{"id":56518,"date":"2018-06-25T17:56:19","date_gmt":"2018-06-25T23:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/baby-boom-16-babies-born-to-grand-junction-firefighters\/"},"modified":"2018-06-25T23:56:19","modified_gmt":"2018-06-25T23:56:19","slug":"baby-boom-16-babies-born-to-grand-junction-firefighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/baby-boom-16-babies-born-to-grand-junction-firefighters\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby boom: 16 babies born to Grand Junction firefighters"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Firefighters
Firefighters show off their babies at Station 3 in Grand Junction.<\/span>Chancey Bush\/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Or, rather, something in the fire business.<\/p>\n

But the recent baby boom at the Grand Junction Fire Department is an anomaly that seems, mostly, to be related to a young group of employees who happen to be starting families at the same time.<\/p>\n

In the past 18 months, the department has had 16 babies born, which is definitely a record, since the average most years is only one or two babies born to employees and their families.<\/p>\n

Leah Frappier knows because she keeps track. She\u2019s the unofficial leader of the department\u2019s family organization, a sort of auxiliary group supporting the department\u2019s employees and their families. She\u2019s the one who has all the contact information and usually plans baby showers, meals delivered to families when there are illnesses or emergencies, and disseminates information about holiday parties and other gatherings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done so many meal trains, it\u2019s dizzying,\u201d she said. \u201cBut it\u2019s really fun to have all these fresh, new families in the department. I\u2019m glad I\u2019m not the only one who has little kids anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Members
Members of the Grand Junction Fire Department pose with babies born to the department&#x2019;s families or adopted in the past 18 months. The department is experiencing a baby boom and had 16 babies born during that time. In the top row from left: Jake Cherveny and baby Henlea, David Fisher and baby Everett, Kade Knight and baby Clay, J.D. Sheffield and baby Brady, Ted Weber and baby Khloe. Bottom row, from left: Mike Cox and baby Corbin, Sean Berkson and baby Hayden, Kasie Billings and baby Haven, Garrett DeHaan and baby Rilyn, Derek Sjolund and baby Skylar, Sean Hazelhurst and baby Evelyn, Erik Nordine and baby Lillianna, Reece Stanley and baby Cooper. Not pictured: Matt Scofield and baby Noah, Billy Reyez and baby Camden, Kurt Winger and baby Piper.<\/span>Chancey Bush\/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Earlier this month, Frappier organized a group photo of all the employees with their babies at Station 3, a pictorial representation of the department\u2019s baby boom complete with balloons, headbands, onesies and everyone in uniform.<\/p>\n

The portrait included babies with 12 dads and one mom. Three other families couldn\u2019t make it, one because the father was called to help on a wildland fire crew battling the 416 Fire near Durango.<\/p>\n

These babies have a lot in common they don\u2019t even realize yet. They\u2019ve been born into the fire family, where things like wildfires and other disasters take precedence over something such as taking pictures.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll grow up together with shared experiences \u2013 dads and moms who miss holidays and birthdays because they\u2019re responding to house fires and medical emergencies, keeping strangers in the community safe.<\/p>\n

\"Grand
Grand Junction firefighter Mike Cox holds his 10-month-old son Corbin at Station 3 in Grand Junction.<\/span>Chancey Bush\/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Their parents will be sticklers for testing the smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in the house, because they\u2019ve seen what can happen if the batteries run out.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll come to think of the firehouse as a second home, because that\u2019s where mom or dad is when working on the black, green or red crew schedule and spends the night away from home. And they\u2019ll hear sirens and wonder if mom or dad is on that fire engine driving past.<\/p>\n

It is no coincidence the department\u2019s fire academy graduated the biggest class in more than a decade last year \u2013 there were 16 graduates \u2013 indicating a younger generation of firefighters is coming into the department as others retire.<\/p>\n

And the baby boom of the past 1\u00bd years is likely to continue for a little while, as there are additional families expecting children now, said Ellis Thompson-Ellis, department spokeswoman.<\/p>\n

Callie Berkson\u2019s husband, Sean, is an EMT and has worked for the department since 2014. Their daughter, Hayden, is 8 months old and is in the middle of the baby boom birth order.<\/p>\n

\"Firefighter
Firefighter Erik Nordine shares a moment with his 6-month-old daughter Lillianna at station three in Grand Junction.<\/span>Chancey Bush\/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Berkson said she has loved sharing the experience of parenthood with the other fire families, partially because they also share a lifestyle with the hours and demands of a job that affects a whole family, not just the firefighter family.<\/p>\n

With a schedule that has her husband on the job up to 72 hours at a time, it\u2019s not like Berkson can just call him and ask him to come home.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou kind of marry into the fire family and you marry into the job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The first time she spent 24 hours home by herself with their newborn baby, it was scary.<\/p>\n

But the other families, especially the ones that have the same schedule as her husband\u2019s crew, were incredibly supportive. \u201cYou feel like you\u2019re not alone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Frappier and Berkson both moved to the Grand Valley for their husbands\u2019 jobs with the department. Frappier didn\u2019t know anyone when she and her husband, Frank, moved to the area five years ago from California, and so she started organizing get-togethers for the fire families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was my way of building a family here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Sometimes it\u2019s as easy as texting other spouses when she knows they\u2019re on a 72-hour stretch of work, having them over and holding their babies.<\/p>\n

Someday, all those babies will likely go to preschool together, learn how to drive and even graduate from high school together, and there will probably be more photos along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese dads are really special and I think these kids grow up in a really unique community,\u201d Berkson said. \u201c(My daughter is) going to grow up with an extended family that she can rely on and relate to all these other kids.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Firefighters show off their babies at Station 3 in Grand Junction.Chancey Bush\/The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel via AP Or, rather, something in the fire business. But the recent baby boom at the Grand Junction Fire Department is an anomaly that seems, mostly, to be related to a young group of employees who happen to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[350,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-56518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-fire","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56518"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=56518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}