Leaving with 30 years of memories

Almost 15 years ago, Costa Mesa Fire Department Battalion Chief Keith Fujimoto went on one of the most difficult — but touching and memorable — calls of his 30-year career.

Fujimoto estimated he’s gone on between 15,000 and 20,000 emergency response calls during that time, but he remembers this one like it was yesterday.

On that day, Fujimoto remembers responding to a house fire and pulling a badly burned boy out. The boy’s mother and brother had made it out already. Fujimoto carried the boy on his lap the whole way to the hospital.

During the ride, Fujimoto’s heart sank as he realized the boy was not going to survive the ordeal.

But despite his extensive injuries — the boy was blinded because his eyes were burned and his lips were burned off, Fujimoto said — he and the boy spoke during the whole ride.

“We were talking on the radio” about his injuries, Fujimoto said. “His arms were burned so badly I didn’t know if I’d be able to put in an I.V. He had third- and fourth-degree burns, but when he heard us, he just said, ‘I don’t want a shot, I don’t like shots,’ and that just broke my heart. He was still just a kid.”

On Friday, Fujimoto filed this and other memorable experiences — not all as tragic — away as he spent his last day on the job.

Fujimoto, 59, retired Friday with a slew of great memories and experiences, and he said he’ll now move on to make room for someone else who he hopes will cherish the job as much as he did.

Fujimoto began with the department in 1976, while he was a pre-med student at UC Irvine. There were three positions open, he said, and a whopping 2,200 applicants.

“Luckily, I think I was blessed to be physically fit enough and smart enough to go through the … testing,” Fujimoto said.

He spent his first decade at the Royal Palm Drive station as a firefighter-paramedic. After 10 years, he was promoted to a paramedic captain, and he spent his third decade as a battalion chief. Not all calls were tragic, even if they started out looking that way. Fujimoto fondly remembers people he helped who visited him at the station after they recovered from their injuries. A security guard who was stabbed 21 times came to the station on crutches six months after the crime occurred to tell Fujimoto how thankful he was.

“Was I helping make a difference in the city during my time here?” Fujimoto asked. “I would like to think so.”

But helping victims of crimes and fires wasn’t the only way Fujimoto served Costa Mesa. He started the Trauma Intervention Program, something he said he’s most proud of. Volunteers of the program help survivors and victims of tragedies as they go through the pain of losing someone they loved.

“The volunteers help people perhaps during the hardest part of their lives,” Fujimoto said.

He also was a teacher. Fujimoto taught CPR classes and was an instructor at Santa Ana College’s fire academy. Through the years, some of his students made him proud by becoming successful firefighters, captains and chiefs in and out of Costa Mesa.

“I’ve been here 22 years, and he was my instructor way back when,” Costa Mesa Battalion Chief Ron Cloe said. “He was great, and it’s kind of a neat deal.”

Seeing and working with his former students gave Fujimoto joy during this job.

“There’s nothing more rewarding than that, and I’ve had more than a few people like that,” Fujimoto said. “I was just trying to give back.”

One of the things he’ll miss most is the men he worked with.

“You hear it’s a brotherhood, and it really is,” Fujimoto said. “We are all with each other more than our spouses, and I’ll miss that brotherhood the most.”

Fujimoto won’t stop representing the city in his retirement. He’ll remain on the Honor Guard and will continue to help honor firefighters lost in the line of duty, he said.

But in his downtime, he’s going to tackle an extensive honey-do list, which he said is in part self-imposed, and spend time with his wife and 18-year-old son.

“The time goes very quickly,” he said. “I think, 30 years, where’d they all go … but it’s been very rewarding throughout my entire career.”