RACINE — A Racine firefighter is opening up about responding to Wisconsin's first newborn placed inside a Safe Haven baby box nearly two weeks ago, describing the emotional moment that will stay with him for the rest of his career.
Marco Ostricki was cleaning the workout area at the Racine Fire Station when an alarm rang through the building, signaling that a newborn had been placed inside the department's baby box. The system comes with a 10-second delay to allow mothers to leave anonymously before first responders are alerted.
"I was just in awe," Ostricki said.
Standing just feet away, Ostricki witnessed something he thought he would never see.
"Instantly, I came over to see what was in the box, because you never know what's going to come through, right? So I wanted to verify that there was a real baby in there. And sure enough, there was," Ostricki said.
“I immediately grabbed the baby out of the temperature-controlled box,” Ostricki said. "I heard them cooing and that was already a good sign there that they were breathing OK," Ostricki said.
The baby girl was rushed to the hospital in good condition by paramedic Aaron Sanjuan.
Watch: Racine firefighter shares experience responding to newborn placed in baby box
"It was kind of wild, never expected to be part of a call like that," Sanjuan said.
Ostricki said the situation demonstrates the importance of the $15,000 investment in the baby box system.
"I kind of saw the beauty in why this box is here," Ostricki said.
The baby box serves as a safe, legal and anonymous resource for mothers in crisis. Wisconsin updated its law in 2023 to allow parents to anonymously surrender their unharmed baby up to three days after birth. When asked what he would tell the mother who had the courage to use the system, Ostricki had a heartfelt message.
"God bless you. It takes a lot of strength to go through something like that and God bless you for picking a very safe route and giving us an opportunity to take the baby in," Ostricki said.
The next step for the baby is being adopted.
The Racine location is one of at least 5 baby boxes across southeast Wisconsin.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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