(Photo: Warfield, Marcel) 
 
 STAFFORD COUNTY, Va. (WUSA9) --Two volunteer firefighters from Stafford County were suspended after transporting an 18-month-old to a hospital in a fire engine. 
 
 20-year veteran firefighter James Kelley says he and another colleague made the decision to rush an 18-month-old to the hospital in their fire engine after they say they calculated other responders would take much longer, and put the child's life at risk. 
 
 Kelly says the infant lived, but he and his colleague were suspended because the engine is licensed as a non-transport unit. 
 
 Kelley says Stafford residents are more at risk, now that he and his colleague are sitting it out. 
 
 "I would not hesitate, I would do the exact same thing 100 percent 10 times out of 10. I sleep well at night knowing I provided good care to that young lady," Kelley said. 
 
 Stafford Fire and Rescue Department Assistant Chief Mark says he's unable to comment while this potential regulatory compliance issue is under review. 
 
 (Photo: Warfield, Marcel) 
 
 
 
 ||||| Editor's Note: Capt. Kelley and Sgt. Bloom were reinstated earlier this week. Click here for the update. 
 
 March 05--Two volunteers from the Falmouth Fire Station in Stafford County were suspended after transporting an 18-month-old to the hospital in a fire engine, according to firefighters from the station. 
 
 Capt, James Kelley and Sgt. Virgil Bloom were the first to arrive at the McDonald's restaurant near the Ferry Farms neighborhood last Saturday, Kelley said. 
 
 Kelley, the officer in charge, said the 18-month-old child was having a seizure and was blue from her chest to her head. 
 
 "I immediately told the driver to turn on the engine," Kelley said. "This child was in dire need of a hospital." 
 
 Kelley didn't think a medic unit would be available for at least 10 to 15 minutes. He said that while he was on his way to the McDonald's, a medic unit called in over the radio to say they were the closest unit. But Kelley had heard the unit's prior call was in North Stafford on White Pine Circle. 
 
 Kelley said he didn't receive an answer from the medic unit after he asked for its location. After his second request, the medic unit only answered "southbound on Route 1." 
 
 "That caused major chaos," Kelley said. 
 
 Kelley said he then requested mutual aid from the city of Fredericksburg, but Fredericksburg was never dispatched. 
 
 "Considering all the factors--the presentation of the child, the unknown location of the medic unit, and the distance to the hospital--I felt it was in the patient's best interest to transport immediately," Kelley wrote in a statement he provided to the county. 
 
 Once the child was in the fire engine, another ambulance requested to meet up with the engine at the Falmouth Station. But because the engine was already over the Chatham bridge on the way to Mary Washington Hospital, Kelley said he denied the request. 
 
 He said the child was placed on oxygen in the fire engine and was laid in the trauma room within 13 minutes of getting the call. 
 
 She had paralysis on the entire left side of her body when she arrived at the hospital, according to Kelley. He said the infant is still alive. 
 
 Bloom and Kelley have were suspended by the county after the incident last Saturday, according to several firefighters. 
 
 Kelley said that his fire engine is licensed as a "non-transport unit." He explained that fire engines don't have proper restraints and that medic units have certain medications. 
 
 But Falmouth Volunteer Fire Chief Christopher Smith and Kelley both contend that Kelley didn't violate a written Stafford policy. Smith said he would have done the same thing because the priority is always the best care of the patient. 
 
 Smith also said the losses of Kelly and Bloom have caused longer response times. 
 
 Stafford Fire and Rescue Department spokesperson Mark Doyle declined to comment while the department reviews the case. 
 
 Vanessa Remmers: 540.735.1975 
 
 vremmers@freelancestar.com 
 
 Copyright 2016 - The Free Lance-Star, Fredericksburg, Va. ||||| - Two volunteer Stafford County firefighters have been suspended after they transported an 18-month old child to the hospital in a fire engine. The father of the little girl tells FOX 5 he is grateful for the actions of those two first responders, who may have saved his daughter's life. 
 
 The suspended firefighters, Captain James Kelley and Sgt. Virgil Bloom, volunteer for the Falmouth Volunteer Fire Department in Fredericksburg. They were the first to arrive when called to a location near a McDonald’s restaurant last Saturday because the child was having a seizure, Kelley said. 
 
 FOX 5’s Paul Wagner spoke to Kelley, who is a D.C. firefighter who also volunteers in Stafford County, about the incident on Saturday. Kelley said he immediately told the driver of the truck to turn on the engine because the child was in dire need of a hospital. Based on a previous call location for the nearest medic, Kelley said he thought it would be at least 10 to 15 minutes before one could arrive at the restaurant. 
 
 NEW: Facebook page started to support suspended Stafford Co. volunteer firefighters 
 
 Kelley said he asked for a location from the nearest medic, but didn’t receive a specific answer until after his second request, and even then, the information he got was “southbound on Route 1,” without any other specifics. Kelley also said he asked for mutual aid from the city of Fredericksburg, but no one was ever dispatched. 
 
