Rushden firefighters ‘emergency’ call-out to Wellingborough gender reveal party helps happy couple with their big announcement

Laura Plote and her partner, Valdis Plots, live in Wellingborough and organised a gender reveal party with their loved ones on May 12.

Unbeknown to them, firefighters from Rushden fire station feigned a gas leak, but after brief panic it was revealed that they were instead there to make the big announcement.

Laura said: “It was amazing. We were playing games and didn’t expect anything.

“They came on their day off all suited and booted and did a great job. Their acting skills are amazing, I didn’t know until they left that they were actually real firefighters.

“They are doing a really important job. I hope it’s not going to be a trend, and I hope it’s not going to take up too much of their time but it’s great, I would like to tell them a big, big thank you.”

Four firefighters from Rushden fire station arrived at Laura and Valdis’ home in one of the fire engines on ‘blues and twos’, causing the celebrations to halt while the team investigated a potential problem.

Once the house was evacuated, the firefighters pretended to carry out a search before coming out to concerned attendees, announcing that the couple’s baby is a boy, by which time poppers were set off and the surprise turned to happiness.

Laura was ‘99 per cent sure’ it was a girl, but it turns out they are having a son, who is due in October.

Her sister-in law Santa Brash and her partner, Nick, organised the reveal alongside the fire station, with Laura noting that ‘she would never have had a gender reveal for us like the same as anyone else would have.’

The fire station consists of 23 fire staff, 12 of whom work the weekday shifts and 11 who are the on-call crew.

The Northants Telegraph approached Northants Fire and Rescue who declined to comment.