IOWA, La. — A video of a firefighter completing a firefighting training exercise is going viral.
KPLCtv reported that Sonny Coffey is a volunteer firefighter in Iowa, La., and towers at about 6 feet 3 inches and weighs 325 pounds. On Wednesday, he and his colleagues were demonstrating a specific firefighting training exercise with a ladder.
“I looked at it and I didn’t think I’d make it because I am a big guy. I tried it the first time and I backed out. They all went through it so I decided I was going to do it again and I pushed myself to go through it,” said Coffey.
After two attempts and encouragement from his fellow firefighters, he made it through the opening for the first time.
“I was amazed with myself that I actually did it,” he said.
His successful pursuit was recorded and uploaded onto Facebook. It has been five days since it was posted and it has more than 150,000 views from all over the country and the world.
“We got people from Germany, Slovenia. I got a friend request from a guy in Thailand today. All over the United States I’ve got friend requests,” Coffey said.
Coffey said confidence and training go hand in hand.
“It just goes to show that your size does depend on what you can do, but if you push yourself and you get accurate training, you could go a lot further with yourself. You’ve got to have self-confidence,” said Coffey.
He tried the same exercise again on Sunday and beat his last record by 45 seconds.