By Tillie Fong
Rocky Mountain News (Denver)
Copyright 2006 Denver Publishing Company
GREELEY, Colo. — Firefighters at Station 7 thought someone had left a box of hazardous materials on their doorstep Monday night.
Instead, it turned out to be a baby boy who authorities said was born just an hour earlier.
“We’re very tickled that the mom did the right thing,” said Duane McDonald, division chief for the Union Colony Fire/Rescue Authority.
“You hate that the mom (is in) that predicament, but she gave the kid a chance at life.”
At 7:50 p.m. Monday, the doorbell to Fire Station No. 7, 6623 10th St., rang and firefighter Bill Boyd went to answer it.
“There was nobody at the door, and there was a car that took off,” McDonald said.
“The firefighter looked down and saw what looked like a plastic tackle box or cooler.”
McDonald said the initial reaction was one of caution. “In this age of bombs and hazmat (hazardous materials), for a moment there, they thought, ‘Are they dropping off a hazmat?’ ” he said. “They opened the lid, and there was a baby inside.”
The infant was quickly taken inside and examined by the three-person crew, which included paramedic Brett Cary and Lt. Brion Newkirk.
“The baby weighed 8 pounds and had good color,” McDonald said.
The firefighters called for an ambulance, which took the baby to Northern Colorado Medical Center, where he remained Tuesday.
The infant has since been turned over to the Weld County Social Services Department.
“You hear about the cases where the baby’s found in the Dumpster, and it’s just awful,” McDonald said.
“In this case, they cared enough for the baby to do the right thing to bring it to someone. They cleaned it up and dropped it off.”
At least a dozen newborns have been left with authorities under the state’s Safe Haven for Newborns law, which was passed in 2000.
The Safe Haven measure allows a parent to drop off a newborn child at a fire station or hospital within 72 hours of the baby’s birth and not face prosecution.