Awakened rudely at 3:20 am by alert tones blasting from a fire department radio, a Pueblo West firefighter feels the rush of adrenaline as it rips away sleep and dreams and a restful night. It's time to focus on two things: "What is the emergency and how fast can I put on my shoes and get into my vehicle?"

Life as a volunteer firefighter is often about going from zero to fifty mentally in 5.5 seconds (about the time it takes the first set of alert tones to sound). Then it's a matter of charging into places most others prefer to avoid.

When Pueblo West firefighters hit the road with flashing lights and sirens, they could be traveling to almost any type of emergency including a burning house, a car wreck or a heart attack. A firefighter's radio gives a partial heads up about what kind of scene awaits at the end of the drive.

After the blaring alert tones fade, a Pueblo County communications officer comes across the radio to say, in a crisp, matter-of-fact voice: "Pueblo West Fire - Platteville and North Purcell, rollover accident involving a van with multiple passengers, unkonwn on injuries. Directions are north on Purcell to the first Platteville intersection. Deputy is en route."

During the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m, shifts, when they are on call for seven consecutive nights, team members do not respond from a fire station. The department does not lodge or house firefighters like bigger city departments do. In Pueblo West, there are no bunks, no pole to slide down, and no firehouse meals.

Since firefighters respond from home or wherever they are at the time of an emergency call, a number of private vehicles plus the fire department's rescue and fire vehicles may be on the road at the same time.

In rare cases, a firefighter may even have to drive past an emergency scene - such as a fire - in a private car to go to the fire station and pick up a fire or rescue vehicle.

Armed with the information from the communications center, the firefighter knows that both the fire department's ambulance and rescue truck should roll this call. This means driving to station to pick up one or the other vehicle. Racing into the freezing night air, he hops into his own vehicle and radioes his unit number and adds, "Responding to Station 1."

While on the way, other firefighters and officers radio that they are either headed to station or to scene.

Most people who call 911 and talk to the Communications Center are not trained to assess an emergency scene, so the sketchy descriptions that result often give a false picture of what may really be on scene.

This means firefighters must assume the worse, come fully prepared, and then deal with whatever they find.

In the call above, the van passengers might have only bruises so just a few firefighters may be needed. On the other hand, all the van passengers could be injured severely, a major fuel leak could be pouring onto the road, and one passenger could be going into cardiac arrest.

For such a scenario, even 10 firefighters would not be enough personnel.

Climbing up into Rescue 1 and firing up all sirens and lights, the firefighter pulls out of Station and gets on the radio for a second time to say, "Rescue 1 responding".

Over the radio, an officer lets everyone know he has just arrived on scene, which is still a 3-mile drive away from the station.

A few minutes later, when Rescue 1 is halfway there, the on-scene officer says over the radio: "Pueblo West Units, you can cancel your call ." The van is an abandoned vehicle that a group of partiers decided to knock over. There are no injuries and deputies are on scene."

When cancelled from a scene, firefighters turn off sirens and lights and make their way back to the station at normal speed.

Emergencies know no timetable, so there is no guessing when and where they will strike.

Sometimes an emergency call may turn out to be a false alarm; sometimes an emergency call turns horrific and leaves a lasting emotional impact. Volunteer firefighters can never know what the next call will be.

And no matter what happens during their volunteer rotation shift, they still will probably get up the next day to go to their regular jobs.

Back at Station 1, the firefighters and officers join together to wash off the ambulance and rescue vehicle and to fill out reports. Everything has to be in tip-top shape and ready to roll for the next call. If they had responded to a structure fire, this clean-up phase would have taken another hour or two. It's now 4:15 a.m. and the old-timers will all probably fall back asleep when they get home, but the rookies may be too jazzed to do anything but watch the sunrise and get ready for work.

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