Four years later, Cathy was again pregnant with the couple's second child, Chelsea. The morning she went into labor, Ron was scheduled to take a four-hour exam for a promotion.

"Cathy had her friend with her to help her with the Lamaze, so she told me to go and take the test," Ron recalls. "I remember I went through the questions right down the line as fast as I could. I didn't even check them."

With a fireman's sense of urgency, Ron made it back to the hospital just in time, running through the halls as Cathy was being taken to the birthing room.

"I literally burst through the door in time to see my daughter come out," he says.

Such is life for firefighters and their families, the Iwamis say.

Schedules that call for long hours away from home, modest salaries that often necessitate a second job, and the inherent danger of the job all factor in to what has been a traditionally higher-than-average divorce rate.

Still, with a little flexibility and a lot of effort and understanding, firefighters and their spouses can indeed keep a happy home.

Cathy says the fear factor has never been that much of an issue for her and her kids. While they recognize the danger to which Ron is exposed every day, they're reassured by the continuous, intensive training that keep firefighters prepared.

"(Ron) used to work rescue and when I'd hear a helicopter pass by in Manoa, I'd think, 'Oh, there he goes.' " Cathy says. "They know what they're doing. They think about what they're going to do first, and Ron is a very practical person."

Having a spouse gone for 24 hours at a time is a bit more of a challenge. With Ron out of the house for three complete days every nine-day cycle, Cathy has had to cope solo.

"You learn to work it out. It makes you a stronger individual. You accept that this is what has to be done, and you do it," she says.

Ron and other firefighters point to the fire department's family-friendly culture as a big factor in being able to maintain a relatively normal home life.

Families are welcome to visit firefighters at the station during their down time and schedules are routinely adjusted to allow for family obligations.

Cathy, an arts specialist at Maryknoll schools, says another reason her family is able to function well is that Ron is as supportive of her career as she is of his, and that he's willing to pick up the slack when he's home.