A 9-month-old baby is recovering after choking on a piece of gummy candy Wednesday afternoon in Daytona Beach Shores — and a quick-thinking beach safety sergeant got there just in time.

Beach Safety Sgt. Derek Taylor was nearby when he heard a mother’s 911 call come in through the department’s new Live 911 system, which allows crews to hear emergency calls in real time and track their location. Even though the call was coming from a condo — not the beach — Taylor made the call to respond.

“It was a judgment call. If we have rip currents all day, I’m not necessarily going to head off the beach for a non-emergency call but when I hear it’s a choking infant I know time is of the essence and a matter of seconds can make a difference,” Taylor said.

When Taylor arrived, the mother was standing outside the condo downstairs, holding her unresponsive infant. He immediately began back slaps — a technique used to dislodge objects from an infant’s airway.

“I flipped the baby over and gave him five back slaps and when I flipped him back over, I was definitely in a nervous state as far as I know I’m about to have to do chest thrusts on this little infant but when I flipped him back over I noticed the object sitting right there in his teeth,” Taylor said.

The baby was taken to the hospital to be checked out and is expected to be okay. Beach Safety is using the incident as a reminder for parents and caregivers to take a CPR class, noting that choking response is a major part of that training.

“Everyone should take a CPR class. One of the statistics they show is that people who take a CPR class you’re going to end up doing CPR on one of your relatives more likely than you’re going to do it on somebody in the public so if you’re the only person that’s available to give CPR or some other type of life saving efforts to one of your family members, it’s good to be educated,” Taylor said.

The Live 911 system was adopted by Volusia County Beach Safety four months ago.