The hardest part was finding their way through the flames and thick black smoke.

“You have got to sit there and feel and listen,” said Chris Carter, who has been with the Clayton Fire Department for one year. “No fire is the same. You are always going into something different. You never know what could be in there.”

After putting out the blaze, around 20 firefighters took off their gear, gulped down gallons of water and sat in the cool grass to catch their breath. Their helmets, some once yellow to mark the beginner firefighters, were now as black as the night sky. Sweat dripped from the firefighters’ foreheads as they rested, but minutes later, it was time to do the exercise all over again.

For some firefighters, the heat and training are more than they can bear, said Jason Dean, training and safety chief for the Clayton Fire Department. “We have some in the business that realize in the first few months, ‘This is not for me, I can’t take the equipment, I can’t take the heat,’” he said. “But the majority of the people love it. To me, this is the best job in the world.”

The live-fire class is one of the many Clayton firefighters must take to earn state certification. All new Clayton firefighters, even veterans with years of experience, must take the 240 hours of certification classes within 18 months of being hired.

Dean and seven other firefighters teach the classes, which are offered at Johnston Community College in Smithfield. Aspiring and veteran firefighters learn how to use an extinguisher, attach a hose to a fire hydrant, properly hold and use a hose, throw a ladder against a building and forcibly enter a building if needed. Also, they learn how to salvage belongings, get people out of burning cars and move smoke out of a structure with forced air.

Clayton firefighter Brandon Caldwell, 23, is well schooled in the training. A firefighter for two years, Caldwell already holds his state certification, but he continues to take part in the training exercises to keep his skills sharp. He has abandoned ideas of becoming a police officer to pursue a full-time career as a firefighter.

“Actually, I am still in college for criminal justice at N.C. State and JCC,” Caldwell said. “I started here just to boost my resume and fell in love with it. It’s a calling, I’d say, because I could not have a desk job. I’d get bored. I’d get stir crazy.”

Carter, who attended Clayton High School with Caldwell, had wanted to be a firefighter since he was 8 years old. “This is what I always wanted to do,” he said. “It looked like fun. I enjoy helping the community, just being there and if I know somebody needs us, I will be there to help them.”

Taming the fire in the bus is a good way for the firefighters to learn how to handle other tight spaces, such as singlewide mobile homes, said Dean, a firefighter for 11 years. The school bus has seats to maneuver around, but Dean tends to throw props into the bus to challenge the firefighters even more. After all, no one said rescuing a child from a burning school bus was going to be easy.

For Caldwell, rescuing a person from a fire is what he lives for. “It is rewarding knowing that I might one day be able to save someone’s life or just the simple act that I help somebody out if their house is on fire,” he said. “If the house is on fire, I help put it out, so I help save some part of their life.”