It’s a job that called to Wally Majtyka III.

"My father [...] was a fireman for 31 years. Me and my sister came on together in '98, which was a good moment," he said. "Her husband's a fireman, my girlfriend's a fireman. It's been in the family."

Serving with Rescue 1, he’s seen a lot.

"They call us in sometimes after stuff goes from bad to worse, I should say," Majtyka said.

Now in his 26th year of firefighting, he couldn’t tell you how many rescues he’s been on.

"I love everything about the job," he said. "We don't do it for [recognition]. We just do our job."

It's a job that saves lives, like after one fire earlier this year on Mills Street.

"I happened to find the bedroom and found the victim and it was a team effort," said Majtyka. "Everyone worked as a team, [a] group. We got him out."

That team is more like a family.

"We're here 24 hours a shift, 48 hours a week," he said.

That's why March 1 hit so hard.

"They said, 'smoke showing from three-story ordinary brick building'," Majtyka recalled.

Rescue 1 headed into DC Theatricks alongside Engine 2. Not long after, everything changed. Calls came for an evacuation, and then a backdraft hit, trapping firefighter Jason Arno.

"Me, Kevin Lynch and Nick Catanzaro [...] we were in the last three making sure everyone was out," Majtyka said. "We had no idea anybody else was in there at the time."

Arno’s mayday went out and Rescue 1 tried to get him. Arno was in Majtyka’s hands.

"We're trying to pull him out, to what we do...bring him to safety," he recalled. "There was another explosion, blew us off of Jay."

Majtyka tried multiple times to save his friend, his brother.

"I told him, 'I'm going back in to get Jay,' and by that time we couldn't do anything," Majtyka said. "There was a third explosion. We did everything we could."

Majtyka doesn’t see himself as the hero though.

"If that didn't happen the way it happened, it could have been catastrophic, could have been who knows how many firemen who may have been lost. So Jay saved a lot of people that day," said Majtyka. "If anyone's a hero, it's Jay."

But Maytyka continues to show up and do the job as best he can.

"That's what the fire department does that people don't see after the fire, is what we do," he said. "We're there to support, mentally, physically, whatever we could do. We do it we move on, but it's now with a heavy heart."