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The lesson: Learn how to breathe using a Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, a mask known as SCBA.

The teaching technique: Put on the SCBA and, in full-gear, crawl through a barb-wired maze.

Another technique: Put on the same heavy equipment and play some basketball.

Welcome rookie firefighters to the Craig Rural Fire Prote-

ction District.

And while all five rookies in this year's class -- Gina Straus, Heather Hampton, Ryan Hampton, Al Landa and Charlie Gottschall -- said learning how to use the SCBAs has been the hardest thing to do in their first two months of training, several of them said it's also been the most fun.

"If you're not used to being in a mask, you can feel a sense of panic initially," Straus explained. "Even though your body is getting all of the air you need when you wear a mask, it feels like you're not getting enough air. ... It's exhausting."

These particular lessons teach more than how to use the equipment.

"It's kind of hard to communicate with the people in your group (when wearing a SCBA)," Ryan Hampton said. "We're just trying to learn how to do that."

Such can be the life of rookie firefighter with Craig department: playing basketball in full gear, studying, waiting for the pager to go off to go on calls, knowing in a year -- after training is finished -- that it could be you on the first truck out to be in the first wave in fighting the fire.

That you could save a life or a house.

"I've always had to have a job where I go home, and at the end of the day I feel that I made a difference," Straus said. "That when I go home, I have a sense of accomplishment, and firefighting gives me that feeling. I know it sounds cliche, but just helping people and protecting the community -- I like making a difference."

To make a difference, you've got put in the time.

It takes time to be a firefighter

When the four-month application process begins for recruiting the part-time firefighters, a lot of people sign up, said John Felten, assistant training officer with the Craig Rural Fire Protection District.

A lot of people drop out soon after.

"Some people read the advertisement in the paper, and they think it is a full-time job. They misunderstand the whole concept," Felten said. "Once they make it through the interview process and understand that it's not full time -- that it's paid on-call -- we start weeding them out really fast. Once people get their minds around the time commitment, we lose a bunch."

To become a firefighter, a person must go through the application process, which includes filling out paper work, a screening process done by a Fire Department panel, and multiple interviews.

"In the initial part of the interview, we allow the spouse to be part of the interview to make them aware of the time commitment. ... It can be pretty extensive," Felton said. "We want them to be aware of what they are about to get into."

The application process also includes a background check, a multiple personality interview conducted by a physcatrist, a pre-employment physical and a chief's interview.

Still, the biggest thing a person needs to be a firefighter is time, Heather Hampton said.

The CFD has tried to ease up a little bit on the time commitment by changing how often the rookies train. Before this year, rookies would meet every other Saturday, starting in January and complete the training by June.

This year, the CFD has extended the training to once a month for an entire year.

"We are able to draw on a larger pool of people because now we have shift workers who are able to fit that into their schedule," Felten said. "... It's a kinder, more friendly approach knowing that it is a huge time commitment."

Reasons to be a

firefighter

The feeling has always been there for the 21-year-old Gottschall.

"I've kind of always wanted to be a firefighter," the Precision Automotive employee said.

The 32-year-old Landa agreed with the sentiment.

"You watch movies, the 9-11 thing, and this and that, but I think it was always in me (to be a firefighter)," the NAPA manager said.

Heather and Ryan Hampton both cited their Uncle Troy Hampton, who is part of the CFD, as a reason they joined the squad. Heather, who works as a baby-sitter, and Ryan, who works at Twentymile Coal, were cadets with the Fire Department before joining the rookie class.

Straus also had firefighting experience before joining the Fire Department. She and her husband Evan Hay and their two kids moved to Craig six months ago from the Woodland Park area.

While living in the Woodland Park area, Straus volunteered for the Mountain Community Fire Department for about year.

The Mountain Community Fire Department didn't have a formal training like Craig's, Straus said.

"It's tough. I'm not going to lie," Straus said about the Craig department's training program. "There is a lot studying, it's physically demanding, but they're good people."

"It's worth it," Ryan Hampton said.