Volunteer Firefighters (W5:D3)

Some fire departments have volunteer firefighters. FIREPROOF has volunteer actors playing firefighters!
Eric Young, Ken Bevel, Stephen Dervan, and Jason McLeod (L-R) look the part of Albany firefighters.

Filming returned to Albany fire stations this week. All five of the actors playing the main firefighting crew are volunteers and each has a strong connection with Sherwood. Three of the actors are members of the church: Ken Bevel, Eric Young, and Jason McLeod.

A fourth actor, Stephen Dervan is the youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. He grew up at Sherwood and served there when he began his ministry. And Kirk Cameron has become a good friend of the ministry since the release of FACING THE GIANTS.

After intense training led by Albany Training Chief Ron Rowe and Capt. Kenny Loudenbarger, a Sherwood member, the actors had a taste of real firefighting during last week’s filming of a house fire. This week, they get to enjoy the camaraderie that firefighters have when they live together 24 straight hours every third day.

While acting is new to Ken, Eric, and Stephen, there is a firefighting connection for four of the five actors. Eric actually served as a firefighter in Albany for three years in the early 1990s. Stephen’s dad was a longtime member of the Albany Fire Department. Kirk’s aunt was one of the first two female firefighters in the city of Los Angeles. And Jason grew up wanting to be a fireman. The odd man out? Ken, who serves as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps!

The quintet is schedule to face one more on-film calamity before filming concludes. Be sure to check in to the blog next week to see more from behind the scenes.