Tyler Hickey had just learned to walk when he began following in his firefighter father’s footsteps.
At just 15 months old, Hickey was pictured in the Daily News following a procession of firefighters attending a memorial service at Riverside Park in October 1994.
On Wednesday, he will once again be marching in an FDNY procession — this time as a new probationary firefighter.
“I have wanted to be a firefighter forever,” 24-year-old Hickey said Tuesday. “As a kid, the toys I had were fire trucks and fire boats. Everything I have done has led up to this.” Hickey said he doesn’t actually remember the moment the adorable photo — which still hangs in his mother’s home — was taken, but he’s heard the story many, many times.