Beerwah's Damien Morris was formerly a crocodile handler at Australia Zoo under the leadership of Steve Irwin. He has just graduated as a fireman.

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DAMIEN Morris will happily crawl kilometres through a pitch black tunnel or jump off a cliff in a harness but put him in front of 5000 smiling and cheering people and he'll freak out.

At least he did the first time he walked out for his croc show debut at Australia Zoo's Crocoseum after a call-up from the late Steve Irwin.

"I started at the zoo in the construction team doing concreting at the Crocoseum and that's when I first met Steve," he said. "After (I'd been there) about a year with the construction group, Steve came over and told me he wanted me to be part of the croc show.

"Trying to do a demo in front of 5000 people while concentrating on feeding a hungry crocodile snapping at your feet from the edge of the water is pretty testing. The first time I did that was one of the scariest things I've ever done."

Fear gave way to familiarity soon enough as Damien found himself getting up close and personal with the crocs during the daily shows at the zoo and on annual trips to Weipa to tag and release wild crocodiles for research.

But after four years as one of the original stars of Australia Zoo's croc show team, the bricklayer from Beerwah decided to pursue his dream of becoming a firefighter.

This week Damien was one of 32 new recruits welcomed into the Queensland Fire and Rescue service following a 16-week stint at Brisbane's White Island training academy.

While Damien admitted the intensity of the course pushed the new recruits to their limits, he said he would gladly take on those challenges before a public speaking gig any day.

"I think all of us found it challenging and some of the stuff pushed you out of your comfort zone, like running into black, smoke-filled rooms or crawling through two kilometre tunnels in complete darkness," he said.

"People scared of heights wouldn't have liked it but any fears you might have had you had to get over them."

Damien will take a permanent role with the Roma Street brigade in central Brisbane.