WEBVTT

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This episode is sponsored by yet another company

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that I truly stand behind and that is Levels.

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And Levels is going to be offering you, the Behind

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the Shield podcast audience, a discount that

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I will tell you about at the end of this introduction.

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Now, before I even dive into what Levels does,

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when I had a conversation with their CEO and

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founder, Josh Clemente, he underlined such an

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important topic. So many of us rely on visits

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to our physicians to tell us how we are doing,

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and that is so backward. I am an absolute believer

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in putting autonomy back into the hands of the

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individual so they can take care of their own

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health. Now, what Levels does is it gives us

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the metrics so we can see exactly how everything

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Now through their three levels that they offer,

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they have programs that focus on weight loss,

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heart health, and glucose stability. I've now

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been through this program twice, and I'll kind

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of illustrate what it will look like. So you

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make an initial consultation with your levels

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coach. You wear a continuous blood sugar monitor

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for one month. You'll complete a lab panel, and

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I did it through Quest Diagnostics. A clinician

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with levels will then analyze your results and

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give you an action plan. That's when you can

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then start hitting your own health goals and

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in real time track your own progress. And then

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depending on the level you subscribe to, there's

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also a second blood work so you can now see how

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you're doing six months later. Now by combining

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AI data, AI powered insights and human coaching

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together, 80 % of Levels members improve their

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biomarkers. Now, as I mentioned, Levels is offering

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you, the audience of the Behind the Shield podcast,

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$100 off your first order if you use the promo

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code SHIELD at levels .com. And if you're interested

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in getting Levels for your department, email

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Josh Clemente, the founder and CEO of Levels,

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at josh at levels .com. And if you want to hear

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the origin story and so much more about this

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incredible company, listen to my interview with

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CEO and founder Josh Clemente on episode 1159

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of the Behind the Shield podcast. Welcome to

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the Behind the Shield podcast. As always, my

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name is James Geering and this week it is my

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absolute honor to welcome on the show veteran

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firefighter, instructor and entrepreneur Tony

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Ortiz. So in this conversation, we discuss a

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host of topics from growing up in a firefighter

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family, his own journey into the fire service,

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our experience together at paramedic school,

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his time in fire prevention, the importance of

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firefighter fitness, his near decade of running

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every single day, the incredible local mentorship

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program, the 24 -72, raising standards in the

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fire service. leadership, and so much more. Now,

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before we get to this incredible conversation,

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as I say every week, please just take a moment.

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Go to whichever app you listen to this on, subscribe

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to the show, leave feedback, and leave a rating.

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Every single five -star rating truly does elevate

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this podcast, therefore making it easier for

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others to find. And this is a free library of

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almost 1 ,200 episodes now. So all I ask in return

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is that you help share these incredible men and

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women's stories so I can get them to every single

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person on planet Earth who needs to hear them.

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And one more side note, I did a collaboration

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with the cartoonist Paul Combs this week. If

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you haven't seen that piece, go to Fire Engineering

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or Paul's site. to read that article on firefighter

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shifts and the proactive solutions. So with that

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being said, I introduce to you Tony Ortiz. Enjoy.

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Well, Tony, I want to start by saying welcome

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to my home. We have known each other since paramedic

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school, which we'll dive into in a little while.

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But yeah, I want to start by saying welcome to

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the Behind the Shield podcast today. Awesome.

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Well, thank you for having me. It's an honor

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to be on this show. I've listened to it for a

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long time. I remember you first telling me that

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you were going to do this podcast, and I thought

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you were crazy at first. And you were leaving

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the fire service, and I was like, wow. wow, what

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a big step. But now after thousand, how many

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episodes are you at now? Almost 1200 now. 1200

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episodes. It has been, um, I think a gift to

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the fire service. And for me, it's been, you

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know, super enjoyable to hear the type of people

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that you've had on. And for me to be one of those

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folks is it's truly an honor. So thank you. Yeah,

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well, I don't know why we haven't done this sooner,

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but it's so weird with this. I always tell people

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that when we're supposed to sit down, it will

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suddenly pop in my head. It's just one of those

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God moments or whatever you want to call it.

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No, that's cool. But yeah, lots to talk about.

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Well, for people listening, if you were at home

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at your department, where on planet Earth would

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we be finding you today? You are finding me today

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in your living room. And I live in Ocala and

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I work for the Ocala Fire Department. Beautiful.

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Well, let's start at the very beginning of your

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story then. So tell me where you were born and

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tell me a little bit about your family dynamic,

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what your parents did, how many siblings. tremendously

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big family. I've got about like over 20 cousins

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that I was really close to when I was growing

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up. I was the oldest one, but my mom and dad

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both were from pretty big families. So they both

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had seven brothers and sisters. So my entire

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life was filled with going to birthday parties,

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family get togethers, and it was just chaos.

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So big Spanish family, as you can imagine what

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that's like. So I didn't have just one mom. I

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had every mom. All my aunts were like, like a

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second mom. But it was cool because when you

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grow up in that kind of family, you, you realize

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like how important it is to, you know, respect

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your elders and every single member of your family

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has the, the right to just. you know, put you

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in your place. So you kind of learn how to fit

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into a community, um, with that, with having

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a family like that and being the oldest, I always

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kind of felt like it was my responsibility to

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kind of look after my cousins. Um, and then also

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to kind of teach them, you know, the way and

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give them a hard time, uh, being, being the oldest

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is always kind of a blessing and a burden. And,

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uh, and you know, I, I think that growing up

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that kind of shaped. my outlook on life now.

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So it was really, really a cool thing. Yeah.

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Where are your family from lineage wise? So my

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mom's family's from Cuba, and my dad's Puerto

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Rican. But they hail from Long Island, New York.

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So everybody was living up there in kind of late

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70s. And I guess they they were doing a bunch

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of signs and said, move to Central Florida. Property's

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really cheap and they didn't believe it. So they

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came down here and checked it out. And sure enough,

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it was. And that's kind of the origin story of

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how we all kind of got here. I think there's

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so much value in a lot of these cultures that

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still value that multi -generational household.

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And I was just talking to Rick Mancastle today,

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who's the real lawyer from the OxyContin Purdue

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case. But then now he's done a lot in the nursing

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home side, investigating and suing them. Because

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of the abuse and one of the solutions obviously

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is, you know, older relatives living with family

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being taken care of there rather than being put

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in a facility. You talked about this massive

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family. What was that element like? Were you

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having multiple generations living in some of

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these households? Yeah, I think we still do.

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I actually have a grandmother who's still alive.

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She just turned 90. and she's fit as a fiddle

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and sharp as a tack. Um, and she lives with my

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aunt right now. Um, she's lived with my uncle,

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she's lived with my other aunt. So, um, you know,

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and then I had another grandmother who just passed

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away and the same thing. It was, it was, you

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know, they never were in a nursing home or anything

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like that. It's always just been, um, they were

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being taken care of by family. So yeah, I think

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that's been something in our family that's always

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been valuable is that, you know, you don't, you

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take care of your, you know, your. you know,

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people in your family. So, yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

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Well, what about sports and exercise? What were

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you playing and doing back then? So, yeah, I

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mean, I was just your average kid. I lived in

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a neighborhood that was like, they called it

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farmer's homes back then. And it was kind of

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like low income homes, first time home buyers

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and stuff like that. So there was a ton of kids

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always in our neighborhood. So I would play in

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the the neighborhood all the time we played baseball

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football all that stuff I played you know rec

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sports so it would go out and I played like little

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league baseball and I played football for MCYFL

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which is kind of the the place here I played

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big son soccer so you know growing up I played

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all kinds of sports when I got into high school

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played a little bit but didn't really follow

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up on any of it, just kind of fell off, was interested

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more in like music and stuff like that. So, um,

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yeah, I didn't play much in high school. And

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then when I got on with the fire department,

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then I became a Olympic athlete, a firefighter

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Olympics. Uh, so I went to the Olympics. We played

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soccer there, got crushed by the guys from Miami

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Dade. Um, we played some softball and, and, you

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know, fishing and all that stuff. So, uh, I can

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definitely say I'm a firefighter Olympic athlete.

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Olympian. Oh, yeah, I'm Olympian. What was Bellevue

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like back then? Because as we sit here now, I

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know one of the busiest stations in Marion County

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is Station 18. So obviously there's some desperation

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in the area. But what was it like in your experience

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when you were younger? Yeah, it was cool. small.

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I feel like it's grown a little bit. Uh, I know

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they have like a chamber of commerce there now,

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and I've gone to some of their events and every

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time I go, there's a guy who's kind of in charge

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of the Bellevue chamber of commerce, uh, Joe

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Reichel. And I always tell him, man, I love that

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this is happening here in Bellevue because I

00:11:15.139 --> 00:11:16.940
love Bellevue. You know, we used to go to the

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movie theater over there. There was a few restaurants

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kind of in their little, um, highway four 41

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area. So, um, not a lot going on, but there was

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enough to where, you know, you could go shopping,

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you could go watch a movie, you could do some

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stuff. And, um, as I, I went to high school there,

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I went to Bellevue high school. It was like one

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of the very first classes to go through and the

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high school was new to the area. So that was

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another kind of like cool thing that, that happened

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while I was in there. And it, you know, so I've,

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I've kind of seen it over the years grow up.

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And I remember, um, probably get into this, but

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my dad was a firefighter for Ocala and Part of

00:11:52.139 --> 00:11:54.159
the things they used to do back then is the Ocala

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firefighters and some of the Marion County firefighters

00:11:56.419 --> 00:11:58.919
would get together and they would do different

00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:01.019
trainings together out there. So I remember going

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to Bellevue right where the city hall is and

00:12:05.419 --> 00:12:08.159
they were doing some type of firefighter challenge

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training out there. So I remember that as a kid

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and that was really cool to kind of see the guys

00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:16.659
out there. putting on the air packs and doing

00:12:16.659 --> 00:12:18.279
what i don't even remember what the what they

00:12:18.279 --> 00:12:19.960
were doing i have to talk to tad and figure out

00:12:19.960 --> 00:12:21.980
exactly but probably pulling lines and see who

00:12:21.980 --> 00:12:23.960
could do the faster fastest or something like

00:12:23.960 --> 00:12:27.659
that so so yeah belvey was belvey was cool i

00:12:27.659 --> 00:12:29.340
actually went to belvey high school a few times

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because Thai was running. So cross country would

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be there, I think, or at least against them.

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And then also, uh, track. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah.

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Yeah. I ran track out there. It was kind of when

00:12:40.100 --> 00:12:41.659
they first opened the school, they just needed

00:12:41.659 --> 00:12:44.299
everybody. I was not that good. They were just

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like, we don't have enough kids. We need anybody

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who can run like, all right, I'll run. So it

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was, yeah, it was a cool time. When you reflect

00:12:52.059 --> 00:12:54.039
back before you, obviously you were wearing uniform.

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What were the pros and cons of being the son

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of a firefighter back then? Man. So, yeah. I

00:13:04.240 --> 00:13:07.679
remember being proud to like tell people that

00:13:07.679 --> 00:13:09.360
my dad was a fireman. Like that was kind of a

00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:10.559
cool thing to say. Like, well, you know, they

00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:12.360
would ask you like, hey, what does your parents

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do and stuff like that. I was always proud to

00:13:14.879 --> 00:13:16.279
say that he was a fireman because I thought it

00:13:16.279 --> 00:13:19.840
was a pretty cool profession. It really wasn't

00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:22.460
until almost when I was out of high school that

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I even thought about it as a possible career.

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But one of the things that I... do remember.

00:13:27.940 --> 00:13:30.639
And I think back now is that, you know, they're,

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they're as, as, as awesome as that was to have,

00:13:33.759 --> 00:13:36.240
you know, a fire, a father that you were proud

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of what he did. Um, there were a lot of times

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when, you know, I can remember dad not being

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there at Thanksgiving, dad not being there at

00:13:43.220 --> 00:13:45.279
Christmas or us having to go up to the station

00:13:45.279 --> 00:13:49.720
to visit him. Um, we, um, Ocala used to have,

00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:52.820
um, before cell phones, right? So this was before

00:13:52.820 --> 00:13:54.679
cell phones, they had two phones, they had a

00:13:54.679 --> 00:13:57.799
kitchen phone and a, um, a hall phone at headquarters.

00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:00.480
And I remember my mom used to tell us like, before

00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:02.200
we would go to bed, all right, go call your dad

00:14:02.200 --> 00:14:04.659
on the kitchen phone or whatever. So we'd have

00:14:04.659 --> 00:14:06.659
to call him. Hey, all right. Good night. How

00:14:06.659 --> 00:14:08.159
was, you know, the typical dad thing, like how

00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:10.659
was school good? And, you know, usually kids

00:14:10.659 --> 00:14:12.639
are just like, yeah, it was normal, whatever.

00:14:12.940 --> 00:14:15.539
So, but we would do that, like talk to him on

00:14:15.539 --> 00:14:19.279
the phone. And it, and it was funny because There's

00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:21.679
a lot of transition times now as a father. I

00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:25.480
reflect on that. So mornings when you get up,

00:14:25.539 --> 00:14:27.000
like making your kids breakfast, that's kind

00:14:27.000 --> 00:14:28.720
of a cool thing before they go to school. I was

00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:32.700
able to do that this morning. And because dad

00:14:32.700 --> 00:14:35.019
was working two jobs, he would bring his lawn

00:14:35.019 --> 00:14:38.419
trailer to work with him and he would go straight

00:14:38.419 --> 00:14:44.139
from work to mow lawns. So there's just like

00:14:44.139 --> 00:14:47.399
a big... gap between like a lot of those kind

00:14:47.399 --> 00:14:49.320
of normal times when you would see your dad and

00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:51.279
then times that, that we would, you know, so

00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:53.440
I, it was cool being able to go to the station

00:14:53.440 --> 00:14:55.179
and stand on the trucks and doing stuff like

00:14:55.179 --> 00:14:58.500
that. But it was also, um, you know, a lot of

00:14:58.500 --> 00:15:01.000
times where he just, he wasn't there, you know,

00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:03.820
um, not in a bad way, but just that, you know,

00:15:03.820 --> 00:15:06.340
he was just, and it was, I guess it was normal

00:15:06.340 --> 00:15:09.460
for us. So it, you know, I never really thought

00:15:09.460 --> 00:15:11.299
like, man, I'm really missing dad. It was just,

00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:14.539
he was at the Or he was going to the second job.

00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:19.279
And yeah, so it was an interesting experience.

00:15:20.620 --> 00:15:23.240
This is the conversation I think that's so important.

00:15:23.399 --> 00:15:28.240
I had several firefighter spouses on the show

00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:30.899
probably a couple of years ago now, a year and

00:15:30.899 --> 00:15:34.080
a half. And one of them was talking about one

00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:36.840
of their sons was all in on the fire service.

00:15:36.879 --> 00:15:38.840
He was a little boy. He had all the trucks. He

00:15:38.840 --> 00:15:42.470
had the costume, all the things. And then he

00:15:42.470 --> 00:15:46.049
was kind of mid -teens. And just in conversation,

00:15:46.450 --> 00:15:49.110
they've said, you know, you're still going to

00:15:49.110 --> 00:15:50.769
be a firefighter like your dad. And he goes,

00:15:50.929 --> 00:15:54.509
no. And they said it was kind of like very blunt

00:15:54.509 --> 00:15:56.409
about it. And they were all shocked. And they

00:15:56.409 --> 00:15:58.110
were like, why? He said, because dad's never

00:15:58.110 --> 00:16:01.889
home. Not I'm worried about fires. Not I don't

00:16:01.889 --> 00:16:04.629
want to see dead people. But dad's never home.

00:16:04.870 --> 00:16:07.509
And there's a big difference between the job

00:16:07.509 --> 00:16:10.730
and 24 hours of giving yourself to your community.

00:16:11.809 --> 00:16:15.070
and the way you are worked. And this is why I

00:16:15.070 --> 00:16:17.149
think this is so important. Even when we reflect

00:16:17.149 --> 00:16:22.710
back to that era, the mandatory overtime, from

00:16:22.710 --> 00:16:24.129
what I understand from a lot of people, that

00:16:24.129 --> 00:16:26.970
really wasn't even a thing back then. And then

00:16:26.970 --> 00:16:28.769
you look at where we are now, and you can, you

00:16:28.769 --> 00:16:31.710
know, mandatory or signed up for, because a lot

00:16:31.710 --> 00:16:33.690
of us jump on the grenade for other people so

00:16:33.690 --> 00:16:36.679
they don't get hit. But that's not the fire service.

00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:39.679
That's a change in working conditions that we

00:16:39.679 --> 00:16:42.340
can put back. But if mom or dad are going to

00:16:42.340 --> 00:16:45.500
be gone for 24 hours, we need to make sure that

00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:47.500
there's, you know, as much time as we can have

00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:50.679
at home and that when they work the next 24,

00:16:50.980 --> 00:16:53.600
unless it's some, you know, God event where,

00:16:53.639 --> 00:16:55.799
yeah, of course it's an all hands thing, that

00:16:55.799 --> 00:16:57.480
you don't get a phone call at seven o 'clock

00:16:57.480 --> 00:16:59.179
in the morning saying you can't go home to your

00:16:59.179 --> 00:17:02.679
kids. Yeah. Yeah, I remember that too. As a kid,

00:17:02.700 --> 00:17:04.940
I remember them, my mom saying, Oh, dad got overtime.

00:17:05.480 --> 00:17:08.180
And it was, you know, it never was like a negative

00:17:08.180 --> 00:17:10.220
thing. They were always kind of excited. I mean,

00:17:10.259 --> 00:17:13.240
we were, you know, firefighters back then I,

00:17:13.259 --> 00:17:15.480
I'd have to ask them, but they were making less

00:17:15.480 --> 00:17:18.440
than $10 ,000 a year, you know, it was it was

00:17:18.440 --> 00:17:21.569
crazy. not how much they were making. I mean,

00:17:21.589 --> 00:17:23.710
everything was cheaper back then, but I remember

00:17:23.710 --> 00:17:25.430
him getting overtime shift being like, all right,

00:17:25.430 --> 00:17:27.910
good dad got overtime, you know? Um, and back

00:17:27.910 --> 00:17:30.710
then Ocala worked kind of a weird schedule. It

00:17:30.710 --> 00:17:35.150
was a 24 on 24 off 24 on 24 off 24 on them four

00:17:35.150 --> 00:17:37.730
days off. So they would, they called like a trick

00:17:37.730 --> 00:17:41.609
schedule. Um, So you could imagine how, yeah,

00:17:41.710 --> 00:17:43.490
you can imagine how crazy that would be. So you

00:17:43.490 --> 00:17:46.950
work 24 hours, go cut mow grass for the most

00:17:46.950 --> 00:17:48.509
of the day. By the time he got home, we were

00:17:48.509 --> 00:17:50.970
probably close to being in bed already, you know?

00:17:51.150 --> 00:17:52.829
Um, and then he's cleaning up the equipment,

00:17:53.029 --> 00:17:55.769
going to sleep, getting back up and doing that.

00:17:55.809 --> 00:17:59.150
And he was, you know, he was on rescue, um, a

00:17:59.150 --> 00:18:01.819
lot of that time. So I could just imagine, and

00:18:01.819 --> 00:18:04.039
it wasn't any slower back then. And in fact,

00:18:04.039 --> 00:18:06.279
there was less rescue trucks. So they were running

00:18:06.279 --> 00:18:08.619
more calls on those, on those rescue trucks.

00:18:08.680 --> 00:18:11.500
And Ocala was like BLS engines back then, or

00:18:11.500 --> 00:18:13.619
first responder engines, you know? So this was,

00:18:13.619 --> 00:18:15.980
that was their only EMS was those, was a couple

00:18:15.980 --> 00:18:18.799
of rescue trucks that they had. So thinking back,

00:18:18.940 --> 00:18:20.819
I mean, he must've been getting smoked on some

00:18:20.819 --> 00:18:23.720
of those, some of those shifts. And if they were

00:18:23.720 --> 00:18:25.079
going to take time off, they had to take that

00:18:25.079 --> 00:18:27.359
whole trick off. Like they'd have to take every,

00:18:27.400 --> 00:18:30.000
those three 24 hour shifts off and, you know,

00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:32.480
That's a lot of vacation time to use in one thing.

00:18:32.579 --> 00:18:35.299
So, you know, or if you got overtime, it was

00:18:35.299 --> 00:18:38.400
now you're three days in a row there at the fire

00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:42.079
station. And, um, so that was a big change when

00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:45.480
they, when Ocala decided to do that. Um, and

00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:48.160
it was funny because, you know, they made that

00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:51.039
change because I think the union was pushing

00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:53.859
and saying, Hey, there's nobody wants to work

00:18:53.859 --> 00:18:55.640
for Ocala because they can't understand our schedule.

00:18:56.299 --> 00:18:58.160
So they said, we need to go to this new thing.

00:18:58.259 --> 00:19:01.859
That's the 2448. Right. And so they went to the

00:19:01.859 --> 00:19:06.279
2448 and then a couple of years later they decided,

00:19:06.359 --> 00:19:08.859
you know, oh, we need to go to Kelly days. And

00:19:08.859 --> 00:19:10.640
then the Kelly day conversation started talking,

00:19:10.700 --> 00:19:12.740
going. And of course people were pushing back

00:19:12.740 --> 00:19:15.759
on that. So now like I have these conversations

00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:19.799
with, you know, a lot of our, our, our guys now

00:19:19.799 --> 00:19:22.619
and said, listen, this isn't new. This is stuff

00:19:22.619 --> 00:19:24.980
that I've seen just because I've been around

00:19:24.980 --> 00:19:27.710
the fire. kind of growing up my whole life, the

00:19:27.710 --> 00:19:30.289
schedules change. And even before that, with

00:19:30.289 --> 00:19:32.910
our mentorship program, we've got one guy who

00:19:32.910 --> 00:19:37.029
helps out there, Chief Remington, and his dad

00:19:37.029 --> 00:19:39.130
worked for the fire department. And I'm talking

00:19:39.130 --> 00:19:42.490
about back in like the 40s, 50s. So now you're

00:19:42.490 --> 00:19:44.809
expanding past, or way back when they worked

00:19:44.809 --> 00:19:47.410
24 on, 24 off, and there was only two shifts.

00:19:47.670 --> 00:19:50.640
You know what I'm saying? So although... the

00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:52.859
schedule change right now feels like this thing

00:19:52.859 --> 00:19:55.460
that is like new and what's going to happen and

00:19:55.460 --> 00:19:58.000
all that stuff. This conversation has been happening

00:19:58.000 --> 00:20:01.200
over years and years and years in the fire service.

00:20:01.259 --> 00:20:06.119
So, I mean, I, you know, we've, I'm sure we'll

00:20:06.119 --> 00:20:08.900
get into it more, but the more we get pushback

00:20:08.900 --> 00:20:11.140
on them, like this is the same, this is, this

00:20:11.140 --> 00:20:13.579
is just the evolution of it, guys. Like this

00:20:13.579 --> 00:20:15.500
is what happens. You know, we're going to go

00:20:15.500 --> 00:20:18.079
back to the one day on one day off, you know,

00:20:18.079 --> 00:20:21.390
no. Like this is the way we make this place better.

00:20:21.450 --> 00:20:24.309
And those guys before made it better for us.

00:20:24.450 --> 00:20:26.990
So we're working in a system where we actually

00:20:26.990 --> 00:20:29.789
can Kelly. So we've reduced our work hours. And

00:20:29.789 --> 00:20:33.130
now it's our time to make it better for the next

00:20:33.130 --> 00:20:35.470
group, I think. And that's always been my opinion

00:20:35.470 --> 00:20:38.990
on it. And I did a thing the other day where

00:20:38.990 --> 00:20:41.450
I was like seeing where I'm at in my career.

00:20:41.609 --> 00:20:47.029
And I'm 80 % done. So I'm getting pretty close.

00:20:49.169 --> 00:20:52.829
As these contracts start coming, when you're

00:20:52.829 --> 00:20:55.369
close to the end of your career, you want to

00:20:55.369 --> 00:20:58.710
bump up your pay a little bit more because that

00:20:58.710 --> 00:21:00.430
means your retirement is going to be a little

00:21:00.430 --> 00:21:04.230
bit higher. So usually what you get is you get

00:21:04.230 --> 00:21:06.529
some of the older guys talking and saying, hey,

00:21:06.730 --> 00:21:10.670
let's try to get a contract this year where we

00:21:10.670 --> 00:21:12.809
get a big raise. Because it's going to benefit

00:21:12.809 --> 00:21:14.450
them, right? They're not going to work in that

00:21:14.450 --> 00:21:17.509
schedule for the next 20 years. And that was

00:21:17.509 --> 00:21:18.789
the conversation I had with the new guys last

00:21:18.789 --> 00:21:20.710
night. I was like, listen, the best thing for

00:21:20.710 --> 00:21:23.390
you guys now is while this momentum is going,

00:21:23.569 --> 00:21:26.710
while people are still talking about 24 -72,

00:21:26.950 --> 00:21:30.130
while we were just fresh off of the governor

00:21:30.130 --> 00:21:35.250
signing legislation at the Florida Firefighters

00:21:35.250 --> 00:21:39.970
Conference, this is all momentum. that this is

00:21:39.970 --> 00:21:41.690
the time to get it done. You got to, sometimes

00:21:41.690 --> 00:21:43.410
you got to see when that momentum's going and,

00:21:43.509 --> 00:21:46.009
and capitalize on it. And I think that's, I think

00:21:46.009 --> 00:21:47.710
that's the environment we're in, you know, and

00:21:47.710 --> 00:21:51.849
you were there, you spoke and pretty much after

00:21:51.849 --> 00:21:54.470
your presentation, everybody was just like, yeah,

00:21:54.569 --> 00:21:56.369
I don't, I mean, I don't see what the negative

00:21:56.369 --> 00:21:58.569
part of it is, you know? And then we go back

00:21:58.569 --> 00:22:01.329
and we have some meetings and like, well, you

00:22:01.329 --> 00:22:03.730
know, maybe we'll just do like a, we'll start

00:22:03.730 --> 00:22:06.450
with a true Kelly day and then we'll move from

00:22:06.450 --> 00:22:08.940
a true Kelly day. Maybe that'll move us into

00:22:08.940 --> 00:22:11.980
a 24 72, but I don't think that's the right move.

