Detroit firefighters help deliver baby at gas station

DETROIT (WJBK) - Just before 8 a.m. Engine 60 of the Detroit Fire Department got the call.

"They were en route to St. John Hospital and they told the driver (they were) having this baby right now," said Sgt. Dan Salkowski, DFD. 

A man driving a 30-year-old woman in labor pulled into the Sunoco at Seven Mile and Hoover. Green Light gas station cameras record as Detroit firefighters - who are also medical first responders - pulled in behind them.

"Aside from being in a gas station parking lot, it was probably the quickest, smoothest it could have went," said firefighter Rich Dudis. 

Firefighters approached the vehicle and just as they opened the car door, Salkowski says he and his crew help deliver a baby.

"The guy waved us down, opened the side door and there she was," Salkowski said. "She already had the baby. The baby was born seconds before we got there."

"I took the baby, held its airways, had him clamp the cord cut it," Dudis said.

"(We got) blankets and made sure that the baby was warm," said firefighter Dushon Moore.

"In my mind it went by just like that," said firefighter Steve Alel. "But everyone did their job and it went smoothly."

And because of that, the mother and her new baby boy, are happy and healthy. EMS eventually transferred the pair to St. John Hospital.

Since receiving medical training a couple of years ago, Detroit firefighters are now first responders to all kinds of medical emergencies - but helping to bring a baby into the world always brings a smile to their faces.

FOX 2: "Did anyone name the baby after you guys?"

"No not that we know of," Moore said, laughing.