VIDEO: Being a firefighter means running into the burning building when everyone else is running out. It’s dangerous and requires courage, but for the brave men and women who train for it, it’s just another day on the job.
But even that can change quickly.
By all accounts, January 30, 2014, started as a typical day.
“Everything about that day, everything that lead up to that day, was normal,” said Sterling Sudderth, a battalion chief with the Greensboro Fire Department. “I had no idea that it was a life-changer.”
The initial call came in just after lunch as a car fire at 811 S. Elm St. on the outskirts of downtown Greensboro. Responding units quickly learned that the car on fire was actually inside of an auto repair business.
“As soon as we got off the truck, I saw the fire — heavy fire — coming out of the auto repair shop,” said Sudderth, who was a captain at the time. “At that point, between the amount of fire and the amount of smoke, I think everybody knew that this had gotten beyond that single car fire.”