Firefighter follows in dad’s footsteps
By Stephanie Bertholdo
Acorn Staff Writer

MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn ALL IN THE FAMILY-Shawn Bayer will be graduating tomorrow from the Los Angeles County Training Tower Academy as valedictorian. Bayer's father, Capt. Kenneth Bayer, was also a Los Angeles County firefighter. He died while fighting a fire in Cala-basas in 1997. Capt. Bayer's helmet is pictured in the foreground.

Shawn Bayer has known since he was a boy that he wanted to be a firefighter. But unlike other youngsters who wanted to grow up to be a fireman because of great uniforms and flashy red fire engines with cool sirens, Bayer learned early about the joys and heartaches of fighting fires for a living.

Bayer’s father, Capt. Kenneth Bayer, who served with the Los Angeles County Fire Department for 28 years, suffered a fatal heart attack while fighting a fire in Calabasas in 1997. He was one of three captains assigned to Station No. 65 in Agoura Hills.

Bayer said he chose firefight-ing as a career because he saw how his father "loved to go to work every day after 27 years" on the job.

On Oct. 17, Bayer, 28, will graduate from the Los Angeles County Training Tower Academy. As valedictorian, Bayer will speak to his classmates about what it means to follow in his father’s footsteps.

"He was a great inspiration to me," Bayer said, adding that he’s been preparing to become a firefighter for many years.

In addition to taking fire science courses at the fire academy in Oxnard, Bayer worked as a brush firefighter for two years. In the year of his father’s death, Bayer passed a written examination, and has been patiently waiting out the fire department’s lottery system of hiring, while continuing rigorous physical and mental training.

Bayer explained that about 22,000 prospective firefighters submitted applications to enter the training program. Fifteen-thousand applicants were accepted; however, only 500 new firefighters were hired this year.

The training, said Bayer, was tough. "We were beaten down physically and mentally every day," he said. The training facility is affectionately called "the grinder" because the regimen sometimes goes from 6 a.m. to midnight, Bayer said.

Bayer’s mother, Bonnie Bayer-Barndollar, an Oak Park resident, said, "It’s kind of scary (that her son is going to be a firefighter), but I’m really proud of him." She added that she "knows his father would be thrilled out of his socks, if he were here."

She’s proud of her son because he’s "choosing to risk his life to help people," said Bayer-Barndollar.

The graduation ceremony will be conducted at the Los Angeles County Fire Department headquarters. A Westlake Village resident, Bayer said that he’ll be assigned to a specific fire station this week.