Long Branch Firefighter Saves Life Of 6-Day-Old Infant Not Breathing

LONG BRANCH, NJ — On the evening of Feb. 27, a Long Branch firefighter saved the life of a six-day-old infant girl, and forever changed her life — and her family's — for the better in a matter of seconds.

The firefighter is David Phillips, 41, a member of the Long Branch professional fire department.

It was 10:40 p.m. on Feb. 27, and Phillips and other firefighters at fire headquarters on Union Avenue were just closing up for the night.

"We are here 24 hours a day, but we were just winding down and getting ready to go to bed," he said.

That's when they heard frantic banging and screaming on the firehouse front doors, said Capt. Carl Griffin.

Several firefighters ran around to the front and opened the garage doors. They found a man, his wife and their daughter, about 10 or 11, standing in their pajamas outside in the cold night. They had either walked or driven to the firehouse from some distance away. They were holding a newborn baby girl in their arms; she was blue, lifeless and not breathing.

It just happens that Phillip was on duty that night and he is also the Long Branch Fire Department's CPR trainer. He immediately administered several back blows to the infant.

The child started breathing again. He did not have to start CPR.

"We never really found out what had lodged in her airway or made her start to choke," said Phillips this week. "It's my understanding mom had been feeding her and she wasn't able to clear whatever the obstruction was. It might have been phlegm or mucus."

He said the parents were "very upset as they handed her over, but once the baby let out a cry things got better."

"Once whatever it was cleared, I felt her take that breath. That first breath. Then she started crying. A crying baby is a good baby."

He said the baby was then given supplemental oxygen from tanks they keep in the fire house. Within minutes, the ambulance was outside and the infant was whisked off to Monmouth Medical Center. The mom was also bleeding from a C-section she just had six days earlier. She started to collapse in the fire house and she too was admitted to Monmouth Medical, said Griffin.

"It's amazing," said Griffin. "We learned the next day the baby suffered no lasting medical issues, no brain damage. She was doing fine."

It was also a surprise when, last Sunday, March 10, the family yet again appeared outside the firehouse door. They had the baby girl in their arms.

Funny enough, Phillips and his colleagues were just running out to yet another fire call.

"I told them wait here, we will be right back," he laughed. "They waited. They speak Portuguese and they had a family friend with them to translate. They just wanted me to hold the baby and thank me and tell me she was doing fine."

He said that March 10 reunion was "a lot" — emotionally, for all parties.

"We do this stuff all the time, for a long time, and you never get any publicity," said Phillips. "It was nice to meet with the family. I'm glad the newborn is OK. Stuff like this is exactly what we train for."