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Firefighters suspended for using wrong vehicle to save infant

(WISH Photo)

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) – Two volunteer Stafford County firefighters have been suspended after transporting an 18-month-old girl to a hospital, rather than waiting for a medic to arrive.

Falmouth Volunteer Fire Department Captain James Kelley tells WTTG-TV that the infant was having a seizure on Feb. 27 and was in dire need of a hospital, with Kelley estimating that a medic was still 10 to 15 minutes away. Kelley decided to transport the girl to the hospital in the fire engine.

Kelley says the infant lived, but he and his colleague, Sgt. Virgil Bloom, were suspended because the engine is a non-transport unit and doesn’t have the proper restraints.

The girl’s father, Brian Nunamaker, says Kelley and Bloom may have saved his daughter’s life.

A Stafford County Fire and Rescue Department spokesman declined to comment.