00:22:12.099 --> 00:22:15.079
I think the right move is let's do the 24 72.

00:22:15.539 --> 00:22:18.380
Let's get the people that want to come on. Um,

00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:21.740
you know, I think departments are always worried

00:22:21.740 --> 00:22:25.000
about filling staffing voids. And when you say

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:26.920
we're going to add a whole new shift, they start

00:22:26.920 --> 00:22:28.819
getting pretty nervous. But when you actually

00:22:28.819 --> 00:22:31.299
run the numbers and you look at how many people

00:22:31.299 --> 00:22:33.420
you're going to actually need to do the 24 72,

00:22:33.680 --> 00:22:35.819
when you go away from like, cause we're on the.

00:22:36.059 --> 00:22:39.279
six week Kelly day and our vacation time and

00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:40.819
our sick time, we don't need as much of that.

00:22:40.900 --> 00:22:44.099
So now you can fill a lot of those spots with

00:22:44.099 --> 00:22:45.819
people that would have been off on a Kelly day

00:22:45.819 --> 00:22:48.799
or something like that. So it just makes more

00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.470
sense, you know. Well, you hit the nail on the

00:22:52.470 --> 00:22:55.369
head with the evolution. And it's funny because

00:22:55.369 --> 00:22:57.069
when you're talking about your dad's old schedule,

00:22:57.130 --> 00:22:59.089
I did that in California, but it was four days.

00:22:59.650 --> 00:23:03.789
So 24 on 24 off four times. And at the end of

00:23:03.789 --> 00:23:06.329
the, after the fourth 24, you got a four day

00:23:06.329 --> 00:23:08.630
one tour and then a six day the next. It's still

00:23:08.630 --> 00:23:11.890
56 hour work week. So A, by the time you got

00:23:11.890 --> 00:23:13.990
to your fourth 24, you're already exhausted.

00:23:14.069 --> 00:23:16.289
But just like you said, if you got hit with overtime,

00:23:16.529 --> 00:23:21.960
that's a 72. 72 on, 24 off, 24 on, 24 off. And

00:23:21.960 --> 00:23:25.160
I, just to illustrate, when I joined Anaheim,

00:23:25.160 --> 00:23:29.099
I think first six months we were exempt. But

00:23:29.099 --> 00:23:32.279
after we hit the six month mark as probies, we

00:23:32.279 --> 00:23:34.759
now joined the overtime list. And it was one

00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:37.990
where you had to. You had to accrue enough hours

00:23:37.990 --> 00:23:40.250
where you were level with other people before

00:23:40.250 --> 00:23:42.549
they start getting hit again. Right. So the new

00:23:42.549 --> 00:23:44.910
guys got hit over and over and over and over

00:23:44.910 --> 00:23:49.309
again. My base, if I remember rightly, was 56

00:23:49.309 --> 00:23:52.869
right around there. And I cleared 100 ,000 my

00:23:52.869 --> 00:23:55.809
first year. That was from forced overtime. I

00:23:55.809 --> 00:23:57.490
might have signed up once in a blue moon, but.

00:23:58.259 --> 00:24:00.339
It's basically doubling your salary in overtime.

00:24:00.579 --> 00:24:03.339
So think about how many 72s that was, 96s sometimes.

00:24:03.660 --> 00:24:06.099
Yeah, yeah. So I've lived it. I've been in the

00:24:06.099 --> 00:24:07.619
meat grinder, you know what I mean? But just

00:24:07.619 --> 00:24:10.599
going back to what you said, I've said this a

00:24:10.599 --> 00:24:14.299
lot recently. We collectively are standing on

00:24:14.299 --> 00:24:16.220
the shoulders of giants. The reason why we have

00:24:16.220 --> 00:24:20.319
bunker gear and SCBAs and ticks and defibrillators

00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:24.339
and ET tubes are because innovators from mainly

00:24:24.339 --> 00:24:27.049
other professions. And then firefighters fought

00:24:27.049 --> 00:24:29.890
from in our profession, gave us these tools to

00:24:29.890 --> 00:24:31.869
really make a difference, saving lives. Yeah.

00:24:31.970 --> 00:24:34.190
What we have to do now, because I would argue

00:24:34.190 --> 00:24:36.589
you can't really engineer the halogen any differently.

00:24:36.650 --> 00:24:38.630
Just stop doing that. Stop adding bits to it.

00:24:38.630 --> 00:24:42.130
It works. Move on. Is the person, the human being.

00:24:42.190 --> 00:24:44.029
So whether it's the fitness conversation, the

00:24:44.029 --> 00:24:46.089
mental health conversations and the schedule,

00:24:46.230 --> 00:24:48.450
the sleep, whether it's longevity, whether it's

00:24:48.450 --> 00:24:50.609
performance. Yeah. And so anyone who's digging

00:24:50.609 --> 00:24:53.549
their feet in. you're basically saying i don't

00:24:53.549 --> 00:24:54.930
want to make the fire department any better in

00:24:54.930 --> 00:24:56.430
fact i really want to make it worse because the

00:24:56.430 --> 00:24:58.069
calls are getting more and more recruitment's

00:24:58.069 --> 00:25:01.089
getting lower and lower so we're basically killing

00:25:01.089 --> 00:25:03.789
our people yeah and then just saying what you

00:25:03.789 --> 00:25:08.509
were with the with the um uh kelly day the kelly

00:25:08.509 --> 00:25:12.799
day can be a tool and we've seen it with um Plano,

00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:15.500
Texas have just gone to it and they're using

00:25:15.500 --> 00:25:17.799
it as a stepping stone. So they have said we

00:25:17.799 --> 00:25:20.900
are going in our contracts 24 -72. They're going

00:25:20.900 --> 00:25:23.359
in four years. They're a big department. No Kelly

00:25:23.359 --> 00:25:28.160
days. So year one, they're hiring enough people

00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:30.000
to fill the vacancies they have in the three

00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:33.359
shifts and then enough people to cover a Kelly

00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:36.180
day. So when you're off, you're actually off

00:25:36.180 --> 00:25:38.200
because what happens is if you just go to a Kelly.

00:25:39.409 --> 00:25:41.390
people will work their Kelly days because you

00:25:41.390 --> 00:25:43.069
created a vacancy and they're already short as

00:25:43.069 --> 00:25:46.150
it is. So all you've done is made more work for

00:25:46.150 --> 00:25:49.930
the BC staffing and you've now paid a firefighter

00:25:49.930 --> 00:25:51.430
time and a half that they would have been earning

00:25:51.430 --> 00:25:54.309
straight time normally. So the overtime that

00:25:54.309 --> 00:25:56.549
we're wasting just gets worse, not better. right

00:25:56.549 --> 00:25:58.809
but if you hire a class and say all right we

00:25:58.809 --> 00:26:00.630
are going to 24 72 and that's what brings the

00:26:00.630 --> 00:26:02.829
people in you show them like gainesville did

00:26:02.829 --> 00:26:05.210
that we care right they will line up again we

00:26:05.210 --> 00:26:07.390
have a fire academy a firefighter baby making

00:26:07.390 --> 00:26:09.750
factory in our county for christ's sake i work

00:26:09.750 --> 00:26:14.400
there so So, you know, then there once it was

00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:15.920
a six -week Kelly they covered, then a three

00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:19.180
-week Kelly in year two, then a 24 -72 with debit

00:26:19.180 --> 00:26:21.940
days year three, and then a full 24 -72 year

00:26:21.940 --> 00:26:25.539
four. So you can use them as a tool. But if you

00:26:25.539 --> 00:26:27.740
just say we're going to go to a Kelly, that's

00:26:27.740 --> 00:26:29.680
it, full stop. We're not actually saying we're

00:26:29.680 --> 00:26:32.849
going to a 24 -72. you've just punched more holes

00:26:32.849 --> 00:26:34.670
in your schedule and cost your city or county

00:26:34.670 --> 00:26:37.589
even more money. So I cringe every time someone

00:26:37.589 --> 00:26:39.369
says that, and there's a lot of conversations

00:26:39.369 --> 00:26:41.809
locally about that, because you're taking a step

00:26:41.809 --> 00:26:44.130
back. People say, where is the money? You're

00:26:44.130 --> 00:26:46.789
bleeding over time. So you don't want to bleed

00:26:46.789 --> 00:26:48.650
more over time. You want to take that money,

00:26:48.750 --> 00:26:51.890
put in a D -shift, and that way now you're saving

00:26:51.890 --> 00:26:53.670
your city and county money, and that's also,

00:26:53.809 --> 00:26:56.849
down the road, your future pay raises too. Yeah,

00:26:56.869 --> 00:26:58.990
and we were talking about this before you started

00:26:58.990 --> 00:27:02.289
recording, but... The other problem with a Kelly

00:27:02.289 --> 00:27:06.809
day is crew integrity. So we just had a Saturday

00:27:06.809 --> 00:27:09.549
Kelly and my driver's a pretty senior driver.

00:27:09.670 --> 00:27:12.190
Both my drivers are pretty senior drivers and

00:27:12.190 --> 00:27:15.309
they were both off. So now they floated in drivers,

00:27:15.529 --> 00:27:19.869
both of which weren't actual promoted drivers,

00:27:20.049 --> 00:27:23.930
right? So now they're new to the equipment. They're

00:27:23.930 --> 00:27:25.869
new to the apparatus. They're new to the zone.

00:27:28.809 --> 00:27:30.609
kind of playing catch up and, you know, working

00:27:30.609 --> 00:27:32.309
with them, making sure that they understand how

00:27:32.309 --> 00:27:34.809
to work the ladder and, you know, just kind of

00:27:34.809 --> 00:27:38.349
getting some reps in for that. But, you know,

00:27:38.349 --> 00:27:40.369
it's just those Kelly days can create so much

00:27:40.369 --> 00:27:43.549
chaos for the department where if it was just

00:27:43.549 --> 00:27:48.109
scheduled time off with the 2472, all of us would

00:27:48.109 --> 00:27:49.829
have been off, you know, and then there would

00:27:49.829 --> 00:27:51.950
have been another crew fill in that spot that

00:27:51.950 --> 00:27:54.769
are very familiar with the, with the area that

00:27:54.769 --> 00:27:57.640
they work, you know, so. When I worked at Orange

00:27:57.640 --> 00:28:00.980
County Station 70, this was before, I think they

00:28:00.980 --> 00:28:03.619
have like an actual official dive program now,

00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:08.079
but I was there before it was even initiated

00:28:08.079 --> 00:28:10.940
and then during the on -ramp. So we got to, I

00:28:10.940 --> 00:28:13.240
think like skin diver, surface diver, whatever

00:28:13.240 --> 00:28:15.599
they called it. And then I moved away from that

00:28:15.599 --> 00:28:19.900
department. But at that time, boat station. So

00:28:19.900 --> 00:28:22.259
I was a lifeguard. My engineer was a lifeguard.

00:28:22.339 --> 00:28:25.549
So that crew at that time. Had we had an issue,

00:28:25.769 --> 00:28:27.970
you know, I'd driven ski boats for years on summer

00:28:27.970 --> 00:28:31.349
camps in America. So together we were, you know,

00:28:31.349 --> 00:28:32.809
and we trained all the time, but we were able

00:28:32.809 --> 00:28:36.450
to tow a boat to the lake, back it in, you know,

00:28:36.450 --> 00:28:39.250
drive to the patient without killing them, get

00:28:39.250 --> 00:28:41.869
in, backboard, you know, get them back out, you

00:28:41.869 --> 00:28:44.630
know, do all the aquatic rescues that you'd have

00:28:44.630 --> 00:28:46.970
to do en route back to the shore and then be

00:28:46.970 --> 00:28:48.710
able to, you know, at the end of the day, put

00:28:48.710 --> 00:28:51.529
the boat back and take it back. We had anyone

00:28:51.529 --> 00:28:53.509
floating in, like you said, when there was a

00:28:53.509 --> 00:28:55.549
hole. And that wasn't even Kelly days at that

00:28:55.549 --> 00:28:58.190
point. But just to understand, we had people

00:28:58.190 --> 00:29:00.789
that have never, couldn't even swim, come to

00:29:00.789 --> 00:29:02.529
our station. At that point, you didn't need a

00:29:02.529 --> 00:29:06.690
certification. So think about that. Your 15 -year

00:29:06.690 --> 00:29:08.710
-old gets into a jet ski accident in the middle

00:29:08.710 --> 00:29:11.529
of the lake. And now you've got a crew, possibly

00:29:11.529 --> 00:29:14.400
of four people. that are fumble fucking trying

00:29:14.400 --> 00:29:17.240
to even get a boat down the ramp and then if

00:29:17.240 --> 00:29:19.299
they don't run your kid over they're looking

00:29:19.299 --> 00:29:21.299
over going well how do we get them in what do

00:29:21.299 --> 00:29:24.099
we do now you know trying to use tape on a on

00:29:24.099 --> 00:29:26.400
a in a wet backboard yeah you know what i mean

00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:30.079
so those that knowledge of that specificity of

00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:32.319
a station and like you said the first due knowledge

00:29:32.319 --> 00:29:34.200
knowing is there a train line that goes right

00:29:34.200 --> 00:29:36.220
down the middle that this time there's going

00:29:36.220 --> 00:29:37.619
to be a freight train i'm going to have to go

00:29:37.619 --> 00:29:40.809
all the way around over the bridge and back Those

00:29:40.809 --> 00:29:42.069
are things that people have got to think about.

00:29:42.130 --> 00:29:44.710
And if you've got four intact shifts, like you

00:29:44.710 --> 00:29:47.490
said, the chances of that is greatly reduced

00:29:47.490 --> 00:29:50.109
to just, you know, sick time and vacations. Yeah,

00:29:50.109 --> 00:29:53.589
100%. Yeah, it's just, yeah. And we have all

00:29:53.589 --> 00:29:56.309
of those kind of special hazards in our zone.

00:29:56.369 --> 00:29:59.549
And, you know, even here where you live, this

00:29:59.549 --> 00:30:03.960
is covered by the city. Thank you, citizen. But,

00:30:04.099 --> 00:30:05.799
you know, there's, there's unique hazards that

00:30:05.799 --> 00:30:08.559
station six here has to, has to deal with. And

00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:10.819
one of those is the interstate, you know, that's

00:30:10.819 --> 00:30:13.740
a, that's a probably, I, a lot of times we talk

00:30:13.740 --> 00:30:15.259
about that being one of the most dangerous things

00:30:15.259 --> 00:30:18.519
that we do is go on the interstate. I was involved

00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:20.539
in an incident one time where our battalion chief

00:30:20.539 --> 00:30:24.420
got, we were on a, already on a vehicle accident

00:30:24.420 --> 00:30:26.539
and a secondary vehicle accident happened where

00:30:26.539 --> 00:30:29.279
this guy come up over the bridge, lost control

00:30:29.279 --> 00:30:32.400
and spun out and. end up running into him backwards.

00:30:32.759 --> 00:30:35.099
And the group of us were just sitting there talking.

00:30:35.380 --> 00:30:38.700
Um, and then as this is all happening, it felt

00:30:38.700 --> 00:30:41.700
like slow motion. Um, and I told the chief, I

00:30:41.700 --> 00:30:45.000
was like, hold on. And basically this guy come

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:47.660
in, boom, went and the FHP was already on scene.

00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:50.079
So they were kind of set up like this and the

00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:52.980
vehicle just slid right past him through the

00:30:52.980 --> 00:30:55.359
little gap and smash right in back of our, back

00:30:55.359 --> 00:30:58.470
of our chief. Um, and did. pretty good damage

00:30:58.470 --> 00:31:01.329
to the to the vehicle and you know he was shooken

00:31:01.329 --> 00:31:03.970
up and luckily he wasn't injured too bad but

00:31:03.970 --> 00:31:07.470
that's one of probably 10 stories that i can

00:31:07.470 --> 00:31:10.119
tell you being on that interstate and the people

00:31:10.119 --> 00:31:12.720
that are assigned to the zone know those hazards.

00:31:12.839 --> 00:31:14.339
But if you've got somebody who floated in from

00:31:14.339 --> 00:31:17.240
the East side, that's never run the interstate,

00:31:17.339 --> 00:31:18.779
they're out there and they think their little

00:31:18.779 --> 00:31:21.420
safety vest has got them protected. Um, they're

00:31:21.420 --> 00:31:23.259
in for a rude awakening, right? Yeah. They're

00:31:23.259 --> 00:31:27.420
in for a rude awakening. Yeah, exactly. So, um,

00:31:27.599 --> 00:31:29.759
but yeah, I mean, even like all the distribution

00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:32.180
centers that are coming in, you, you get familiar

00:31:32.180 --> 00:31:34.500
with this stuff when you work in there and it's

00:31:34.500 --> 00:31:37.019
kind of a, I mean, you understand it, but it's,

00:31:37.019 --> 00:31:41.089
it's kind of a hard thing to. explain to, I guess,

00:31:41.089 --> 00:31:44.289
stakeholders when you're talking about why something

00:31:44.289 --> 00:31:46.950
as simple as keeping crew integrity is so important,

00:31:47.029 --> 00:31:50.769
um, that, you know, makes it makes a huge difference.

00:31:52.079 --> 00:31:53.700
Well, even, I mean, this is the thing I've said

00:31:53.700 --> 00:31:55.680
many, many times. And again, talking back to

00:31:55.680 --> 00:31:57.819
this lawyer today, he's just got such a heart

00:31:57.819 --> 00:32:00.660
for helping people, which is why he fought this

00:32:00.660 --> 00:32:03.019
giant, you know, this pharmaceutical company

00:32:03.019 --> 00:32:04.680
that literally had people like Rudy Giuliani

00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:07.500
in their pocket. And he's still, you know, he

00:32:07.500 --> 00:32:10.480
and his team brought that giant down. But, you

00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:13.000
know, that's what I would think would be enough

00:32:13.000 --> 00:32:16.220
is chiefs unions to be like, look, our people,

00:32:16.339 --> 00:32:18.099
you know, I mean, you've lost numerous firefighters.

00:32:18.380 --> 00:32:21.289
Marion's lost numerous firefighters. you'd think

00:32:21.289 --> 00:32:23.049
that would be enough. Like, you know, coffins

00:32:23.049 --> 00:32:25.410
draped in flags would be it. You know, I don't

00:32:25.410 --> 00:32:27.289
want to hear another fucking last call. Let's

00:32:27.289 --> 00:32:29.369
do something about it. But let's be honest, it's

00:32:29.369 --> 00:32:32.069
not. Because there are many of those people that

00:32:32.069 --> 00:32:34.349
go home at 5 o 'clock to their families, sleep

00:32:34.349 --> 00:32:36.349
in their own bed, and really clearly don't give

00:32:36.349 --> 00:32:39.470
a shit. So the next part is, all right, well,

00:32:39.490 --> 00:32:41.529
let's look at the money then. Clearly, you know,

00:32:41.549 --> 00:32:43.849
the lives of your firefighters is not that important.

00:32:44.150 --> 00:32:47.609
And if you look at the millions and millions

00:32:47.609 --> 00:32:50.700
of dollars that are spent, On overtime, filling

00:32:50.700 --> 00:32:52.859
these vacancies at the moment, the lack of recruitment

00:32:52.859 --> 00:32:54.859
that you put these young firefighters through

00:32:54.859 --> 00:32:56.680
school and you equip them and you pay into the

00:32:56.680 --> 00:32:59.660
FRS and then they go and leave two, three years

00:32:59.660 --> 00:33:02.279
later to somewhere else. You know, the workman's

00:33:02.279 --> 00:33:04.500
comp claims because people are, you know, exhausted

00:33:04.500 --> 00:33:06.839
and getting hurt and getting diseases and mental

00:33:06.839 --> 00:33:09.579
health crises. And you've got the medical disabilities

00:33:09.579 --> 00:33:11.960
and, God forbid, the line of duty death benefits.

00:33:12.200 --> 00:33:13.720
And then you've got, as you said, the lawsuits.

00:33:13.940 --> 00:33:16.220
You know, when, let's say, reverse it, say that

00:33:16.220 --> 00:33:18.039
was a rescue that skid out of control and hit

00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:20.750
a civilian's car. There's a huge dollar amount

00:33:20.750 --> 00:33:23.849
to that. You know, the Del Rey incident where

00:33:23.849 --> 00:33:25.990
they went onto the sun rail. How many millions

00:33:25.990 --> 00:33:30.089
of dollars do you think that cost? Plus the other

00:33:30.089 --> 00:33:32.829
thing is years of waiting to get that apparatus

00:33:32.829 --> 00:33:35.109
replaced. So I don't know if you've been following

00:33:35.109 --> 00:33:39.900
kind of the international having... conversations

00:33:39.900 --> 00:33:43.240
with these major apparatus manufacturers now

00:33:43.240 --> 00:33:46.680
but they're basically created a monopoly and

00:33:46.680 --> 00:33:50.119
like lead time on fire apparatus are insane right

00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:52.480
now so now there's a community that doesn't have

00:33:52.480 --> 00:33:56.279
that truck for years because of that one mistake

00:33:56.279 --> 00:33:59.759
that was made you know and that's that's significant

00:33:59.759 --> 00:34:01.920
i mean i think that's really significant you

00:34:01.920 --> 00:34:04.930
know when it comes to it. And these are all affecting

00:34:04.930 --> 00:34:07.349
the citizens. This is taxpayers' money. And I've

00:34:07.349 --> 00:34:09.550
said, if you're going to have a diminished service,

00:34:09.650 --> 00:34:11.530
that's fine. Then send some refunds back through

00:34:11.530 --> 00:34:14.630
people's taxes. Hey, we're only 60 % proficient,

00:34:14.630 --> 00:34:18.610
so here's 33 % of your taxes back. No one is

00:34:18.610 --> 00:34:20.289
doing that. Yeah, we've had openings for the

00:34:20.289 --> 00:34:23.929
last... 12 and 24 months so yeah exactly that's

00:34:23.929 --> 00:34:26.150
so funny so i think you know whether you are

00:34:26.150 --> 00:34:28.389
you have the heart of actually taking care of

00:34:28.389 --> 00:34:30.090
your people or you just want to look good on

00:34:30.090 --> 00:34:32.670
a budget sheet yeah it's the same conversation

00:34:32.670 --> 00:34:36.349
you are bleeding money downstream proactively

00:34:36.349 --> 00:34:39.570
invest in your people create a department that

00:34:39.570 --> 00:34:41.949
wants people to test and just ask anyone at the

00:34:41.949 --> 00:34:43.510
city of gainesville how their recruitment is

00:34:43.510 --> 00:34:46.190
these days oh yeah through the roof yeah And

00:34:46.190 --> 00:34:47.889
I had one of my friends, you know, I just checked

00:34:47.889 --> 00:34:50.349
in with him recently because I was told through

00:34:50.349 --> 00:34:52.690
Marion County that apparently it's not working

00:34:52.690 --> 00:34:54.969
in Gainesville and they want to go back to 2448.

00:34:55.489 --> 00:34:58.070
And he laughed when I told him that. Yeah, it's

00:34:58.070 --> 00:34:59.949
funny how that narrative has been going around.

