The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Hersh Golden shows Brian Baker how to use a fire hose during a recent Explorer training session.

Blaze Runners

Explorers aid Sunnyvale's firefighters in times of crisis

By Justin Berton

Mary Hyrne, 15, saw the colorful fire creep down from the ceiling and engulf the apartment in a blink of an eye.

The magnificent streak of fire, in her words, sounded like "wooooooosh" as it shot down the walls, flew across the floor and scurried back into the air until everything was one big, hot blaze.

What Hyrne saw that afternoon last year as she stood a few feet outside the front door of a Sunnyvale apartment was, in fire person's lingo, a "flashover."

A flashover takes place when the heat from a growing fire silently builds up in a room and gathers at the ceiling.

Trapped, the growing cloud of invisible heat goes in search of sanctuary--and finds it inside objects such as couches, TVs, chairs and dinner tables. When the objects finally reach the point of combustion, everything, as they say, goes up all at once. No warning, no polite introductions, no nothing--just a roomful of explosive fire.

This is what Mary Hyrne witnessed, thereby making her the envy of her peers in the Sunnyvale Explorers.

"It came over," Hyrne said, her voice trailing off as she motioned her hand well above her head to describe its dangerous path. Eventually, she became frustrated with her failure to provide more descriptive details, and simply said, "It went wooooooosh."

Hyrne is just one of a handful of Sunnyvale youths who participate in a volunteer fire and police academy taught through the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety. The Explorer program aims not only to serve as a stepping stone for future laws enforcement recruits, but also as a mantle for building the self-confidence of young adults in the community.

Perhaps more importantly, the Explorers also provide an extra layer of support to the public safety department by performing some of the not-so-glamorous tasks of the profession. After fires are extinguished, Explorers clean up debris, roll hoses and clean equipment. After a tornado ripped through Sunnyvale earlier this year, Explorers were quick to secure the neighborhood and help out with small details while the department's rank and file dealt with the larger task at hand. Extra hands at a scene sometimes offer critical assistance to providing public safety in Sunnyvale. In a department where police officers double as firefighters--which allows administrators to keep staff size trim--the volunteer Explorers are viewed not as just pesky kids hanging around the fire station playing dress-up, but as valued members of the department.

"They do the simple tasks, but sometimes the simple tasks are the most important," said Jim Boone, a Sunnyvale neighborhood resource officer who directs the Explorer program.

Though the grunt work is not always as exciting as fighting a raging inferno, the physical demands and classroom training serve other purposes, Boone said.

"It's also a learning process that allows them to overcome challenges in life," Boone said. "If you can learn how to look at challenges and overcome them, then that applies to their lives outside."

"It's given me a lot more confidence," said Nick Alexander, a 19-year-old Monta Vista graduate who first joined the Explorers three years ago. Alexander recently earned a part-time job with the Saratoga Fire Department and has set his long term sights on becoming a Sunnyvale Public Safety officer.

"I've learned a lot more about teamwork," Alexander said. "I've always been more of an individual, and even now, still am. But I've learned about using teamwork to achieve something really big, something monumental."

Officer Boone was assigned the Explorers unit six months ago and has set his own goals to make the program a larger, more effective unit. His enthusiasm has rejuvenated the program, a few Explorers agreed.

"In the last few years, we talked a lot about the things we wanted to do, and we didn't actually get a chance to do them," Alexander said. "When Jim got here, things started moving along."

Boone is currently working with the Boy Scouts of America, the Explorers' parent group, to allow the Explorers inside controlled fires. The controlled blaze Hyrne witnessed from outside the apartment last year was as close as the Explorers can legally get to the real action.

"I hope we can get as many volunteers involved in this program and make it a stepping stone into the field," Boone said.

Almost on Boone's cue, as the Explorers ran through hose-rolling drills at Station No. 2 last Saturday, a stout man with a thick brown mustache rumbled up on a Harley-Davidson and asked excitedly, "Is this the Explorers program?"

Steve LaHerran, now a firefighter with the Petaluma Fire Department, was riding by en route to his parents' home when the scene of teenagers in fire turnouts brought back a few memories. As a teenager at Fremont High School, LaHerran was a member of the Explorers' inaugural classes in the early '70s.

After 20 years in both police and fire work, LaHerran said he still applies principles learned as an Explorer. "They were some of the best guys I ever worked for," LaHerran recalled. "At the time, the public hated police officers, and the department said, 'We want a different type of officer, one who will use their head--not their brawn--to get things done.' They taught us to be professionals and to be smart up here," LaHerran said, pointing to his temples. "They were one of the first progressive departments to think that way."

LaHerran said the program encouraged him to go on to college and put in place a value system he uses each day in his occupation and his life.

"I can't say enough about what these kids are learning right here, right now," LaHerran said. "It makes a difference."

Most of the Explorers expressed a strong interest in going into the field, once they are old enough. But even if they choose not to, Boone said, the program will continue to be a success.

"This is a great line of work to get into," Boone said. "But even if they don't, if we teach them just to be good folks and be good to people, then that's all we can ask for."

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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, September 16, 1998.
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