On the Saturday before June 4, 2018, Captain Chris Blazek of the Chattanooga Fire Department responded with Engine 6 to a crash on Highway 58 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. A pregnant woman and her three children were in one of the vehicles. The mother had abdominal and back pain and was taken for medical care; the firefighters stayed with the children.
Blazek lifted the baby out of her car seat and checked her. She was crying. Once the scene was under control, the captain held her in his arms. Little by little, her crying gave way to sleep: the baby fell asleep beside him.
Blazek’s colleague, Kyle Vradenburgh, also a member of Engine 6, took a photo of the moment. On Monday, June 4, 2018, the Chattanooga Fire Department shared the story and the image on Facebook. The photo went viral, but for the crew, it had first been a moment during an emergency response.
The work continued around that pause. Engine 6 personnel stayed with the children until they could hand them over to their family members. The image captures a second of stillness in the middle of a difficult day: the captain with a sleeping baby in his arms, while his colleagues made sure the other children were not left alone. He was still wearing a firefighter’s uniform. For a few minutes, it was also the place where a baby could fall asleep.