VIDEO: For the last year, Suffolk Fire and Rescue has been training a new class of heroes. In that class is a one-of-a-kind recruit. When he graduates from training, there will be no other firefighter like him in Hampton Roads.
In three weeks, Chris Heater will become a Suffolk firefighter.
“I actually grew up watching Backdraft, so, I don’t know... it was just always a calling,” Chris said. At 33, Chris is the oldest member of his recruit class. “It makes it a little rougher trying to compete with the young guys.”
The trainees are put in challenging, and uncomfortable, situations.
“We put them in confined spaces. We put them at heights where they have probably never been, 100 feet on a ladder,” said Lieutenant Durand Coltrane, who oversees Suffolk Firefighter Recruit Training.