Firefighters name truck after baby left at station 11 years ago
"You never know if people are remembering her and they really did."
— -- In July 2006, Lt. Dan Miller, of Lake County Fire Rescue, in Florida, got a call from a woman that said she was going to drop off a baby.
A short time later, a woman arrived at the firehouse pushing a carriage holding a day-old infant, Colleen.
Nearly 11 years later, Miller, now a chief, came face-to-face with the girl he helped rescue for the first time after naming a fire truck in her honor.
"I was nervous," Miller said. "I didn't know exactly what to say to her, but I had a bouquet of flowers for her. We talked a little bit and then she got to see the fire truck and tour the station."
Miller recalled to ABC News being on duty as shift lieutenant on July 1, 2006 when an unknown woman left baby Colleen with him at the fire station.
"This woman walked up and handed me a baby carriage and inside was Colleen, sleeping," said Miller, who is now EMS battalion chief for the department. "She didn't say anything, didn't make any eye contact. I briefly asked if there's anything I needed to know and she just walked away."
Colleen was transported to the local hospital for a medical evaluation.
She was the first baby in Lake County to ever be dropped at the fire station, Miller said.
In 2000, Florida's Baby Safe Haven law went into effect. The law says parents can anonymously leave their baby, up to 7 days old, with an employee at any hospital, emergency medical services station or with a firefighter at any fire station in the state, without fear of arrest or prosecution -- so long as there is no suspected child abuse.
A year later, Miller and his colleagues received a Christmas card with a photo of Colleen and a thank you note from her adopted family.
Colleen had been adopted by a local couple, Lara and James, on Oct. 31, 2006. Over the years, Lara sent photo updates to the firefighters who ensured her daughter's safety that night in 2006.
On March 31, the firefighters of Lake County Fire Rescue invited Colleen, now 10, her family and friends, to the station for a very special reason.
"Station 112 got a brand new fire truck -- we said, 'Hey, let's name the truck after the baby that was dropped off here," Chief Miller recalled.
Colleen's mother, Lara, who declined to give her last name for privacy reasons, said: "It's very exciting."
Colleen did the unveiling of her name on the fire truck, and was named an honorary firefighter.
Her mom Lara said she will continue to bring her daughter by the firehouse in the future.
"Even though it's been almost 11 years, to think they thought unanimously that it was how they should name the truck...you never know if people are remembering her and they really did," the mom said.
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