00:35:00.090 --> 00:35:02.949
And it's the same. So you've heard it. I heard

00:35:02.949 --> 00:35:04.329
it work with some of these guys out of the fire

00:35:04.329 --> 00:35:05.989
college. And I asked them that and they're like,

00:35:06.030 --> 00:35:09.110
no. Exactly. But it's the crate. Like, I was

00:35:09.110 --> 00:35:10.360
like, so where did that come from? this come

00:35:10.360 --> 00:35:11.980
from it comes from the people that don't want

00:35:11.980 --> 00:35:14.079
to do anything about it yeah see we told you

00:35:14.079 --> 00:35:16.280
so and what actually happened is because matt

00:35:16.280 --> 00:35:19.579
was telling me he said they immediately they

00:35:19.579 --> 00:35:23.510
went to it in September by April they were fully

00:35:23.510 --> 00:35:26.510
for the first time fully staffed four shifts

00:35:26.510 --> 00:35:29.110
at the firefighter level yeah he said it's a

00:35:29.110 --> 00:35:31.590
first for them but you know a teething problem

00:35:31.590 --> 00:35:33.409
of undoing something that's been a problem for

00:35:33.409 --> 00:35:35.269
two three decades is it's not going to happen

00:35:35.269 --> 00:35:37.610
overnight right and the promotions the officer

00:35:37.610 --> 00:35:39.730
positions are where it becomes more challenging

00:35:39.730 --> 00:35:41.269
because you've got to have enough time on an

00:35:41.269 --> 00:35:44.909
experience to take these tests but anyway by

00:35:44.909 --> 00:35:47.110
so he said that's what was happening is that

00:35:47.110 --> 00:35:49.369
the some of those levels they still had some

00:35:49.369 --> 00:35:52.269
vacancies they were still paying overtime but

00:35:52.269 --> 00:35:54.730
he said basically the end of this year come january

00:35:54.730 --> 00:35:57.550
they're fully staffed all ranks but the city

00:35:57.550 --> 00:35:59.710
had gone just after a few months okay we're not

00:35:59.710 --> 00:36:02.860
seeing We're not seeing the benefits financially

00:36:02.860 --> 00:36:05.300
yet. It's been a few months. What are you talking

00:36:05.300 --> 00:36:08.000
about? You know what I mean? So it's like going

00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:09.760
and opening an elementary school and then saying,

00:36:09.780 --> 00:36:11.539
oh, we haven't seen college graduates yet. Well,

00:36:11.539 --> 00:36:14.300
you've got to give it time. Yeah, this isn't

00:36:14.300 --> 00:36:15.739
working out. We're going to have to close the

00:36:15.739 --> 00:36:17.599
school. Let's close it, bulldoze it. What a great

00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:20.199
problem to have though, right? That you now have

00:36:20.199 --> 00:36:22.559
officers that you need to develop and you've

00:36:22.559 --> 00:36:25.639
got the opportunity to do that. Like that is

00:36:25.639 --> 00:36:27.860
awesome. That's an awesome thing to be like,

00:36:27.940 --> 00:36:30.940
we've got to figure out this problem. But as

00:36:30.940 --> 00:36:32.960
administrators, you would think that would be

00:36:32.960 --> 00:36:34.800
like something that they just jump on it and

00:36:34.800 --> 00:36:38.860
would love to solve that problem. So I don't

00:36:38.860 --> 00:36:41.880
know. They call it support staff for a reason.

00:36:42.219 --> 00:36:44.840
And I think a lot of times in the fire service,

00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:49.500
support staff forgets that's their role. I've

00:36:49.500 --> 00:36:54.400
had the experience of working in that role. you

00:36:54.400 --> 00:36:56.820
know, going, coming back to the line after working

00:36:56.820 --> 00:37:01.840
in the chief's office is definitely, it's created

00:37:01.840 --> 00:37:05.380
a really good perspective on, you know, like

00:37:05.380 --> 00:37:08.219
what the roles are. Like your job is to find

00:37:08.219 --> 00:37:10.920
people and hire them and get them prepared and

00:37:10.920 --> 00:37:13.960
all of that stuff. Our job is to run calls, provide

00:37:13.960 --> 00:37:16.719
service to the citizens, put fires out, you know.

00:37:18.030 --> 00:37:20.309
bring people back to life when they're in cardiac

00:37:20.309 --> 00:37:22.829
arrest, things like that. Um, and they hold us

00:37:22.829 --> 00:37:25.590
to a high standard. We've been working very hard

00:37:25.590 --> 00:37:28.190
on our out the door times and we've crushed it

00:37:28.190 --> 00:37:31.050
like our crew, um, not to boast or anything,

00:37:31.170 --> 00:37:33.570
but we just, um, we're the fastest on our shift.

00:37:33.730 --> 00:37:36.010
And one of the things we got was a gift card.

00:37:36.070 --> 00:37:38.650
So we got $50 for the rescue $50 for the, um,

00:37:39.440 --> 00:37:42.019
for the engine. And then our battalion chief

00:37:42.019 --> 00:37:44.000
who didn't believe we could do it when we were

00:37:44.000 --> 00:37:45.739
kind of joking around a little bit, but he said,

00:37:45.780 --> 00:37:47.860
if you guys get that, I'll match it. So then

00:37:47.860 --> 00:37:50.420
we had two hundo dollars, right? So what did

00:37:50.420 --> 00:37:53.000
we do with it? We ate good. We got some, um,

00:37:53.139 --> 00:37:55.960
we got some Tomahawk steaks and we ate like Kings

00:37:55.960 --> 00:37:58.239
for, for that day. And it was amazing. And, you

00:37:58.239 --> 00:38:00.619
know, it was, it was, you know, it was a lot

00:38:00.619 --> 00:38:02.619
of that was all in good fun, but it was definitely

00:38:02.619 --> 00:38:05.000
something that, you know, we, we made sure that

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:08.010
we got the job done. And I think. as administrators,

00:38:08.230 --> 00:38:11.409
they have the same, they need to focus up, you

00:38:11.409 --> 00:38:13.949
know, they need to, uh, what's my son says all

00:38:13.949 --> 00:38:15.409
the time. You need to lock in, right? It's the

00:38:15.409 --> 00:38:19.349
new, you need to lock in. Yeah. Listen, admin

00:38:19.349 --> 00:38:22.949
out there, you got to lock in, like get the schedule,

00:38:23.030 --> 00:38:25.230
right? Get the people, keep them happy. That

00:38:25.230 --> 00:38:28.159
that's, that's your job. You got one job. You

00:38:28.159 --> 00:38:30.199
know, and it's easy to be over there and be like,

00:38:30.239 --> 00:38:32.000
you feel overwhelmed because you're dealing with

00:38:32.000 --> 00:38:33.940
discipline issues or you're doing all that stuff,

00:38:34.039 --> 00:38:36.139
but that's the job you sign up for. And I think

00:38:36.139 --> 00:38:38.559
sometimes these folks get into these positions

00:38:38.559 --> 00:38:40.159
and they think that now they're going to basically

00:38:40.159 --> 00:38:42.739
be in charge of everything. And they don't understand

00:38:42.739 --> 00:38:45.480
that that becomes more of a service position

00:38:45.480 --> 00:38:47.840
than anything, right? You're just, now you're

00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:51.239
serving even more people than you were on the,

00:38:51.260 --> 00:38:53.800
than when you were just on the line. So it, yeah,

00:38:53.940 --> 00:38:56.039
I, I, I think that's kind of where we're at right

00:38:56.039 --> 00:38:58.530
now. And you talk about it. And I, and I like

00:38:58.530 --> 00:39:01.230
how bluntly you can say it. Um, and, and you've

00:39:01.230 --> 00:39:03.289
been free from a fire department for long enough

00:39:03.289 --> 00:39:05.530
to where you can call people cowards. And that's

00:39:05.530 --> 00:39:07.530
great. We need somebody out there that can be

00:39:07.530 --> 00:39:10.170
that voice. Cause I, I would probably get in

00:39:10.170 --> 00:39:12.170
trouble if I start saying that people are cowards.

00:39:12.170 --> 00:39:15.150
Right. But, um, but you being free and being

00:39:15.150 --> 00:39:17.369
able to do that is definitely helping us. And

00:39:17.369 --> 00:39:19.829
people are hearing you because I hear other people

00:39:19.829 --> 00:39:22.489
talk about you saying something about somebody

00:39:22.489 --> 00:39:25.079
else and that's good. You need that voice. You

00:39:25.079 --> 00:39:27.679
need that other side of the story. And that's,

00:39:27.679 --> 00:39:31.260
I think, what platforms like yours are being

00:39:31.260 --> 00:39:34.039
able to do. I mean, the thing is, as you know,

00:39:34.139 --> 00:39:36.519
I like to think I'm a nice bloke, so I don't

00:39:36.519 --> 00:39:41.159
like even having to be combative. But if the

00:39:41.159 --> 00:39:42.960
shoe fits, and this is the point, I'm never calling

00:39:42.960 --> 00:39:46.579
out someone by name either. message me and they

00:39:46.579 --> 00:39:48.719
clearly the shoe fit their foot and they were

00:39:48.719 --> 00:39:51.039
all pissed off but they weren't you know then

00:39:51.039 --> 00:39:53.579
there we go that there's your sign but the reality

00:39:53.579 --> 00:39:58.630
is like i said if if lives, marriages, relationships

00:39:58.630 --> 00:40:02.989
with children are affected by your lack of leadership,

00:40:03.369 --> 00:40:05.809
that is a problem. You know, you're out in the

00:40:05.809 --> 00:40:08.889
wilderness and you live in a cabin and you don't

00:40:08.889 --> 00:40:10.730
lead yourself well and you get out of shape and

00:40:10.730 --> 00:40:12.889
a bear eats you because you can't run away. That's

00:40:12.889 --> 00:40:15.329
all on you. You do you. No one's criticizing

00:40:15.329 --> 00:40:18.130
that. The moment your poor decisions, and in

00:40:18.130 --> 00:40:21.619
this case cowardice, affects other people. This

00:40:21.619 --> 00:40:23.800
is called a leadership position. And clearly

00:40:23.800 --> 00:40:25.739
you're not meant to be in that position. That's

00:40:25.739 --> 00:40:27.880
fine. You know, wherever, you know, they say

00:40:27.880 --> 00:40:29.960
McDonald's is hiring. Maybe that applies to you

00:40:29.960 --> 00:40:33.199
too. You know, so, but the beautiful thing of

00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:35.199
this conversation is this an opportunity to go,

00:40:35.199 --> 00:40:37.860
you know what? I don't think I have been doing

00:40:37.860 --> 00:40:39.699
things as well as I should have. I kind of have

00:40:39.699 --> 00:40:42.619
been, you know, looking at my own life and I'm

00:40:42.619 --> 00:40:44.460
okay and not really fighting for my people. And

00:40:44.460 --> 00:40:47.000
if you have an aha moment and turn around, that's

00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:49.519
the best of the scenarios. But if you dig in

00:40:49.519 --> 00:40:51.539
and you still refuse, and I'm talking chief,

00:40:51.619 --> 00:40:55.679
you know, union member, city or county council

00:40:55.679 --> 00:40:58.219
member, whoever it is, and you're still like,

00:40:58.340 --> 00:41:00.500
I'm not going to do anything for them. I'm okay.

00:41:00.940 --> 00:41:03.880
Then we have an issue. Yeah. Yeah. I think it

00:41:03.880 --> 00:41:06.860
hits hard when you talk about. The same people

00:41:06.860 --> 00:41:09.300
that are making these decisions are working a

00:41:09.300 --> 00:41:10.679
40 hour week and they're going home and they're

00:41:10.679 --> 00:41:12.280
sleeping in their bed every night. And there

00:41:12.280 --> 00:41:14.980
ain't a lot of times when those guys got to show

00:41:14.980 --> 00:41:16.659
up to a fire. You know, we're not calling our

00:41:16.659 --> 00:41:19.480
chief and come and having them come out at three

00:41:19.480 --> 00:41:21.059
o 'clock in the morning. And that's statewide

00:41:21.059 --> 00:41:24.300
to come hang out on a fire with us. Right. So,

00:41:24.300 --> 00:41:26.980
yeah, they are making these decisions and then

00:41:26.980 --> 00:41:29.559
sleeping very well at night. So, yeah. And as

00:41:29.559 --> 00:41:31.820
I've also underlined, I mean, I was a Union Jews

00:41:31.820 --> 00:41:34.869
pay member my whole career. Our leadership on

00:41:34.869 --> 00:41:39.030
that side work in a city that works 24 -72. And

00:41:39.030 --> 00:41:41.090
the actual leaders I don't think are on a shift,

00:41:41.170 --> 00:41:44.110
if I'm not mistaken. They're full -time union

00:41:44.110 --> 00:41:46.949
people, so they're on a 40 -hour work week. Where

00:41:46.949 --> 00:41:49.070
is the conversation for advocating for the rest

00:41:49.070 --> 00:41:52.230
of the country? You and your people, you came

00:41:52.230 --> 00:41:54.289
up through this system where that was your work

00:41:54.289 --> 00:41:57.050
week and you're not saying, hey, we need to change

00:41:57.050 --> 00:41:59.030
this for everyone else because what we've got

00:41:59.030 --> 00:42:01.050
is working. I just had one of the chiefs from

00:42:01.050 --> 00:42:04.309
DC who was 24 -72 and they don't have a recruitment

00:42:04.309 --> 00:42:06.710
problem. Surprise, surprise. You know what I

00:42:06.710 --> 00:42:11.110
mean? So this is an important conversation. So

00:42:11.110 --> 00:42:14.869
let's get to your journey into the fire service

00:42:14.869 --> 00:42:17.250
then. When you were at high school, knowing...

00:42:17.659 --> 00:42:19.639
You know, having experienced a father in that

00:42:19.639 --> 00:42:21.280
profession, were you already thinking of the

00:42:21.280 --> 00:42:23.119
fire service or was there something else? You

00:42:23.119 --> 00:42:26.559
know, I try to think back and remember exactly

00:42:26.559 --> 00:42:29.699
when that moment was or if I was where I was

00:42:29.699 --> 00:42:33.820
at with that. And I remember trying to think

00:42:33.820 --> 00:42:36.539
about maybe being an archaeologist because I

00:42:36.539 --> 00:42:38.380
watched Indiana Jones and I thought maybe that's

00:42:38.380 --> 00:42:40.260
what being an archaeologist was like. I learned

00:42:40.260 --> 00:42:41.760
that that was not what they did. That was kind

00:42:41.760 --> 00:42:43.840
of a movie guy. It's like watching CSI and going,

00:42:43.880 --> 00:42:45.440
oh, I want to skin dive and jump on helicopters.

00:42:45.800 --> 00:42:49.039
Exactly. But what did happen and what I do remember

00:42:49.039 --> 00:42:54.079
pretty well is that Marion County was growing

00:42:54.079 --> 00:42:57.800
at the time. And one of the strategies to recruit

00:42:57.800 --> 00:42:59.739
more people was they went into the high schools.

00:42:59.980 --> 00:43:01.940
And there was a couple Marion County guys and

00:43:01.940 --> 00:43:03.420
they were at my high school, Bellevue High School.

00:43:03.619 --> 00:43:05.980
And they were just basically walking the halls

00:43:05.980 --> 00:43:08.719
and just trying to figure out who wanted to be

00:43:08.719 --> 00:43:11.360
a firefighter. So they just engaged in conversation.

00:43:11.579 --> 00:43:12.659
We're like, hey, do you ever think about being

00:43:12.659 --> 00:43:14.800
a firefighter? I'm like, I mean, I don't know.

00:43:15.469 --> 00:43:17.750
That's kind of dad's job, but you know, I don't

00:43:17.750 --> 00:43:19.250
know if that's for me. And they're like, well,

00:43:19.329 --> 00:43:21.289
here's what we're doing. We're doing a mini master.

00:43:21.469 --> 00:43:24.190
And this was where they took like one semester

00:43:24.190 --> 00:43:26.670
of credit and then just kind of condensed it

00:43:26.670 --> 00:43:29.130
all into a very short amount of time. And I don't

00:43:29.130 --> 00:43:30.809
remember exactly how the mini masters work, but

00:43:30.809 --> 00:43:33.710
basically for three weeks or something like that,

00:43:33.730 --> 00:43:36.929
that was all you did was focus on this small

00:43:36.929 --> 00:43:40.389
class. And that class that I took was a firefighter

00:43:40.389 --> 00:43:44.429
one class. We did all of the book work and all

00:43:44.429 --> 00:43:46.789
of that. stuff kind of during school hours. And

00:43:46.789 --> 00:43:48.369
then on the weekends we would go to the fire

00:43:48.369 --> 00:43:51.090
college and do firefighter one skills. So working

00:43:51.090 --> 00:43:53.070
with hoses, ladders and stuff like that. And

00:43:53.070 --> 00:43:54.789
from that program, I was like, I was hooked.

00:43:54.909 --> 00:43:57.710
Like I was like, this, this is for me. Um, so

00:43:57.710 --> 00:43:59.789
after the program I got done, I got done with

00:43:59.789 --> 00:44:01.590
the training. So I was a firefighter one and

00:44:01.590 --> 00:44:04.510
that made me qualified to be a volunteer. So

00:44:04.510 --> 00:44:07.090
I started volunteering at station 17 in the shores

00:44:07.090 --> 00:44:10.289
and, um, got on their roster, volunteered a couple

00:44:10.289 --> 00:44:13.289
of times. And then before you know it, I was,

00:44:13.309 --> 00:44:16.409
um, going to EMT school. I got that done and

00:44:16.409 --> 00:44:18.690
then went to fire college, finished up and started

00:44:18.690 --> 00:44:21.349
working for Marion County. So, um, my first job

00:44:21.349 --> 00:44:23.230
was with Marion County and I worked there for

00:44:23.230 --> 00:44:25.570
about a year. Um, at the time, Marion County

00:44:25.570 --> 00:44:27.650
was a much, much smaller department. So this

00:44:27.650 --> 00:44:32.869
is 1999. And, um, there was about 150 people

00:44:32.869 --> 00:44:34.449
I think worked for Marion County at that time.

00:44:34.940 --> 00:44:36.599
you know, fast forward to now, I think they're

00:44:36.599 --> 00:44:38.900
at like what, 600, 700, something like that.

00:44:38.960 --> 00:44:42.280
So it grew quite a bit since then. But at the

00:44:42.280 --> 00:44:44.800
time, you know, I was, I was working out in the

00:44:44.800 --> 00:44:47.059
forest. My first assignment was out station four

00:44:47.059 --> 00:44:50.619
on 40 and man, it opened up my eyes. Like they

00:44:50.619 --> 00:44:53.860
had some crazy wrecks out there, crazy structure

00:44:53.860 --> 00:44:56.800
fires. Even to this day that, well, you know,

00:44:56.820 --> 00:44:58.119
you know how like people ask you that question,

00:44:58.159 --> 00:44:59.820
what's the worst thing you've ever seen? You

00:44:59.820 --> 00:45:02.059
know, it, it, it goes back to that. And I think.

00:45:02.510 --> 00:45:04.289
It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, but

00:45:04.289 --> 00:45:06.510
it was the most dramatic to me because I was

00:45:06.510 --> 00:45:11.190
18 years old, 19 years old, and it was my first

00:45:11.190 --> 00:45:14.369
fire fatality. And it was a mom and a daughter

00:45:14.369 --> 00:45:18.130
still in their room that succumbed to smoke inhalation.

00:45:18.210 --> 00:45:19.929
And we went in there, did a search, found them,

00:45:19.949 --> 00:45:22.309
and they seemed like mannequins at the time.

00:45:22.449 --> 00:45:25.030
So it was just – but that one really stuck with

00:45:25.030 --> 00:45:27.090
me. A couple wrecks out there in the county stuck

00:45:27.090 --> 00:45:32.559
with me. Uh, but, but yeah, so this whole beginning

00:45:32.559 --> 00:45:34.739
of my career is out here in this crazy, like

00:45:34.739 --> 00:45:36.659
almost wild West. And like I said, I grew up

00:45:36.659 --> 00:45:39.460
in Bellevue. So Bellevue wasn't like super city,

00:45:39.579 --> 00:45:41.179
you know, we were still a little country out

00:45:41.179 --> 00:45:44.519
there, but in the forest, it was completely different.

00:45:44.559 --> 00:45:46.179
I'm going into these houses and people had like

00:45:46.179 --> 00:45:49.039
dirt floors with like rugs over them. And just

00:45:49.039 --> 00:45:52.679
like, I saw a whole new side of, of the community

00:45:52.679 --> 00:45:56.059
that was just blew my mind, you know? And, and

00:45:56.059 --> 00:45:59.980
again, We were so short -staffed at the time

00:45:59.980 --> 00:46:02.099
that there were times where I'd be at the station

00:46:02.099 --> 00:46:04.500
by myself and have to pull a tanker truck, you

00:46:04.500 --> 00:46:07.099
know, and go to a fire that was out in Salt Springs.

00:46:07.239 --> 00:46:09.420
And I had no idea where I was going. There was

00:46:09.420 --> 00:46:12.280
no computers in the trucks or GPS on our phones

00:46:12.280 --> 00:46:13.840
because we didn't have that stuff. So you had

00:46:13.840 --> 00:46:16.820
a map book and a 19 -year -old kid driving down

00:46:16.820 --> 00:46:19.659
Highway 40 in a tanker that weighed thousands

00:46:19.659 --> 00:46:22.599
and thousands of pounds. And here I am coming

00:46:22.599 --> 00:46:25.699
to try to find the fire, you know. But it was

00:46:25.699 --> 00:46:29.559
amazing and I enjoyed every minute of it when

00:46:29.559 --> 00:46:31.659
I was out there and I loved working for Marion

00:46:31.659 --> 00:46:34.440
County. But the city of Ocala called me like

00:46:34.440 --> 00:46:36.579
a year later. There was an opening and they were

00:46:36.579 --> 00:46:38.800
paying a little bit more. And telling my dad

00:46:38.800 --> 00:46:40.719
some of these stories that was going on out there,

00:46:40.739 --> 00:46:42.760
he was like, maybe that's not the safest place

00:46:42.760 --> 00:46:46.519
to work, you know? So I, I left Marion County,

00:46:46.579 --> 00:46:48.739
went to Ocala, started as a firefighter there.

00:46:48.800 --> 00:46:52.820
And, um, Ocala has been around since 1885. So

00:46:52.820 --> 00:46:55.739
it's a pretty established historic city fire

00:46:55.739 --> 00:46:58.800
department. Your roles are very, you know, much,

00:46:58.900 --> 00:47:02.780
um, specific to what you're doing. So you're

00:47:02.780 --> 00:47:06.920
not a 19 year old kid making. You're being led

00:47:06.920 --> 00:47:10.579
by a seasoned captain. And so now the experience

00:47:10.579 --> 00:47:12.900
is completely different. The cool thing though,

00:47:12.980 --> 00:47:14.980
was that when I started working for Ocala, my

00:47:14.980 --> 00:47:19.900
dad was still working on the line. And so you

00:47:19.900 --> 00:47:22.159
can imagine every now and then we would, we would

00:47:22.159 --> 00:47:24.360
work together. And I, and I, I don't know if

00:47:24.360 --> 00:47:28.400
he was on a swap or if he was on overtime or

00:47:28.400 --> 00:47:30.780
what, but we had to shift where we were both

00:47:30.780 --> 00:47:37.139
working at station one downtown. And I, uh, I

00:47:37.139 --> 00:47:39.280
was like, yeah, we were talking about it. And

00:47:39.280 --> 00:47:41.159
we're like, man, the city's much different. You

00:47:41.159 --> 00:47:42.780
seem like you're right on top of calls. And I

00:47:42.780 --> 00:47:44.320
remember us having this conversation. He's like,

00:47:44.400 --> 00:47:45.780
yeah, you got to get your gear on quick. Cause

00:47:45.780 --> 00:47:48.320
you know, in Marin County, we had a good response

00:47:48.320 --> 00:47:50.519
time. So I had some time to get ready, you know?

00:47:50.780 --> 00:47:53.340
And, uh, so we get, so, all right, we have this

00:47:53.340 --> 00:47:56.079
conversation and that night we get a structure

00:47:56.079 --> 00:47:59.659
fire and the, the, the, where the fire was. Versus

00:47:59.659 --> 00:48:01.380
where the station is. So Tuscawilla Park, you

00:48:01.380 --> 00:48:02.480
know where Tuscawilla Park is, you know where

00:48:02.480 --> 00:48:05.199
the water tower is. Yes. So station one was right

00:48:05.199 --> 00:48:07.800
there in the park and we were going to a fire

00:48:07.800 --> 00:48:09.719
that was right there at the water tower. So maybe

00:48:09.719 --> 00:48:12.900
four blocks, right? Well, I screwed this whole

00:48:12.900 --> 00:48:14.780
thing up from the very beginning. I slept through

00:48:14.780 --> 00:48:17.760
the call. So he had to come in, wake me up, get

00:48:17.760 --> 00:48:20.079
up. We got our structure fire. And you know,

00:48:20.079 --> 00:48:21.699
you, when you get waking up like that, you're

00:48:21.699 --> 00:48:25.079
out of it already. So I'm like, okay, so run

00:48:25.079 --> 00:48:27.139
to the truck, trying to get all my stuff on.

00:48:27.239 --> 00:48:30.019
And we finally get there and I'm half dressed.

00:48:30.079 --> 00:48:32.440
We're already there. Fire's pouring out of this

00:48:32.440 --> 00:48:34.920
house. I mean, it was already, you know, well

00:48:34.920 --> 00:48:36.800
-involved and we're getting ready to go interior.

00:48:37.039 --> 00:48:39.800
And I get out, get to the door, help pull the

00:48:39.800 --> 00:48:41.989
line. Dad looks at me and he's like, what are

00:48:41.989 --> 00:48:43.710
you doing? He's like, go get your helmet. So

00:48:43.710 --> 00:48:45.789
I had to run back to the truck, get my helmet.

00:48:46.010 --> 00:48:48.409
We're in there and we're doing it, man. There's

00:48:48.409 --> 00:48:50.510
fire everywhere. We're putting this fire out

00:48:50.510 --> 00:48:51.969
and rescue guys are going in there and they're

00:48:51.969 --> 00:48:53.750
doing the search. And I remember, I mean, it

00:48:53.750 --> 00:48:56.130
was just one of those ones that you always remember,

00:48:56.269 --> 00:48:58.570
right? Let the, uh, electricals popping off.

00:48:58.710 --> 00:49:00.570
So there's, there's electrical popping off in

00:49:00.570 --> 00:49:03.429
the, um, in the ceiling. So it was just, this

00:49:03.429 --> 00:49:06.190
is awesome. Well, the whole time I'm in there,

00:49:06.230 --> 00:49:11.309
I felt my gear felt weird, right? So, um, we

00:49:11.309 --> 00:49:14.730
get out and our driver who is much taller than

00:49:14.730 --> 00:49:16.750
I am, and he's actually a battalion chief. Now

00:49:16.750 --> 00:49:19.070
he's getting ready to retire, um, chief McGee.

