CLEVELAND — Monday morning at Cleveland Public Hall, friends and families packed the house waiting to see their loved ones finally receive a long-awaited promotion.
It's been five years since the Cleveland Division of Fire promoted lieutenants and captains, and 10 years for new battalion and assistant chiefs.
Mayor Justin Bibb swore in six new assistant chiefs, 24 battalion chiefs, 20 captains and 65 lieutenants. Among those new lieutenants is Kevin Hannum, who had a very busy Monday morning.
"My wife woke me up at 5:30 this morning to tell me her water broke," Hannum told us.
They jumped into the car and started rushing to the hospital, but ran out of time.
"She told me to pull over and since this was our third child, I was in no position to question her, so we pulled over," Hannum said, adding that he called 911.
On the side of I-480, Lt. Hannum, who personally assisted in five other births while on the job, delivered his own daughter with his wife being his only assistant.
Ladder 39 and Cleveland EMS arrived after Mabel made her entrance at eight pounds, eight ounces and measuring 19 inches. Mom and baby were then rushed to the hospital where both are happy, healthy and resting.
Meanwhile, Hannum had to rush downtown to make it in time to receive his promotion. It's a day he'll never forget and will always remember the date.
Also promoted on Monday was Ghadi Cole, who became a battalion chief. Sixteen months ago Cole thought his 24-year firefighting career was over after a drunk driver hit his motorcycle and left him paralyzed.
"I'm just hoping this is an inspiration for other people that might find themselves in a very, very similar situation that, you know, something absolutely horrific happened to you, but sometimes you can find a way to rise up through the ashes and learn to fly again," Battalion Chief Cole said.