The first sign of fire was the faint whiff of an earthy incense. Then muted crackling drifted from an interior room and thin, gray smoke wafted through a door frame.
Four Longview firefighters stood poised at the door of a small red building, hoses raised and waiting for their cue to enter the abandoned building next to Three Rivers Christian School.
At the nozzle, recruit Greg Hawkes turned to his partner behind him. When his thumbs-up was returned, the group crouched low and disappeared into a thick wall of smoke. Less than a minute later, the team backed out of the building, the fire extinguished and their training rotation complete. A new crew quickly stepped in, the fire was re-ignited and the drill began again.
The burn was a window into the training and making of a firefighter. For Hawkes, the live fire training exercise was the culmination of a long and arduous journey.