00:49:19.210 --> 00:49:22.449
And, um, he was like, you got on my pants and

00:49:22.449 --> 00:49:23.750
my boots. So he's sitting there with his flip

00:49:23.750 --> 00:49:25.409
flops. Cause he couldn't get, he definitely ain't

00:49:25.409 --> 00:49:28.110
getting into my gear. Um, so I was in his gear

00:49:28.110 --> 00:49:30.849
going through this part. So God, I messed everything

00:49:30.849 --> 00:49:34.250
up, but you know what? It made for a pretty memorable

00:49:34.250 --> 00:49:36.869
kind of first fire at the department. And that

00:49:36.869 --> 00:49:39.360
was kind of, that was a cool, good memory. yeah

00:49:39.360 --> 00:49:42.019
very cool yeah yeah i remember my i think it

00:49:42.019 --> 00:49:45.340
was my first fire in hialeah um did you know

00:49:45.340 --> 00:49:47.719
bunkered up okay i've done it you know many times

00:49:47.719 --> 00:49:49.460
where i've still got the headset on and got out

00:49:49.460 --> 00:49:51.840
and got my head snapped back or still buckled

00:49:51.840 --> 00:49:56.539
into the seat belt but no there was a it was

00:49:56.539 --> 00:49:58.780
a house fire and there was a car behind a wooden

00:49:58.780 --> 00:50:00.820
fence that was on fire as well so they were trying

00:50:00.820 --> 00:50:03.230
to get the gate open And we were pulling the

00:50:03.230 --> 00:50:05.409
gate and basically the whole fence collapsed

00:50:05.409 --> 00:50:08.190
and I was underneath it. Like not like in a dangerous

00:50:08.190 --> 00:50:10.289
way, just an embarrassing way it was light. But

00:50:10.289 --> 00:50:13.090
I was like, oh, that's when I kind of realized

00:50:13.090 --> 00:50:15.730
that fires really are just organized chaos. Exactly.

00:50:16.090 --> 00:50:18.750
There's no real, not orchestrated like the fire

00:50:18.750 --> 00:50:21.090
academy where this guy comes here and this girl

00:50:21.090 --> 00:50:23.969
does this. No, it's just like, try not to look

00:50:23.969 --> 00:50:25.670
like an idiot if you can help it while you're

00:50:25.670 --> 00:50:27.630
using your fundamentals to put the fire out.

00:50:27.690 --> 00:50:29.590
Yep. I can't tell you how many times I've fallen

00:50:29.590 --> 00:50:33.110
on fires. pop up as fast as I can. Nobody saw

00:50:33.110 --> 00:50:35.050
that, you know, or getting stuck on a fence.

00:50:35.110 --> 00:50:37.090
Like you got, try getting over a fence with bunker

00:50:37.090 --> 00:50:41.070
gear. You will look crazy. Yes. There's no easy

00:50:41.070 --> 00:50:44.269
way to do it. So, um, yeah, I've definitely felt

00:50:44.269 --> 00:50:46.449
really embarrassed on some, a lot of things.

00:50:46.690 --> 00:50:49.789
We had a fire in, uh, I think it was a city of

00:50:49.789 --> 00:50:52.429
orange when I was in California and it was a

00:50:52.429 --> 00:50:55.710
tweaker's house. Yeah. And this gentleman had

00:50:55.710 --> 00:50:59.750
not only tiled the firewalls within his own home.

00:51:00.519 --> 00:51:04.059
But as was extremely apparent to us when we started

00:51:04.059 --> 00:51:07.099
flowing water, he'd also tiled his driveway with

00:51:07.099 --> 00:51:10.920
like that bathroom tile. So now with the water,

00:51:11.019 --> 00:51:13.940
it becomes like an ice rink. And people, I didn't

00:51:13.940 --> 00:51:15.800
fall, thank God, but people were just dropping

00:51:15.800 --> 00:51:18.619
captains and all that stuff. It was like firefighters

00:51:18.619 --> 00:51:20.719
on ice. It was hilarious. But yeah, this guy

00:51:20.719 --> 00:52:15.730
just. Out there, like we were talking about in

00:52:15.730 --> 00:52:18.250
the forest, you go down 40, you can go, you know,

00:52:18.269 --> 00:52:20.829
25 miles and never run into traffic where here

00:52:20.829 --> 00:52:23.250
you run into traffic the moment you start responding.

00:52:23.369 --> 00:52:25.829
So what that equals for us is, is creating more

00:52:25.829 --> 00:52:29.289
stations in more places because now just getting

00:52:29.289 --> 00:52:34.550
a mile takes a lot longer. So, um, that road

00:52:34.550 --> 00:52:37.429
project has basically, um, created an Island

00:52:37.429 --> 00:52:40.789
out here for station six. So, you know, we're,

00:52:40.789 --> 00:52:43.579
we're only good as. our full compliment. And,

00:52:43.659 --> 00:52:45.840
you know, NFPA looks at that, but you know, when

00:52:45.840 --> 00:52:49.019
you get an alarm, your first truck is going to

00:52:49.019 --> 00:52:50.420
get there. And we always talk about that. You

00:52:50.420 --> 00:52:52.099
hear that a lot. Our first truck got there in

00:52:52.099 --> 00:52:54.460
four minutes. Well, that's great, but that's

00:52:54.460 --> 00:52:56.900
two people doing work. And in a structure fire,

00:52:57.019 --> 00:52:59.900
you need way more than that. And that's where

00:52:59.900 --> 00:53:02.559
backup comes in. Now, when you create roads that,

00:53:02.619 --> 00:53:05.420
you know, bottleneck us, their backup is trying

00:53:05.420 --> 00:53:09.579
to come from MLK. And they have to travel down

00:53:09.579 --> 00:53:11.460
highway 200 and be stuck in traffic that whole

00:53:11.460 --> 00:53:14.400
time. That's a problem, you know, and that's,

00:53:14.400 --> 00:53:16.179
that's a problem that, you know, we identified

00:53:16.179 --> 00:53:18.860
in our meeting with, with, with the chief and

00:53:18.860 --> 00:53:21.139
the city manager. And we were, you know, asking

00:53:21.139 --> 00:53:23.599
for more people at the stations, you know, you

00:53:23.599 --> 00:53:26.880
wouldn't. So now instead of just having the minimum

00:53:26.880 --> 00:53:28.920
that they have to have on a truck, which is three,

00:53:29.000 --> 00:53:32.179
what about four? or adding another apparatus

00:53:32.179 --> 00:53:34.719
and another station and stuff like that. So as

00:53:34.719 --> 00:53:36.739
our city continues to grow, and this isn't just

00:53:36.739 --> 00:53:38.840
an Ocala issue, this is a statewide issue, but

00:53:38.840 --> 00:53:43.199
as these cities start to grow, it almost seems

00:53:43.199 --> 00:53:45.380
like on the backside of that, they think, oh,

00:53:45.420 --> 00:53:47.440
okay, now we have to grow the fire department

00:53:47.440 --> 00:53:49.639
instead of kind of being proactive in it and

00:53:49.639 --> 00:53:52.599
saying, okay, as this... part develops so does

00:53:52.599 --> 00:53:55.119
we have to have space for our places for fire

00:53:55.119 --> 00:53:58.119
stations increasing our manning increasing staffing

00:53:58.119 --> 00:54:01.619
for the day and stuff like that so um they don't

00:54:01.619 --> 00:54:04.099
seem synced right now and i and i've heard of

00:54:04.099 --> 00:54:07.000
areas that are doing a little bit better um but

00:54:07.000 --> 00:54:09.340
a lot of them are just trying to play catch up

00:54:09.340 --> 00:54:11.820
you know yeah i mean just from a driver and obviously

00:54:11.820 --> 00:54:15.340
having driven for 14 years in different all kinds

00:54:15.340 --> 00:54:17.940
of vehicles from teletrucks to rescues you know

00:54:17.940 --> 00:54:19.500
i can see exactly what you're talking about like

00:54:19.500 --> 00:54:22.119
orange county when i um work there right at the

00:54:22.119 --> 00:54:24.940
southernmost tip of orlando orange avenue was

00:54:24.940 --> 00:54:26.860
a nightmare you know and sometimes it was one

00:54:26.860 --> 00:54:29.400
way each way and you'd have to oppose traffic

00:54:29.400 --> 00:54:32.099
a lot but if you've got giant medians obviously

00:54:32.099 --> 00:54:34.280
that makes it much much harder at least there

00:54:34.280 --> 00:54:35.980
you know we could just cross over the yellow

00:54:35.980 --> 00:54:39.199
but um you know the people not be able to turn

00:54:39.199 --> 00:54:41.179
into the plazas. Now you've got those UEs that

00:54:41.179 --> 00:54:43.119
are probably creating more problems, you know,

00:54:43.139 --> 00:54:46.019
that people are getting hit. So it's that proactive

00:54:46.019 --> 00:54:47.920
side. And again, you know, if you're asking for

00:54:47.920 --> 00:54:50.019
more firefighters, then we're back to the 24

00:54:50.019 --> 00:54:52.719
-72 conversation of this is what I tell people.

00:54:52.760 --> 00:54:55.079
If you want four in a truck and you can't even

00:54:55.079 --> 00:54:57.599
hire an owl, what makes you think you're going

00:54:57.599 --> 00:54:59.019
to be able to get enough for four in a truck?

00:54:59.099 --> 00:55:00.880
You've got to change the way that you do things

00:55:00.880 --> 00:55:04.940
to attract people to come in. But yeah, the proactive

00:55:04.940 --> 00:55:09.039
side, like let's get drivers. to be better from

00:55:09.039 --> 00:55:11.760
the get -go yeah like i watched ty's you know

00:55:11.760 --> 00:55:13.820
the driving test two and a half years ago and

00:55:13.820 --> 00:55:16.340
i was like oh my god he drove around a parking

00:55:16.340 --> 00:55:18.639
lot now here you go right enjoy the turnpike

00:55:18.639 --> 00:55:21.920
you know and we wonder why we have so many wrecks

00:55:21.920 --> 00:55:24.840
right insane yeah so yeah another big part of

00:55:24.840 --> 00:55:27.340
the conversation well let's walk through so you

00:55:27.340 --> 00:55:29.679
transition into ocala you know you talked about

00:55:29.679 --> 00:55:35.280
some of the fires of your dad um let's talk about

00:55:36.220 --> 00:55:38.639
medic school first because that's obviously where

00:55:38.639 --> 00:55:42.480
you and i met so right you enter as an emt kind

00:55:42.480 --> 00:55:45.900
of what was your you know road into leveling

00:55:45.900 --> 00:55:49.860
up on the ems side yeah so started um as a firefighter

00:55:49.860 --> 00:55:53.920
emt kind of started kind of thinking about what

00:55:53.920 --> 00:55:57.199
you know my career would be like we um at the

00:55:57.199 --> 00:56:00.840
time as crazy as it sounds ocala was still kind

00:56:00.840 --> 00:56:04.619
of playing catch up with ems right So we had,

00:56:04.659 --> 00:56:07.760
we still had drivers that were, uh, first responders

00:56:07.760 --> 00:56:10.260
weren't even EMTs. So they had to go to EMT school.

00:56:10.360 --> 00:56:12.059
So at the time I was thinking, all right, am

00:56:12.059 --> 00:56:14.280
I going to be an EMT for life or am I going to

00:56:14.280 --> 00:56:18.039
decide to, to promote? And I, um, so I took my

00:56:18.039 --> 00:56:20.480
first promotional test, became a driver and then

00:56:20.480 --> 00:56:23.460
said, you know what? I, I, I need to, I need

00:56:23.460 --> 00:56:24.980
to go to paramedic school. So it was already.

00:56:25.899 --> 00:56:28.019
promoted as a driver. And, you know, cause it

00:56:28.019 --> 00:56:30.559
was kind of a little bit later in my career of

00:56:30.559 --> 00:56:32.519
going to paramedic school, but I decided that,

00:56:32.559 --> 00:56:35.099
you know, I wanted to do that. I had always wanted

00:56:35.099 --> 00:56:36.860
to do it and it was just never a good time. You

00:56:36.860 --> 00:56:39.199
know how that goes. And, but, you know, looking

00:56:39.199 --> 00:56:42.500
back, I think I was so much more mature and prepared

00:56:42.500 --> 00:56:45.440
for the challenge of paramedic school, even though

00:56:45.440 --> 00:56:48.420
at the time I had two young kids, it still was

00:56:48.420 --> 00:56:50.860
a much better time for me to do it than if I

00:56:50.860 --> 00:56:53.019
would have went, you know, a couple of years

00:56:53.019 --> 00:56:55.250
before that, because I had just taken that time

00:56:55.250 --> 00:56:59.489
and really worked on being, you know, creating

00:56:59.489 --> 00:57:02.710
study, study skills and habits that were that,

00:57:02.769 --> 00:57:04.590
you know, helped me to succeed in the program.

00:57:04.769 --> 00:57:07.530
Um, because you do, you got to take it serious,

00:57:07.610 --> 00:57:11.030
you know, and I think adult learners, um, half

00:57:11.030 --> 00:57:12.989
of the, half of the challenge is learning how

00:57:12.989 --> 00:57:15.949
to learn. Right. So figuring out what worked

00:57:15.949 --> 00:57:18.070
for you. I know for me, it was a ton of flashcards

00:57:18.070 --> 00:57:20.789
and, you know, going over and over and over it.

00:57:20.809 --> 00:57:22.929
Now Quizlets is amazing, but we didn't have that

00:57:22.929 --> 00:57:25.210
back then. Right. So we had to, you know, make

00:57:25.210 --> 00:57:27.909
regular flashcards and, and, and that definitely

00:57:27.909 --> 00:57:30.989
helped a lot. And, you know, the doing well in

00:57:30.989 --> 00:57:33.889
the promotional test, I think helped my, um,

00:57:34.070 --> 00:57:38.909
it helped my, uh, feeling that I could do this,

00:57:38.929 --> 00:57:41.369
you know, cause it, I was. looking at it thinking,

00:57:41.449 --> 00:57:43.369
this is going to be really hard. And I don't

00:57:43.369 --> 00:57:45.309
know if I want to commit the time to do this.

00:57:45.389 --> 00:57:47.530
And, you know, after I did pretty good on those

00:57:47.530 --> 00:57:50.969
tests, I was like, I can do this, you know, I

00:57:50.969 --> 00:57:55.409
got this. So that was kind of, and, and we had

00:57:55.409 --> 00:57:58.230
a great instructor. I mean, one of the, one of

00:57:58.230 --> 00:58:01.730
the greatest, um, rest in peace. Right. He just

00:58:01.730 --> 00:58:04.809
recently passed away, but Wayne was an, was an

00:58:04.809 --> 00:58:06.750
awesome instructor. And I think he, he definitely

00:58:06.750 --> 00:58:10.980
helped us to, to get through it. Yep. i remember

00:58:10.980 --> 00:58:13.460
when we first you know joined the program and

00:58:13.460 --> 00:58:15.699
all met each other and people were talking about

00:58:15.699 --> 00:58:17.340
you know there were other instructors and we

00:58:17.340 --> 00:58:19.900
got wayne and oh my god he's the hardest but

00:58:19.900 --> 00:58:21.420
i just remember thinking well good though but

00:58:21.420 --> 00:58:24.159
this is we're learning to help people not die

00:58:24.159 --> 00:58:27.420
right i want to have the hardest person you know

00:58:27.420 --> 00:58:29.199
not just if they're just a dick but you know

00:58:29.199 --> 00:58:32.539
to to to expect a lot from us and they did i

00:58:32.539 --> 00:58:33.920
remember i don't know if you remember this when

00:58:33.920 --> 00:58:38.340
we the first class Wayne said, you'll be able

00:58:38.340 --> 00:58:40.239
to do this. He said, but think of it like a freight

00:58:40.239 --> 00:58:42.019
train. You're walking in front of a freight train

00:58:42.019 --> 00:58:44.519
that's moving slowly. If you keep walking, you'll

00:58:44.519 --> 00:58:46.639
be fine. But if you stop and tie your shoelace,

00:58:46.699 --> 00:58:51.980
you're done. I was a single dad working in Orange

00:58:51.980 --> 00:58:54.480
County at the time, getting murdered for 24 hours

00:58:54.480 --> 00:58:57.260
and driving straight to class. And then the next

00:58:57.260 --> 00:59:00.460
day was the 12 -hour clinicals. I was, it was

00:59:00.460 --> 00:59:02.559
brutal. So he was absolutely right. Like that

00:59:02.559 --> 00:59:05.500
year there was no, no shoelace tying. It was

00:59:05.500 --> 00:59:07.820
just, you know, bite down on your mouth garden.

00:59:08.039 --> 00:59:10.519
I remember like our first pharmacology tests.

00:59:10.599 --> 00:59:13.940
I remember like taking that and it being super

00:59:13.940 --> 00:59:16.139
hard. And I'm like, obviously this is this, there's

00:59:16.139 --> 00:59:18.340
no way this is a real test. Like he's going to

00:59:18.340 --> 00:59:19.699
give us the answers at the end. And he's like,

00:59:19.760 --> 00:59:22.900
all right, pencils down. Everybody done. Go outside.

00:59:23.159 --> 00:59:26.139
I was like, damn, this was a real. I got to lock

00:59:26.139 --> 00:59:29.360
in. That was that time. I was like, okay, now

00:59:29.360 --> 00:59:33.559
we got to study. Historically, fire service classes

00:59:33.559 --> 00:59:36.659
have kind of been show up and put your time in

00:59:36.659 --> 00:59:39.699
and you'll get your certificate. This was one.

00:59:39.920 --> 00:59:43.340
I take paramedic school serious. I've always

00:59:43.340 --> 00:59:45.440
said that. I've done some of the classroom -based

00:59:45.440 --> 00:59:49.530
ones in the fire school. I did, I think, Fire

00:59:49.530 --> 00:59:51.329
Instructor and some of those ones. And I was

00:59:51.329 --> 00:59:52.829
just like, dude, why are we taking a week to

00:59:52.829 --> 00:59:55.010
do this? Yeah. Because, you know, you want everyone's

00:59:55.010 --> 00:59:57.730
board. We're moving slowly. Right. You tell us

00:59:57.730 --> 00:59:59.210
that we're supposed to be here till five, but

00:59:59.210 --> 01:00:01.349
every day we go home at three. Right. So then

01:00:01.349 --> 01:00:02.949
why don't we just make this a two or three day

01:00:02.949 --> 01:00:04.969
test and stop wasting everyone's time? Mm -hmm.

01:00:05.539 --> 01:00:07.900
Yeah. And that, and that whole landscape has

01:00:07.900 --> 01:00:10.860
changed so much now. Now people are getting these

01:00:10.860 --> 01:00:13.139
classes online, so they're doing it while they're

01:00:13.139 --> 01:00:15.619
on shift, still knocking out all of their classes.

01:00:15.820 --> 01:00:18.360
And the online learning is, is I think changing

01:00:18.360 --> 01:00:22.199
the environment completely. Um, and I, I imagine

01:00:22.199 --> 01:00:24.099
at some point paramedic school is going to have

01:00:24.099 --> 01:00:26.199
to catch up with that as well, you know, so there's

01:00:26.199 --> 01:00:28.400
still kind of, the format is very similar to

01:00:28.400 --> 01:00:30.480
when we went, but at some point that's going

01:00:30.480 --> 01:00:32.460
to have to change. I think it's just a matter

01:00:32.460 --> 01:00:36.360
of time, you know, and. Technology is probably

01:00:36.360 --> 01:00:38.440
a driver that's going to change a lot of that

01:00:38.440 --> 01:00:43.679
too. I was listening to a recent podcast and

01:00:43.679 --> 01:00:45.960
they were talking about this billionaire who

01:00:45.960 --> 01:00:48.280
started this new school and it was basically

01:00:48.280 --> 01:00:52.019
two hours a day is all the kids spend doing focused

01:00:52.019 --> 01:00:56.630
AI learning. And then he has such good success

01:00:56.630 --> 01:00:59.269
with it. And it just kind of explains some of

01:00:59.269 --> 01:01:01.989
the, the, the concepts around it. And it, it,

01:01:02.030 --> 01:01:04.329
it all made really, it all made sense. You know,

01:01:04.329 --> 01:01:06.190
how much time did the kids, and I'm sure you

01:01:06.190 --> 01:01:07.550
talked to your son about it, but how much time

01:01:07.550 --> 01:01:09.369
did they spend just kind of moving around from

01:01:09.369 --> 01:01:11.550
one classroom to another classroom and then this

01:01:11.550 --> 01:01:13.949
and this and all this work that they're doing

01:01:13.949 --> 01:01:16.909
in there. And it's still like, you know, just,

01:01:16.989 --> 01:01:20.909
just old system. Like they're, they're just learning

01:01:20.909 --> 01:01:25.190
and just. antiquated way. Um, and you know, my,

01:01:25.269 --> 01:01:27.289
one of my wife's friends is a teacher and she

01:01:27.289 --> 01:01:29.110
teaches fourth grade and we were in the back

01:01:29.110 --> 01:01:31.329
the other day, um, back room, just kind of hanging

01:01:31.329 --> 01:01:34.030
out, eating and talking about stuff. And, you

01:01:34.030 --> 01:01:36.150
know, that was one of the things that came up

01:01:36.150 --> 01:01:38.429
is they were talking about math. Like this is

01:01:38.429 --> 01:01:41.210
how we teach math. And I'm like, well, why does

01:01:41.210 --> 01:01:44.150
anybody need that anymore? We all have phones

01:01:44.150 --> 01:01:46.969
that can do all of that math for us already or

01:01:46.969 --> 01:01:48.829
calculators or, you know what I mean? Like at

01:01:48.829 --> 01:01:52.050
what point do we say, all right, yeah it would

01:01:52.050 --> 01:01:54.409
be awesome if everybody could just do this type

01:01:54.409 --> 01:01:58.090
of stuff and learn it but we don't have to technology's

01:01:58.090 --> 01:02:00.130
made it to where we don't have to do this so

01:02:00.130 --> 01:02:02.769
let's free it up right you don't who was the

01:02:02.769 --> 01:02:04.630
one who said that i i might not know the answer

01:02:04.630 --> 01:02:06.789
but i always know where to find it like that's

01:02:06.789 --> 01:02:09.989
now that's the the world we're living in and

01:02:09.989 --> 01:02:13.590
in ems we're seeing that all these new monitors

01:02:13.590 --> 01:02:16.920
they have like um they'll tell you what they

01:02:16.920 --> 01:02:18.699
think's going on with the patient. You put them

01:02:18.699 --> 01:02:21.159
on a monitor and it'll say, here's what we think,

01:02:21.199 --> 01:02:22.960
you know? So it's kind of giving you a backup

01:02:22.960 --> 01:02:25.340
and, and in 10 years, what is that going to look

01:02:25.340 --> 01:02:26.980
like in 20 years? What is that going to look

01:02:26.980 --> 01:02:31.320
like? So, you know, we're, I think education

01:02:31.320 --> 01:02:33.300
has got to catch up with technology and I don't

01:02:33.300 --> 01:02:35.340
think it's there. It's, it, it doesn't seem like,

01:02:35.340 --> 01:02:37.800
or maybe it is. And I just don't know. Cause

01:02:37.800 --> 01:02:40.960
I'm not involved in that world, but it's getting

01:02:40.960 --> 01:02:43.320
there. You know, it's, it's, we're really starting

01:02:43.320 --> 01:02:46.239
to see it help even how my reports are getting

01:02:46.239 --> 01:02:48.619
so much better now because of all these, um,

01:02:48.800 --> 01:02:52.179
report writing programs have AI assist on them.

01:02:52.199 --> 01:02:54.900
Like, yeah, I think that is a better way to say

01:02:54.900 --> 01:02:56.639
that than the way I just said it. You know what

01:02:56.639 --> 01:02:59.780
I mean? So, um, you said this is bullshit. Yeah.

01:03:01.690 --> 01:03:04.949
So it is. I mean, I guess I see it creeping in,

01:03:05.010 --> 01:03:08.349
but it's exciting to see kind of what that's

01:03:08.349 --> 01:03:09.550
going to look like in the future. And I think

01:03:09.550 --> 01:03:11.010
it's going to provide better care because it

01:03:11.010 --> 01:03:13.829
would almost be like having a smart friend next

01:03:13.829 --> 01:03:15.849
to you all the time going, well, it could also

01:03:15.849 --> 01:03:19.789
be this, right? Their blood pressure's up. They're

01:03:19.789 --> 01:03:24.449
having a headache. This could be this. And that

01:03:24.449 --> 01:03:26.469
can help the paramedic kind of make their decision.

01:03:26.550 --> 01:03:29.050
I don't think it should be the end all, but.

01:03:29.599 --> 01:03:32.000
you know, learning how to work with that technology,

01:03:32.159 --> 01:03:33.699
I think is definitely going to make us better.

01:03:34.219 --> 01:03:36.800
You know, I agree. I mean, even like the radiology,

01:03:36.820 --> 01:03:39.320
there's a lot of AI that will read, I think,

01:03:39.320 --> 01:03:41.280
x -rays and MRIs and things from what I understand.

