It's common for people to ask kids what they want to be when they grow up. For many children, the thought of becoming a firefighter is as exciting as it gets. Generally, people admire firefighters because they help people. Whether they rescue people from burning buildings or save lives as paramedics, adults are often drawn to the fire service as children because they want to be considered a good guy — or girl.

More people than you can imagine have fulfilled that dream and are serving their communities as firefighters. Not all of them are career firefighters, or men and women who have full-time jobs in the fire service. You might not realize that the overwhelming number of firefighters in this country work for smaller, volunteer and part-time departments, or departments that staff their rosters with a combination of both.

The National Fire Protection Agency reports that there were more than a million firefighters in the United States in 2004. About 27 percent of them are career firefighters in about 2,000 departments, mostly in larger cities. Seventy-three percent of them are volunteers or part-time employees who staff 30,400 departments, usually in more rural areas of the country that have fewer than 25,000 people. About 1,200 departments are staffed mostly by career firefighters and 4,100 are mostly volunteer departments.

Part-time firefighters and volunteers are required to attend regular training sessions and many have degrees in firefighting. Part-time paramedics (many of whom are also firefighters) must gain the same level of education as their career counterparts.

There are a number of reasons why you should admire the firefighters, whether career or volunteer, who will visit your school during National Fire Prevention Week starting Oct. 8. Don't be surprised if you get the urge to follow in their footsteps. But be prepared. Those are big boots to fill.

I made a craft of a firefighter sliding down a pole using instructions I found in the book "Crafts for All Seasons" by Kathy Ross in honor of all firefighters. I modified the directions slightly for our use.

Supplies you will need:

• Paper towel tube

• Aluminum foil

• Yarn

• White paper

• Tape

• Markers

• Scissors

Cover the tube with aluminum foil and use tape to secure.

Cut a section of yarn about 2 and one-half times the length of the tube. String it through the tube and knot the ends.

Draw a firefighter (use the photo as a guide) on the white paper, color and cut out.

Glue the firefighter to the yarn and let dry.

Slide the firefighter down the pole by pulling on the string.