Fighting fires is Alan Ziff's life's work. More than that, it is his passion. Ziff, 62, has been involved in fire fighting for 34 years. He quit counting the structure fires he battled when the number hit 1,000.
What makes someone run into a burning building, while the first reaction of most people (or rats, cockroaches and just about every other mobile organism) is to get the heck out of there?
"It takes a certain type of person," said Ziff, who is the chair of the Fire Science Department and Fire Academy director at Pueblo Community College.
Most people consider fire fighters courageous, or even noble. After all, they often risk their lives to save others.
Ziff doesn't think of himself in those terms.