A West Norfolk fire and rescue crew carried out the ultimate test of teamwork in a crisis when they came to the aid of one of their own firefighters to help save his newborn son’s life.
Adam Wolfe, on-call firefighter at Terrington Fire Station, and his wife Gina had been home from hospital for just 24 hours after Gina had given birth to their son Hudson, when suddenly Hudson, who was only two days old, started choking after a feed and was unable to breathe.
After phoning an ambulance, Adam contacted the rest of the crew at Terrington Fire Station on a group WhatsApp chat with an urgent call for assistance. Many of the crew were unavailable to respond to fire calls due to other commitments, but they nevertheless reacted immediately to turn up and support in their own cars, with some even running over on foot.
The crew arrived at the same time as ambulance staff with the station trauma bag, providing support to Adam and Gina and helping paramedics with suction and administering oxygen.
The paramedics were able to get Hudson breathing again and take him to hospital. Now nearly two months old, he is back at home and has happily made a full recovery.
Adam said: “I’m really proud of the station and pleased they came out to help, it shows how closely bonded we are as a team. I really want to thank them and the paramedics who came out and did a such a good job to help us.
“It was an incredibly scary moment but Hudson’s doing really well, and we’ll always be able to tell him about the day his local fire crew helped save his life.”
Adam and Gina have returned on a drill night to say thank you and introduce Hudson to the crew that helped save his life.
Scott Norman, Deputy Chief Fire Officer for Norfolk, said: “I’m really pleased at the teamwork displayed by Terrington to help one of their crew. This is a great demonstration of the exemplary spirit we look for in our firefighters when a colleague is in need.”
