By Suzanne Hodgson
Staff Writer

As Ryan Smith casually talks and snickers with his friends while sitting under a tent on a recent hot weekday – moving from atop coolers only to retrieve more bottled water to drink – it’s hard to imagine the group is in the middle of training for one of the deadliest jobs in America.
Smith, 18, of Fairfield, N.J., and his fellow students are beginning their freshmen year at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland, but as students in the SMCC Public Safety Student Live-In program, they first must complete preliminary firefighter training before school even begins.
 For two weeks in August each year, the program brings together 31 students and firemen from 14 local stations to study fire science in the college’s live-in program. By day, the students work in Yarmouth, where a training house is located, and return to their firehouse dorms each night.
The live-in program began in 1988, with two students assigned to a South Portland fire station and two stationed in Scarborough. The program has now grown to 36 students, with some on a waiting list.  This year Paramedicine students were invited to join, and the program hopes to add criminal justice students in the future.
Students say the live-in program is the best for fire training. “It’s very rigorous, very demanding, but great basic training,” said Rice.
Seven first-year students have already completed this training cycle and by the end of the session, all of the freshmen will be able to save lives.
Chief Howard Rice Jr. of Falmouth runs the training session, splitting his 24 trainees into five groups. Two instructors monitor each group during training.
After running through a smoky basement searching for a lost dummy and learning how to chop through a roof, Smith and his companions are in rehab. They watch their vital signs, cooling down from the hot suits – and even hotter conditions – and drinking as much water as they can during the short break.
Nearby, some students and instructors, fully clothed in 100 pounds of gear, emerge from the smoky training basement. The teachers, shouting explanations about how fire spreads, can barely be understood through their thick facemasks.
On top of the roof, students pretend to saw a hole to vent deadly gas and smoke.  No one seems nervous standing three-stories above the ground as they listen intently to their instructors’ directions.
Another group in the search and rescue section runs through the house with a 200-foot long hose feet looking for a hidden dummy.  
More students wait near the front door with the hose in their hands.  In a real life situation, this is the second defensive wave.
Around the side of the house, two students attempt to set up a heavy ladder, which proves the most difficult part of the day. The ladder is pushed up, taken down, jiggled left and then right. Placement must be perfect.  
If a firefighter is breaking window glass to gain access, the ladder must be to the side of the window so the falling shards won’t hurt them.  If a firefighter is rescuing someone, the ladder must be placed directly under the window.

The trainees are equal parts firefighter and student, and must commit to keeping a full 12-credit schedule for two years to be eligible for the live-in program.
Instead of traditional classes, these students focus on everything fire.  They study wild land fire, sprinkler system operations and the history of fire.
Smith, like many firefighters, wanted to join the fire program after watching family members go out on volunteer fire calls, in Smith’s case his father, grandfather and uncle.  After he applied for the program with a resume, cover letter and three letters of recommendation, he was asked to meet with local, high-ranking fire officials from the area.
The interview included questions ranging from the nature of an applicant’s character to his or her future goals. It was observed on closed circuit television by at least 30 more members involved in the live-in program.
“You cannot out train or out educate character flaws” said Steve Willis, a fire science faculty member and public safety live-in coordinator.  
Back at the firehouse, Smith sits in his large single dorm room in Scarborough, an open bag of chips at his side. He is lucky enough to not have to share a room, unlike his peers in the SMCC campus dorms. He and the other live-in students have the weekend off, but still have to adhere to a firefighter’s routine.
The students must make their bunks by 7:30 every morning. They mop the floors, do their own laundry and keep their rooms clean, all while keeping up with their schoolwork during the academic year. Their curfew is 10:30 p.m. each night.
Each is required to take a shift in the kitchen as well. “There’s a lot of thawing out,” Smith said. “The microwave gets used more than the stove.”
Smith and the other live-in students finished  their three-week training session with the Emergency Vehicle Operation Course, or EVOC, where they are taught safety and defense driving. While most first-year students cannot go on fire calls yet, they will be eligible after this training session.
Smith says many students are placed in paid positions after the SMCC program.  He hopes to work for the New York City Fire Department, where others from the Fire Science program have been accepted before him.
In Auburn, nine of the 12 firefighters hired over the past 18 months have been from the live-in program.  South Portland has anywhere from six to 10 former students and Cape Elizabeth Fire Chief Peter Gleeson gets interns from Willis.
Placement is very high because of the training, education, experience and 13 state and national certificates available to the students. The certificates include hazardous material handling, fire instructor education and fire inspector.
“We tell the students education has a much longer shelf-life than training. “ said Willis.

Staff Writer Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.