Stanley firefighters develop bond with family after delivering baby boy

STANLEY, N.C. — He can’t put out a firefighter yet, but the newest honorary firefighter in Stanley has developed a bond with the department, and he’s turning one year old this weekend.

Jackson Silver loves to laugh and ride his tractor almost as much as he loves being around fire trucks. The little boy in Gaston County adores the crew that brought him into the world last year.

“I can’t express how much I appreciate them,” said Amber Silver, Jackson’s mother.

A year ago, Amber was surprised when she went into labor at her home in Stanley. Silver’s husband thought he might have to deliver their child.

“He was very excited to finally see us walk through the door,” Jennifer Hilton told Channel 9’s Ken Lemon.

Hilton and her crew of Stanley firefighters got there before medics.

“I started blacking out, and I don’t know if it was my body trying to protect the pain,” Amber said.

Hilton had always wanted to deliver a child. She was the first to bond with Jackson.

“I held him until we cut the cord, and then I gave him to her. [It was] incredible, because my kids, I didn’t get to hold them when they were first born,” Hilton said. “I was going on vacation the next day after [Jackson] was born, and I never thought I would see him again.”

She and the two other firefighters couldn’t stay away.

“They have loved him afterwards and checked up on him,” Amber said.

They became regulars at the Silver family home, and the department even made Jackson an honorary firefighter. There are pictures of him in baby-sized fire gear in front of a truck.

The crew and a Stanley Fire Department truck will come by on Saturday for Jackson’s first birthday party.

“Exciting, I can’t wait to experience that with him,” Hilton said.

They need a place big enough for the fire truck, so Jackson’s party is being held at First Presbyterian Church.

And it doesn’t stop there. Amber told us that Hilton’s crew now attends Jackson’s older sister’s events. She says they consider the crew to be the kids’ aunts and uncles.

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