By Amanda Codispoti
The Roanoke Times, Va.
ROANOKE, Va. — It didn’t matter that Thursday was Roanoke firefighter Scott Hetherington’s first day back at work since suffering a cardiac arrest during a fire; he still had to scrub the toilet at station No. 7.
“That’s his job. That’s his responsibility,” fellow firefighter Michael Peay said Thursday afternoon while filling out some paperwork at the station.
“I shouldn’t have to,” Hetherington shot back with a smile. “I’m the old guy here.”
Hetherington, known to firefighters as “Scooter,” has been off duty since November, when he went down while battling a house fire on Ferdinand Avenue Southwest.
The cardiac arrest stunned the department. Hetherington could bike more than 45 miles on a good day, and had just turned 39.
He spent five months recovering, and on Tuesday got the OK to return to work.
“It’s real good to have him back,” Peay said. “We missed having him around.”
Hetherington’s first day back was anything but routine. There weren’t many calls for service, and reporters, photographers and videographers from various media outlets were at the station for interviews much of the day.
Hetherington had declined to be interviewed before Thursday because he said the firefighters who saved him should have been in the spotlight instead.
It was Capt. Doug Rorrer who dragged Hetherington out of the burning house after noticing him slumped over. Hetherington wasn’t breathing and didn’t have a pulse, Rorrer said.
When Hetherington woke up at the hospital, he thought he was dreaming.
His vision was blurry, and voices told him that he’d gone down while battling a fire.
But he didn’t remember the fire, or even getting off the fire truck.
“I didn’t believe a thing anyone was telling me,” he said.
By then, the emergency room was filling up with concerned firefighters.
“I felt fine at that point,” he said. “I didn’t even know what all the fuss was.”
He thought his condition had ended his career, and he contemplated retiring.
As he started his recovery, he said he tried not to be too optimistic.
“I ... said, ‘I can’t change what’s going to happen, I’m just going to do my best to go back to the fire department.’ ”
He spent three months in physical therapy, which included classes on stress, cholesterol and diet. He’s back to biking almost 40 miles a day, and said he is in better shape now than before the cardiac arrest.
“It may happen again some day down the road, but for now, I’m good.”
Copyright 2008 The Roanoke Times