Editor's note: This article is the fifth and final in a series following recruits through the San Mateo County Fire Academy.

By Dwana Simone Bain
Staff Reporter

REDWOOD CITY -- Wednesday, June 27, 2001: Capt. Bob Pereira of the Woodside Fire Protection District is grateful for dry weather today. After a strange summer rainfall the past couple of days, today the sun has dried the brush at Canada College -- much better to capture the "feel" of a wildfire.
Pereira -- who also fought fires for the California Department of Forestry and fought wildfires in Tuolumne County -- has taught this academy section for four years.
As they would in a wildfire, groups of five at a time lead a total of 800 feet of hose uphill. A group sprays the ground, stretching the hose as far as it will go, clamps the hose, adds another section, charges the water, and so forth, until they reach the top of the hill. "The team concept is what we're trying to instill here," Pereira explains as recruits descend the hill in a muddy mess. "Everybody's working as a team and they're not from the same department. I think that's cool."
County departments often team up against big fires. Recruits saw an example yesterday, when a seven-alarm fire ripped through historic Redwood City.
"I had a team of 31 [recruits] doing salvage," said Pereira. The recruits rescued salvageable furniture, computers, valuables and paperwork from a fire. "Usually the academy's out by 5 [p.m.]. They stayed until 7 [p.m.]." The group was willing to work as long as it took, said Pereira.
"That's good experience," said Millbrae recruit Brian Sheehan. "Everything that we learned, [we] were doing."

Auto extrication
Friday, June 29, 2001 In a graffiti-covered lot, recruits have been tearing apart cars for two days. Using the jaws of life and other tools, they're training to rescue trauma victims from accidents where minutes -- even seconds -- matter.
After practice, the race is on.
Two teams start with identical, four-door 1980s Toyotas.
Simulating a severe trauma scenario, each team will dismantle the car, from doors to the dash.
"The more that they touch and work with the tools, the more they have an understanding of the limitations of the tools," said Training Chief Don Ciucci.
In 30 minutes, one team has torn its car apart. The other team is still working. As the losing team works on their car, the not-so-modest-winners pose for a photo inside what's left of theirs.

In tight spaces
Friday, July 6, 2001
At San Mateo's Laurel Creek Dam stands an overflow drainage well, about five feet wide and 50-feet deep.
Recruits rappel into the well, communicating via headset with partners above.
Two hundred feet away, another group walks through the creek with a stretcher, rescuing a dummy and returning him to the ground.
Capt. Carl Kustin of the San Mateo Fire Department leads the training for this section. Kustin's been involved in rescue for 22 years, including the Oklahoma City bombing, as well as mudslides, earthquakes and hurricanes.
In confined-space rescue, "the majority of people that are killed are rescuers," said Kustin. "Whatever happened to the victim ... is most likely going to happen to the rescuer if you don't do something different."
Thankfully, rescue has improved since Kustin began two decades ago. For instance, with thermal imaging equipment "we can tell a lot of times if you're dealing with a live rescue or body recovery."
Two air tanks sit outside the well. Their air system is supplied outside and can be changed by another rescuer. The air system is an important element in rescue. "A lot of times in bad spaces, a majority of our problem is bad atmosphere," said Kustin. Bad atmosphere can't be seen or smelled. But it can be monitored, possibly saving a rescuer's life. "A good rescuer is a selfish rescuer," Kustin said. "If you become a victim, have you really saved time?"

Counting down
During these final days of academy, graduation looms on recruits' minds. "For a lot of people," Kustin explains, "This is something that they've imagined since they were little."
Such is the case for Menlo Park recruit Steven Rohrer, whose father and grandfather before him were county firefighters. For Rohrer -- who grew up in Menlo Park - his badge will represent a sort of homecoming.
The badge also represents a childhood dream for San Mateo recruit Robert Cook. Growing up in San Mateo and involved in the department's cadet program since 1987, Cook always yearned to work for his hometown.
For Jane O'Neil Hunt -- known as Neiley -- the badge represents a dream that seized her in her late 20s. A dream she's done everything in her power to make happen.
"You can see the eagerness in the recruits' faces," said Academy Administrator Don Dornell. "They have a passion. It's more than a job."
The academy co-directors, captains Keith Roberts and Colin Sullivan, are working behind the scenes, planning final lessons and preparing for graduation.
Recruits also help plan, but before they can breath easy, they must pass their final tests, including a fitness test and Top Gun. Once a recruit failed the final Top Gun, said Roberts. But this academy, "we're gonna make it to the end," he said.

Graduation Friday, July 13, 2001: Eighty-four days ago, 33 recruits began the San Mateo County Fire Academy. Tonight, all but two -- who left the county -- will graduate.
Recruits march onto the stage to a band of bagpipes, as hundreds crowd the Mills High School Auditorium to see the graduation.
Recruits sit in crisp navy blue uniforms listening intently to the speakers, and waiting for the moment they see their badges.
Academy Administrator Dornell reminds recruits what he told them when they first arrived at academy: "These are your best friends, in the course of your careers in San Mateo County. In good times and bad."
Dornell, Roberts and Sullivan and other academy leaders speak to the recruits, passing out awards and offering words of wisdom.
Ciucci reads from a poem called "I wish you could see" -- author unknown -- about life in the fire service.
The poem ends, "I wish you could know the brotherhood and self-satisfaction of helping save a life or of preserving someone's property, or being able to be there in time of crisis, or creating order from total chaos.
"Unless you have lived with this kind of life, you will never truly understand or appreciate who I am -- we are -- or what our job really means to us ... I wish you could, though."
Ciucci turns toward the 31 recruits. "Thank God every moment that you breathe that air. Never take a moment for granted. Congratulations."
Each new firefighter chooses who will to pin his or her badge. Neiley's brother and mother stand next to her as her father pins her badge. Rohrer's father pins his. Thirty-one families -- wives, mothers, children -- pin badges.
Roberts offers a final statement to the academy: "Congratulations. Job well done. And guys -- for the sake of everyone in this auditorium -- be careful out there."

On the job
Wednesday, August 1, 2001: Neiley has a photograph that was taken at graduation. A photo of her family, friends and former co-workers. "It shows a wide variety of people that have sort of helped me along the way," she said.
Three weeks into the job, "Everything's still really interesting for me, even the real mundane calls," she said.
Neiley still sees some of her academy-mates. At a call in Redwood City. "Forrest [Dyer] was in the Redwood City team," she said. Then, the South County Fire Authority arrived "and Jeremy [Gerlach] was there." The call turned into a hazardous materials incident. "Jeremy was there in his de-con[tamination] suit." Neiley added, "I still see Blake [Washington] on occasion." And sometimes she sees Rohrer. "Steve Rohrer's been on the nozzle three times so far ... he's lucky."
Rohrer's been working out of East Palo Alto. "That's probably one of the busiest stations in the county," he said. "It's an exciting start."
As new hires, Rohrer and Neiley study on days off. For 15 more months, they're on probation. They still have much to learn. "They are in essence newborns," said Dornell of new firefighters. Responding to their first fire, first car accident, "it's all part of the growth process."
Rohrer attests to this. With each call, there are "little techniques that you're learning so next time you're more [prepared]," said Rohrer. "It's great. I love my job."