A Las Vegas emergency call on June 17 placed firefighters in one of the most unusual delivery rooms imaginable—an underground flood control tunnel.
When Las Vegas Fire and Rescue crews arrived, the baby had already been born. Firefighter-paramedic Eric Paul was immediately handed the infant by someone at the scene. The newborn showed no signs of breathing and remained attached to the umbilical cord and placenta, leaving little time for hesitation.
Inside the narrow tunnel, Paul focused on the baby’s immediate needs. He opened the infant’s airway, provided stimulation to encourage breathing, and clamped the umbilical cord so he could perform a more complete assessment. Within a short time, the newborn began responding, and the frightening situation quickly turned in a positive direction. Paul later said the baby appeared healthy once stabilized, calling it the outcome every first responder hopes to see.
Although few emergency calls involve childbirth, Paul is no stranger to deliveries. Over the course of his career, he has assisted with several babies being born before they could reach a hospital. He has also experienced childbirth from a personal perspective, having helped deliver his two oldest children.
Once medical crews confirmed both patients were stable enough to move, the mother left the tunnel and was transported with her baby to a nearby hospital. Fire officials expect both to make a full recovery.
Beyond the successful rescue, the incident sheds light on a growing challenge in Southern Nevada. Flood control tunnels are often used as shelter by people trying to escape the area’s intense summer heat. While they may offer protection from the sun, they can become deadly with almost no warning when storms send water rushing through the channels.
Those dangers extend beyond flash flooding. According to Las Vegas Fire and Rescue, crews have answered hundreds of calls involving fires inside the tunnel system over the past year alone. Each response places both the people living there and emergency personnel in potentially life-threatening situations.
For firefighters, the June rescue was more than an emergency medical call. It was a reminder that first responders never know what they will encounter on any given shift. Thanks to fast action and specialized training, a baby who arrived without breathing was given a second chance, and both mother and child are now expected to recover.
