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 Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service firefighters to help save his newborn son’s life. On-call firefighter Adam Wolfe explains what it meant to him and his family
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 off the run, meaning they had made themselves 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 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, and the crew have also been supported with their own wellbeing following what was a traumatic incident.
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.”
Stuart Shinn, Station Manager for Terrington, said: “Everyone knows that firefighters have to be ready to respond in a crisis but it’s different when that crisis involves one of your own.
“What the crew did to show up for Adam really underlines the true spirit of being a firefighter: acting swiftly; being willing to drop everything to respond in a crisis; being there for one of your team when they need you; and working with another emergency service to get a job done.
“The paramedics who attended said how impressed they were with the team’s swiftness and compassion, so I want to heartily congratulate them all.”
On-call firefighters are different from wholetime firefighters in having to make themselves available from their home or place of work, rather than working out of a station.
They are required to carry alerters with them when they are ‘on the run’ and be ready to respond and get to their station within five minutes when they sound. The role is paid and many on-call firefighters will combine it with another job.
Anyone over the age of 18 who lives within five minutes of an on-call station in Norfolk can apply. Check the Norfolk County Council website, including the full list of stations in Norfolk that are recruiting on-call firefighters, for more details: norfolk.gov.uk.
Featured image of Terrington on-call firefighter Adam Wolfe with son Hudson – supplied by Norfolk County Council
Leave a Reply