Firefighter recruits face the heat in fire training

DUBLIN, Calif. (KGO) -- The California wildfire season is far from over. And at the hills at Camp Parks near Dublin, the smell of smoke will be in the air all weekend.

The heat from the raging grass fire is almost unbearable. The smoke is almost impossible to breathe through. And the firefighters? They're the ones fueling it as part of a training exercise, this is as real as it gets.

"We have a lot of safety in place, a lot of extra companies, these fires can with a little bit of wind become very aggressive and get away from us," explains Battalion Chief John Walsh with the Alameda County Fire Department.

Alameda County Fire is going to these lengths to prepare a new class of recruits.

"Just feeling real privileged to have the opportunity to get out here and actually train before we get out there and be on line with the crews," says Ryan Hebert, a firefighter recruit.

Working with bulldozers and later with an aircraft, they'll burn over 200 acres at the army reserve facility. They will practice the critical first steps to contain a grass fire over and over, for the next three days.

These are very aggressive initial attack scenarios, where the engine pulls up with a three-person crew, "And they have to aggressively get some hose on the ground and chase the fire up hills," says Chief Walsh.

And when there's no time to talk, it's not enough to just know the skills. You have to know your teammates.

"So once you do get out here, you have nonverbal communication with each other and you guys can actually get the work done," explains Hebert.

While these recruits are primarily training for next fire season, they're keenly aware they could get called up at a moment's notice.

"Southern Cal is always on everyone's mind," said Chief Walsh. "This is the time of year that you get some Santa Anas developing and even some northeast winds in our area here. So, we're cognizant that some of the biggest fires have happened in October or November."

Despite the recent wet weather, the drought conditions have helped. It's been so dry that a lot of the grass never grew to begin with, so there is a lot less to burn.