A firefighter has helped deliver a baby during a large fire in Enfield, north London, after remembering tips from a TV show his wife watches.
fire at the top of the road in ponders end traffic bad can't get out of my road
Ross McLaren, 33, was one of the London Fire Brigade firefighters tackling the blaze at a restaurant on the High Street in Ponders End on Wednesday morning.
Meet The Midwives! Ross McLaren (left) & Richie Hall, delivered a baby boy earlier today http://t.co/Iu5jJbVHhb
While the fire was being dealt with, a couple in a car drove through a cordon placed around the scene.
According to the fire brigade, they had been stuck in traffic and the mother-to-be was already in the late stages of labour in the back seat of the vehicle.
McLaren, who has been a firefighter for 15 years, leapt into action and with colleague Richie Hall began to help.
The husband was driving and was in a bit of a panic. I could see that the lady in the back seat was in the middle of giving birth and when I looked I could see the baby's head.We began to give the mum oxygen and to try and reassure her. While Richie carried on doing that I ran round to where the baby was and kept telling the lady to push.Once he was born we rubbed him down to get his circulation going and when he started crying I knew it was going to be alright. We then kept mum and baby warm until London Ambulance Service arrived to take them to hospital.
McLaren said he knew what to do because his wife was an “avid viewer of One Born Every Minute”, the popular Channel 4 documentary series based in a maternity unit.
Another photo of Ponders End fire from the scene earlier today #Enfield #London
He added: “It has definitely been one of the highlights of my career and it's not something I ever expected that I would do in my life.
"Someone said to me the other day that as firefighters we usually enter people's lives at their worst moments so being there at such a joyful occasion makes a nice change."
The fire on Wednesday is believed to have started in a restaurant on the High Street and spread to neighbouring flats.
No one is reported to have been injured in the blaze.