Ken Smith got a taste for the fire service as a volunteer firefighter for Fairview Fire District in Hayward.  From there, he was hooked.  In 1977, he joined Modesto City Fire Department and was promoted to engineer two years later.  It was a job that he loved dearly.  When he was diagnosed with cancer and hospitalized, he was still determined to make it back on the rig.  He made it back to the fire station and worked for seven months before he died of job-related brain cancer.