Climbing Their Way to the Top : Careers: Nearly 1,000 candidates compete for just six jobs as Ventura firefighters. Maneuvering ladders and hoisting weights are among the strenuous physical tests.

Veteran firefighter Manny Torres led seven candidates to the last of five strenuous tests--a steep climb up football stadium steps to determine if they had the right stuff to join the Ventura Fire Department.

“I’ve got the dream team here,” Torres quipped about his group of aspiring firefighters, seven of 1,000 candidates vying for just six jobs. About 150 applicants were tested Monday during the first day of physical exams.

The seven recruits had already climbed a 102-foot ladder, hoisted an 85-pound weight 22 feet in the air, dragged three sections of hose 175 feet in under 14 seconds and loaded three rolls of bulky hose into a truck and unloaded them in 40 seconds.

Of the eight applicants who started the day with Torres, seven were still pursuing their dream to become a firefighter. The eighth, a woman, washed out on the weightlifting test. So she will not become the second woman out of 72 department firefighters.

Ventura Fire Chief Vern Hamilton said it is difficult to recruit women even though he made an effort by appealing to women students at local community colleges.

But recent advertisements did draw 3,500 people for the half a dozen jobs that pay a starting salary of $2,401 a month, personnel officer Wayne Lewis said. About 1,200 completed lengthy application forms, and 1,000--including 60 women--are left after a two-hour written test.

The county’s 8.5% unemployment rate had little to do with the outpouring of interest, Fire Capt. Brian Gordon said. Prior openings have drawn just as many applications, he said.

“It’s a highly sought-after career,” Gordon said. “It’s not just people who want to ride on firetrucks.”

Firefighter positions are also competitive because--unlike most professional jobs--they do not require college educations. Pay and benefits are also good and a firefighter can retire years before workers in other professions.

Because of high interest in the jobs, Gordon said some cities and counties have used lotteries to limit the number of candidates, while others have simply set a ceiling on applications.

On Monday the long odds faced by the prospective firefighters made the competition nerve-racking, the department’s Kim Smith said.

“The triumph and tragedy make it seem like the Olympics,” she said. “People come from all over to apply, and it’s very hard to tell someone he didn’t make it.”

Torres’ team prepared for its final exercise by donning 80 pounds of gear, including bulky yellow turnout coats, breathing equipment and 50 feet of fire hose.

All seven were required to run up the stairs at Ventura High School’s Larabee Stadium, across a 100-yard path and descend to the starting point. The stair climb is meant to simulate the effort needed to fight a high-rise fire or hillside brush fire. The recruits were given 3 minutes, 35 seconds to negotiate the course twice.

As each recruit began his run, the others shouted encouragement.

After completing the event, a winded Don Ott, 25, of Camarillo said he wants to become a firefighter because it’s more challenging than his current plumbing job.

“I want a job that I want to do,” he said, “instead of a job that I just have to do.”

Dave Hayles, who like many applicants lives in another county, said he applied here after being a finalist with three other fire departments and applying with 10.

“I get a big thrill out of helping people,” said Hayles, 28, a commercial diver and medic from Los Angeles.

After the stair climb, two more recruits were dropped from Torres’ team.

Mike Luben of La Verne paced himself too much and missed the qualifying time by a single second.

“I look at the tests as practice,” Luben said. “Every department has a different oral or written or physical test, so you learn a little each time.”