ORANGE PARK \u2013\u00a0Firefighters who were more accustomed to pulling victims from wrecked cars and burning buildings,\u00a0gently clinched Baby Vianca with the kind of\u00a0attachment\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0taught to resist.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The little girl will always be the department\u2019s miracle. Every member of Clay County Fire Rescue\u00a0is\u00a0an\u00a0honorary uncle\u00a0to the tiny girl who was pulled from the brackish waters of Black Creek on Aug. 25, 2024, after being trapped under an overturned pontoon boat for more than 13 minutes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In\u00a0an incredible twist of fate, Baby Vianca was brought back from death, defied odds during\u00a0a two-month stay at Wolfson Children\u2019s Hospital and returned home to continue her improbable recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n
All were reunited on Friday, Dec. 19, at Kids Care of Orange Park for a Christmas party. Hardened rescuers\u00a0who played a role in the unexplained recovery\u00a0trembled as they\u00a0each took turns to hold her.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe looks incredible,\u201d said Lt. Joe Hutchins, who, along with Thomas Gill, jumped on a private boat\u00a0operated\u00a0by a father and son\u00a0who were off to go shrimping, and responded to the scene. \u201cShe\u2019s\u00a0grown a foot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Baby Vianca is now two-and-a-half years old. Her rehabilitation will continue for years, but the connection between her family and CCFR will last forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Santa arrived at the school\/day care in one of the agency\u2019s fire trucks. He handed toys to each, and everyone enjoyed meals provided by\u00a0Sal\u00a0Luliano\u2019s\u00a0Cucina and Vianca\u2019s family.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gill jumped into the black water and spent minutes reaching under the vessel before he finally grabbed a leg. When she was taken to the surface, she was gray with no pulse or blood pressure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gill had to be resuscitated as well\u00a0because he had\u00a0ingested\u00a0so much water.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hutchins\u00a0immediately\u00a0started CPR as the father and son pulled Gill on board. When they got to shore, other CCFR firefighters instantly continued CPR and quickly transported her to Baptist Medical Center Clay.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Then her hand twitched. Baby Vianca\u00a0suddenly\u00a0found\u00a0new\u00a0life.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the process, rescuers embraced the opportunity to see how their work matters. They also learned\u00a0that\u00a0miracles\u00a0sometimes defy science and explanation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hutchins and Gill were honored by the Florida House of Representatives with a standing ovation on Oct. 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the first time in 15 months,\u00a0all\u00a0her heroes\u00a0got to hold their\u00a0tiny miracle. They got to see her precious smile. Most of all, they got the rare chance to know what they do really matters.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORANGE PARK \u2013\u00a0Firefighters who were more accustomed to pulling victims from wrecked cars and burning buildings,\u00a0gently clinched Baby…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":473079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,15024,15015,15023,15026,3188,15016,723,15021,7310,15020,15022,7648,15018,15017,15025,15019,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-473078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-argyle","10":"tag-clay-county","11":"tag-doctors-inlet","12":"tag-eagle-harbor","13":"tag-fl","14":"tag-fleming-island","15":"tag-florida","16":"tag-green-cove-springs","17":"tag-jacksonville","18":"tag-keystone-heights","19":"tag-lake-asbury","20":"tag-margaret","21":"tag-middleburg","22":"tag-orange-park","23":"tag-pace-island","24":"tag-penney-farms","25":"tag-united-states","26":"tag-united-states-of-america","27":"tag-unitedstates","28":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","29":"tag-us","30":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115786635464800595","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}