A Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) crew has come to the rescue of a woman, giving birth three weeks early in a hotel at Bundanoon, in the state’s Southern Highlands.
The Bundanoon Fire Station responded to a Triple Zero (000) call around 3 pm. A key member of the four-person crew for this job was Firefighter, Roberto Gnecchi-Ruscone, who had just completed a pediatric assessment refresher course three days earlier.
Community First Responder
Roberto is a firefighter trained in FRNSW’s Community First Responder (CFR) medical assistance program
Roberto is a firefighter trained in FRNSW’s Community First Responder (CFR) medical assistance program.
When the crew arrived, it was led to a room upstairs where two housekeepers and the hotel receptionist were caring for the mother, “Agum.”
With her contractions only a minute apart, Roberto and his firefighting colleagues embodied FRNSW’s motto, “Prepared for Anything” and raced into action, also securing the “live” advice of paramedics over a joint first responder app.
On-Call FRNSW firefighter
Within minutes, the baby girl was born without incident, although premature. The fire crew placed baby “Deborah” with her mother before they were assessed by NSW Ambulance paramedics and taken to the hospital. Both mother and baby are doing fine. The fire crew has gifted bub with a FRNSW teddy bear as a memento.
The manager of the hotel, incidentally, told the fire crew he’s recently signed up as an On-Call FRNSW firefighter, the maternity emergency only steeling his resolve to help others. Under the FRNSW CFR program, firefighters in a number of towns throughout the state can provide life-saving medical intervention to the community.