Going to Blazes--and Loving It : Firefighting: Some of Santa Paula’s volunteers wish they could give up their day jobs to ride a hook and ladder full time.

Before pagers or even radios, volunteers in the Santa Paula Fire Department were called to duty by a steam whistle that screeched so loud it would awaken people in the next town.

Those were the days of the big fires, such as the one in 1903 that burned half of the buildings on Main Street and got things rolling in the fire suppression business.

Now a new generation at Ventura County’s largest volunteer fire department continues the tradition--although pocket pagers allow for a quieter summons to a fire.

“Before Santa Paula even had a fire department, a hired security guard would shoot a pistol and ring the church bells to alert the town,” said Bill Nash, a volunteer fire engineer and unofficial department historian. “Now everyone has a pager, even the department chaplain.”

When the alarm sounds nowadays, 30 volunteers stop what they are doing and head for the nearest station. There they receive their orders, from joining the line battling a brush fire to racing to the scene of a fiery airport crash.

“It’s an adrenaline rush to go into a fire,” said volunteer Rick Kern. “But the biggest reason I do it is a sense of accomplishment.”

Enthusiasm burns in the eyes of all of the volunteers. Although once-a-week training exercises are voluntary, nearly everyone in the department attends every session and almost no one skips the all-day trainings conducted once a month.

After Wednesday night’s drill at Glen City Elementary School, Chief Paul Skeels informed the department’s five rookies that they would be tested next week to see how fast they can wriggle into their fire protection gear. Each cumbersome suit weighs about 50 pounds.

Quick response time is important, and volunteers typically arrive at the station in less than five minutes. From there, they are dispatched to fires within a 4 1/2-mile radius.

To Skeels, the ideal volunteer lives and works in Santa Paula, although there are a few members whose jobs take them out of town. When more assistance is needed, the Ventura County Fire Department helps out.

Since the call to duty can come anytime, volunteers have to be ready for surprises.

“Without exception we’ve all gotten up from the supper table or a play to respond to an incident,” Nash said. “Just about any activity in town has been left by volunteers at one time or another. Ask my wife.”

A few years ago, a chorus of chirping pagers went off at a volunteer’s wedding reception, Nash said. It was followed by a stampede for the door.

The bride refused to let go of the groom, Nash said. His colleagues took off without him.

The excitement of firefighting is what keeps many of the volunteers coming back, and some said they would gladly give up their day jobs to ride the hook and ladder full time.

Volunteer Matt Brock, 22, who works in retail sales, said he is interviewing for a full-time job as a firefighter. But since there are only three full-time positions in Santa Paula, he will probably have to go to another city.

“This is something I hope to do for the rest of my life,” Brock said. “It’s like my family.”

Santa Paula lawyer Ron Araiza said volunteer firefighting gives him a release from the daily grind of practicing law, and he would even consider changing careers if the department had an opening.

“I’d rather go through a burning building than some of the family law cases I deal with,” said Araiza, 32, a volunteer with his two brothers, Randy and Rick. “If I had the choice, the Fire Department would be my job.”

Skeels, the department’s first full-time chief, summed up the lure of firefighting as addictive.

Like Araiza, Skeels used to work as a lawyer while dreaming about becoming a firefighter. And one day he just made the change.

“Once you start doing it, it gets in your blood,” he said.