01:03:42.199 --> 01:03:44.579
and say, it looks like this. And they're not

01:03:44.579 --> 01:03:46.739
taking that as gospel, but then the radiologist

01:03:46.739 --> 01:03:48.940
is almost like second opinioning it. It's like,

01:03:49.039 --> 01:03:51.760
okay, yes, this is it. Or no, actually, I don't

01:03:51.760 --> 01:03:54.019
think it is. But I'm glad that you said that

01:03:54.019 --> 01:03:55.579
because now I can rule that out. And I think

01:03:55.579 --> 01:03:58.360
it is the other thing. But I think it's efficiency

01:03:58.360 --> 01:04:03.530
of learning too. We need the reps, so being in

01:04:03.530 --> 01:04:05.670
the lab, doing those skills, under pressure,

01:04:05.889 --> 01:04:07.949
being looked at by your friends when you make

01:04:07.949 --> 01:04:10.750
mistakes and you push the wrong drug and give

01:04:10.750 --> 01:04:14.150
rectal instead of oral or whatever you did by

01:04:14.150 --> 01:04:16.809
mistake. Those are good things to do in real

01:04:16.809 --> 01:04:18.949
life. I don't think AI can replace that. The

01:04:18.949 --> 01:04:20.650
technology, the mannequins and all that stuff,

01:04:20.730 --> 01:04:24.550
absolutely. But the book learning, especially

01:04:24.550 --> 01:04:27.130
if you get away from job -specific and you look

01:04:27.130 --> 01:04:30.860
at education, Have you ever used anything more

01:04:30.860 --> 01:04:34.179
than high school level math in life ever? I can't

01:04:34.179 --> 01:04:36.780
think. I mean, the most math challenges I've

01:04:36.780 --> 01:04:39.400
ever been is doing dosage. Yeah, or pumping an

01:04:39.400 --> 01:04:41.639
engine. Yeah, pumping an engine. But even then,

01:04:41.780 --> 01:04:43.440
you know, once you're out of hydraulics, it's

01:04:43.440 --> 01:04:46.679
just kind of like, bump it up or bump it down.

01:04:47.019 --> 01:04:50.039
Bump it 150, break it 350. Until somebody looks

01:04:50.039 --> 01:04:52.699
at you crazy, you're like, too much? They start

01:04:52.699 --> 01:04:54.599
kind of spinning around on the hose line. Yeah,

01:04:54.619 --> 01:04:57.170
exactly. Yeah, but I mean, like Becky, she just

01:04:57.170 --> 01:04:59.929
went through med school and then the, I mean,

01:04:59.969 --> 01:05:01.889
thousands of thousands of dollars she had to

01:05:01.889 --> 01:05:04.949
spend on high level math classes. She's an optometrist.

01:05:04.969 --> 01:05:07.489
She uses machines. She doesn't need to calculate

01:05:07.489 --> 01:05:10.010
the refraction of the light in the pupil. She

01:05:10.010 --> 01:05:12.369
just looks through these machines and, you know,

01:05:12.369 --> 01:05:14.789
through her high school level math is able to

01:05:14.789 --> 01:05:17.329
understand, you know, how to assess these patients

01:05:17.329 --> 01:05:20.489
and disease processes and all that. If we could

01:05:20.489 --> 01:05:22.650
strip away all the unneeded stuff, and like you

01:05:22.650 --> 01:05:24.449
said, but if you're going to be an architect

01:05:24.449 --> 01:05:28.289
or an engineer or whatever, then yeah, you clearly

01:05:28.289 --> 01:05:30.409
need the math route. That's exactly what was

01:05:30.409 --> 01:05:33.110
built for you. The doctor, nurse, firefighter,

01:05:33.110 --> 01:05:36.469
cop, do we need to have them? Or even doctors,

01:05:36.590 --> 01:05:38.429
do we need this high -level math? No, you don't.

01:05:38.590 --> 01:05:40.349
And we don't need to be down to the molecular

01:05:40.349 --> 01:05:43.090
level either. When you're looking at a patient,

01:05:43.150 --> 01:05:44.730
you're seeing how they are presenting. You're

01:05:44.730 --> 01:05:46.349
not thinking about their mitochondria at that

01:05:46.349 --> 01:05:49.590
point and whether ATP is effective or not. Yeah,

01:05:49.650 --> 01:05:52.510
exactly. Yeah, it is an interesting conversation.

01:05:52.690 --> 01:05:54.789
I think you're absolutely right. Leaning into

01:05:54.789 --> 01:05:57.130
technology, but still having that education because

01:05:57.130 --> 01:06:00.139
God forbid the whole... you know, network goes

01:06:00.139 --> 01:06:02.360
down and we're back to bows and arrows again,

01:06:02.480 --> 01:06:04.500
then it'd be good to at least someone remembers

01:06:04.500 --> 01:06:08.219
how to, how to do the 10 times table. We rely

01:06:08.219 --> 01:06:10.800
on technology so much now it's, it's not even

01:06:10.800 --> 01:06:13.820
funny. I mean, and like our department, we have

01:06:13.820 --> 01:06:17.980
radios and computers and in motion boxes and

01:06:17.980 --> 01:06:21.500
all of this stuff that, you know, now is every

01:06:21.500 --> 01:06:24.019
shift there's something, you know, and our batteries

01:06:24.019 --> 01:06:27.579
are being wore out because every truck, the trucks

01:06:27.579 --> 01:06:29.460
are now basically we've got, pull back in the

01:06:29.460 --> 01:06:31.179
station and got put them in life support, right.

01:06:31.320 --> 01:06:33.059
Plug them in because otherwise it's going to

01:06:33.059 --> 01:06:34.280
drain the batteries on them because they're just

01:06:34.280 --> 01:06:37.239
so full of technology. And when it goes down,

01:06:37.280 --> 01:06:40.260
it's, it's dramatic. I mean, um, there was a

01:06:40.260 --> 01:06:42.619
nine one, one went down not too long ago. I don't

01:06:42.619 --> 01:06:45.820
remember hearing about that. Yeah. Yeah. And

01:06:45.820 --> 01:06:48.039
it was, you know, somebody cut the wrong cord

01:06:48.039 --> 01:06:50.360
and it was like the perfect storm. Cause then

01:06:50.360 --> 01:06:51.960
somebody cut the other wrong cord. It was just

01:06:51.960 --> 01:06:56.099
like, uh, it was bad. And we, I was working that

01:06:56.099 --> 01:06:59.559
day and they go. hey uh 9 -1 -1 it's down okay

01:06:59.559 --> 01:07:02.199
what does that mean like you like if you call

01:07:02.199 --> 01:07:05.059
9 -1 -1 it goes to nothing are we talking bruce

01:07:05.059 --> 01:07:08.820
willis down down down and we were like oh well

01:07:08.820 --> 01:07:11.719
then we won't get any calls and somehow we still

01:07:11.719 --> 01:07:14.059
were getting calls so the text works still it

01:07:14.059 --> 01:07:15.619
was crazy it was like that people were texting

01:07:15.619 --> 01:07:20.280
in to uh to to get 9 -1 -1 and um you know i

01:07:20.280 --> 01:07:22.900
think that is pretty cool there was a second

01:07:22.900 --> 01:07:25.909
waiting to get in touch with us but yeah it was

01:07:25.909 --> 01:07:29.210
it was bad you know we're we're our infrastructure

01:07:29.210 --> 01:07:30.969
is a little more fragile than i think we think

01:07:30.969 --> 01:07:34.030
sometimes yeah you know yeah so yeah and again

01:07:34.030 --> 01:07:37.730
back to our earlier discussion the more threadbare

01:07:37.730 --> 01:07:41.010
our department the easier it is to tear yeah

01:07:41.010 --> 01:07:43.550
all it takes is one little you know incident

01:07:43.550 --> 01:07:46.360
yeah look at the ovaldi police department for

01:07:46.360 --> 01:07:49.719
example yeah you know one incident i mean a horrendous

01:07:49.719 --> 01:07:52.119
incident but one that another department a well

01:07:52.119 --> 01:07:54.780
-trained well -staffed well -led department would

01:07:54.780 --> 01:07:57.260
have mitigated completely differently so how

01:07:57.260 --> 01:08:00.019
many millions does that cost them you know what

01:08:00.019 --> 01:08:02.119
i mean from cutting corners yeah lowering hiring

01:08:02.119 --> 01:08:06.400
standards oh yeah so yeah well speaking of that

01:08:06.400 --> 01:08:10.019
bringing solutions to problems i talk about all

01:08:10.019 --> 01:08:13.469
the time your mentorship program you know talk

01:08:13.469 --> 01:08:15.889
about chris and the creation and all that stuff

01:08:15.889 --> 01:08:19.569
because i think it's literally the solution to

01:08:19.569 --> 01:08:21.750
what we're talking about you get the funding

01:08:21.750 --> 01:08:23.710
you get the support from the city and you know

01:08:23.710 --> 01:08:25.489
okay well how are we going to get more people

01:08:25.489 --> 01:08:29.189
going into a high school and begging children

01:08:29.189 --> 01:08:32.460
to work for you Well, bringing solutions to problems.

01:08:32.560 --> 01:08:34.899
One of the programs that I talk about all the

01:08:34.899 --> 01:08:37.539
time is your guys mentorship program. And I,

01:08:37.619 --> 01:08:39.840
you know, Chris and the inception and all those

01:08:39.840 --> 01:08:41.979
things. And Chris was on here probably about

01:08:41.979 --> 01:08:45.100
three years ago now talking about it. But when

01:08:45.100 --> 01:08:46.960
you're looking at, well, how do we solve this

01:08:46.960 --> 01:08:49.460
recruitment crisis? Well, you know, you don't

01:08:49.460 --> 01:08:51.720
just invite a bunch of 18 year olds with a heartbeat

01:08:51.720 --> 01:08:53.920
to come be firefighters. You've got to find the

01:08:53.920 --> 01:08:56.140
right kind of person. If you're talking about

01:08:56.140 --> 01:08:59.000
diversity, whether it's a gender or underserved

01:08:59.000 --> 01:09:01.840
population, once again, you put a mentorship

01:09:01.840 --> 01:09:05.420
program and you challenge people from whatever

01:09:05.420 --> 01:09:08.420
background. to rise to the bar and you give them,

01:09:08.439 --> 01:09:11.939
you know, the resources. So when did that kind

01:09:11.939 --> 01:09:13.840
of come across your radar and then talk to me

01:09:13.840 --> 01:09:16.500
about, you know, the metamorphosis of that program

01:09:16.500 --> 01:09:19.840
here? Yeah. So from the beginning, I was kind

01:09:19.840 --> 01:09:25.039
of involved in it. Um, I remember the first couple

01:09:25.039 --> 01:09:27.319
of mentorship days that we had, it was just a

01:09:27.319 --> 01:09:30.239
few people. Um, and it was just an idea like,

01:09:30.340 --> 01:09:31.659
Hey, let's start bringing people in and we'll

01:09:31.659 --> 01:09:34.939
work with them. Um, to fast forward now where

01:09:34.939 --> 01:09:37.949
we have over 50 people pretty regularly showing

01:09:37.949 --> 01:09:42.890
up on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. And,

01:09:42.930 --> 01:09:46.890
you know, I think initially and with most mentorship

01:09:46.890 --> 01:09:50.170
programs or firefighter recruit programs or something

01:09:50.170 --> 01:09:53.210
like that, they focus on one thing specifically

01:09:53.210 --> 01:09:55.710
is recruitment. Like we need to recruit more

01:09:55.710 --> 01:09:57.210
people. That's why we're starting a mentorship

01:09:57.210 --> 01:09:59.550
program. And I think one of the things that makes

01:09:59.550 --> 01:10:02.270
our program a little different and where we've

01:10:02.270 --> 01:10:04.770
really seen success with it is we've understood

01:10:04.770 --> 01:10:07.689
that it helps with recruitment, but what it really

01:10:07.689 --> 01:10:10.149
is, is we're working with people, right? So we're

01:10:10.149 --> 01:10:13.189
shaping these, these young folks life. And I

01:10:13.189 --> 01:10:14.890
say young folks, but they're, you know, we have

01:10:14.890 --> 01:10:16.689
all ages. We have people that, you know, come

01:10:16.689 --> 01:10:18.970
out of the military and they, and they start

01:10:18.970 --> 01:10:21.649
with the program. So our program is pretty much

01:10:21.649 --> 01:10:25.409
all ages. It starts about 13. I think some of

01:10:25.409 --> 01:10:27.899
our Youngest ones have been about 13 and they

01:10:27.899 --> 01:10:30.060
come out and, and, you know, their involvement's

01:10:30.060 --> 01:10:33.119
a little different, but, um, what we've done

01:10:33.119 --> 01:10:35.239
is we've really created an environment where,

01:10:35.319 --> 01:10:38.649
um, you're going to. go out there you're going

01:10:38.649 --> 01:10:40.770
to work on skills and of course since it's the

01:10:40.770 --> 01:10:42.470
fire department a lot of the skills that we work

01:10:42.470 --> 01:10:45.970
on are fire ground skills but the lessons they

01:10:45.970 --> 01:10:48.829
learn from the program are much deeper than that

01:10:48.829 --> 01:10:51.829
right so it's teamwork it's community focused

01:10:51.829 --> 01:10:55.069
a lot of them spend time going on the weekends

01:10:55.069 --> 01:10:57.289
and volunteering for different things when it's

01:10:57.289 --> 01:10:59.250
storm season they're out there filling sandbags

01:10:59.250 --> 01:11:02.310
and the what we try to instill in them is that

01:11:02.310 --> 01:11:04.949
if you have people that are going to be investing

01:11:04.949 --> 01:11:07.210
in you, you also have to invest back into the

01:11:07.210 --> 01:11:11.810
community. So that's been a really big part of

01:11:11.810 --> 01:11:15.489
the program now is, you know, spending time with

01:11:15.489 --> 01:11:17.529
them talking about, you know, what it means to

01:11:17.529 --> 01:11:21.170
be part of the community. And they, you know,

01:11:21.170 --> 01:11:22.729
they learn those lessons every time they're out.

01:11:22.850 --> 01:11:25.250
We try to create experiences where they hear

01:11:25.250 --> 01:11:28.109
from most recently, we did a day where they went

01:11:28.109 --> 01:11:31.399
to the fire museum. at our, at our downtown station.

01:11:31.579 --> 01:11:33.859
So we spent some time at the fire museum, talked

01:11:33.859 --> 01:11:37.359
about, um, all of the, you know, where it began,

01:11:37.579 --> 01:11:39.500
like where the fire department began in the city.

01:11:39.520 --> 01:11:42.859
And, you know, at that same day, a retired New

01:11:42.859 --> 01:11:45.899
York city Lieutenant showed up and got to address

01:11:45.899 --> 01:11:49.220
the group and they got to hear stories from the

01:11:49.220 --> 01:11:51.720
war years, you know, and, you know, the kids

01:11:51.720 --> 01:11:54.739
were awesome. They were listening, but the instructors

01:11:54.739 --> 01:11:58.369
and all of us were. really into that like when

01:11:58.369 --> 01:12:00.130
he started talking about like taking breaths

01:12:00.130 --> 01:12:01.989
out of your bunker coat and all that like stuff

01:12:01.989 --> 01:12:04.750
we were like this guy is the best you know and

01:12:04.750 --> 01:12:07.149
he and he worked at a really busy station and

01:12:07.149 --> 01:12:09.390
stuff like that but you know they met him they've

01:12:09.390 --> 01:12:13.430
we've we've had um uh the e1 founder came out

01:12:13.430 --> 01:12:15.649
and and spent some time with him and talked about

01:12:15.649 --> 01:12:18.449
kind of how he developed the e1 company and what

01:12:18.449 --> 01:12:21.189
it was like back then and you know it was a bunch

01:12:21.189 --> 01:12:24.039
different time stories of him going out to Boston

01:12:24.039 --> 01:12:26.300
and trying to land a deal with the, with the

01:12:26.300 --> 01:12:27.819
Boston fire department. So they'd buy you one

01:12:27.819 --> 01:12:31.159
trucks and you know, his, his, his experiences

01:12:31.159 --> 01:12:34.439
interacting with, you know different fire departments

01:12:34.439 --> 01:12:37.279
and you know, all the way down to like, we've

01:12:37.279 --> 01:12:39.539
had the bankers come out. So people from main

01:12:39.539 --> 01:12:41.279
street bank have come out and talk to them about

01:12:41.279 --> 01:12:43.239
like, so you're going to need a bank account

01:12:43.239 --> 01:12:45.079
at some point and you're going to need to learn

01:12:45.079 --> 01:12:47.479
how to save money. So financial literacy, you

01:12:47.479 --> 01:12:49.979
know, we make sure we add parts of that. So as

01:12:49.979 --> 01:12:54.220
much as it's a recruitment, It really is a mentorship

01:12:54.220 --> 01:12:57.319
program. And I think the longer we do it, the

01:12:57.319 --> 01:13:00.140
more we understand how important the term mentorship

01:13:00.140 --> 01:13:04.939
is because we've had folks that have gone on

01:13:04.939 --> 01:13:06.779
to become firefighters. And that's the coolest

01:13:06.779 --> 01:13:08.600
thing in the world. When you're out there on

01:13:08.600 --> 01:13:11.819
a call and somebody shows up and it's a person

01:13:11.819 --> 01:13:14.340
that you worked with from day one of them deciding

01:13:14.340 --> 01:13:16.079
that they wanted to be a firefighter, that's

01:13:16.079 --> 01:13:19.329
a really cool feeling. I love that. We've also

01:13:19.329 --> 01:13:21.289
had a lot of people that have decided not to

01:13:21.289 --> 01:13:23.909
become firefighters, and they've pursued other

01:13:23.909 --> 01:13:27.010
careers. We've got one right now that works for

01:13:27.010 --> 01:13:28.590
the police department, so we see him all the

01:13:28.590 --> 01:13:31.649
time. Oh, I'm sorry. This is one failure. Listen,

01:13:32.149 --> 01:13:36.270
no. Anytime somebody tells us that they are interested

01:13:36.270 --> 01:13:39.229
in the police department, we do everything we

01:13:39.229 --> 01:13:41.350
can to take down barriers and get them because

01:13:41.350 --> 01:13:44.670
we need as many good cops as we can. We work

01:13:44.670 --> 01:13:47.439
with them every day. And, um, as much as we love

01:13:47.439 --> 01:13:50.380
to give them a hard time, like those, those guys

01:13:50.380 --> 01:13:53.699
are doing a really, really tough job and, you

01:13:53.699 --> 01:13:56.159
know, so hats off to them when, when they decide

01:13:56.159 --> 01:13:57.819
that that's the path they want to go down. And

01:13:57.819 --> 01:13:59.619
it's a different kind of person too. And I mean

01:13:59.619 --> 01:14:01.689
that. you know compassionately like yeah yeah

01:14:01.689 --> 01:14:04.350
police and fire are two very different jobs so

01:14:04.350 --> 01:14:07.010
if if that resonates with you then you absolutely

01:14:07.010 --> 01:14:09.750
need to go for it because you know we are brothers

01:14:09.750 --> 01:14:11.930
and sisters in uniform there's no no question

01:14:11.930 --> 01:14:14.130
and i we would give each other shit but that's

01:14:14.130 --> 01:14:16.630
definitely coming from a good place but oh yeah

01:14:16.630 --> 01:14:20.189
i mean if if yeah i mean just i know no other

01:14:20.189 --> 01:14:23.189
way to phrase it like going hands -on with people

01:14:23.189 --> 01:14:25.949
and going towards gunfire is very different than

01:14:26.560 --> 01:14:29.039
all the stuff that we do. And you'll hear from

01:14:29.039 --> 01:14:30.779
the humble cops and the humble firefighters,

01:14:30.899 --> 01:14:32.899
well, I could never do what you do. And I agree.

01:14:33.020 --> 01:14:34.819
And I'm, I'm one of the people saying that. So

01:14:34.819 --> 01:14:37.680
I got all, all the respect for, for them, you

01:14:37.680 --> 01:14:39.659
know, but we do have to make fun of each other

01:14:39.659 --> 01:14:42.340
too. Oh, for sure. Yeah. OPD has got a program

01:14:42.340 --> 01:14:44.539
that they've kind of, um, worked with us on from,

01:14:44.539 --> 01:14:46.380
for their own little like mentorship part of

01:14:46.380 --> 01:14:49.100
it. And, um, I got to go out one day, I taught

01:14:49.100 --> 01:14:51.319
stop the bleed and a couple other things to their,

01:14:51.340 --> 01:14:53.619
to their guys. And then, um, they were doing

01:14:53.619 --> 01:14:58.119
the VR, like, interactions. Right. So they put

01:14:58.119 --> 01:15:00.619
me in the machine, put the goggles on and they

01:15:00.619 --> 01:15:02.479
would run these scenarios where somebody would

01:15:02.479 --> 01:15:03.960
come up and they start yelling and this like

01:15:03.960 --> 01:15:05.979
that. And I am the worst cop. I would be the

01:15:05.979 --> 01:15:07.479
worst cop in the world because I ended up shooting

01:15:07.479 --> 01:15:10.420
everybody. It was crazy. Like it escalated quick

01:15:10.420 --> 01:15:12.939
and I was quick to pull my firearm and shoot.

01:15:13.020 --> 01:15:15.899
So it is like, yeah, they, they have a very challenging

01:15:15.899 --> 01:15:19.159
job. So yeah, we, we definitely, you know, encourage

01:15:19.159 --> 01:15:21.079
those, those, you know, people that are looking

01:15:21.079 --> 01:15:23.399
at that, but we have had a lot of success with

01:15:23.399 --> 01:15:26.909
it. And it's funny because there's a core group

01:15:26.909 --> 01:15:28.909
of us that are involved in the program. And,

01:15:28.949 --> 01:15:31.729
you know, we spend every Monday out there like

01:15:31.729 --> 01:15:35.850
holidays, bad weather, rain, cold, whatever.

01:15:35.970 --> 01:15:37.590
We're going out there and we're keeping it consistent.

01:15:37.670 --> 01:15:39.810
And it's important for it to be consistent. And

01:15:39.810 --> 01:15:41.189
a lot of times they're like, oh, it's well, it's

01:15:41.189 --> 01:15:42.789
Veterans Day. Are we going to still do that?

01:15:42.829 --> 01:15:45.609
Yeah, it's still happening. Like some of us are

01:15:45.609 --> 01:15:47.510
going to show up. If you guys show up, we're

01:15:47.510 --> 01:15:50.130
going to show up because that consistency matters,

01:15:50.329 --> 01:15:55.760
you know. Doing that, you know, you really start

01:15:55.760 --> 01:15:59.340
to see these people develop and, you know, there's

01:15:59.340 --> 01:16:01.640
been quite a few of them where they show up the

01:16:01.640 --> 01:16:03.819
first day. You'll have this, you know, kind of

01:16:03.819 --> 01:16:06.939
young scrawny person show up and they don't look

01:16:06.939 --> 01:16:09.260
like much of what you would expect. Somebody

01:16:09.260 --> 01:16:12.359
who's ready to go, you know, balls to the wall

01:16:12.359 --> 01:16:14.680
into a structure fire, put a fire out, something

01:16:14.680 --> 01:16:19.449
like that. to see them make that change is amazing.

01:16:19.630 --> 01:16:21.850
And I think, you know, Hickman's always had a

01:16:21.850 --> 01:16:24.090
great vision for that. And he's been very patient

01:16:24.090 --> 01:16:25.750
with it. And he's taught me that, you know, so,

01:16:25.810 --> 01:16:27.010
cause there've been times where we're working

01:16:27.010 --> 01:16:29.270
on ladders and I'm like, this kid's crying cause

01:16:29.270 --> 01:16:30.569
the ladder's too heavy. And they're like, is

01:16:30.569 --> 01:16:32.649
this supposed to be this heavy? It hurts my shoulder.

01:16:32.729 --> 01:16:35.760
And I'm like, yeah. Yeah, it is, you know, and

01:16:35.760 --> 01:16:37.239
kind of just being a little rough with them.

01:16:37.399 --> 01:16:40.819
And then fast forward, you know, that now we've

01:16:40.819 --> 01:16:42.220
got kids that are going to paramedic school.

01:16:42.260 --> 01:16:44.539
We had our first officer. So a person from the

01:16:44.539 --> 01:16:46.979
mentorship program who's gone and spent a bunch

01:16:46.979 --> 01:16:49.239
of time with us is now already is an officer

01:16:49.239 --> 01:16:52.319
in Marion County. And that was pretty cool to

01:16:52.319 --> 01:16:55.420
see it, you know, all. come out and we've got,

01:16:55.439 --> 01:16:57.779
I got a guy that works with me at the station

01:16:57.779 --> 01:17:01.180
who came out and we did your class. And, and

01:17:01.180 --> 01:17:03.279
he's, he's awesome. And he went through the mentorship

01:17:03.279 --> 01:17:06.960
program. So, and he's given back. So to not only

01:17:06.960 --> 01:17:09.619
has a lot, have a lot of them got, you know,

01:17:09.619 --> 01:17:11.579
they've gotten jobs and they work right now for

01:17:11.579 --> 01:17:14.279
the system for the Marion County or Ocala, but

01:17:14.279 --> 01:17:16.390
they show back up. And they give back to the,

01:17:16.390 --> 01:17:19.609
to the kids. And, um, that's been just, just

01:17:19.609 --> 01:17:22.229
amazing to kind of see it all come together like

01:17:22.229 --> 01:17:25.909
that. And, you know, I'm 25 years into the fire

01:17:25.909 --> 01:17:28.250
service right now. And of all the things that

01:17:28.250 --> 01:17:30.430
I've done, I think that has probably been the

01:17:30.430 --> 01:17:33.970
most, um, impactful, you know, is getting involved

01:17:33.970 --> 01:17:37.329
with this, with this program. I've seen the results

01:17:37.329 --> 01:17:41.810
of it. Um, you know, just, they just, they hit

01:17:41.810 --> 01:17:44.289
different, you know, when you. when you prepare

01:17:44.289 --> 01:17:46.170
the next generation, I think it just hits different.

