They are the people you want to see in a crisis.

When your boat is sinking somewhere off Makapu'u. When your best friend is swept off a North Shore beach by huge surf. When your loved ones fail to return from a hike and the weather is getting bad.

Firefighters, lifeguards and the Coast Guard: They will come for you without complaint, charge willingly into harm's way to bring you to safety.

They don't see themselves as heroes, at least not publicly, but they save lives on a regular basis.

They are the men and women who come to your rescue.

THE FIREFIGHTERS

Brad Chang, a 44-year-old captain with Rescue 2 in Mililani, joined the Honolulu Fire Department in 1990. When he was selected for rescue work in 1990, he saw it as a natural extension of his love of the outdoors. Chang, a father of two, says he remembers the faces of the people he has saved, and those he could not.

Driven to help

"We are a driven bunch of guys, Type A personality. We're driven and we are driven in the sense that we like to be challenged with all the various conditions that we are being faced with, whether it is on a ridgeline working into a valley or on the ocean in rough seas," Chang said.

The danger

"There is an inherent risk, but through training we definitely minimize the risk. We are put into situations where there is nobody there to help you. You are going to have to help yourself and that's based on your capability."

Finding emotional courage

"For me, personally, I've been around long enough where in some tough situations, I have just been able to cope with it one way or another. Situations where people have died. We learn to deal with it. For me, knowing I gave my best, I can sleep at night knowing I gave my best."

Sacred Falls rockslide, Mother's Day, 1999

"So many people died, but so many people lived. You have to look at the glass as half full. You have to look at the positive in a situation. Not that we are immune to that thing. It's just the way we firemen deal with it. We talk it out and we deal with it."

Keoni Kino, a 51-year-old captain with Honolulu Fire Department's Rescue 1 in Päwa'a, was attracted to the challenge of the job. A father of two who surfs and runs to relax, Kino says the job is as challenging emotionally as it is physically.

Safety first

"We train on a regular basis on the helicopter, but there are always those unknowns. There are a lot of power lines up there that you can see in the day, but at night they are not visible."

Emotions in check

"I think for most of the rescue guys, we have learned to get a grip early and focus on the job that needs to be done. If I really don't need to, and I can work around it, I try not to look at (deceased victims') faces. I try not to put a face to the body. For me, that has helped me get over a lot of this. That face gives them an identity."

The motivation

"I truly want to help people. Sometimes they don't know what they are getting themselves into until it is too late."

THE LIFEGUARDS

Mark Dombrowski, a 55-year-old grandfather, has been a lifeguard for 34 years. As half of a two-man crew that uses a speedy personal watercraft for North Shore rescues, Dombrowski says that when he goes into the ocean, he doesn't take anything for granted.

Risk takers on the beach

"People were more tentative before. Now, anything goes. Everybody thinks they're a waterman. There's not enough respect for the ocean and the consequences," he said.

Endless frustration

"We were talking the other day. You know how you warn people and warn people, and it still doesn't register? I think they are oblivious to the dangers. You don't even have to be in the water to get sucked away. There was a girl five years ago at Ke Iki who got sucked away. We never found her."

Expecting the worst

"I've learned to cope over the years with a lot of things. But there are still days when the waves are big and the water is crowded, and you know something is going to happen. Like at Pipeline. Every wipeout is a potential death. There are many days when it's tense. It's stressful."

Abe Lerner became a city lifeguard in 1990 and has spent all his time on a two-man crew that uses a personal watercraft to respond to North Shore victims. The 37-year-old Lerner says the job can be brutal.

Roughwaters rescue, Nov. 11, 2009

"The quarter-mile drive to Waimea Bay, straight into the wind, I was in the air most of the time. When I got to the rescue point, I felt like I had saltwater pouring out of my eyeballs. You just can't explain it to anybody. You can't explain that feeling, that bouncing. I'm surprised I still have a back."

The bottom line

"You want to see us coming to get you. You want to see me. But that doesn't mean you're going to live. We're the last line of defense."

THE COAST GUARD

Christopher Belisle, a rescue swimmer, joined the U.S. Coast Guard in 1999. While his job is physically demanding, the 38-year-old father of two said the greater challenge is staying calm when it's time to dive into chaos.

Calm before the sprint

"Most of this job is waiting. Waiting and searching and finding. Then 20 minutes of as fast as you can, as hard as you can. All our working out trains you for the hardest thing you have ever done. And most of the time it's because the helo (helicopter) is running out of gas. That 20 minutes is a full-on sprint. The whole time you are in the water, out of breath and trying to think."

Time is of the essence

"That's why everybody gets spooled up. You need to find them, and once you find them, you need to get them out of that atmosphere. A couple of years ago we pulled a guy off of Läna'i sitting in a kayak who had been in the kayak for 24 hours, about 70 miles offshore. We were his last chance."

The best part

"I like getting off a plane on a good search with the feeling that you helped someone, that you brought them home. It's hard to explain. It's like a natural high. If you are lost on the ocean, people think you are gone. To go out and not only find them in this vast ocean, but to bring them home, is such a great feeling."

Armena McNair, a 40-year-old coxswain, joined the Coast Guard as a reservist in 1986 and has been driving search and rescue boats for three years. She can search as far as 50 nautical miles offshore for hours at a time.

Hanging on to limits

"It is very draining on the body, being thrown around and having to hold on to something, and looking through sea-sprayed windows. It can be very draining, especially when we get around Diamond Head and east of Diamond Head. And west of Barbers Point the seas pick up. When we transit through those areas, it takes a lot out of us. But we have guidelines in place. We know if the seas are a certain level for a certain amount of time, that limits the time we can be out."

Coming to the rescue

"When you are able to help someone, coming up and seeing a family that needs help, just being able to meet their needs in a time of distress, is gratifying. If they have been out for a while and are tired and you show up, they are grateful for whatever you can do for them. It's a joy to be able to do that. When you feel like you saved the day and no one is hurt and everyone gets home and the day ends well. That is a good day."