The crew at the Balzac Fire Station was taken by surprise earlier this month when soon-to-be parents Randi and Peter Dyck arrived at the station doors needing some urgent assistance.
According to Rocky View County Fire Chief Randy Smith, the couple had arrived from their home near the village of Linden, located north of Acme, and had been driving toward Calgary on April 10, when the expecting mother urged her husband to pull over to the side of the road.
Spotting a nearby fire station, Dyck “wheeled in” and fortunately, the doors were open to the fire hall, with several of the crew inside completing their daily training, Smith said. In the nick of time, the crew was able to get the very-pregnant and in-labour mother onto some mats in the station.
“We respond to medical calls every day, but not often do we have parcels delivered to the fire hall that exciting,” Smith said. “I’m sure [the crew] didn’t expect that when they started their shift on that morning.
According to Smith, the delivery turned out really well and the baby was healthy. He added the new parents named their newborn son Charlie Teal Dyck after the fire captain, Devin Teal, who assisted with the baby’s delivery and caught him after he was born.
In a Global News report following the incident, Teal exclaimed he had never witnessed a childbirth before, and “It was the first time [he had] actively been involved in the delivery of a baby.”
In the same report, Randi said she was relieved someone knew what to do and could take charge in the situation.
“My husband was not wanting that responsibility of catching him,” she said.
According to Smith, although the crew at Balzac Fire Station are trained medical responders, the delivery of a baby in the fire hall was certainly not something they would have been expecting.
“They were probably focused on the training that they were doing that day,” Smith said. “But you know, that’s the one thing about firefighters – their job site is never the same every day. They go to multiple events and whether it be a fire, a rescue motor vehicle accident, or a medical call, that’s kind of their day.”
He said the crew took the surprising event in stride and approached the situation with professionalism.
“They…were quite pleased that it turned out so well, and as they should be,” he added.
While assisting in a baby’s delivery is certainly a rare occasion, Smith said that Rocky View County Fire Services members have been witness to a few home deliveries this year.
“It must be the season for babies – we’ve [assisted] two [deliveries],” he said. “Things come in three, so we’re waiting for number three now.”
Carmen Cundy, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @carmenrcundy