01:17:46.289 --> 01:17:48.649
And that's, I think, you know, what we should

01:17:48.649 --> 01:17:50.890
be doing once we get to this point in our careers

01:17:50.890 --> 01:17:53.609
anyway, right. It's just preparing that next

01:17:53.609 --> 01:17:54.789
group of people that are going to be wearing

01:17:54.789 --> 01:17:56.649
the badge when we're at the nursing homes and

01:17:56.649 --> 01:17:58.609
we fall and they need to come pick us up. Right.

01:17:59.210 --> 01:18:02.130
I remember you in the mentorship program, but

01:18:02.130 --> 01:18:05.890
yeah. So, um, but yeah, I, I just, I mean, I

01:18:05.890 --> 01:18:08.729
did really has been, it's been an amazing journey

01:18:08.729 --> 01:18:13.050
and, and I have been blessed enough to be. um,

01:18:13.229 --> 01:18:15.869
to, to work in most of the departments in our,

01:18:15.909 --> 01:18:18.550
or most of the divisions in our department. So

01:18:18.550 --> 01:18:21.770
I've been, um, you know, like we've talked about

01:18:21.770 --> 01:18:23.810
before, worked my ranks through as a driver and

01:18:23.810 --> 01:18:27.229
an officer. And then I went into, um, fire prevention

01:18:27.229 --> 01:18:29.350
and I've been in fire training and I've been

01:18:29.350 --> 01:18:33.090
an assistant chief. And through all of that time,

01:18:33.189 --> 01:18:35.300
I've got to see most of the. different parts

01:18:35.300 --> 01:18:37.520
of it even worked as a community paramedic for

01:18:37.520 --> 01:18:39.239
a little while we were doing a core truck and

01:18:39.239 --> 01:18:41.199
i got to do that so i got to see that side of

01:18:41.199 --> 01:18:43.880
it kind of what hickman does on a day -to -day

01:18:43.880 --> 01:18:47.420
um and and that was amazing to see how we were

01:18:47.420 --> 01:18:50.000
helping the community in that way and public

01:18:50.000 --> 01:18:53.779
education which has always been a uh you know

01:18:53.779 --> 01:18:55.939
a thing that i've been passionate about i've

01:18:55.939 --> 01:18:58.600
been able to go out and teach cpr to you know

01:18:58.600 --> 01:19:03.039
hundreds of people uh fire um prevention to you

01:19:03.039 --> 01:19:05.800
know, large groups and that's really rewarding.

01:19:05.960 --> 01:19:09.560
Um, you know, but through all of that, the one

01:19:09.560 --> 01:19:11.659
thing that I can say that, you know, has definitely

01:19:11.659 --> 01:19:14.579
affected me the most is, is, has, has seen these,

01:19:14.680 --> 01:19:17.159
these young folks show up that, you know, not

01:19:17.159 --> 01:19:19.140
really sure what they wanted to do in life and,

01:19:19.180 --> 01:19:22.500
and get put on a path where, you know, now it

01:19:22.500 --> 01:19:24.840
not only changed their life, it changed their

01:19:24.840 --> 01:19:28.100
whole family, you know? So it's huge. I think,

01:19:28.100 --> 01:19:30.100
you know, we talked about this before, but this

01:19:30.100 --> 01:19:32.279
is something I underline when I talk about your

01:19:32.279 --> 01:19:35.380
program specifically is Ethan, my stepson, my

01:19:35.380 --> 01:19:37.939
bonus boy, went for a little bit. Sure. And he

01:19:37.939 --> 01:19:39.619
came out going, yeah, I don't think I want to

01:19:39.619 --> 01:19:41.000
be a firefighter. And I was like, well, that's

01:19:41.000 --> 01:19:42.880
awesome. And he became a mechanic in the end.

01:19:43.039 --> 01:19:45.880
So, you know, I mean, he kind of, I think I would

01:19:45.880 --> 01:19:47.760
definitely credit that as one of the things that

01:19:47.760 --> 01:19:50.420
made him realize that he did kind of, you know.

01:19:50.900 --> 01:19:54.319
enjoy the hands -on aspect of of work because

01:19:54.319 --> 01:19:56.399
up to that he was you know an academic high school

01:19:56.399 --> 01:19:58.859
kid like they all are with very little experience

01:19:58.859 --> 01:20:02.100
to any of the trades or anything like that But,

01:20:02.100 --> 01:20:05.020
but yeah, so there's so much value in, in someone,

01:20:05.119 --> 01:20:07.319
like you said, taking away some of the life lessons

01:20:07.319 --> 01:20:10.060
like teamwork and, you know, shared suffering

01:20:10.060 --> 01:20:12.199
and all these other things, but then going, okay,

01:20:12.260 --> 01:20:14.000
I'm going to check that off my, my list rather

01:20:14.000 --> 01:20:16.239
than spending thousands of dollars going through

01:20:16.239 --> 01:20:18.899
an EMT fire program and getting into the station

01:20:18.899 --> 01:20:21.439
and going, I don't really like this very much.

01:20:21.539 --> 01:20:23.939
Yeah. You know, now you're, you know, so much

01:20:23.939 --> 01:20:26.300
money behind and several years behind. Right.

01:20:26.970 --> 01:20:29.369
Yeah, no, it's definitely an easier way to find

01:20:29.369 --> 01:20:31.630
out if this is for you or not, you know, and,

01:20:31.710 --> 01:20:35.210
um, and like today I was even, there's a, um,

01:20:35.329 --> 01:20:38.489
you know, uh, somebody who, one of our captains

01:20:38.489 --> 01:20:41.710
recommended contact me to get part of the program.

01:20:41.770 --> 01:20:44.310
So it's on a daily basis. I'm texting back and

01:20:44.310 --> 01:20:46.390
forth with some of these people and kind of,

01:20:46.390 --> 01:20:49.409
you know, getting them kind of put on a path

01:20:49.409 --> 01:20:52.060
of, of, you know, how to get, how to get. you

01:20:52.060 --> 01:20:54.720
know into the program and go from there and one

01:20:54.720 --> 01:20:56.420
of the other things is that you know i work at

01:20:56.420 --> 01:20:58.800
the fire college so i work with minimum standards

01:20:58.800 --> 01:21:00.840
and i know exactly kind of what the expectations

01:21:00.840 --> 01:21:03.819
are going to be so we've been able to kind of

01:21:03.819 --> 01:21:06.949
gear our program to where Um, when you're first

01:21:06.949 --> 01:21:09.069
being introduced to it, the skill level is a

01:21:09.069 --> 01:21:11.250
little bit less, right? We introduce you to knots.

01:21:11.329 --> 01:21:13.289
We introduce you to ladders and stuff like that,

01:21:13.310 --> 01:21:15.409
where the ones that we're preparing that are

01:21:15.409 --> 01:21:17.689
going to go in January, like we got a group of

01:21:17.689 --> 01:21:19.210
them that are going to be going January to the

01:21:19.210 --> 01:21:23.829
fire college. We're giving them like focused

01:21:23.829 --> 01:21:27.409
attention skills that they're going when they

01:21:27.409 --> 01:21:29.430
show up on day one, they're already going to

01:21:29.430 --> 01:21:32.369
be way, way ahead of the game. Um, they've already

01:21:32.369 --> 01:21:35.210
worked through. dawning and doffing you know

01:21:35.210 --> 01:21:37.430
that first day when these when these folks show

01:21:37.430 --> 01:21:39.569
up it's chaos right they're they're trying to

01:21:39.569 --> 01:21:42.430
get their gear on they're freaking out now they

01:21:42.430 --> 01:21:44.689
got to go do bear crawls because nobody got it

01:21:44.689 --> 01:21:47.029
on in time these guys have already been experienced

01:21:47.029 --> 01:21:50.310
with that and then also tying off tools and hoisting

01:21:50.310 --> 01:21:52.649
and all of that stuff and then they can all put

01:21:52.649 --> 01:21:54.829
ladders up and they can they know what to expect

01:21:54.829 --> 01:21:56.689
with the big two and what the state's going to

01:21:56.689 --> 01:21:59.090
look for when they need to get certified um at

01:21:59.090 --> 01:22:03.800
the state level so it really um has become something

01:22:03.800 --> 01:22:06.539
that if you do this program and you commit to

01:22:06.539 --> 01:22:07.979
it when you go to the fire college definitely

01:22:07.979 --> 01:22:10.659
going to make your experience a lot easier you

01:22:10.659 --> 01:22:12.859
know and that's good because we need them to

01:22:12.859 --> 01:22:14.539
pass and we need firefighters because we need

01:22:14.539 --> 01:22:16.340
to fill the ranks so we can go get that d shift

01:22:16.340 --> 01:22:20.039
up how many pipe poles have you hoisted in your

01:22:20.039 --> 01:22:23.199
career man i'm glad you said that i'm glad you

01:22:23.199 --> 01:22:27.060
asked that because i have uh done zero strange

01:22:27.060 --> 01:22:30.260
but Yeah, I know. And we talk about that all

01:22:30.260 --> 01:22:32.819
the time. Like, why do we focus so much time

01:22:32.819 --> 01:22:35.640
on tying tools for hoisting? And we barely ever

01:22:35.640 --> 01:22:38.739
do. But it's a good way to kind of stay focused

01:22:38.739 --> 01:22:43.300
on a task and then go from there, I think. I

01:22:43.300 --> 01:22:48.380
remember when I worked for Hialeah, they, again,

01:22:48.439 --> 01:22:50.680
talking about, you know, cities and corruption

01:22:50.680 --> 01:22:54.550
and all that stuff. They had an ordinance, I

01:22:54.550 --> 01:22:55.710
think it was probably a national one, where if

01:22:55.710 --> 01:22:58.470
it's five stories, you had to be sprinkled. So

01:22:58.470 --> 01:23:01.430
all the builders in Hialeah would build the buildings

01:23:01.430 --> 01:23:06.210
49 and a half feet tall. And so no sprinklers,

01:23:06.210 --> 01:23:09.489
no standpipes, nothing. And then the freaking

01:23:09.489 --> 01:23:11.810
railings on the balconies were rusted through.

01:23:11.909 --> 01:23:13.829
So you couldn't lean on anything in Hialeah.

01:23:13.869 --> 01:23:16.609
You'd end up on the floor. But one of the really

01:23:16.609 --> 01:23:19.329
cool techniques that they showed us was you take

01:23:19.329 --> 01:23:22.409
the bundle. up to the fire floor you lower down

01:23:22.409 --> 01:23:26.289
the female they tie they connect the the y and

01:23:26.289 --> 01:23:28.710
then you pull it up oh yeah so i was like well

01:23:28.710 --> 01:23:30.609
where the fuck are we doing this whole rope thing

01:23:30.609 --> 01:23:33.010
for so long when it's so much easier yeah and

01:23:33.010 --> 01:23:34.989
then we did it in uh what was i orange county

01:23:34.989 --> 01:23:37.510
i think And one of the guys lost their mind.

01:23:37.569 --> 01:23:39.489
Like, what if it uncouples? I'm like, oh, my

01:23:39.489 --> 01:23:41.390
fucking God. Is this person who's in charge of

01:23:41.390 --> 01:23:43.010
this fire scene right now that is suddenly going

01:23:43.010 --> 01:23:45.409
to unscrew? What if aliens show up and shoot

01:23:45.409 --> 01:23:48.350
our hoses? Yeah. Exactly. So, yeah. So, as you

01:23:48.350 --> 01:23:49.850
know, you know, when you go through it, and I

01:23:49.850 --> 01:23:52.970
mean, another perfect example, we always taught

01:23:52.970 --> 01:23:56.090
to fight a car fire like a class A fire. Yeah.

01:23:56.289 --> 01:23:59.210
That's a big class B dumpster is what it is.

01:23:59.289 --> 01:24:01.380
Yeah. You've got plastics, you've got... gas

01:24:01.380 --> 01:24:03.960
you've got oil you've got rubber tires yeah so

01:24:03.960 --> 01:24:07.079
flow foam don't get anywhere near it unless of

01:24:07.079 --> 01:24:09.420
course there's a rescue issue and just stand

01:24:09.420 --> 01:24:11.340
back and cover it in foam and it will go out

01:24:11.340 --> 01:24:13.960
but instead you're chasing you know fuel piles

01:24:13.960 --> 01:24:16.500
around the freeway now you're out of you know

01:24:16.500 --> 01:24:18.939
out of water so some of the stuff that we were

01:24:18.939 --> 01:24:21.180
taught the way we throw ladders oh my god i went

01:24:21.180 --> 01:24:24.100
to california i'm in the academy there after

01:24:24.100 --> 01:24:25.899
fighting for one of the positions and watching

01:24:25.899 --> 01:24:29.100
these people shoulder and you know Do all this

01:24:29.100 --> 01:24:31.680
stuff. And I'm like, oh, my God, I am so screwed.

01:24:31.899 --> 01:24:34.479
I've got to learn this fast. But, yeah, they

01:24:34.479 --> 01:24:36.979
don't flip the ladder. They shoulder it. They

01:24:36.979 --> 01:24:40.420
put it up. The way they foot it, they wrap their

01:24:40.420 --> 01:24:42.060
foot and their knee so you're looking at the

01:24:42.060 --> 01:24:44.420
ladder. You hoist it. And then you just put it

01:24:44.420 --> 01:24:46.500
in the window. I was like, well, are we not supposed

01:24:46.500 --> 01:24:48.659
to turn around? No, no, no. It's rated to be

01:24:48.659 --> 01:24:50.880
fine either way. Why didn't they tell us that

01:24:50.880 --> 01:24:52.979
in the academy? That's the way that we were taught

01:24:52.979 --> 01:24:54.880
in the academy. The only way it's going to work

01:24:54.880 --> 01:24:57.250
is in a fire academy. Right. Because there's

01:24:57.250 --> 01:24:59.630
no fences, no parked cars, no alleyways. Yeah.

01:24:59.750 --> 01:25:01.569
But you can't throw a ladder the way we teach

01:25:01.569 --> 01:25:04.869
it here. Oh, man. So when I came back from California,

01:25:05.109 --> 01:25:07.369
it really opened my eyes. And then people over

01:25:07.369 --> 01:25:09.449
here were telling me, oh, we don't get on roofs

01:25:09.449 --> 01:25:11.770
because it's, you know, we have lightweight construction.

01:25:12.729 --> 01:25:14.689
Dude, the whole fucking building in California

01:25:14.689 --> 01:25:16.310
is lightweight construction. What are you talking

01:25:16.310 --> 01:25:18.510
about? Yeah. You know, you'll put people under

01:25:18.510 --> 01:25:20.170
a roof, but you won't put someone in there to

01:25:20.170 --> 01:25:23.329
make a chimney and get off quickly. So this is

01:25:23.329 --> 01:25:25.250
where I really started looking at some of the

01:25:25.250 --> 01:25:27.659
stuff. at all and like it's just plain wrong

01:25:27.659 --> 01:25:30.579
yeah but just like backboarding no one has just

01:25:30.579 --> 01:25:32.760
had the guts to say we just need to stop there's

01:25:32.760 --> 01:25:35.199
no no studies that even show backboarding worked

01:25:35.199 --> 01:25:38.079
ever yeah why are we taping someone to a big

01:25:38.079 --> 01:25:40.850
plank of wood They slide all over the rescue

01:25:40.850 --> 01:25:43.869
when we're transporting. So, yeah. Frommfelter

01:25:43.869 --> 01:25:45.710
has pushed us away from backboarding, finally.

01:25:45.750 --> 01:25:48.789
Yeah, he's been really harping on that. And so,

01:25:48.930 --> 01:25:51.630
yeah, we're starting to see the... It needs to.

01:25:51.670 --> 01:25:53.310
I mean, there's no science behind it. Why the

01:25:53.310 --> 01:25:54.850
hell are we doing it? And same with the shoulder.

01:25:54.949 --> 01:25:57.350
You should be able to high shoulder a ladder.

01:25:57.729 --> 01:26:00.350
That's not being prejudiced. It's just the expectations.

01:26:00.550 --> 01:26:03.409
If you're running short, one person high shoulder

01:26:03.409 --> 01:26:06.310
throw, you know, spiking the ladder is not some

01:26:06.310 --> 01:26:09.779
elaborate insta -famous... It's a, it's a working

01:26:09.779 --> 01:26:12.680
technique for, you know, a fire department. So

01:26:12.680 --> 01:26:15.359
the way we teach it is doing a disservice to

01:26:15.359 --> 01:26:18.619
a good firefighter. Yeah. Yeah. We, um, we do

01:26:18.619 --> 01:26:21.520
ladders on Fridays and we just had a day where,

01:26:21.600 --> 01:26:24.500
uh, us and a couple other units met downtown

01:26:24.500 --> 01:26:28.220
and we met in an alleyway and none of that stuff.

01:26:28.220 --> 01:26:31.579
Yeah. None of that stuff works in, in, you know,

01:26:31.579 --> 01:26:33.140
that you learned at the fire college and it's,

01:26:33.140 --> 01:26:36.010
you know, so I guess it's. In the defense of

01:26:36.010 --> 01:26:38.510
the training center, it's minimum standards and

01:26:38.510 --> 01:26:40.569
you get introduced to it. But when, when you

01:26:40.569 --> 01:26:42.430
come to a department, it's their responsibility

01:26:42.430 --> 01:26:45.970
to get you up to speed on what you're actually

01:26:45.970 --> 01:26:47.510
going to do. And that was what we were doing

01:26:47.510 --> 01:26:49.390
that day. Like, Hey, you can't lay the ladder

01:26:49.390 --> 01:26:51.890
down. Now you've got to beam it and put it up

01:26:51.890 --> 01:26:54.289
sideways. And you know, how far is this ladder

01:26:54.289 --> 01:26:55.670
going to reach? Which is another thing, you know,

01:26:55.670 --> 01:26:57.710
is being able to judge how far your ladders can

01:26:57.710 --> 01:26:59.670
reach. And that's only comes with, you know,

01:26:59.670 --> 01:27:01.829
experience of raising the ladder and trying to

01:27:01.829 --> 01:27:03.770
get to a window or, you know, where would. what

01:27:03.770 --> 01:27:05.729
it looks like when you get to a window. I've

01:27:05.729 --> 01:27:08.069
seen a video the other day of a guy on a ladder,

01:27:08.170 --> 01:27:10.369
like doing exactly what they teach him, like

01:27:10.369 --> 01:27:12.390
firefight, fight, fight and fire from a ladder.

01:27:12.449 --> 01:27:14.569
And he opens the nozzle and throws them all off

01:27:14.569 --> 01:27:18.270
the dang ladder. Um, yeah. So those are things

01:27:18.270 --> 01:27:20.170
that, you know, we talk about and, and, and work

01:27:20.170 --> 01:27:22.670
through once you are working at the department.

01:27:23.149 --> 01:27:24.630
Yeah. You know, it's kind of our responsibility.

01:27:24.649 --> 01:27:27.229
I think at that point as officers to say, Hey,

01:27:27.289 --> 01:27:29.449
we got to be ready for whatever our zone throws

01:27:29.449 --> 01:27:31.130
at us. You and not, it's not always going to

01:27:31.130 --> 01:27:34.760
be a nice. uh dirt pat little dirt spot where

01:27:34.760 --> 01:27:36.899
we can get the ladder to stick real good and

01:27:36.899 --> 01:27:38.520
go up you know that you could be trying to do

01:27:38.520 --> 01:27:40.399
this on some concrete and it be floating all

01:27:40.399 --> 01:27:44.479
around so um yeah yeah so i've seen it both sides

01:27:44.479 --> 01:27:47.239
you know teaching it to to our new probationary

01:27:47.239 --> 01:27:49.119
guys but then also teaching it at the college

01:27:50.300 --> 01:27:52.000
is much different. And I think a lot of times

01:27:52.000 --> 01:27:54.500
most instructors will, will tell the camp that,

01:27:54.560 --> 01:27:56.760
you know, the, the, the recruits that like, we're

01:27:56.760 --> 01:27:58.399
going to teach you how to do this a certain way,

01:27:58.439 --> 01:28:00.060
because this is the fire college and you're going

01:28:00.060 --> 01:28:02.500
to be tested by the state. But when you go to

01:28:02.500 --> 01:28:03.819
a department, it's going to be very different.

01:28:03.920 --> 01:28:06.439
So the expectations, once you get there is going

01:28:06.439 --> 01:28:08.500
to be a lot higher and you're going to be able

01:28:08.500 --> 01:28:10.260
to put this on your shoulder. And that's cool.

01:28:10.340 --> 01:28:12.199
We've, we've actually showed, you know, shoulder

01:28:12.199 --> 01:28:14.460
carries and stuff at the, at the college. So

01:28:14.460 --> 01:28:18.029
it's evolving over the years. Get some good instructors

01:28:18.029 --> 01:28:19.649
out there that are spending the time with them.

01:28:19.670 --> 01:28:21.170
But it's the same thing, like you said, like

01:28:21.170 --> 01:28:23.890
we're spending so much time tying off tools for

01:28:23.890 --> 01:28:25.930
hoisting where we could be in there doing another

01:28:25.930 --> 01:28:28.390
rep of a, you know, burn or something like that.

01:28:28.470 --> 01:28:31.409
It's just the constant battle with the curriculum

01:28:31.409 --> 01:28:34.630
and the amount of hours that need to be spent,

01:28:34.729 --> 01:28:36.909
you know, getting proficient in the skill that

01:28:36.909 --> 01:28:39.850
they either can, you know, get them certified

01:28:39.850 --> 01:28:42.689
or not. You know, if they screw up their tool

01:28:42.689 --> 01:28:45.949
for hoisting. they don't pass, then they got

01:28:45.949 --> 01:28:48.109
to take it all over again. So that's why I think

01:28:48.109 --> 01:28:50.569
a lot of that stuff we spend teaching them the

01:28:50.569 --> 01:28:52.270
test, you know, teaching them the certification

01:28:52.270 --> 01:28:55.449
test. Exactly. Yeah. Which is not great, but.

01:28:55.529 --> 01:28:57.909
Cause there's no raising the ladder like we do

01:28:57.909 --> 01:28:59.930
in Florida and the California Academy test. Really?

01:28:59.930 --> 01:29:01.750
Yeah. You gotta, you gotta spike it. Yeah. So

01:29:01.750 --> 01:29:03.569
we get a, we get a couple of days like that where

01:29:03.569 --> 01:29:06.010
people come from out of state and they are going

01:29:06.010 --> 01:29:09.050
to take the state, the Florida state test. Um,

01:29:09.250 --> 01:29:11.460
and those are always interesting days. Cause

01:29:11.460 --> 01:29:13.039
you hear a lot of like, well, that's not how

01:29:13.039 --> 01:29:14.460
I learned it. And like, I don't know, listen,

01:29:14.579 --> 01:29:17.720
I understand. These guys have been like on departments

01:29:17.720 --> 01:29:20.500
for 15 years in Baltimore, you know, places where

01:29:20.500 --> 01:29:22.239
they fought fire and they've, they've been a

01:29:22.239 --> 01:29:24.180
firefighter for a long time. And now they're

01:29:24.180 --> 01:29:26.800
going through our little state test and we're

01:29:26.800 --> 01:29:29.020
like, Oh no, you got to make sure you put the

01:29:29.020 --> 01:29:30.979
ladder up a certain way. Call dogs or a lot.

01:29:31.020 --> 01:29:32.619
You know what I mean? Like just the, just the

01:29:32.619 --> 01:29:34.640
stuff that. You know, it's kind of silly, but

01:29:34.640 --> 01:29:36.979
there's got to be a standard. And I think that's

01:29:36.979 --> 01:29:39.300
kind of where that constant battle is always,

01:29:39.359 --> 01:29:41.039
you know, at the state level, they got to figure

01:29:41.039 --> 01:29:43.140
that out. You know, what are we going to create

01:29:43.140 --> 01:29:46.119
the standard to be, you know, and keep working

01:29:46.119 --> 01:29:49.619
on it. What about diversity? One of the things,

01:29:49.720 --> 01:29:51.939
again, I think that the mentorship program seems

01:29:51.939 --> 01:29:54.699
to really address in a very positive solution

01:29:54.699 --> 01:29:58.659
oriented way is rather than, and let's be completely

01:29:58.659 --> 01:30:02.869
blunt, all we need. 200 of this type of person

01:30:02.869 --> 01:30:04.930
because we didn't hire him before go find me

01:30:04.930 --> 01:30:07.149
200 of that kind of person and bring him to me

01:30:07.149 --> 01:30:09.750
clearly that doesn't work because in that group

01:30:09.750 --> 01:30:11.130
you're going to have some people that end up

01:30:11.130 --> 01:30:12.729
being good firefighters and some people that

01:30:12.729 --> 01:30:14.369
are going to be awful because you haven't set

01:30:14.369 --> 01:30:17.789
a bar at all but you put in you acknowledge that

01:30:17.789 --> 01:30:19.930
there are underserved communities and you put

01:30:19.930 --> 01:30:21.869
in a mentorship program where you remove the

01:30:21.869 --> 01:30:25.789
barrier to entry as far as you know the the training

01:30:25.789 --> 01:30:28.430
itself and the financial cost and then you know

01:30:28.430 --> 01:30:30.590
scholarships at fire academy and people waiting

01:30:30.590 --> 01:30:33.329
for them on the other side now i think you've

01:30:33.329 --> 01:30:35.350
really empowered people from those communities

01:30:35.350 --> 01:30:38.949
to then see if they have what it takes to be

01:30:38.949 --> 01:30:41.189
a firefighter and then you end up with more great

01:30:41.189 --> 01:30:43.310
firefighters that happen to be this color this

01:30:43.310 --> 01:30:46.050
gender this you know orientation whatever so

01:30:46.050 --> 01:30:48.449
what have you seen as far as success from that

01:30:48.449 --> 01:30:50.569
perspective with the program yeah i think you

01:30:50.569 --> 01:30:52.880
nailed it on the head we just remove some barriers.

