Clearwater Firefighters Retrieve Resident's Keys From Bay Bottom

CLEARWATER, FL — Members of the Clearwater Fire & Rescue Department proved they'll go the extra mile, even if it's under the water, to help residents in need.

Around 10:30 p.m. Sunday, crews of Engine and Rescue 45 were called to the Seminole Docks for a report of a person in the water. When firefighters arrived, they learned that a man dove into the water to try to find his lost keys.

He made it back out of the water without help but still had no keys to drive him and his wife home or get into his house once they got home.

Though they knew the chances of finding the keys were like finding a needle in a haystack, the firefighters decided to use a magnet from the landing zone lights tied to a water rescue rope to search for the keys.

One might think it was like looking for a needle in a haystack, but after about 10 to 15 minutes, they located the keys stuck on an old crab trap. They were able to lift the crab trap out of the water and retrieve the keys.

It's not the first time the Clearwater firefighters have gone above and beyond, according to Fire Chief Scott Ehlers.

On Jan. 23, they used a ladder truck to rescue a cat that got stranded on the top of a tree.

They've also been known to use their skills to give Santa a lift, rescue a mother cat and her kittens from inside a wall, reunite a duck with her ducklings after they fell into a storm drain, build a wheelchair ramp for a child with a rare neurological disorder, deliver Christmas gifts and Easter baskets to hospitals and children in need, climb balconies to deliver flowers to a senior citizen on her birthday, and even deliver a baby.