By Noah Wortham
Photos by Dawn Harrison

Fire Engineer Lee Kilgore recalls being at Fire Station 11 in Hoover, when the Hoover Fire Department received a call to assist a woman in labor. After receiving the alert, which was not an unusual situation for a firefighter to deal with, he leaves Fire Station 11 and makes a left turn to get to the house which happened to be close by.

He pulls in behind the rescue truck, where men were preparing equipment and a stretcher. He is the first to enter the home.

After he steps inside, he is greeted by the husband of the woman in labor.

“She’s in here,” the man says, directing Lee where to go.

However, as he follows the husband, Lee discovers the mother laying on the floor of a small, walk-in closet. He learns she first entered the closet to change clothes earlier in the day, but when her water broke, she sat down in the closet.

The baby is now crowning.

Lee says he realized he had no choice but to get to work and help her deliver the baby—something he had never done before. Crouching down inside the closet to assist, Lee remembers instructing the father and other personnel looking-on to hand him equipment.

While helping the mother through the process, her 3-year-old daughter sits in the closet with them, expressing her excitement for her brand new baby brother on the way.

“That’s my mama,” she says. “She’s doing good.”

Maintaining a calm demeanor and remembering prior training and teaching, Lee stays focused on the job, continuing to safely usher the baby into this world. With the baby successfully delivered and the mother in good condition, he sighs, relieved.

The emergency was handled–at least until he received another call three weeks later in which he would deliver another child in a critical situation, earning him the new nickname, “Maternity Lee.”

Birth of a Firefighter 

Nearly two decades earlier, after growing up in Warrior, Lee says he decided to begin a career as a firefighter. With that new employment in mind, he knew just where to aim.

“When I got into the fire service, Hoover is where I wanted to be,” he says. “They were always ahead of everybody else–is how I felt. They always wanted the best. They paid the best. They [have] the best employees here. So, I just wanted to be a part of the best team.”

However, like any career, it was a journey to get there, and it took determination and effort for him to rise through the ranks. He first got his start in June 1996, working as a volunteer firefighter for the Warrior Fire Department.

In 1997, he completed Basic EMT and won “Firefighter of the Year” for the city of Warrior. He then began work for Blount EMS and eventually became an EMT paramedic.

In August 1999, he was hired by the Tuscaloosa Fire Department where he served the technical rescue team. While serving at Tuscaloosa Fire, he was hired as a part-time fire medic for Warrior where he climbed through the ranks to fire chief in 2022.

Lee says he eventually joined the HFD in 2004. Now, with November 2024 marking 20 years of service to the city of Hoover as a firefighter, he still feels the same way about the fire department.

“All 20 years have been great–even the rough years,” he says.

According to his supervisor Hoover Fire Captain Brandon Harbison, Lee always comes into work with a smile and gets along with his coworkers.

“He’s always level-headed, he’s calm,” Brandon says. “I feel more comfortable when he’s on a call with me.”

It’s that clear-minded approach and calm demeanor that carried him through a difficult call that could have led to the death of two individuals.

Knowing the Basics 

Three weeks after Lee helped deliver a child for the first time while responding to a call, the HFD received another alert involving a woman in labor. This time, however, the call indicated a much more critical situation as it reported a possible breech birth.

“That’s a very dangerous birth, even in a hospital setting,” Lee says. “So, I’m just like, ‘Man, I don’t know. Let’s hope it’s not happening.’”

A situation that was already difficult became even more demanding, when he realized that the next engine over was already dispatched, serving a different territory, and the rescue truck on the way was coming from the other side of the city.

After arriving and knowing the severity of the situation, Lee and a single other responding fireman grabbed an OB kit, a monitor, an airway bag and any additional supplies. After entering the home, they met the father.

Lee remembers the father exclaiming, “Thank goodness you all are here!”

The two found the mother upstairs in active labor with her feet hanging at the front of the bed. Lee grabbed the OB kit along with a sterile sheet and sterile gloves.

As he investigated, his eyes confirmed that the baby was breech. He began the delivery process, and soon enough, the baby made progress, and Lee was able to determine that the umbilical cord wasn’t wrapped around the baby’s neck.

“We’re going to take a little break for about three seconds, then we’re going to push for 10,” he says, recalling his conversation with the mother.

After two or three bursts of strained effort, the baby finally made it out.

“We never know what we’re going to get [when we’re called],” Lee says. “As long as you stay calm in a situation like that, normally everybody around you will also try to calm down, too. You just try to focus on the basics, and if you handle the basics good, everything else is going to take care of itself most of the time.”

For his efforts in delivering two babies by himself, Lee earned a new nickname from his peers.

“I like to give people nicknames,” Lee says. “When the guys found an opportunity to call me something, they decided they would call me ‘Maternity Lee.’”

In addition to his new honorary title, Lee was named the Hoover Fire Department’s 2024 Paramedic of the Year by Chief Clay Bentley at The Shelby County Chamber’s Public Safety Awards for his character and efforts in delivering two babies.

“That was a true emergency,” Clay says. “A life-threatening emergency for the child and the mother, and due to his actions that day, both survived and are healthy.”

Serving the People

Firefighters and paramedics are prepared at all times to deliver any number of services to residents in need. No matter the situation or call.

“No two shifts are the same,” Brandon says.

However, unlike Lee’s deliveries or the extravagant tales that are often displayed on television, sometimes answering the call of those in need means handling something much less glamorous such as a hurt knee, a medical issue or helping an individual who has fallen down. Regardless of any situation, the victim matters, their issue matters and the HFD is prepared to aid them and provide what is necessary.

“A lot of it is just knowing the basics,” Brandon says. “Make sure they’re breathing, make sure their heart is pumping, their blood [is] circulating, and if you handle those vital checks, things turn out better for you.”

In addition to the life-saving services that the HFD provides, it is also able to build camaraderie with the general public, thanks to its plentiful resources.

“Hoover does a lot of things for the citizens that probably some departments might not, or might not have the people to do,” Hoover Fire Assistant Chief Matthew Javinett says. “We do a ton of community work.”

One year, Fire Station 11 participated in a Fourth of July golf cart parade, and Lee and the other men at the station worked together to decorate an ATV like a fighter jet, utilizing their own money and effort to make it possible.

“Lee’s one of those guys that, any time he interacts with the public, it’s 100 percent customer service,” Matthew says.

Passing Down the Torch 

As Shelby and Jefferson counties grow and develop, public safety continues to advance, and the needs of the people continue to evolve.

“Fire service has changed, and Hoover has changed,” Matthew says. “We used to hire people that had, sometimes, years of experience with other fire departments. We’re not doing that anymore. We’re hiring, sometimes, right out of high school.”

The HFD recently undertook a mentorship program, and according to Brandon, Lee played a role in preparing those young men and getting them ready.

“Lee’s the type that—he can be on you to aggravate you and kind of get in your head, but he’s very encouraging and he’s fun,” he says. “They like to learn from him. They want to be pushed by him to get better.”

During the mentorship, the recruits learned all of the necessary technical skills involved in firefighting while also receiving life advice to set them up for a successful career.

“I really feel like the guys that are working with Lee are going to learn, not only the things on the fire engine they need to, but how to get through this career and come out on the other side successful,” Brandon says. “I’m appreciative of what he does.”