Firefighter Kevin Cullison slides down the pole in the UC Davis Fire Department. The weight of the descending firefighter opens the triangle-shaped hatch. The brass pole was a new and welcome feature of the fire building when it opened in 1977. Firefighters previously worked out of a one-story building across Hutchison Drive from Sproul Hall. Even in the newer building, career firefighters bunk on the first floor, but during one of the first calls in the building a firefighter actually ran upstairs so he could slide down the pole, says Fire Capt. Tony Rossetto. Student firefighters live on the second floor and always take the pole, Rossetto says. And the apparatus also accommodates a visitor from the North Pole each December at the fire station’s annual holiday party. Children traditionally gather at the base of the pole and chant together for the arrival of Santa, who eventually makes his grand entry how else? — down the pole, of course.