A Burning Desire : Mike Behm, 15, has a dream: He wants to be a firefighter. It may be a dream strong enough to lift him off his crutches.

The alarm wailed, and Station 50 of the Los Angeles Fire Department was suddenly a blur.

Within seconds, 10 firefighters--some who had been sipping coffee in the kitchen, others chatting leisurely in the recreation room--had yanked on their boots and thrown on their protective pants and coats. The station-house doors whipped open. Men scrambled and leaped onto the firetruck.

Finally, amid the welter, Mike Behm hobbled forward. He, too, moved with remarkable rapidity--considering that he had to use metal crutches.

Two firefighters swiftly lifted him into engine No. 250, placing him beside “Smokey,” the driver. And off they went, sirens sounding, horns honking--a company of firefighters and a 15-year-old West Los Angeles boy who wants more than anything to be just like them.

But he may never be.

Mike was born prematurely, and his leg muscles didn’t develop properly. Despite three operations, he has always walked with crutches. When Mike was 4, his aunt met Steve Ruda, a Los Angeles fire captain, and asked if he would bring a real firefighter’s helmet to her nephew, who was in the hospital.

She thought it would cheer Mike up. It did. It also changed his life.

“It’s kind of hard for me to explain how I feel about Capt. Ruda,” said Mike, who telephones the 13-year Fire Department veteran every day and hangs out with him at the station whenever he can. “I consider him part of my family. He means everything to me.”

So does joining the department. “He wants to be rid of his crutches by the time he is 21 so he can be a firefighter,” said Ruda, 38, who has encouraged Mike to chase his dream.

“Being around the department gives him inspiration,” Ruda added. “It keeps him going.”

Last weekend, when the alarm sounded at Station 50 in Glassell Park, Mike really got going. The engine pulled out and raced down the street with the Webster Junior High student--his name proudly emblazoned across the back of his “turnout” coat--riding shotgun. Soon, though, word came on the radio that it was a false alarm. The sirens died.

But Mike’s spirits didn’t. Just getting to ride on the engine--one of the first times he has been allowed to do so--was a thrill. “The excitement is really something,” Mike said, his blue eyes shining and braces glistening as he smiled broadly. “The best thing to me is riding out. I love hanging out with the guys.”

Recently, when Mike spent the night at Station 50, the firefighters offered to take him upstairs so he could sleep in the bunk area with them. But knowing that they would have to move quickly if the fire alarm was tripped, Mike declined the invitation and slept downstairs in a chair in the recreation room, his gear at his feet.

“He didn’t want to get in the way,” said Firefighter Dexter McDaniel. “When we did get a call, he was right there ready to go.”

Mike earned his stint at Station 50 because of his participation in the department’s Explorer program, which encourages youngsters to learn the ropes, not to mention the ladders and other equipment, used by firefighters.

Once a week, Mike meets at Station 58 in West Los Angeles with about 25 other young men between the ages of 15 and 21 who are interested in careers as firefighters. They study the rules and regulations of the department. They also plan picnics, bike rides and summer trips.

Mike is one of the few handicapped people ever to join the Explorers, which is chartered by the Boy Scouts of America. Like his fellow would-be firefighters, he was required to pass a physical fitness test, though in his case the test was modified somewhat. “He does just about everything the other boys do,” said firefighter Anthony Domio, an adviser to the Explorers at Station 58.

On a recent night at the station house, the Explorers gathered for a military-style inspection of their blue uniforms. Then they practiced using ladders and learned about a four-way valve, which is used to switch water pressure from a street hydrant to an engine without an interruption in flow.

Mike has earned the respect of his peers because of his extensive knowledge of the gear. After spending the last 11 years visiting different stations, he is at ease in the firehouse, where some of the other boys seem more awkward and confused. “Mike’s been hanging around fire stations for so long that he fits right in,” Domio said.

Even when two friends carry Mike upstairs for another part of the meeting, it all seems routine. “Our post has always had a lot of teamwork,” said fellow Explorer John Beghin, 20. “Sure, Mike has limitations, but we don’t baby him. As far as we’re concerned, everyone does the best they can. We all help each other.”

Whether Mike will ever be a firefighter is uncertain. Doctors say that if he works at strengthening his leg muscles, his condition may improve, although there is no guarantee.

“With exercise and a little more push, he may be able to get rid of his crutches some day,” said Joyce Behm, Mike’s mother. “The doctors won’t say yes and they won’t say no. They say it’s entirely up to him.”

Being an Explorer has been the spark for Mike to work harder on his own physical training.

“When he first came here, he had stopped working on standing and walking without his crutches,” Domio said. “But when I told him he would have to be able to keep his balance long enough to get his coat on and get into the chief’s sedan for his first ride-along, well, he started to practice a lot more.”

Indeed, since joining the Explorers eight months ago, Mike has taken five steps without his crutches.

But his next step will be the toughest.

Ruda said Mike is just beginning to realize that he may never be a firefighter, and he is encouraging the boy to consider serving the department in other ways--as an administrator, perhaps, or an inspector.

“Sometimes I get down,” Mike said. “But then I think if I want the firefighting job, I just have to keep going. Hopefully, I’ll reach my goal.”

Even if he doesn’t become an actual firefighter, he’ll be better off for trying.

“The older he gets, he’ll realize his limitations,” Ruda said. “He’ll know best what he can and can’t do. But he’s a boy with a dream, and that’s good.”