Who's Who: Rune Hoyer-Nielsen, Fire Captain

Name: Rune Hoyer-Nielsen

Age: 41

Occupation: Captain and paramedic with the El Cerrito/Kensington Fire Department

Do you move around a lot to different stations? There are three stations. We are El Cerrito firefighters and we are under contract to the Kensington Fire Protection District. We have three shifts: A, B and C. On any given day there’s three guys from El Cerrito over here at Kensington protecting the community of Kensington. We do rotate throughout the stations: Kensington station 65; El Cerrito station 72, over on Madera and Arlington by the golf course; and then our main station down on San Pablo Avenue.

Your schedule is pretty hectic as a firefighter. Describe some of your duties. We work a 48-hour shift, then we’re off for four days. That continues through the calendar into the next year. At any time during that 48 hours, we respond to any emergency, anything someone is calling 911 for — from full-blown structure fires to someone fell down and skinned their knee and needs a band-aid and everything in between.

Yesterday we were at urban search and rescue training; all day we were out at Chevron at a technical trench rescue class. Today, Sunday, is a more mellow day for us.

To describe a normal workday would be at 7:30 we start. Matt, the engineer, would be responsible to come on to check out all the engines, do an overview to make sure the air packs are good, make sure the rig is working in good condition, make sure the radios have fresh batteries in them, and do an overview of the medical equipment. I usually brief with the other captain on what’s going on and what we have coming up. We usually get together, have a quick breakfast at 8 o’clock, have a cup of coffee. We all, except for Robert, are coffee fiends.

We (also) do training. At the Julian (Drive) stairs we put on full turn-out gear; we put on our air pack; we throw in a tool; and we put a hose pack on — we call it a hotel pack and that’s what we would use to attack fires in multi-story buildings. We go three times up and down (the stairs) from Julian up to (Madera Circle). We do the upper section. You’re carrying that weight and it’s hot. I can’t get everybody to do it with me. They think I’m crazy, but that’s not an uncommon thought.

I’ve heard a bit about your journey to become a firefighter, that you worked really hard to be where you are now. Could you share a little bit about that? Sure. I was a lifeguard first. Before that I was a swim instructor. As a lifeguard, I actually worked at El Cerrito; I began working for the city of El Cerrito when I was 16. I got to know some of the guys — a couple of them are still on the job now as battalion chiefs or higher-ranked guys — and with the emergencies we had, they would respond. I got to meet these guys and thought, “That’s pretty cool.”

Initially I thought I was going to be a lifeguard for life: I was going to San Diego, I was going to Santa Barbara. I had a plan — I had the Volkswagen bus with the surfboard. I am about as far away from a desk-job-kind-of-person as you can be.

I had done some criminal justice courses at the junior college and thought there might be a police route for me, but that was quickly turned off. There are two distinct personality traits that are very different between police officers and firefighters; I don’t meet the police officer category whatsoever.

After that, I started going to school and changed from blowing off finals for a good swell in Bolinas to number one guy in the academy and every class I went too. I found something that was a passion for me. I became a volunteer for El Cerrito and just hung out and got a feel for it. I wasn’t allowed to ride the engine — I did paperwork.

Like many guys, it’s a process to get hired. You test where you can. I went from Southern California all the way to Washington State. It wasn’t uncommon that you would go up to a test, and there’d be 2,000 guys lined up around this building for one position. Chances of getting hired were slim. But I was told that if you truly had the desire you would get the job. For me, I was right in the average; it took five years to get the job.

I did a few seasons for the California Department of Forestry, which is now known as Cal Fire, in San Luis Obispo and it was beautiful — I loved it. I worked down there and remained as a volunteer here in El Cerrito working about a 20-hour shift once a week when I had the opportunity. I was also working anything I could do to make some kind of income while still focusing 100 percent on becoming a firefighter.

I had a lot of departments say, “Nope, nope, nope, nope,” or, "Hey, yeah, you’re the guy, but we’re going to hire this person.” I had a quote on my wall that had "no, no, no" on the whole page and on the bottom there was one "yes." I was persistent, and eventually I got an offer here.

I’m homegrown El Cerrito, born and raised. The community gave to me, and I want to give back and I like it. These guys (fellow firefighters) laugh at me all the time. … The road is long, but persistence was there. I kept taking classes; I kept testing; I kept staying positive. Sometimes I was frustrated, there were many no’s and many departments where it didn’t work out. It’s kind of neat that I ended up testing all over the coast and ended up right here. I always remind guys, “If you want it, you’ll get it, just don’t give up. Don’t stop.” Follow your dreams, don’t stop, you’ll get them.