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Former sailor Joe Blake (Bill Williams) is the Rookie Fireman in this Columbia quickie. Though fiercely independent, Blake learns how to be a team player as he goes through the firefighters' training process. Occasionally, he has second thoughts about returning to the sea, and his on-the-job performance suffers. But with the love of waitress Margie Williams (Margorie Reynolds) as an incentive, Blake becomes a first-class "smoke eater." Barton MacLaine makes a meal of his scenes as an irascible but golden-hearted fire chief. Most of the action highlights in Rookie Fireman were culled from previous Columbia productions.