Hero firemen fighting Enfield blaze become 'midwives' to deliver passing motorist's baby

 
Call the midwife: firefighters Ross McLaren and Richard Hall (Picture: London Fire Brigade)
Alexandra Rucki7 May 2014

A firefighter delivered a baby at the scene of a huge fire after recalling tips from TV programme One Born Every Minute.

The baby boy was delivered by firefighters Ross McLaren and Richard Hall in the back of a car at the scene of the blaze in Ponders End, Enfield, this morning.

The driver of the car drove through cordons surrounding the fire and asked for help after being stuck in traffic caused by the incident at 11am.

Rescue operation: firefighters rescued 12 people from the building

Mr McLaren, a firefighter at Euston Fire Station, said he knew what to do because his wife watches Channel 4 documentary One Born Every Minute set on a maternity ward.

He said: "The husband was driving and was in a bit of a panic. I could see that the lady in the back seat was in the middle of giving birth and when I looked I could see the baby’s head.

“We began to give the mum oxygen and to try and reassure her. While Richie carried on doing that I ran round to where the baby was and kept telling the lady to push.

“Once he was born we rubbed him down to get his circulation going and when he started crying I knew it was going to be alright. We then kept mum and baby warm until London Ambulance Service arrived to take them to hospital.

"It has definitely been one of the highlights of my career and it's not something I ever expected that I would do in my life. Someone said to me the other day that as firefighters we usually enter people's lives at their worst moments so being there at such a joyful occasion makes a nice change.”

The mother, believed to be in her 30s, and the baby boy were taken to North Middlesex Hospital, arriving in an ambulance at 11.22am.

Amanda Salmon, an emergency medical technician from Ponders End station, said: “Mum was holding the baby when I arrived. The cord hadn’t been cut yet so I did that.

“I removed the wet blankets and put the baby into some fresh ones to keep him warm.

“We got the baby into the warm ambulance when it arrived and I helped Mum in afterwards.”

The fire broke out in Turkish restaurant Vadi and spread to three flats above it, as well as the roof of the building, which have been damaged.

Enfield's High Street was closed to traffic and people living in the area were warned to keep doors and windows closed as a precaution against the heavy smoke. Firefighters remained at the scene this morning.

The fire is thought to have started in the restaurant's extraction system.

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