Firefighter Faces a Deadlier Foe : Activism: After a medical problem took Tony Borbon off the fire line at 36, he dedicated himself to fighting another destructive force: violence.

At 36, Tony Borbon faced a bitter reality.

Borbon, a fire captain in the California Department of Forestry, was diagnosed with an infected heart valve. He would need a mechanical valve to keep his heart pumping.

But equally disturbing to Borbon was that he would be forced into early retirement.

“I said to myself ‘I’m too young, I’ve got too much fight and too much spirit,’ ” he said. “I wanted to retire with the state, but I wanted to do it the normal way. Not like this.”

That was 1987. Today, Borbon’s schedule is so full he is pressed to return his phone calls. And in his line of work, these calls are important. Sometimes desperate.

Borbon, 43, is a consultant in violence prevention, helping activist groups set goals and manage their resources. As a fire captain, he was often called on to work with inmates who hoped to work as firefighters. Borbon’s experience with these men fueled his new career.

He is on the often-ignored technical side of activism, helping organizations manage money and organize violence-prevention events.

Borbon’s most recent undertaking is chairing an anti-violence protest march scheduled for Saturday in Downtown Los Angeles. Sponsored by the Violence Prevention Coalition of Greater Los Angeles, Drive-By Agony and Women Against Gun Violence, it will begin at 10 a.m. at Olvera Street Plaza and end at the county Hall of Administration. Anyone interested in violence prevention is welcome to march.

“We’re sick to death of the guns and the violence,” said Ann Reiss Lane, coordinator of Women Against Gun Violence, adding that marchers will call for stricter gun control.

Said Borbon: “We are hoping to bring people out. We have to start becoming involved. Youth. Parents. Grandparents. And agency people. There’s a consciousness that ‘it hasn’t hit my block, so I don’t have to become involved.’ But we hope everyone will come to do their little piece to de-escalate violence.”

Borbon said the march is not targeted solely at gang violence, but also at domestic violence and violence against gays, children and the elderly.

“We may get people to march together for a day,” he said. “But the key is what goes on in your home.”

Borbon’s reputation is growing, locally and nationwide.

“He has helped us get off the ground,” said Billie Weiss, a spokeswoman for the Violence Prevention Coalition. “He’s quite a dynamic person.”

Weiss’ began working with Borbon in 1991 when the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services launched the coalition as an umbrella organization for anti-violence groups. Borbon was the coalition’s first chairman.

In 1993, he organized a conference that drew nearly 500 people from across the nation. “He’s very directed and a very good organizer,” Weiss said. “He can pull people together.”

This is something Borbon said he has always done well, beginning with his work with the Latino group MECHA in high school.

After attending UC Santa Barbara, he went to work as a probation officer in Santa Barbara County. He has worked with gang members and “high risk individuals” ever since.

“There aren’t long lines to do this type of work. And that’s what I know how to do.”