” Photo: Burt Mason puts out a petroleum fire during fire extinguisher training at the Island County Fire Academy.Matt Johnson/staff photosEvery experienced firefighter knows that it takes more than a hose and a little water to put out a fire. They also know there is a lot more to a firefighter’s job than riding around in a big red truck with flashing lights and a wailing siren.How much more is what 45 volunteers are learning this spring at the annual Island County Fire Academy. Signed on to save lives and property with fire departments on Camano Island, North, Central, and South Whidbey, these few dozens of people will spend well over 100 hours over two months learning how to squelch house fires, pull people from wrecked cars, perform CPR, and even how to keep a fire station tidy.Most of the recruits who turn out for the academy will become firefighters. Based on past experience, Central Whidbey Captain Tony Bentin said he expects about 80 percent of the firefighting hopefuls to complete the two-month, 110-hour training regimen.As of the academy’s third weekend, the districts were running well ahead of the usual attrition rate, having lost only one recruit. About 10 recruits from South Whidbey turned out for the academy.The work is hot and has the potential to be dangerous if the recruits do not adhere to strict discipline. On Sunday, the recruits got their first taste of live fire. Two-thirds of them gathered at the Day Road station in Greenbank, spending much of the day extinguishing dumpster and open fires.Instructors poured gasoline and other flammables on the practice containers, then lit them into fireballs with torches. During a fire extinguisher drill, Freeland’s Burt Mason approached a flamming barrel with caution. He looked to his instructor several times during the drill, making sure he was attacking the flames from the correct direction.It was one of the biggest thrills of his life.I loved it, I just loved it, Mason said.At 60, Mason is the oldest South Whidbey recruit. He said that after a lifetime of being a taker in the area of public services, he is determined to give something back as a volunteer firefighter.I wanted to to something for somebody else for a change, he said.There were more mundane skills to learn when not enough fires were burning for all the recruits. In front of the station, the proto-firefighters set ladders against trees, learning how to set and climb them properly. Behind the station’s engine bays, other recruits learned how to store a hose aboard a fire engine. It was not as easy as rolling up a garden hose. Four recruits straightened, folded, and lifted hundreds of pounds of hose aboard the truck. Langley’s Doug Neal said even that exercise is a challenge.The whole thing is tough, Neal said.A professional paramedic and a former volunteer firefighter in Kirkland, Neal echoed Burt Mason’s thoughts on volunteering, saying that giving back to the community is a priority. But there are other factors pushing him through the academy.It’s exciting, competitive, fun, motivating, and a little dangerous, he said.To earn the grade of Firefighter 1 and to join an Island County fire district as a volunteer, recruits must score 80 percent on all academy testing and activities. Fire Protection District 3 will start recruiting for next year’s academy in the fall.”