 After the child was put into the fire engine and they were en route to Mary Washington Hospital, Kelley says another ambulance requested to meet up with the engine at Falmouth Station—but because of his proximity to the hospital at that point, Kelley denied that request. 
 
 According to Kelley, the child was put on oxygen in the fire engine and was in the trauma room within 13 minutes of the time the call came in. The little girl had paralysis on the entire left side of her body. Her father told Wagner on Saturday that she’s going to be just fine. 
 
 The little girl's father, Brian Nunamaker spoke to Wagner on Saturday about the incident, one week after it occurred. He said around 11 am on February 27, his youngest daughter experienced a medical emergency as they were making their way home from running errands. He pulled over just past the McDonalds restaurant located at Ferry Farm. When he realized his daughter was having a seizure, he called 911. He also said a passerby stopped to help. 
 
 "As a parent, you feel extremely helpless to be unable to assist the most important person in the world (your child) during such a time of emergency," Nunamaker wrote in a statement he shared with Wagner by email. "Worst case scenarios run through your head while you are hoping for the best. The eternity of waiting for help to arrive was surprisingly non-existent in this situation. I was surprised at how quickly help had arrived in the form of a fire truck." 
 
 Nunamaker said his daughter's symptoms changed, and she was limp when he handed her to fire rescue personnel. She was still breathing with a pulse, and Nunamaker said the firefighters stopped for just a few seconds, asked a few questions, and then put his daughter in the truck and took off to get her to the hospital. 
 
 When Nunamaker arrived at the hospital, his daughter was having another seizure in the emergency room. It soon stopped, but doctors were concerned about possible paralysis on her left side. After that, Nunamaker said, his daughter was transferred to VCU and later discharged. She's home now, and is doing fine and acting like nothing ever happened. 
 
 "The neurologists at VCU explained that timing is extremely important when reacting to seizures," Nunamaker said. "My wife and I are extremely grateful for the assistance provided by the first responders, 911 operator, medical staff at Mary Washington and VCU, and the passerby that stopped by to assist." 
 
 This weekend, Nunamaker tells FOX 5, he had hoped to put the ordeal behind them, but then he heard the news of the two volunteer first responders being suspended for the actions they took during his daughter's emergency. 
 
 "My wife and I feel terrible for the fallout that has happened to these two gentlemen," Nunamaker said in his statement to FOX 5. "They simply had the best interests for our daughter's care in mind. We are extremely thankful they made the decisions they did, and that our daughter is back home with us doing well. The actions of these men represent a dedication to their mission, and a deep concern of doing what is best for the people they are serving. In our eyes, they are heroes. 
 
 After the incident, both Kelley and Bloom were suspended by the county. According to Kelley, his fire engine is licensed as a “non-transport unit,” and doesn’t have the proper restraints and medications that medic units have. But, Kelley also says he didn’t violate a written county policy. 
 
 In his conversation with Wagner on Saturday, Kelley said when this kind of situation occurs in the District, where he works, the responding firefighters are praised. But when it happens in Stafford County, they are suspended. 
 
 In a statement sent to FOX 5, a Stafford County Fire and Rescue Department spokesman said, "A potential regulatory compliance issue is under review by the Fire and Rescue Department and the Virginia Department of Health. Therefore, we are unable to comment on this issue." 
 
 Most people who answered a Twitter poll about the situation said they thought the firefighters should not have been suspended.
– Two volunteer firefighters are on administrative leave after driving an 18-month-old girl to the hospital for urgent medical care in their fire engine, Fox 5 DC reports. Capt. James Kelley and Sgt. Virgil Bloom, who volunteer in Fredericksburg, Va., found the girl partly paralyzed and were told she had just suffered a seizure. Worse, the nearest medic was apparently 15 minutes away and a second call for a medic solicited a vague answer—"southbound on Route 1"—about its location, says Kelley. "Considering all the factors ... I felt it was in the patient's best interest to transport immediately," says Kelley, per a press release issued by his fire department. The girl's father, Brian Nunamaker, says it all began on the morning of Feb. 27, when his little girl had a seizure in the car and he pulled up near a McDonald's and called 911. "As a parent, you feel extremely helpless to be unable to assist the most important person in the world (your child) during such a time of emergency," he says in an email. The firefighters came "quickly," he adds, and found his daughter limp with a pulse; she was also blue from her head to her chest, Kelley tells the Free Lance-Star. The firefighters administered oxygen and drove her to a hospital, where she was transferred to VCU and eventually discharged in good health. "The neurologists at VCU explained that timing is extremely important when reacting to seizures," the father says. But Bloom and Kelley were suspended because their fire engine is considered a "non-transport unit" and lacks medications and restraints. "I would not hesitate, I would do the exact same thing 100% 10 times out of 10," Kelley tells WUSA. A fire official declined to comment while the matter is under review. (In another case, four firefighters went on an arson spree.)