Recruit Dan Ledger calls out his orders over the radio as he responds to a house fire drill on Friday, December 7, 2012. For the recruits last day of the training they put all that they have learned to the test in real world scenarios set up in an abandon home donated by the city of Joliet. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

Family members and Officials from the Aurora Fire Department clap as Angelo R. Minneci and his father Angelo Minneci hug after thier pinning ceremony at the Aurora Fire Museum on December 14, 2012. Minneci Sr. is a 18 year veteran of the Aurora Fire department. All nine members of the recruit class graduated and had family members on hand to pin their AFD badges on their chest. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

Aurora Fire Recruit Jake Erdmanis, 30, meets other members of the Aurora Fire Department on his first shift as an Aurora Firefighter on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2012. Since completing the academy, the recruits will have a one year probationary period where they will float between stations until a permanent position at one opens up. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

While handing out gifts on Christmas Eve recruit Jake Erdmanis, 30, and the truck he is riding on get a call. After gearing up, Erdmanis, sits in the truck enroute to his first call as an offical Aurora firefighter on Monday, December 24, 2012. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

After using the house for all the drills they could on Friday, December 7, 2012, the recruits gut the house and set the entire structure on fire. Aside from the spectacle it creates, the recruits learn how a fire moves through a house. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

Dan Ledger wipes his brow after a drill where the recruits practiced rescuing a down firefighter at the training grounds in North Aurora on Wednesday, November 28, 2012. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

Jake Erdmanis, 30, opens a door using a spreader while on his first shift as an Aurora Firefighter on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2012. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

Steven Gutzmer, left, and Jake Erdmanis, right, accept a gift in a Victoria Secret bag from the senior members of their shift on their first day as an Aurora Firefighter on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2012. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

Recruit Jake Erdmanis, 30, gets a hug from a grateful mom after handing out donated Christmas gifts on his first day as an Aurora Firefighter on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2012. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media

Aurora Fire's class of 2012 poses for a group photo at the training grounds in North Aurora on Wednesday, November 28, 2012. Pictured from left are, Thorn Ackmann, Dan Ledger, Jake Erdmanis, Angelo R. Minneci, Conery Bruton, John Dixon, Mike Weber, Ryan Lincoln, and Steven Gutzmer. | Brian Powers~Sun-Times Media