Fire Department Recalls Duck Rescues Via Facebook

The Mentor Fire department hopes it encouraged much more than a round of "aww, how cute" statements after it featured photos from its locally famous 2009 duckling rescue on Facebook.

The mission, in which firefighters/paramedics saved the lives of five or six ducklings from a sewer hole outside of FirstMerit Bank on Reynolds Road, took place long before the department launched a Facebook page. So firefighter Jeremy Szydlowski and Public Education Specialist Nathan Peters thought recalling the incident would engage the department's 1,400-plus Facebook fans, lighten the page's mood and expand the public's image of a firefighter's job all at once.

"You use the entertainment to loop them into learning something," said Lt. Mike Smith, who was one of two firefighters who responded to the ducks.

It seemed to have worked, as the photo gallery received 85 likes, 15 comments, more than 1,000 views and a handful of shares. 

"We try to do a half and half of entertainment and education," Peters said. "(Szydlowski) does a good job of going back through our old photos and picking out old, interesting photos ... It's interesting to see what takes off."

Smith and firefighter/paramedic Dominic Vivolo, who work out of Station 4 on Lake Shore Boulevard, responded to the sewer hole that day after a resident reported that the ducks had marched into the hole, one by one. Vivolo had difficulty just reaching in to grab the baby ducks, but his experience as a member of the city's dive and rescue team gave him the confidence to open the sewer grate and hop right in. 

Vivolo began handing the ducks to Smith as the mother marched around the men, looking on. The rescue was a bit longer than anticipated, though. 

"They were so fast, they ran back into the hole," Vivolo said. "Every single one of them that I pulled out started getting away, turned around after I got out of the hole, and they all went running back in before we could stop them."

The guys then had to carry the ducks toward the mother duck, who had walked about 20 feet away. Smith and Vivolo, who have been with the fire department for about 20 years, have also rescued kittens from in between pipes and dogs from frozen inland ponds throughout the city. Peters said the department likes to leverage social media to show that these kinds of tasks are also part of their jobs.

"People usually think that we're (at the fire station) until someone has a house fire," Peters said. "There's more than that to what we do.

"If somebody has problem that needs fixed, we're it. We're the tool box."

Though he was pleased with the duck post's engagement figures, Peters knows the department is a far from getting the same reception from safety reminders that are also placed on the Facebook page. A shared post that included a brief safety quiz for the chance to see Taylor Swift in concert garnered just one like and about 800 fewer views than the duck rescue.

"People are looking for entertainment," Peters said. "The pictures of the duck rescue was a great thing because they're looking at it like, 'oh, look at the firemen, they're being so sweet to the ducks' and it's getting that emotional touch, but when we try to get safety messages out, there's not as much of a draw.

"It's nice when we can throw in the education with the entertainment, and that's what we try to do."