A firefighter who longed to be a dad found a newborn abandoned at his firehouse

By Rachel Paula Abrahamson
With shaky hands, Chris Martinez, a firefighter in Belen, New Mexico, dialed his wife’s phone number.

“The first thing he said was, ‘I’m crying right now,’” Janae Martinez, 39, tells TODAY.com.

Through tears, Chris, 44, explained to Janae that a newborn had been placed in the station’s Safe Haven Baby Box— a device that allows someone to safely and anonymously surrender a child, no questions asked.

He didn't yet know it, but that baby would become his son Mikel.