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"Very dedicated here at Rochester Fire Department."

But for Lieutenant Thomas Rogan, it's not about bravery. It's deeper than that. He says he just hopes to save lives.

"It's just a thing, a feeling in your belly."

Lt. Rogan was one of the city's firefighters who helped battle an intense house fire on Locust Street Thursday morning.

Initial reports came through as two adults and two children trapped inside. Rogan was one of the handful of firefighters to enter into the house, in an attempt to find a young child.

"We're literally on the ground, almost on our bellies. 'Let's see if we can just get up there', so we tried to push ourselves up, got beat down, tried one more time thinking, it's a two-year-old, we gotta do what we can."

He describes the fire's heat as intense, enough to feel it burning his ears, eyes, and hands, but he pushed on, giving all his effort to find that child.

"You're thinking, 'Gosh, she's 2-years-old, my daughter is two."

But heavy flames became too big of a challenge, and Rogan and his fellow firefighters were forced to leave the home. After being treated for minor injuries, he learned all had made it out safely.

One of Rogan's men suffered second degree burns to his hands.

"If it wasn't for the gear, guys would be in the burn unit for days, weeks. Not just in and out with a bandage and back to work," he said.

The department is crediting proper training and sturdy turn-out gear for the lack of serious injuries of Thursday's fire.

Battalion Chief Glenn Sheremeta said his men may not have made it out alive, without that protection.

"That climate changed dramatically, and they had to exit so without that protective equipment, there's no way they would have survived that," the chief said.

The department wanted to show how vital the equipment really is. Case in point, as Thursday's fire, under the intense conditions, the gear burned, but the firefighters didn't.

Although there's risks involved, Rogan wouldn't change his line of work. He said there was a moment when he thought he wouldn't make it out alive from Thursday's fire, but his motivation was helping a family in need.

"You risk a lot, to save a lot," he said.