The biggest challenges for a firefighter are when we are faced with a fire and you know persons are trapped inside the building. You can usually tell from the outset whether or not they are likely to be alive, and it can be quite challenging to keep morale and hopes high, to get in, tackle the fire and hopefully recover the persons alive. It can be very challenging also when having to recover persons who are deceased. At the end of the day it is my job, and we just have to do it. We always have each other to talk to, as well as counselling if we require it. I like to think that for every life lost we have saved hundreds more, and focus on the positive outcomes of recues.