01:30:52.979 --> 01:30:55.819
Like, you know, sometimes it's either it's transportation

01:30:55.819 --> 01:30:59.020
or it's just, you know, the cost of getting into

01:30:59.020 --> 01:31:01.680
it. It's those barriers that have been removed.

01:31:01.760 --> 01:31:03.659
You can show up, it doesn't cost them anything.

01:31:03.779 --> 01:31:07.340
They can hang out and learn just like anybody

01:31:07.340 --> 01:31:12.699
else. There's no, um, you know. no tutor, like

01:31:12.699 --> 01:31:14.739
special tutor that your parent can buy for you.

01:31:14.760 --> 01:31:16.579
You can show up and you could be, you know, from

01:31:16.579 --> 01:31:18.739
the richest family in town and we're still going

01:31:18.739 --> 01:31:20.380
to make you do the same burpees. We're still

01:31:20.380 --> 01:31:22.819
going to make you do the same run. Like it's

01:31:22.819 --> 01:31:26.260
going to be the same for everybody. And you know,

01:31:26.279 --> 01:31:29.260
I think it's that opportunity to, to do it is

01:31:29.260 --> 01:31:32.479
what really has created it. And we get a lot

01:31:32.479 --> 01:31:35.300
of leads from different areas. A lot of it has

01:31:35.300 --> 01:31:38.979
come from the public school system. So when they,

01:31:39.289 --> 01:31:42.270
they created a unfunded mandate that all 11th

01:31:42.270 --> 01:31:44.350
graders had to learn how to do hands -only CPR.

01:31:44.689 --> 01:31:46.609
Like that was something that the governor signed

01:31:46.609 --> 01:31:49.670
into law. Excellent. Yeah, which was a great

01:31:49.670 --> 01:31:51.489
idea, right? But the high schools were kind of

01:31:51.489 --> 01:31:53.550
chasing their ass trying to figure out how they're

01:31:53.550 --> 01:31:56.649
going to train all of their 11th graders to do

01:31:56.649 --> 01:32:00.720
hands -only CPR. Like a lot of communities do,

01:32:00.779 --> 01:32:03.380
they called the fire service, right? We get service

01:32:03.380 --> 01:32:04.800
calls all the time where it's like, we don't

01:32:04.800 --> 01:32:06.260
know what to do. Can you come out and help us?

01:32:06.319 --> 01:32:08.000
And that's what we did for the schools. We showed

01:32:08.000 --> 01:32:12.590
up, we taught this hands -only CPR program. And

01:32:12.590 --> 01:32:15.750
from that, we used it almost as like a introduction

01:32:15.750 --> 01:32:17.869
to the fire service because we're like, all right,

01:32:17.890 --> 01:32:19.689
we taught you the class. Now you got to listen

01:32:19.689 --> 01:32:21.329
to us for about five minutes. We're going to

01:32:21.329 --> 01:32:23.689
tell you what we do, how you become a firefighter.

01:32:23.689 --> 01:32:25.710
We have a program you can show up. So we've kind

01:32:25.710 --> 01:32:30.109
of jumped on that. And we had so many kids come

01:32:30.109 --> 01:32:33.470
up to us after those presentations and say, I

01:32:33.470 --> 01:32:36.520
think I want to do that. So what a great. recruitment

01:32:36.520 --> 01:32:39.500
tool that has been so unintentionally. Now everybody's

01:32:39.500 --> 01:32:41.699
learning how to do CPR, which is awesome. But

01:32:41.699 --> 01:32:44.880
also we're getting to have this like one -on

01:32:44.880 --> 01:32:48.199
-one conversation or one on a whole fricking

01:32:48.199 --> 01:32:51.000
gymnasium, but it's, it's working, you know,

01:32:51.000 --> 01:32:53.039
and, and they're, and they're showing up. It's

01:32:53.039 --> 01:32:55.199
not easy. So all the guys that are doing that,

01:32:55.239 --> 01:32:57.439
God bless them. Because if you've ever tried

01:32:57.439 --> 01:33:00.289
to teach. A big group of high schoolers, it's

01:33:00.289 --> 01:33:02.550
not easy. They don't pay attention. Everybody's

01:33:02.550 --> 01:33:04.989
trying to be funny, you know, but it's a really

01:33:04.989 --> 01:33:07.590
good way to kind of get in front of them. And

01:33:07.590 --> 01:33:10.789
we've also been to job fairs. We've been to career

01:33:10.789 --> 01:33:13.130
things. And so we kind of jumped on all of those

01:33:13.130 --> 01:33:16.430
little places where these young people are that

01:33:16.430 --> 01:33:17.850
are trying to figure out what they want to do

01:33:17.850 --> 01:33:20.310
with their life and been there to talk to them,

01:33:20.350 --> 01:33:23.189
which is crazy because that's what happened at

01:33:23.189 --> 01:33:25.229
Bellevue High School all those years ago. Those

01:33:25.229 --> 01:33:27.069
guys showed up and they said, hey, you want to

01:33:27.069 --> 01:33:29.899
be a firefighter? I'm, you know, recycling what

01:33:29.899 --> 01:33:32.340
they did and, and, and it's been great to give

01:33:32.340 --> 01:33:35.180
back in that way. And I sign up anytime I can

01:33:35.180 --> 01:33:37.739
to go out and do the CPR class, even though it's

01:33:37.739 --> 01:33:40.920
a nightmare, but it works out great to get, you

01:33:40.920 --> 01:33:43.760
know, new firefighters in. So brilliant. Yeah.

01:33:44.420 --> 01:33:47.340
You've kind of alluded to your, your two children,

01:33:47.460 --> 01:33:51.859
um, and obviously Olivia as well. When I look

01:33:51.859 --> 01:33:54.670
at you guys, I feel like you're a family that's

01:33:54.670 --> 01:33:57.050
making it work despite some of the challenges

01:33:57.050 --> 01:33:58.909
that were working against us, as you kind of

01:33:58.909 --> 01:34:00.930
said about your experience as a young boy with

01:34:00.930 --> 01:34:04.210
your dad in the fire service. Yeah. What are

01:34:04.210 --> 01:34:07.109
some of the takeaways that you guys have found

01:34:07.109 --> 01:34:11.189
to maintain that cohesive family unit in this

01:34:11.189 --> 01:34:14.069
profession? Yeah, it's, it's not easy. I mean,

01:34:14.090 --> 01:34:17.489
just being married for a long time isn't easy.

01:34:17.630 --> 01:34:19.550
You know, it's, you've, you've got to constantly

01:34:19.550 --> 01:34:21.920
work on it. We were. I'm working on it before

01:34:21.920 --> 01:34:24.319
I came here. So we had to have a pretty hard

01:34:24.319 --> 01:34:28.399
conversation about, you know, refocusing on our

01:34:28.399 --> 01:34:30.460
relationship because you can get pulled in a

01:34:30.460 --> 01:34:33.800
lot of directions. And the moment you start doing

01:34:33.800 --> 01:34:39.819
that, it can definitely weigh on it. So my wife

01:34:39.819 --> 01:34:41.800
has been really good about identifying those

01:34:41.800 --> 01:34:45.640
moments when maybe we have kind of let things

01:34:45.640 --> 01:34:48.689
go a little bit and then. pulling us back together

01:34:48.689 --> 01:34:53.630
and talk about it. Uh, so, you know, um, and

01:34:53.630 --> 01:34:56.569
it's crazy because you spend a lot of time, especially

01:34:56.569 --> 01:34:58.649
when you become an officer talking about how

01:34:58.649 --> 01:35:00.489
can we make the crew better, right? How can we

01:35:00.489 --> 01:35:05.050
make the, our crew tighter, all that stuff. Well,

01:35:05.109 --> 01:35:07.470
all of that same thing works in a marriage, you

01:35:07.470 --> 01:35:10.250
know? So communication, if communication sucks,

01:35:10.510 --> 01:35:12.649
the crew doesn't know what to expect from you.

01:35:12.689 --> 01:35:15.020
If communication sucks in your marriage, You

01:35:15.020 --> 01:35:16.560
don't know what to expect from your wife or your

01:35:16.560 --> 01:35:21.000
husband, right? So sometimes those things that

01:35:21.000 --> 01:35:25.159
we talk about, I have to like take my own advice

01:35:25.159 --> 01:35:29.039
and then, you know, do that in our relationship.

01:35:29.060 --> 01:35:35.260
But as a family, I think, you know, intentional

01:35:35.260 --> 01:35:38.239
time when you have time off, being intentional

01:35:38.239 --> 01:35:41.239
about how you spend that time is super important.

01:35:41.710 --> 01:35:45.149
So we've tried to figure out when we're going

01:35:45.149 --> 01:35:48.630
to do family trips and, you know, take that time

01:35:48.630 --> 01:35:51.569
off. Everything goes off and you go on the trip.

01:35:51.630 --> 01:35:54.710
I will tell you in different parts of the department

01:35:54.710 --> 01:35:58.609
is easier to do that than other ones. You know,

01:35:58.609 --> 01:36:00.909
so when I was working in fire prevention, there's

01:36:00.909 --> 01:36:05.489
only a very few, there's only a few fire inspectors

01:36:05.489 --> 01:36:09.109
and one fire marshal. When you have a city that

01:36:09.109 --> 01:36:11.789
is going nonstop, there's always someone who

01:36:11.789 --> 01:36:15.010
has a question and that phone does not stop ringing,

01:36:15.170 --> 01:36:17.810
you know, so you'll have either it's a fire protection

01:36:17.810 --> 01:36:21.329
engineer call in or a contractor who needs an

01:36:21.329 --> 01:36:23.909
inspection and stuff like that. And, you know,

01:36:23.909 --> 01:36:27.930
that can really get in the way of your time with

01:36:27.930 --> 01:36:30.409
the family because it's, I mean, yeah, you can

01:36:30.409 --> 01:36:31.850
turn the phone off, but you're going to have

01:36:31.850 --> 01:36:34.449
a ton of messages and, you know, you're going

01:36:34.449 --> 01:36:37.020
to have to. pick up where you left off that next

01:36:37.020 --> 01:36:41.100
day and it gets crazy. So, um, you know, depending

01:36:41.100 --> 01:36:43.500
on what part of the fire department you are,

01:36:43.539 --> 01:36:45.479
you don't always have that. Like right now I'm

01:36:45.479 --> 01:36:48.479
on, I'm at station three on ladder three. I'm

01:36:48.479 --> 01:36:51.859
not working today, but there is an officer on

01:36:51.859 --> 01:36:54.039
that truck. He's taking care of everything. So

01:36:54.039 --> 01:36:57.039
I don't, I'm not, it's not back of my mind. You

01:36:57.039 --> 01:36:58.399
know, I might have a few things that I got to

01:36:58.399 --> 01:37:01.800
follow up on, but the fact that he's there. taking

01:37:01.800 --> 01:37:04.619
care of it, or if I take a day off and my driver

01:37:04.619 --> 01:37:08.520
steps up and he's riding in my spot, it's, you

01:37:08.520 --> 01:37:11.439
know, it, it's not the same as like when you're,

01:37:11.439 --> 01:37:15.039
um, in administration or you're in one of these

01:37:15.039 --> 01:37:17.760
smaller divisions where it's only one person

01:37:17.760 --> 01:37:21.520
doing the job. So that definitely affects your

01:37:21.520 --> 01:37:24.039
life, your work -life balance as they talk about,

01:37:24.119 --> 01:37:27.029
you know, and, and And as a family, we had to

01:37:27.029 --> 01:37:28.970
work through that. You know, my wife and I definitely

01:37:28.970 --> 01:37:31.470
had times where she sat down and had to have

01:37:31.470 --> 01:37:34.569
a pretty, you know, hard conversation with me

01:37:34.569 --> 01:37:36.930
like, hey, this is who you are. This is what

01:37:36.930 --> 01:37:39.810
you do. This is not who you are. Right. So at

01:37:39.810 --> 01:37:43.590
the end of the day, when my time is up at the

01:37:43.590 --> 01:37:46.210
fire department, I still have to be a father

01:37:46.210 --> 01:37:49.930
and a husband. And sometimes, you know, having

01:37:49.930 --> 01:37:52.189
a good wife will check you on that. So that's

01:37:52.189 --> 01:37:55.869
that's important. What is her perspective on

01:37:55.869 --> 01:37:59.369
the work week conversation being the spouses

01:37:59.369 --> 01:38:01.789
at home with the kids when you're away? Yeah.

01:38:02.029 --> 01:38:06.109
So it's been tough. It's been tough on her. And,

01:38:06.109 --> 01:38:11.850
you know, she for for for some time I was on

01:38:11.850 --> 01:38:13.890
call. I was like the on call fire investigator.

01:38:14.989 --> 01:38:18.609
So we would have a fire and my phone would ring

01:38:18.609 --> 01:38:23.159
and it would freak her out. Like she. was, is

01:38:23.159 --> 01:38:25.539
not good about getting woken up. So the phone

01:38:25.539 --> 01:38:27.960
would go off and I'd pick it up as quick as I

01:38:27.960 --> 01:38:30.180
could, you know, and Hey, they're requesting

01:38:30.180 --> 01:38:32.739
an investigator to come out to the scene. Here's

01:38:32.739 --> 01:38:34.500
the address. And, you know, I was kind of used

01:38:34.500 --> 01:38:36.159
to that. I had already kind of grown up that

01:38:36.159 --> 01:38:38.579
way of being, you know, going on calls at night,

01:38:38.600 --> 01:38:42.140
but man, it messed her up bad. Like she would

01:38:42.140 --> 01:38:45.420
be messed up for like two days after that one

01:38:45.420 --> 01:38:47.600
call out that I had, you know, and all she had

01:38:47.600 --> 01:38:49.699
to do was wake up for a second and then go. So

01:38:49.699 --> 01:38:53.380
she experienced that a little bit, um, And, you

01:38:53.380 --> 01:38:56.020
know, that, you know, we have that conversation.

01:38:56.199 --> 01:38:58.220
She's like, I could never do that job because

01:38:58.220 --> 01:39:02.159
I just can't rebound like, like you do. And even

01:39:02.159 --> 01:39:05.479
now we'll have bad nights at the station and

01:39:05.479 --> 01:39:07.520
I'll have to come home and get a little bit of

01:39:07.520 --> 01:39:09.520
rest. And she's been awesome about that. You

01:39:09.520 --> 01:39:12.380
know, she's been able to like, she knows if she

01:39:12.380 --> 01:39:14.439
comes home and the door's shut in the room and

01:39:14.439 --> 01:39:17.220
I've got it darkened down, then it probably wasn't

01:39:17.220 --> 01:39:19.279
a good night. And she kind of does her thing

01:39:19.279 --> 01:39:21.079
and tries to be quiet and let me get some rest.

01:39:22.270 --> 01:39:24.989
But it sucks. It sucks to put that burden on.

01:39:25.289 --> 01:39:30.250
We have plans today, and now I need to rest for

01:39:30.250 --> 01:39:33.510
a couple hours because the night was brutal.

01:39:33.670 --> 01:39:35.789
And I know if I don't, then I'm just going to

01:39:35.789 --> 01:39:38.850
be miserable to be around. And she can tell.

01:39:38.970 --> 01:39:41.529
She knows. There's been times where she told

01:39:41.529 --> 01:39:44.729
me, hey, you need to just go lay down and rest

01:39:44.729 --> 01:39:48.270
because I'm short with her. Or another thing

01:39:48.270 --> 01:39:50.529
that happens, like crazy. And I think you've—

01:39:50.600 --> 01:39:52.439
talked with, you know, the, the smart people

01:39:52.439 --> 01:39:55.920
about this, but, um, you get off shift and you're

01:39:55.920 --> 01:39:57.939
exhausted cause you had a bad night. And all

01:39:57.939 --> 01:40:00.899
I want to do is eat shit like, like bad food.

01:40:00.960 --> 01:40:03.020
Like, yeah, I want like carbs and nasty stuff

01:40:03.020 --> 01:40:05.500
that I probably shouldn't eat. So then I'm scarfing

01:40:05.500 --> 01:40:08.399
that down and that doesn't make me much, much,

01:40:08.539 --> 01:40:11.720
you know, nice to be around either. Cause now

01:40:11.720 --> 01:40:15.020
I'm like, just, it's, it's, it's brutal, man.

01:40:15.100 --> 01:40:20.529
Like the, the, the night work is. And as you

01:40:20.529 --> 01:40:22.770
get older, I think it just affects you even more.

01:40:22.869 --> 01:40:27.750
So I'm seeing this as a, you know, I'm 45 now

01:40:27.750 --> 01:40:30.729
and in firefighter years, that's, you know, probably

01:40:30.729 --> 01:40:35.770
double a normal person after a lifetime of work

01:40:35.770 --> 01:40:38.409
and shift work and on call and all of that stuff.

01:40:38.489 --> 01:40:41.840
I mean, it just, it, it. it wears you down. I

01:40:41.840 --> 01:40:44.140
don't bounce back as good as I used to. I would

01:40:44.140 --> 01:40:46.880
be able to kind of get off shift and I would

01:40:46.880 --> 01:40:49.460
go work my second job. And I, I, I can't imagine

01:40:49.460 --> 01:40:51.420
doing that now. Now I try to like schedule my

01:40:51.420 --> 01:40:55.319
fire college days after a good night's after

01:40:55.319 --> 01:40:57.659
my, not my day after my shift, but the shift

01:40:57.659 --> 01:40:59.899
next shift so that I've gotten full night's sleep.

01:40:59.939 --> 01:41:02.079
I can go out there. I can make sure that I'm,

01:41:02.079 --> 01:41:04.109
you know, providing the best. being the best

01:41:04.109 --> 01:41:05.869
instructor as I can for those kids. Cause otherwise

01:41:05.869 --> 01:41:08.789
I'm just kind of dazed the whole day. And then

01:41:08.789 --> 01:41:10.329
God forbid we have like a burn day or something

01:41:10.329 --> 01:41:13.090
like that. And now I'm exhausted and I'm hot

01:41:13.090 --> 01:41:15.970
and that drive home is just not a good, just

01:41:15.970 --> 01:41:21.609
not a good thing. So, um, but yeah, the, the,

01:41:21.670 --> 01:41:25.029
the family life as a, as a firefighter is, is

01:41:25.029 --> 01:41:27.069
definitely something that you got to make sure

01:41:27.069 --> 01:41:30.390
you got the right person that you're with. to

01:41:30.390 --> 01:41:32.229
deal with that because I don't think it's fair

01:41:32.229 --> 01:41:37.289
to do that just to everybody. Um, and we had,

01:41:37.390 --> 01:41:40.649
uh, uh, uh, lock and out of Joe lock and out

01:41:40.649 --> 01:41:42.850
of him before I'm sure. Yeah. He's been on the

01:41:42.850 --> 01:41:45.750
show. Yeah. Oh, great. He's, he's awesome. And,

01:41:45.829 --> 01:41:47.270
you know, I've spent some time talking to him

01:41:47.270 --> 01:41:49.310
and, you know, he, he always helps me to kind

01:41:49.310 --> 01:41:52.310
of get back to center sometimes on when we have

01:41:52.310 --> 01:41:55.340
conversations, but we did a, um, panel. And it

01:41:55.340 --> 01:41:58.760
was a firefighter and their spouse panel at the

01:41:58.760 --> 01:42:01.800
church one time. And that was really good because

01:42:01.800 --> 01:42:06.159
I enjoyed hearing the, you know, one, the stuff

01:42:06.159 --> 01:42:08.220
that my wife said, like I, I didn't, we didn't

01:42:08.220 --> 01:42:10.479
plan anything out. So she was just kind of talking

01:42:10.479 --> 01:42:13.420
off the hip and some of her experiences with

01:42:13.420 --> 01:42:16.739
it was, was interesting. And, you know, some

01:42:16.739 --> 01:42:18.819
of the other wives, how they said, you know,

01:42:18.840 --> 01:42:21.720
you just, it's almost like you got somebody in

01:42:21.720 --> 01:42:25.130
your house that shows up and he's just a, a shell

01:42:25.130 --> 01:42:29.409
of himself until he can kind of recover from

01:42:29.409 --> 01:42:33.430
it. So yeah, it's, it's, it's sad that that's,

01:42:33.430 --> 01:42:36.350
that's the reality, but it is, you know, it is

01:42:36.350 --> 01:42:39.510
how we've set the system up right now. So hopefully

01:42:39.510 --> 01:42:42.229
people like yourself and, you know, the ones

01:42:42.229 --> 01:42:44.170
that are working hard on getting this stuff changed.

01:42:45.829 --> 01:42:48.109
they've identified that and, and, and we can

01:42:48.109 --> 01:42:50.729
see those changes going forward. You know, I've

01:42:50.729 --> 01:42:53.649
been a big advocate for the 24 72 schedule. And

01:42:53.649 --> 01:42:55.250
that's kind of one of the reasons is I understand

01:42:55.250 --> 01:42:57.189
that first day that you get off shift is, is

01:42:57.189 --> 01:43:00.229
not really much of a day off. You know, you already

01:43:00.229 --> 01:43:01.989
are getting out of the station. By the time you

01:43:01.989 --> 01:43:05.470
get out of there, it's nine 30, 10 o 'clock and

01:43:05.470 --> 01:43:07.289
you're getting back to the house. And, you know,

01:43:07.289 --> 01:43:10.010
if you lay down and try to catch up with some,

01:43:10.010 --> 01:43:14.409
some sleep now it's the afternoon. And even after

01:43:14.409 --> 01:43:17.100
that, you're still, just in a bit of a daze,

01:43:17.159 --> 01:43:21.619
you know? And then, so you got that next day.

01:43:22.399 --> 01:43:25.699
Thank God for that next day, you know? It would

01:43:25.699 --> 01:43:27.859
be nice to have one more after that so you can

01:43:27.859 --> 01:43:30.979
kind of live life as a normal person, but. Well,

01:43:31.020 --> 01:43:33.720
this is what I, you know, try and get people

01:43:33.720 --> 01:43:36.760
to understand. And again. Full transparency,

01:43:37.000 --> 01:43:39.939
I didn't understand this till about nine years

01:43:39.939 --> 01:43:41.560
ago when I started this. It's pretty much why

01:43:41.560 --> 01:43:44.239
I started this, listening to Kirk Parsley, a

01:43:44.239 --> 01:43:46.500
Navy SEAL, talking about the same thing with

01:43:46.500 --> 01:43:48.680
his SEALs and him finding the sleep medicine

01:43:48.680 --> 01:43:50.680
and going, oh shit, there's no wonder that my

01:43:50.680 --> 01:43:52.960
Uber athlete's blood work looks like an eight

01:43:52.960 --> 01:43:54.640
-year -old woman because we're training at night.

01:43:54.720 --> 01:43:56.899
It's the sleep deprivation and why they're all

01:43:56.899 --> 01:43:59.840
ambient. But when you look at the way that we

01:43:59.840 --> 01:44:04.479
talk, we work one day on, two days off. 24 hours

01:44:04.479 --> 01:44:07.380
is not one day's work. Eight hours with a one

01:44:07.380 --> 01:44:09.960
-hour lunch is one day's work. So we work three

01:44:09.960 --> 01:44:13.199
days on, one day off. And if you think about

01:44:13.199 --> 01:44:16.220
your third of those eight hours is from midnight

01:44:16.220 --> 01:44:19.180
till 8 a .m., shift change, that's not a day

01:44:19.180 --> 01:44:21.300
off. You just worked eight hours. So stop calling

01:44:21.300 --> 01:44:24.420
that a day off. Your only day off is that one,

01:44:24.479 --> 01:44:28.680
the next day. There's a slide I did when I did

01:44:28.680 --> 01:44:32.600
a presentation for the FPF and then St. John's

01:44:32.600 --> 01:44:34.659
County, who, bless them, they are fighting so

01:44:34.659 --> 01:44:39.180
hard. I believe there is a certain person wearing

01:44:39.180 --> 01:44:41.479
bugles standing in the way of the betterment

01:44:41.479 --> 01:44:43.560
of an entire fire department and the citizens

01:44:43.560 --> 01:44:48.600
of the county. But one of the slides, I say,

01:44:48.659 --> 01:44:52.100
all right, so how many days a year do you think

01:44:52.100 --> 01:44:54.899
that a civilian works with an eight -hour day?

