AUSTIN — In October 2017, three Austin firefighters responded to an emergency call at the Mira Vista apartment complex – one that stunned the community and made the firefighters' hearts race.
On Friday, the Austin Fire Department -- in its annual award ceremony -- honored three firefighters for their efforts that day. It was one of several awards the department issued for heroic acts.
The call was made for a newborn -- a little girl -- thrown in a dumpster. Austin police said they were dispatched to the apartment complex along the 9600 block of Middle Fiskville Road around 6:55 a.m. Oct. 25 after a passerby found the girl.
Tara Snyder, who lives in the complex, told KVUE in October she woke up when she heard a woman screaming "a baby" multiple times. She said that she and other neighbors ran to the dumpster and found the girl with the umbilical cord still attached and blood next to the dumpster.
"She couldn't cry. She was not moving. She was almost purple. We honestly thought she was already dead. So did EMS," Snyder told KVUE. "And when they got her out of the dumpster, they tried to perform CPR but she was already alive...It hits hard, especially because I have my own two. This is not an option. I don't even see desperation ... this is just cold, cold-blooded. She didn't care."
Austin firefighter Charles Rodriguez, a father of five children, and his crew were the first responders to the horrific North Austin scene.
“When we came around the back, we saw people running around and screaming, and so we jumped off the truck, and Brandon actually got into the dumpster,” Rodriguez said.
AFD firefighter Richard Huizar recalls the incident vividly.
“One of the guys was like, hey, this baby's moving, so we pulled it out and started working on it,” Huizar said.
The firefighters cared for the newborn until she could get to the hospital. The newborn was transported to Dell Children’s Medical Center in critical condition, police told KVUE in Oct. 2017. She was later released from the hospital to be with family.
In Nov. 2017, nearly a month after the newborn was found, KVUE reported the mother of the baby was arrested. She faced a single charge of abandoning a child, a second-degree felony.
AFD firefighter Brandon Phillips told KVUE the experience and thoughts about the baby have never left him and never will.
Phillips said he hopes the girl will never have to know about what she had to endure as a newborn.
Nearly four months later, those firefighters were honored by the department in an emotional ceremony.
The three firefighters that quickly sprang into action were recognized and given accolades by City Hall in front of their family and friends. The awards were handed out for saving the young baby’s life – giving her a second chance at life.
“To know that you're helping people like that, and making a difference in their lives like that, it's awesome,” Huizar said.
After the ceremony, the firefighters went to the hospital to visit the baby girl. They told KVUE she's with her grandmother.