Danger, sweat, and a dedication to saving others

(Globe Staff / George Rizer) At the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy, recruit Jeremy Fontaine of Mansfield cooled down between sessions.

The firefighting tradition runs in the family for Jeremy Fontaine, who is following in the footsteps of his father, Philip, a 23-year veteran of the Mansfield Fire Department.

"Your life will be dedicated to helping other people," Fontaine, 25, said of his new career as a firefighter. Fontaine is one of 72 cadets from more than 40 communities who recently completed training at the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy in Stow. Nearly 300 newly hired firefighters go through the academy every year.

"It's been a long 12 weeks," said Fontaine, who grew up and still lives in Mansfield. "The hardest part was adapting to the lifestyle of being a firefighter - learning what to do and what not to do."

A graduate of the University of Rhode Island, Fontaine also found the classwork a challenge. "Coming from college, you think you have an idea of what to expect, but this is memorizing numbers and everything that [firefighting] entails - different hose sizes and stuff - and then you have to equate it to trying to get the fire to go out."

Fontaine was one of two Mansfield recruits in this class. He and academy partner David Gilrein are both paramedics, part of a grow ing medical trend in firefighting.

"We were very fortunate to be able to hire these two guys," said Neal Boldrighini, fire chief in Mansfield. "They took two years out of their lives to get to that paramedic certification and pass the test."

"We're really looking [to hire] paramedics before we look at other people. They kind of go to the top of our list," Boldrighini said.

The academy does not provide emergency medical training. Most departments prefer firefighter candidates who are at least certified emergency medical technicians, and paramedics are prized even more because they have completed a comprehensive two-year program. "It's almost like going to medical school for two years," Fontaine said.

The 72 recruits who graduated on June 20 have special characteristics that drive them toward the work they do. Chiefs and other officials look for those characteristics in scouting potential recruits.

"I think about men and women who have a commitment to serve and help their neighbors and communities, and people who just have high morals and values and understand the importance and commitment of helping people," said Stephen D. Coan, the state fire marshal and head of the Department of Fire Services.

Over the years, cadet training has gradually expanded from six to 12 weeks as it tries to stress several major components of firefighting, including physical fitness, safety, teamwork, and technical skills.

"As time has gone on and as the job of a firefighter has become more complex, the need for increased hours of recruit training has been very evident," Coan said.

Safety comes first. The academy draws from a national campaign called "Everybody Goes Home" and teaches safety for the cadet, his fellow firefighters, the community, and their families. The public doesn't really understand what firefighters go through, Fontaine said. "I think they see the public image, but not what it really is. What we go through . . . what our families have to go through, not knowing if we are coming home or not."

Even he didn't fully appreciate his father's line of work when he was young. "I guess I had the idea that my father only worked a couple days and just did his own thing, but when I got older I realized what he actually did, and the people he helped and saved."

Specialized skills are taught at the academy to ensure that each graduate knows how to extract victims of car accidents, attach a hose to a hydrant, and fight a fire - and to do so with fellow firefighters.

Perhaps the most important factor is the use of protective gear. Early on, cadets attend a lecture called "Nature of Fire," where they learn the chemistry and behavior of fire. But only about 20 to 25 percent of this instruction happens in a classroom. The rest is hands-on, with live fire training exercises.

Fires are controlled and considered safe, but they are meant to simulate real conditions. Cadets wait at a simulated firehouse when suddenly tones sound over their radios for a reported structure fire. Every cadet has a role that changes for each exercise. Some take the nozzle and attack the fire directly. Others ride the ladder to the rooftop. Still others are on rescue duty looking for dummy victims.

When the fire is out, usually in under 20 minutes, the cadets clean up, drink some water, and prepare to do the exercise again. On a recent visit, during 95-degree weather, the cadets did this four times before lunch.

"Today is pretty much extreme conditions. We don't have the luxury to say when we have a fire, but we do take into consideration that these are training burns," said John Kennedy, an instructor at the academy and fire lieutenant from Worcester. "We'd rather have good training fires and have them learn something" than treat the cadets so harshly that "they don't even want to be here."

There are 23,000 firefighters in Massachusetts. About half are full-time/career firefighters, and half are volunteer or on-call. Recruit training is held four times a year for full-time/career recruits. The recent class of 72 is the largest the academy accepts.

Instructors at the firefighting academy, which was founded in 1971, are working firefighters from other communities who are hired to teach and share their practical knowledge with the cadets. This is done purposefully so that the rookie firefighters can learn from those who have been in the trenches.

In addition to quarterly recruit training, academy instructors travel around the state offering more than 1,000 training, educational, and enrichment courses to emergency workers every year. The academy's facility is on 50 acres in Stow. The Department of Fire Services began a three-year construction and renovation project last year, which will include a new DFS headquarters, vehicle maintenance facility, and storage warehouse.

Recruits from every city and town are allowed to attend training. Boston, Worcester, Springfield, and Quincy have their own facilities and generally do not send cadets to the firefighting academy, said Jennifer Mieth, spokeswoman for the Department of Fire Services.

Fontaine, who started working in Mansfield on June 27 alongside his father, is motivated by a promise he made to his own son - 1-year-old Landon James, who died of sudden infant death syndrome in January.

"I guess it's driven me more to do well. I always want to do well for him because I promised him I would," Fontaine said.

Jeremy and Philip Fontaine each wear an angel pin from Landon's funeral on their firefighter turnout gear. The elder Fontaine offered some words of encouragement for his son.

"I'm very proud of him. I'm sure he's going to make a great officer some day. He can lead," said Philip Fontaine. "More than anything I hope that he, too, can separate the job from his personal life. I hope he'll be able to learn to accept things he can't change, especially being a paramedic. There are some things he can change and some things he can't."

John M. Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com.