Riverhead firefighters rescued about a dozen ducklings trapped in a storm drain on West Main Street Sunday morning.
As the mother duck looked on from a safe distance, firefighters opened the grate and lowered a ladder into the drain, located near the Suffolk County Historical Society Museum.
First Lieutenant Tomasz Andrzejewski climbed down and placed the ducklings one at a time into a plastic bucket, Riverhead Fire Department Chief Pete Kurzyna said.
The ducklings were reunited with their mother and the entire family waddled away, presumably making their way to the Peconic River across the road from the storm drain.
Riverhead Fire Department was dispatched to the scene just before 9 a.m. Sunday. Second Assistant Chief Ray Jacobs responded with a crew of firefighters.
“It happens every once in a while,” Kurzyna said.
“A happy ending for this little family and a reminder that not every rescue involves fighting fires,” the fire department wrote on its website.
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