CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA — First responders helped deliver a baby inside a tractor-trailer parked along a Cumberland County roadway during near-whiteout conditions Sunday morning, then performed neonatal resuscitation before escorting the family through the storm to a hospital, according to Citizens Fire Company No. 1 and Cumberland Goodwill EMS.

Officials said crews were dispatched around 10 a.m. to the 800 block of York Road in South Middleton Township after receiving a call that a woman was in labor inside a tractor-trailer parked on the side of the road. Members of Citizens Fire Company No. 1, along with Cumberland Goodwill EMS, responded and helped safely deliver the baby.

After the birth, Cumberland Goodwill EMS said responders performed neonatal resuscitation at the scene — emergency care used to help a newborn begin breathing independently in the first minutes of life. Nathan Harig, administrative chief for Cumberland Goodwill EMS, said some newborns require advanced intervention and noted that providing that level of care in the field is far different from a hospital setting.

“Field deliveries are uncommon — factor in the snow and the need for extra care from our paramedic and it’s a once-in-a-lifetime event,” Harig said.

Harig said the mother and child were eventually transported to a local hospital. Due to medical privacy laws, he declined to release additional details about the birth, including the baby’s gender.

While first responders worked, officials said a South Middleton Township plow operator joined the effort and provided an escort through the storm, helping responders and the family travel safely to the hospital.

“It takes a community, and we’re lucky to have a great one,” Cumberland Goodwill EMS wrote in a social media post.

Harig said the circumstances were extraordinary, adding that if it were written into a television drama, many first responders might not believe it — but the crews rose to the moment.

“If Hollywood had written this type of call into an episode of 9-1-1 or Chicago Fire, I’m pretty certain every first responder would roll their eyes at the confluence of circumstances that happened,” Harig said. “But our crews and partners rose to the challenge and we couldn’t be prouder of them.”

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