Life of a Rookie NYC Firefighter, Post-9/11

ByABC News
November 27, 2002, 5:44 PM

Nov. 28 -- When they began their training last spring as raw recruits in New York's Fire Department Probationary Class Two, Nigel Defraties and Peter Hespe were already in better physical shape than any but the toughest athlete.

They had to be: they were among the first generation of firefighters to join the 132-year-old Fire Department of the City of New York since the events of Sept. 11, 2001. They had the future of the fire department in their hands, and the past in their hearts.

"When I was taking the oath, a lot of things were going through my head. I knew as a probie I'd have to be extra special in what I do, being what happened Sept. 11," explained Defreitas.

For nine months, Nightline producers joined Defreitas and Hespe first as they toiled in the department's Fire Academy, then as they cut their teeth inside the firehouse engine bays, bunk rooms and kitchens where the next portion of their training would take place.

The probies, as these young firefighters are known, would then spend the balance of a year before being declared a full-fledged firefighter. Their story is airing on Nightline Nov. 28 and 29.

Starting at 'The Rock'

The Fire Academy, where Defreitas and Hespe began their training, is nicknamed "The Rock" some say because like Alcatraz the academy is on an island. Others say it is because, also like Alcatraz, there are only two ways out only, here the options are life in the fire department or the death of a dream that many of these young men have held since childhood.

Hespe knows that tradition all too well. "I hope I fit into that tradition," he told Nightline. "You hear so much about the fire department from my father and my uncles and everybody I know, and then you hear stories, years ago, how it was with the horse and carriage. I just hope I find maybe a little piece of that somewhere in the firehouse."

Day in and day out, Hespe, Defreitas and the other members of the class ran miles, lifted weights and sweated calisthenics. Then they donned their heavy bunker pants, thick turnout coats, traditional leather helmets, air packs and face masks. They hoisted their tools axes, wrenches, extinguishers and, 80 pounds heavier now, proceeded to run up and down five flights of stairs carrying a fire hose. Then they had to run to class and hit the books, learning building codes and rescue techniques. Finally, as the sun set, they ran and drilled, and ran again.