“Jimmy Berto, Melissa Simmons, Elizabeth Smith, Bryce Hansen, and Brian Gurnsey are part of FD 3’s high school fire and rescue trainee team.Matt Johnson, staff photoWhile their friends were home watching television, talking on the phone, or doing homework Wednesday night, Jimmy Berto, Bryce Hansen, Melissa Simmons, Elizabeth Smith, and Brian Gurnsey were saving a man’s life.The five high school students had expected a regular evening of fire and rescue training at the Bayview fire hall that night — regular for them, anyway. They are part of Fire Protection District 3’s new high school fire and rescue training program, which has been turning eight South Whidbey students into an important part of the district’s daytime firefighting and rescue force.Several months into the program, most of the students are ready to take the state’s Firefighter 1 test, which would qualify them to serve as firefighters in any fire department in the state. They are already helping their friends and neighbors when things go tragically wrong.Those five students gathered at Bayview this Wednesday never started the night’s training session — at least not officially. At about 7:25 p.m., while the five were chatting in one of the fire hall offices, the emergency beepers they all carry on the belts whined out a high-pitched tone. A few seconds later, a dispatcher at ICOM announced that a man riding a motorcycle had just hit a deer on Highway 525 near Freeland. Before the dispatcher had finished talking, the students were running toward rescue vehicles.Let’s take 3-6, Elizabeth Smith told FD3 volunteer Eldon Baker, referring to the district’s medical rescue vehicle.Three minutes later, the teens were at the scene. Two of them quickly set up traffic blockades, while the others started treating the crash victim.The response could not have happened more quickly, said Don Elliot, the supervisor for the district’s high school firefighter program. Much of the credit, he said, has to go to those young firefighters. Since they finished their training and began working accident and fire scenes alongside older district volunteers, they have gained a reputation for being fast and efficient. They’re very enthusiastic, Elliot said. They go and keep on going.Since the program started last summer, more and more people around South Whidbey have begun to notice the rescuers with the young, smooth faces at accident and fire scenes. That has caught more than a few people off guard, Melissa Simmons said, including the accident and fire victims they have been helping.At first they were surprised, Simmons said. But they have proven their value again and again, both to their older colleagues and to the citizens of South Whidbey. Early last summer, several of the teens gained near legendary status when they charged into a swampland wild fire at Double Bluff time and again without stopping to rest. The pulled hundreds of feet of heavy hose, slogged through waist-deep water, and fought flames that changed direction by the minute. The time passed quickly, Jimmy Berto.We were there for six hours, he said.Originally, career ambitions and a general interest in fire and rescue work drew most of the students to volunteer for the program. Bryce Hansen said he knows a SWHS graduate, Jason Reid, who is working for a department in Pullman while he attends college. He is getting paid and trained and is receiving free room and board. Hansen said that sounds like a good plan.It’s an option I like, he said.Of course, there is another benefit to the high school program — excitement. Hansen got his fair share of that early last summer when he was part of an interior fire crew fighting a fire at a Clinton home.It was awesome, Hansen said. But it was a little scary going through the garage.That garage was engulfed with flames and, as far as the firefighters knew, might have contained any number of flammables and fuel containers. A few days after the fire, Hansen got his biggest thrill when a friend, whose grandfather owned the house, thanked him for saving it and his grandfather’s possessions.The students all decided to become part of the district’s volunteer force for different reasons. Berto said he wants to pursue firefighting as a career, at least until he decides to go into politics. Brian Gurnsey said his work at the district could be a springboard into a career in wildland firefighting. For Elizabeth Smith, snuffing fires is not as big a draw as is giving medical treatment to those in need. She is pursuing a rating as an emergency medical technician and plans to go into the medical field.As for Melissa Simmons, it was indirect family peer pressure that got her interested in being a volunteer. Her great-uncle, two of her brothers, and several other members of her family have and are still working as FD3 volunteers.I was the first girl in my family to do it, she said. I thought I had to be a part of it.Even though they are still trainees, these high school students are not shielded from much when they work emergency calls. Simmons worked the June accident scene where her former schoolmate, Jesse Travis, died. Often, these young rescuers are amount the first to arrive at a car wreck, fire, or medical emergency and are expected to do the same work as adult volunteers. In addition to all this, they are expected to put in 14 hours of training every month with Don Elliot.We threw a lot at ’em, Elliot said.District Chief Don Smith, who himself was involved in such a program as a youth, said he hopes to expand the trainee program in coming years. He said the district will be happy to invest in televisions, VCRs, games, and study aids to attract these young volunteers to the district’s fire halls. The more of them that are in the halls, the faster the district’s response to emergencies can be. Eventually, the district may provide college scholarships in exchange for volunteer work from its high school corps.The other members of the high school trainee program are Jesse Sitton, Alex Hawley, and Nick Helland.To volunteer for this program, interested high school students must be 16 or older, have a C average or better in school, and have good school attendance. The district will hold a recruitment breakfast at Teddy’s on Whidbey on Dec. 2 for interested students. For more information about that event, call the district at 321-1533. “