor and Minquadale fire companies for the rescue, according to the dispatch center at New Castle County's Sweeney Public Safety Building in Minquadale.

After a crowbar helped muscle away the heavy storm sewer grate, a Wilmington Manor firefighter – who heard the alarm call and drove a van from the fire company to the site – geared up by tying onto a safety rope.

Then in she went.

"We had a 150-foot rope and she used every bit of it but about 5 inches," said Wilmington Manor Deputy Chief Bill "Red Man" Maichle. "She gathered them all up."

"They were just regular mallards, baby mallards," he said, adding he doubts they were more than a month old.

After the last was found, they were toted across the street in a cardboard box and reunited with their family.

"In this day and age," Maichle said, "when that siren blows you never know what you're going to encounter."

Contact robin brown at (302) 324-2856 or rbrown@delawareonline.com. Find her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @rbrowndelaware.