The Oklahoma City bombing resulted in the tragic loss of many lives, including that of a one-year-old girl who was captured in a poignant photograph being held by a courageous firefighter.
When the photo was taken, the firefighter was solely focused on comforting the baby girl and had no inkling that this image would later become emblematic of the 1995 bombing.
In light of the upcoming 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, a new documentary is coming to Netflix.
It will tell the heroism of those who didn’t run away but rather tried to help others – firefighter Chris Fields was one of those people.
Fields and his team were present when a bomb was detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.
Fields, who was only about 10 years into his career at the Oklahoma City Fire Department at the time, rushed to help the bombing victims.
That’s when a police officer told Fields that he found a critically wounded baby.
Fields took the baby, who was covered in blood, and carried her in his arms.
“I’m an EMT so I just checked for signs of life, I didn’t find any,” Fields told TODAY in March 2017.
He continued: “But I wanted to get her to the ambulance and let the paramedics see if there was anything they could do.”
The baby’s name was Baylee Almon. She turned one years old the day before the bombing.
“I was thinking, this is somebody’s world just getting ready to be totally undone,” Fields recalled of the moment the haunting image of him and Baylee was taken.
He added: “Knowing that they’re going to find out that their child is dead.”
Baylee was one of 19 children, 168 people total, who were killed in the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in US history.
Hundreds more were injured that spring day in 1995 – a day that has haunted the nation, including Fields.
“It’s always devastating when it involves children, but when you have one, it hits home even more,” Fields, whose firstborn son was two years old at the time of the bombing, said.
What was the Oklahoma City bombing?
On the morning of April 19, 1995, a bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City.
The bomb killed 168 people, including 19 children, and injured hundreds more.
Timothy McVeigh, the ex-Army soldier and security guard, was responsible for the bombing.
He had extremist ideologies and was angry over the FBI’s siege on the Branch Davidian religious group’s compound near Waco, Texas, two years earlier.
McWeigh was charged with his crimes on August 10, 1995, convicted on June 2, 1997 and sentenced to death on August 14, 1997.
He was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.
A MOMENT FROZEN IN TIME
Fields didn’t think anything of the photo of him and Baylee at first.
But that one picture ended up on the front pages of newspapers around the world and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize, an award for outstanding journalism.
Fields didn’t want the fame associated with the photo and was concerned about what Baylee’s mom went through because of it.
“I struggled a long time feeling responsible for that,” he said.
Another thought haunted Fields: “I was the last one to hold a parent’s baby when that should be a parent’s deal.”
But Aren Almon-Kok, who was a 23 years old and a single mother when her baby was killed, was thankful to Fields.
“She said, I could tell by looking at the photo that you were a dad by the way you were holding Baylee,” Fields recalled from when he met the heartbroken mom.
WHERE IS CHRIS FIELDS TODAY?
Fields is now friends with Baylee’s mom and is in a good place mentally after years of processing the bombing through counseling.
“PTSD is a real thing,” Fields said he realized after the attack.
He added: “Twenty or 30 years ago, you just didn’t show emotion, you went on about your day…we’ve come so far since then.”
Fields retired in March 2017 after serving the people of Oklahoma City for over 30 years.
Fields told the Associated Press in a new interview that an attack motivated by radical political ideology could happen again.
“I don’t worry about it, but do I think it could happen again? Without a doubt,” he said.
NEW DOC ON 1995 BOMBING
Director Greg Tillman and producer Tiller Russell have created a new documentary about the bombing with interviews from survivors, first responders and police.
Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror premiered on Netflix on Friday.
Tillman told The Oklahoman that the documentary is dedicated to the bombing victims and “all the people who tried to save them and to all the friends and family who miss them.”
There will also be audio interviews from Timothy McVeigh, the ex-Army soldier and security guard who set off the bomb, which were previously collected by American Terrorist authors Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck.
McVeigh had extremist ideologies and was angry over the FBI’s siege on the Branch Davidian religious group’s compound near Waco, Texas, two years earlier where dozens of people were killed.
The Oklahoma City bomber was executed by lethal injection in 2001.
“This is an incredible example of the devastation that can happen when hatred and divisiveness goes unchecked, and I think right now is a very important time for people to be thinking about that,” Tillman said.
He continued: “It is also is a great example of the power of a community coming together in the face of this kind of hatred, divisiveness — and how powerful that can be.”
