Baby Boom in the Valley as Chino Firefighters Welcome 15 'Quarantine Babies' in the Past 12 Months

A baby frenzy is happening right now at the Chino Valley Fire District, with a total of 15 babies being born among the firefighter families over the past 12 months. Such has been the baby boom in their department that the fire station is being mistaken for a daycare nowadays.

Some point to the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason behind the sudden influx of babies. Arianna Guinn, one of the firefighters' wives at Chino Valley, agreed with that sentiment, saying she thinks the young kids are being called the "quarantine babies."

The firefighters themselves noticed something strange was happening within their unit. Firefighter Charles Addie said that three of them on his crew that year had babies born within a month and a half of each other.

Other Chino firefighters jumped on the baby train as well

Firefighter Eric Englehardt said that they jumped on the baby train too, as it seemed like in every shift, somebody else was announcing that they were having another baby as well.

The baby boom has been a blessing not only for the firefighters but also for the mothers. According to one of the firefighters' wives, Danay Englehardt, it was really cool and fun going on family vacations together with their big bellies.

Pamela Addie echoed Englehardt's sentiment, saying, "It's nice having other moms around. Just the community and just being able to relate because we are all so close." Holley Kalousek also lauded the bond of the wives and partners of the Chino firefighters, saying, "It's definitely nice to have that support system, and it's always good when they are on long fires, we can always reach out to some of the other families."

For the firefighter dads, nothing beats the feeling of coming home to their cute babies. Firefighter Caleb Guinn gushed about his sweet baby girl, saying that to see the excitement on her face after being gone for several days at a time is the best thing ever.

The running joke right now in the Chino Valley Fire District is that these 15 babies could be the next generation of firefighters. Brian Kalousek asked his son that question, saying he had already showed him the engine to gauge his interest in being a firefighter. With these babies growing up together in this kind of environment, it is not farfetched to see them follow in their fathers' footsteps.

Study shows the pandemic caused a baby bust

The baby boom in the Chino Valley Fire District is somewhat surprising, considering a recent study showing the COVID-19 pandemic causing a baby bust in high-income countries. Italian professor Arnstein Aassve and his colleagues looked at birth rates in 22 high-income countries, including the United States, from 2016 to 2021.

They discovered that seven countries yielded statistically significant declines in birth rates in the final months of 2020 and the early stages of 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic was wreaking havoc across the globe.