Alyze Boston was riding in the passenger seat on Buffalo Road in Gates, New York, when her contractions suddenly intensified. She asked the child's father to pull into the Gulf gas station up ahead — and delivered a healthy baby girl right there in the car.
The dramatic roadside birth happened so fast that Boston asked the baby's father to call 911 as she delivered her daughter, according to 13WHAM. The Gulf station sits directly across the street from the Gates Fire Department. Gas station staff grabbed a towel to keep the newborn warm while first responders raced to the scene.
Firefighters from the district responded after getting a call that someone nearby was having a baby, said Jose Clausell, a member of the Gates Fire Department, per the same account. EMS and police also arrived at the gas station shortly after, and Gates firefighters ultimately transported both mother and baby to Highland Hospital.
A Fast Response Built Into Training
Gates Fire Department crews train specifically for emergencies involving childbirth, according to firefighters quoted by 13WHAM, and that preparation was on display during Boston's delivery several days before the Friday reunion. McKenzie Uhl, another firefighter who responded, said helping people in these moments is exactly why the department exists. The district's rapid arrival was no accident — the Gates Fire District operates three career-staffed stations covering the town and portions of Chili, and it responds to more than 5,000 emergency calls a year with a roster of 74 professional firefighters, according to Gates Local 3792. Station 3 sits on Coldwater Road near Buffalo Road.
That kind of readiness is required statewide. Emergency childbirth and neonatal care are mandatory parts of the core training curriculum for every certified Emergency Medical Technician in New York, per the New York State Department of Health, which means EMT candidates must demonstrate hands-on competence in obstetrical emergencies before they're certified.
Reunion Days Later
Boston reunited with the Gates firefighters this week, describing the birth as very traumatic because she didn't know what to do in the moment. Her daughter, Alani, is now five days old and doing great, Boston said.
The 911 call brought crews to the gas station. Gates is a suburban town of 29,167 residents as of the 2020 census, per the U.S. Census Bureau, with Buffalo Road serving as one of its main commercial corridors.
Where Mother and Baby Ended Up
Highland Hospital, where Boston and Alani were taken, is part of the University of Rochester Medical Center system. The hospital's Family Maternity Center manages nearly 2,500 deliveries a year, according to an OB/GYN Hospitalist Group profile. As of February, the center was in the midst of comprehensive renovations to all 40 patient rooms and its nursing stations, part of a broader modernization effort, per In Good Health. The hospital logged 48,389 emergency department visits in 2024 and employs more than 3,300 healthcare personnel, the outlet also reported.
Alani was born in a car at a gas station, an unplanned out-of-hospital delivery.
