ARLINGTON, Texas – Ten years after a baby was left wrapped in blankets outside an Arlington fire station on a cold day in 2002, a little boy spent his birthday with the firefighter who found him.
After being one of the first infants found under the state's Baby Moses Law, which designates fire stations as a safe haven, Koregan Quintanilla was adopted by a loving family.
He's now 10 years old, and he asked to return to the fire station celebrate his birthday with Wesley Keck, the firefighter who found and cared for him a decade ago.
"He was asleep at the time; I touched him enough to get him moving, to let me know that he was breathing. I picked him up and brought him into the station," Keck recalled.
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Koregan has dreams of being a firefighter some day.
"He wants to be a lawyer. He wants to be everything all at once because he's 10, but always first -- fireman, always first," said Koregan's mother, Rebecca Quintanilla.
On Thursday, Koregan was chief of the station. He got to ride in a firetruck, flash the lights and shoot the water gun.
Koregan said he's not special -- just another kid. But to the firefighters at Station 12, he's a little boy they won't forget.
"I was excited that I got to meet him," Koregan said. "I'm glad I get to come here and see everyone, because this is my fire station that I was abandoned at."
Koregan was adopted on National Adoption Day. The next one happens Saturday.
Across the county, 4,500 children in foster care are expected to join their forever families.
