Hampshire firefighter rescues woman in labour after ambulance gets stuck in snow

Cars stuck in traffic on Ringway West in Basingstoke Credit: PA

An off-duty firefighter has been praised for his community spirit after he towed an ambulance to hospital with a woman on board who was giving birth.

Dan Pearce from Tadley was in his Land Rover Defender when he came across the ambulance stuck on the A339 near Hannington on Friday.

He had no hesitation but to hook up the ambulance to his 4X4 and tow it to hospital 15 miles away. The journey, in treacherous conditions, took nearly two hours.

“The roads were bad" said Pearce- narrow and icy. There were a lot of other people that were stuck, so we had to jump out to move them, two or three times, before we could get through.”

Pearce's watch manager at Tadley fire station, Sally Gould, said: “He’s not made a fuss about it. He’s one of those that says that’s just what we do, but we’re hugely proud of him.”

Dan has received widespread praise on Twitter for his actions, but he believes it's all in a day's work.

We've yet to discover how the woman and her baby are doing, but doubtless they are very grateful for Dan's intervention.