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Airway Heights swears in French stuntman and history-making firefighters

Monday, the Airway Heights fire department swore in its first four firefighters in station history and the police department welcomed a former stuntman to its force.

AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. — Monday was a historic and exciting day for Airway Heights first responders.

Friends, family and supporters gathered at the Airway Heights fire department to watch a new police officer and four new firefighters get sworn in.

Sebastien Vandenberghe is the newest officer in the Airway Heights Police Department. Vandenberghe previously worked 22 years for the French metro transit police team, before taking up work as a stuntman in Hollywood.

His notable credits include the "Taken" movie series where he worked alongside Liam Neeson.

However, since coming to the Inland Northwest a year and a half ago, he's done less fighting on screen and more fighting crime in the streets of Spokane County. He gained knowledge of the area by working as a Spokane County Sheriff's Office deputy.

Now, he's transitioning his skills to the Airway Heights Police Department, with a few adjustments.

"Real fight and fight in the movies are two, totally different things," Vandenberghe shared. "You're always going to win in movies, even if you're not good. The reality can hurt. The movies is choreography. Here, it can go so much faster and escalate and there's no one to say 'cut.'"

Vandenberghe said he's looking forward to his role as an Airway Heights community servant.

"I wanted to help the people of the community," Vandenberghe said. "Serve and protect. That's what I really like to do."

Police Chief Brad Richmond said Vandenberghe's strengths will support the strengths and talents of others in the department.

"We want to exercise those opportunities and exploit those people's strengths," the Chief said. "Sebastian is coming with a unique set of strengths that we want to exploit for the good of our community and our agency as well."

At Monday's swearing-in, the fire department celebrates a historic day.

Fire Chief Mitch Metzger said the four newest firefighters on the team are the first career firefighters in the station's history.

"This is a really big day for us," Chief Metzger said.

Since its founding in 1963, the department has relied on volunteer service to assist in responding to calls. But Metzger said other volunteers aren't able to meet service demands because of their other commitments.

"With our call volume, nearly 3000 calls a year, the volunteers are getting tired," Metzger explained. "Before today, we had 3 paid chiefs that would respond to calls during the day, during the week."

Now, he said the new initiates will help lighten the workload.

"It just gives us that opportunity to continue to service our community, that we've been doing, but we've been struggling to do, so this should make it a lot more efficient," Metzger said.

Both chiefs said their respective departments are now considered fully-staffed, but if there's someone who wants to help their community, helping hands won't be turned away.

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