01:44:55.319 --> 01:44:58.340
you know, five days a week. And, you know, it

01:44:58.340 --> 01:45:01.300
was something like 264 days, I think it is. I

01:45:01.300 --> 01:45:05.060
was like, all right, now, 2448, how many days

01:45:05.060 --> 01:45:07.979
a year do you think we work? And people are guessing,

01:45:08.060 --> 01:45:11.500
oh, I don't know, 280, you know, 300. And I hit

01:45:11.500 --> 01:45:15.680
the button and it's 363 days a year. So when

01:45:15.680 --> 01:45:17.399
you do the math, we have one day off a year.

01:45:17.560 --> 01:45:19.399
Right. If you're doing an eight -hour day every

01:45:19.399 --> 01:45:22.699
day. So this is what we have to understand is

01:45:22.699 --> 01:45:25.119
that the way... We've been talking one day on,

01:45:25.159 --> 01:45:27.100
two days off. I only work 10 days a month. No,

01:45:27.140 --> 01:45:30.159
you don't. You work 30 days a month. Yeah. If

01:45:30.159 --> 01:45:33.060
every 24 is three eight hour days, you work 30

01:45:33.060 --> 01:45:36.699
days a month. This is why those two don't compute.

01:45:36.859 --> 01:45:38.880
I'm supposed to have a great schedule. I feel

01:45:38.880 --> 01:45:41.239
like shit. My marriage is failing. There's a

01:45:41.239 --> 01:45:44.000
reason. It's maths back to high school math.

01:45:44.159 --> 01:45:46.199
This is the basic addition that we're missing.

01:45:46.359 --> 01:45:48.579
Yeah. While we're being taught complex college

01:45:48.579 --> 01:45:52.550
algebra. So, you know, when we kind of realize,

01:45:52.710 --> 01:45:55.250
OK, well, then why are we not walking the same

01:45:55.250 --> 01:45:58.529
hours as the chief, as the baker, as the candlestick

01:45:58.529 --> 01:46:01.010
maker? You know, but we're the ones that you're

01:46:01.010 --> 01:46:03.649
calling on your worst day. You know, it goes

01:46:03.649 --> 01:46:05.630
back to that. And then when you look at the relationships,

01:46:06.069 --> 01:46:08.350
of course. And then this is what kills me when

01:46:08.350 --> 01:46:10.329
people go, oh, yeah. Did you hear about so -and

01:46:10.329 --> 01:46:11.770
-so killed himself? Yeah, but they were going

01:46:11.770 --> 01:46:14.449
through a divorce. Negating the fact that they

01:46:14.449 --> 01:46:17.590
were also a 15 -year firefighter and you don't

01:46:17.590 --> 01:46:19.829
think that maybe what we've just talked about

01:46:19.829 --> 01:46:22.529
was a massive contributing factor of why that

01:46:22.529 --> 01:46:24.510
marriage failed in the first place. Oh, sure.

01:46:24.710 --> 01:46:28.609
So when we debunk these myths of we're supposed

01:46:28.609 --> 01:46:31.270
to have this great schedule or it's weak to want

01:46:31.270 --> 01:46:34.369
more time off, newsflash. If you're not resting,

01:46:34.430 --> 01:46:36.430
you're a shittier firefighter. So stop beating

01:46:36.430 --> 01:46:38.189
your chest with your leather helmet and your

01:46:38.189 --> 01:46:40.710
big mustache, thinking that you're Billy Badass.

01:46:40.970 --> 01:46:43.310
You're not if you're not fighting for an environment

01:46:43.310 --> 01:46:45.750
that creates rest and recovery like your favorite

01:46:45.750 --> 01:46:49.710
athletes get all the time. So if we really want

01:46:49.710 --> 01:46:51.210
to make a difference, and I've said this many

01:46:51.210 --> 01:46:53.930
times, like the front door when we're told you

01:46:53.930 --> 01:46:56.489
wait 10 years from now on your third marriage

01:46:56.489 --> 01:46:58.670
and have an alcohol problem, that's not fucking

01:46:58.670 --> 01:47:00.810
funny. There's nothing funny about it. And if

01:47:00.810 --> 01:47:03.479
public said that, they're... You know, the orientation,

01:47:03.739 --> 01:47:06.659
you turn around and you walk out. Yeah. So the

01:47:06.659 --> 01:47:08.680
way that we fix it, and there are other things

01:47:08.680 --> 01:47:12.899
as well, but just like you said, 24 hours away

01:47:12.899 --> 01:47:14.680
from your family, you kissed your loved ones,

01:47:14.739 --> 01:47:16.619
you go serve complete strangers, you risk your

01:47:16.619 --> 01:47:20.529
life, and then... Two days off, 72 hour period.

01:47:20.750 --> 01:47:22.710
So the first day you've already worked. So you've

01:47:22.710 --> 01:47:25.409
got two days off in between to be quality time

01:47:25.409 --> 01:47:27.750
with your family, to attend your kids events,

01:47:27.930 --> 01:47:30.430
to be romantic with your wife or your husband.

01:47:30.569 --> 01:47:33.250
And then you go back and you're rested. You're

01:47:33.250 --> 01:47:35.270
recovered. You have, you know, I'm all about

01:47:35.270 --> 01:47:37.250
fitness standards too. You've recovered as far

01:47:37.250 --> 01:47:39.590
as physically. And now you can be a kick -ass

01:47:39.590 --> 01:47:42.310
firefighter paramedic for another 24 hours. A

01:47:42.310 --> 01:47:46.189
hundred percent. And I, and so that first time

01:47:46.189 --> 01:47:48.340
I ever heard that was from you. Like I heard

01:47:48.340 --> 01:47:50.100
you talk about it. I think it was a post that

01:47:50.100 --> 01:47:51.420
you made or something like that. And you were

01:47:51.420 --> 01:47:54.880
explaining the three eight hour work days in

01:47:54.880 --> 01:47:57.560
one 24 hour shift. And I have used that since

01:47:57.560 --> 01:48:01.000
that since you've put that out. Every time I

01:48:01.000 --> 01:48:02.960
talk to the mentorship, every time I talk to

01:48:02.960 --> 01:48:05.659
somebody about the schedule, I say we work a

01:48:05.659 --> 01:48:08.979
24 hour shift and then we have. two days off,

01:48:09.079 --> 01:48:10.979
but let me explain this to you a little bit farther.

01:48:11.100 --> 01:48:13.800
And, and, and, and it's been a great tool to

01:48:13.800 --> 01:48:16.060
kind of help them to understand. And for me too,

01:48:16.119 --> 01:48:17.680
I never really thought about it that way until

01:48:17.680 --> 01:48:21.000
you said it. And it really is a, is a great way.

01:48:21.079 --> 01:48:22.979
Cause we even talked about it one day at the

01:48:22.979 --> 01:48:24.760
station and we're like, Oh, starting our second

01:48:24.760 --> 01:48:26.800
workday. Now we're going into our second workday.

01:48:26.859 --> 01:48:28.560
And then when we're going into the nighttime,

01:48:28.739 --> 01:48:29.859
it's like, all right, now we're starting our

01:48:29.859 --> 01:48:33.100
third workday into this thing. And it really

01:48:33.100 --> 01:48:35.680
is. When you think about it that way, it doesn't

01:48:35.680 --> 01:48:38.819
sound as, it doesn't sound as great. And I think

01:48:38.819 --> 01:48:41.199
a lot of times we try to sugarcoat stuff because

01:48:41.199 --> 01:48:44.500
our mission is to get people in the door, but

01:48:44.500 --> 01:48:47.939
they need to understand the reality that what

01:48:47.939 --> 01:48:50.840
we're asking them to do is a little bit more

01:48:50.840 --> 01:48:53.520
than just work one day and have two days off

01:48:53.520 --> 01:48:56.619
and work 10 days a week. It's definitely much

01:48:56.619 --> 01:48:58.920
different than that. And then when you look at

01:48:58.920 --> 01:49:02.699
the rest of the city, the cities themselves are

01:49:02.699 --> 01:49:06.810
facing the same challenges that the— uh, fire

01:49:06.810 --> 01:49:09.189
services, right. Trying to get people into positions.

01:49:09.310 --> 01:49:11.729
So what are they doing? They're making work schedules

01:49:11.729 --> 01:49:13.930
much, much more attractive. So they're giving

01:49:13.930 --> 01:49:16.569
them half days on Fridays and they're reducing

01:49:16.569 --> 01:49:19.750
their overall work hours from 40 to whatever

01:49:19.750 --> 01:49:22.050
it is. You know what I'm saying? So that is,

01:49:22.170 --> 01:49:24.649
you know, another way that they're doing that.

01:49:24.670 --> 01:49:26.590
They're being competitive that way. And I think

01:49:26.590 --> 01:49:28.449
the fire service just has to understand that

01:49:28.449 --> 01:49:31.409
it's the same thing. And, you know, over the,

01:49:31.449 --> 01:49:34.569
the, Over the last couple of years of us having

01:49:34.569 --> 01:49:36.250
these conversations, I think we're getting to

01:49:36.250 --> 01:49:39.489
a place where we're like, listen, there's two

01:49:39.489 --> 01:49:41.270
different conversations here. There's a conversation

01:49:41.270 --> 01:49:43.369
about what our work schedule is, and then there's

01:49:43.369 --> 01:49:45.649
a conversation about pay and benefits, and they

01:49:45.649 --> 01:49:47.670
shouldn't be in the same conversation, right?

01:49:47.729 --> 01:49:50.670
So we talk about this in one spot, and then we'll

01:49:50.670 --> 01:49:53.109
talk about what the pay is in another spot. But

01:49:53.109 --> 01:49:54.909
I think a lot of departments are facing this

01:49:54.909 --> 01:49:58.029
situation where when they go into contract negotiations,

01:49:58.310 --> 01:50:01.369
they feel like if they don't, if they get the

01:50:01.369 --> 01:50:04.310
schedule, that they're hearing everybody go to

01:50:04.310 --> 01:50:06.369
with the 24 -72, then they're not going to get

01:50:06.369 --> 01:50:09.090
the money, right? And I think, was it Orlando?

01:50:09.210 --> 01:50:11.489
Did you just see Orlando signed a big contract?

01:50:11.489 --> 01:50:13.510
Yeah, they just changed money from what I understand.

01:50:13.810 --> 01:50:17.010
Yeah. So they got a really big raise, but they

01:50:17.010 --> 01:50:18.229
didn't go to the schedule, which I think was

01:50:18.229 --> 01:50:21.409
a big loss for, you know, the Florida Fire Service,

01:50:21.430 --> 01:50:25.750
especially their size and their influence. That's

01:50:25.750 --> 01:50:27.430
why I didn't share it because I was just like,

01:50:27.430 --> 01:50:30.010
what's to celebrate? You chased money again.

01:50:30.090 --> 01:50:32.430
Yeah. At the expense of the betterment of your

01:50:32.430 --> 01:50:34.590
fire department. Yeah. Congratulations. Right.

01:50:34.590 --> 01:50:36.689
And so and so how much longer will that last?

01:50:36.710 --> 01:50:38.869
You know, that might get a few more people in

01:50:38.869 --> 01:50:41.470
the door. But I think when we have these conversations

01:50:41.470 --> 01:50:44.229
with the younger firefighters, a lot of them

01:50:44.229 --> 01:50:47.829
are most of them are wanting more time off. they're

01:50:47.829 --> 01:50:50.229
smart enough now they've, they're, they're well

01:50:50.229 --> 01:50:53.449
-informed about how important that work -life

01:50:53.449 --> 01:50:56.149
balance is and, and, and getting that time. Um,

01:50:56.250 --> 01:50:58.609
just last night we had a, uh, a union meeting

01:50:58.609 --> 01:51:01.970
and afterwards, most of the, most of the younger

01:51:01.970 --> 01:51:05.550
group came up and said, so are we, is 2472 completely

01:51:05.550 --> 01:51:09.989
off the table? And, you know, I said, no, it's,

01:51:09.989 --> 01:51:14.180
you guys are the next. 25, 30 years of this department.

01:51:14.560 --> 01:51:16.859
If that's what you want, that's the power of

01:51:16.859 --> 01:51:19.199
the union is you tell them that this is what

01:51:19.199 --> 01:51:20.739
we're going to negotiate. We don't want to hear

01:51:20.739 --> 01:51:23.539
anything else. You know, a lot of times, you

01:51:23.539 --> 01:51:26.300
know, senior guys are, are, um, very influential

01:51:26.300 --> 01:51:29.300
so they can bully people into kind of what they

01:51:29.300 --> 01:51:32.800
want in some contracts, but it's always in the

01:51:32.800 --> 01:51:36.039
firefighters numbers, you know, it's always in

01:51:36.039 --> 01:51:38.609
their favor. Well, this is what's crazy. I'll

01:51:38.609 --> 01:51:41.029
kind of give you a few devil's advocate things

01:51:41.029 --> 01:51:43.329
that I get. Firstly, you know, are we going to

01:51:43.329 --> 01:51:45.649
are we going to get a pay cut because the hours

01:51:45.649 --> 01:51:48.430
are going down? No. When you went training that

01:51:48.430 --> 01:51:51.890
time, did they give you a pay cut? No. They adjusted

01:51:51.890 --> 01:51:53.789
your hourly rate. Yeah. Because your salary is

01:51:53.789 --> 01:51:56.109
your salary. That is what happened. Worst case,

01:51:56.329 --> 01:51:58.390
I mean, you know, Pasco County, they got a pay

01:51:58.390 --> 01:52:02.430
raise and 2472 simultaneously. Wow. Great, great,

01:52:02.510 --> 01:52:05.289
great union, great relationships with their people,

01:52:05.369 --> 01:52:07.029
with their city or their county in that particular

01:52:07.029 --> 01:52:10.430
example. You know, Boynton Beach is another one

01:52:10.430 --> 01:52:14.069
there. That example was their chief and some

01:52:14.069 --> 01:52:16.090
of the other, you know, fireplugs in that department

01:52:16.090 --> 01:52:21.319
pushing it. Plano, I just had there. Their former

01:52:21.319 --> 01:52:24.300
chief turned deputy city manager, Plano, Texas,

01:52:24.399 --> 01:52:26.800
the first department in Texas. Yeah. They were

01:52:26.800 --> 01:52:30.960
coming at him initially with the 4896. He said,

01:52:30.979 --> 01:52:32.859
there's no way in hell you guys are doing 48

01:52:32.859 --> 01:52:35.359
hours straight. That's insanity. Did research,

01:52:35.479 --> 01:52:38.369
ironically found the podcast. Because if you

01:52:38.369 --> 01:52:41.670
Google 2472, you know, it's the thing that comes

01:52:41.670 --> 01:52:43.689
up. Yeah. Because no one else is. There's no

01:52:43.689 --> 01:52:45.970
research. There's no one talking about it. And

01:52:45.970 --> 01:52:47.630
I'm not patting myself on the back. I'm saying,

01:52:47.670 --> 01:52:51.449
why is there not more out there? But and they

01:52:51.449 --> 01:52:54.649
he brought it to them within a single day. They

01:52:54.649 --> 01:52:57.710
had sat down, hashed it out and did this for

01:52:57.710 --> 01:53:00.489
four year plan. Yeah. First in Texas. Great interview.

01:53:00.890 --> 01:53:02.609
So, yeah, it was amazing. And that's the thing.

01:53:02.649 --> 01:53:04.409
I've got people from all these departments talking

01:53:04.409 --> 01:53:06.810
about it. And in Dixon, for example, I've done

01:53:06.810 --> 01:53:08.470
two now. And he's like, here's where we're at.

01:53:08.609 --> 01:53:10.729
You know, we filled all the spots. We're ready

01:53:10.729 --> 01:53:13.170
to go in January. The overtime has gone to basically

01:53:13.170 --> 01:53:15.729
zero. And then again, so now the money point

01:53:15.729 --> 01:53:19.170
of view, people freak out. Well, now you've got

01:53:19.170 --> 01:53:21.430
this hourly rate that's increased because you're

01:53:21.430 --> 01:53:24.829
working 42 hours a week. So every single hour

01:53:24.829 --> 01:53:27.210
of overtime that you do work, let's say the kind

01:53:27.210 --> 01:53:28.789
of overtime that would be healthy, all right,

01:53:28.829 --> 01:53:31.430
there's a parade downtown, they're putting EMS,

01:53:31.609 --> 01:53:34.270
okay, it's an eight hour shift. Every one of

01:53:34.270 --> 01:53:35.869
those hours, you're getting paid at a higher

01:53:35.869 --> 01:53:39.109
rate now. When you add a D shift, that creates

01:53:39.109 --> 01:53:41.569
huge promotional opportunities. So if you were

01:53:41.569 --> 01:53:43.890
wanting to promote, there's just a bunch of spots

01:53:43.890 --> 01:53:45.810
that opened up on three shifts that you can now

01:53:45.810 --> 01:53:49.289
start vying for. So the money is there with the

01:53:49.289 --> 01:53:53.899
2472 and it's efficient. for the same small amount

01:53:53.899 --> 01:53:56.220
of hours, you can make a lot more money. And

01:53:56.220 --> 01:53:58.579
then as you save your city and county money,

01:53:58.739 --> 01:54:02.119
because of this overtime goes away, because we

01:54:02.119 --> 01:54:04.500
should never use overtime as a staffing model.

01:54:04.579 --> 01:54:07.119
That's just such a spit in the face for every

01:54:07.119 --> 01:54:10.140
firefighter. Now you can go back and, you know,

01:54:10.140 --> 01:54:12.760
three years later and say, hey, we made all of

01:54:12.760 --> 01:54:15.859
that overtime go away. Now we would like to have,

01:54:15.979 --> 01:54:18.300
you know, because now that the work week is where

01:54:18.300 --> 01:54:20.380
it should be. Now we can talk about, you know,

01:54:20.380 --> 01:54:22.850
I would be. All about fitness standards too.

01:54:22.989 --> 01:54:25.130
Now we've made a healthier work week. We're going

01:54:25.130 --> 01:54:27.909
to put these in and, you know, not fire everyone

01:54:27.909 --> 01:54:30.529
the day after they go in, but have an on -ramp

01:54:30.529 --> 01:54:32.210
that everyone needs to be here because we take

01:54:32.210 --> 01:54:35.390
health seriously. You know, being obese as a

01:54:35.390 --> 01:54:37.829
firefighter is a death sentence. So let's address

01:54:37.829 --> 01:54:40.529
that because we care about our people. But yeah,

01:54:40.569 --> 01:54:42.010
I mean, now you can say, all right, we want,

01:54:42.090 --> 01:54:45.630
you know, 888 over three years because we've

01:54:45.630 --> 01:54:47.529
saved you this money. There is the money that

01:54:47.529 --> 01:54:49.529
we've saved. You can't say you don't have the

01:54:49.529 --> 01:54:51.270
money because we literally created the money

01:54:51.270 --> 01:54:54.550
for the next pay raise. So to say that you want

01:54:54.550 --> 01:54:57.289
money over the 2472, again, is just ignorant.

01:54:57.409 --> 01:54:59.670
And it just shows that you really haven't even

01:54:59.670 --> 01:55:02.890
cared enough to go into Google and type in 2472

01:55:02.890 --> 01:55:06.270
because the real experts on my show will explain

01:55:06.270 --> 01:55:08.789
all of this and then the lived experience from

01:55:08.789 --> 01:55:11.369
these departments. So if you're saying, oh, we'll

01:55:11.369 --> 01:55:13.130
just keep working our people into the ground

01:55:13.130 --> 01:55:15.760
and watch the recruitment crisis get worse. Because

01:55:15.760 --> 01:55:17.560
newsflash, it hasn't flattened out. It's still

01:55:17.560 --> 01:55:21.300
nosediving. But you get an extra $100 in your

01:55:21.300 --> 01:55:23.859
paycheck. What kind of a win is that really?

01:55:24.640 --> 01:55:29.600
Yeah. And the raises don't last very long. It

01:55:29.600 --> 01:55:32.600
increases morale for a minute, increases your

01:55:32.600 --> 01:55:37.239
chances of picking up somebody. But at the end

01:55:37.239 --> 01:55:41.100
of the day, when we're doing this hiring, we're

01:55:41.100 --> 01:55:44.520
seeing people. say the reason why they're coming

01:55:44.520 --> 01:55:46.100
to the department. You know, it's a question

01:55:46.100 --> 01:55:48.880
that we asked during the hiring board. And most

01:55:48.880 --> 01:55:51.840
of the time it's because they really had a good

01:55:51.840 --> 01:55:53.539
experience with somebody at the fire college.

01:55:53.640 --> 01:55:55.420
And a lot of our people are instructors at the

01:55:55.420 --> 01:55:58.720
fire college. So of the things that have brought

01:55:58.720 --> 01:56:02.300
us the most people from the fire college has

01:56:02.300 --> 01:56:05.239
been the fire college, right? It's the people.

01:56:05.300 --> 01:56:09.819
So people stay for thing. So, um, but you know,

01:56:09.819 --> 01:56:13.180
all of that, all of the ones that are new and

01:56:13.180 --> 01:56:14.760
in the department, they're, they're looking for

01:56:14.760 --> 01:56:17.659
that schedule change. So they're educated. I

01:56:17.659 --> 01:56:20.279
mean, it's, it's the best time and the worst

01:56:20.279 --> 01:56:22.359
time, right? So it used to be, you would only

01:56:22.359 --> 01:56:24.539
hear this from something you read in fire engineering.

01:56:24.739 --> 01:56:28.779
Now it's on everybody's device as fast as it

01:56:28.779 --> 01:56:31.619
comes out. When the Plano thing went out, it,

01:56:31.720 --> 01:56:33.579
you dropped it right away and people are seeing

01:56:33.579 --> 01:56:36.300
this. instantaneous and it's like it's getting

01:56:36.300 --> 01:56:38.659
momentum and you see departments sharing that

01:56:38.659 --> 01:56:40.300
you know the people that are in favor of it they'll

01:56:40.300 --> 01:56:42.520
see it they'll share it now so now it's just

01:56:42.520 --> 01:56:46.720
this this momentum that's behind you know this

01:56:46.720 --> 01:56:51.119
thing that's needs to happen so yeah 100 yeah

01:56:51.119 --> 01:56:53.399
well you mentioned about bringing your crew and

01:56:53.399 --> 01:56:56.939
one of the mentor um young men being in your

01:56:56.939 --> 01:57:01.680
crew now i was blown away how well they did.

01:57:01.760 --> 01:57:04.079
Cause I mean, I've, I've had people and I don't

01:57:04.079 --> 01:57:07.539
deliberately try and get people to, to fail in

01:57:07.539 --> 01:57:09.399
the class and I'll taper and everything, but

01:57:09.399 --> 01:57:11.920
you know, it's a tactical athlete class. If you're

01:57:11.920 --> 01:57:13.600
coming in and you're either trying to get into

01:57:13.600 --> 01:57:15.680
law enforcement or fire, or you're already wearing

01:57:15.680 --> 01:57:18.239
that uniform, there's an expectation that you're

01:57:18.239 --> 01:57:20.180
at a certain point. Now, if you walk in your

01:57:20.180 --> 01:57:21.899
dispatcher or, you know, your corrections and

01:57:21.899 --> 01:57:24.260
decondition, whatever it is, a hundred percent

01:57:24.260 --> 01:57:27.300
will scale down. But there was none of that with

01:57:27.300 --> 01:57:31.180
you a lot. They were throwing those sandbags

01:57:31.180 --> 01:57:33.859
and sleds and everything else that we had as

01:57:33.859 --> 01:57:35.779
well, if not better than anyone else that's been

01:57:35.779 --> 01:57:38.319
in my class for a long time. So firstly, I'm

01:57:38.319 --> 01:57:39.779
just going to put that out there. Shout out to

01:57:39.779 --> 01:57:42.300
your crew. They kicked ass and looking forward

01:57:42.300 --> 01:57:44.359
to seeing them back. We had a lot of fun. We're

01:57:44.359 --> 01:57:46.180
actually planning on coming back and we're excited

01:57:46.180 --> 01:57:47.399
about it. We're going to bring some people with

01:57:47.399 --> 01:57:50.399
us this next time. But yeah, and usually we're

01:57:50.399 --> 01:57:52.039
just kind of chest day guys, you know, chest

01:57:52.039 --> 01:57:56.149
and arms. That's our go -to workout. We do need

01:57:56.149 --> 01:57:57.930
to switch it up every now and then. And it's

01:57:57.930 --> 01:58:01.149
awesome that we have a place with like what you've

01:58:01.149 --> 01:58:03.949
created there where we can go and we can do that,

01:58:03.970 --> 01:58:06.250
you know, and we can work on that stuff. And

01:58:06.250 --> 01:58:09.310
we're a young department. We really are. I think

01:58:09.310 --> 01:58:11.869
a lot of probably departments across the state

01:58:11.869 --> 01:58:13.829
are in the same boat, right? So all of these

01:58:13.829 --> 01:58:17.189
people came on and these young firefighters,

01:58:17.510 --> 01:58:20.590
they're motivated. You know, I've seen it over

01:58:20.590 --> 01:58:24.229
the last 25 years. It's gone from we had strong

01:58:24.229 --> 01:58:27.010
people. Like they were strong. They worked like,

01:58:27.069 --> 01:58:29.630
you know, these are Vietnam guys and they were

01:58:29.630 --> 01:58:32.289
amazing. You would never question if they could

01:58:32.289 --> 01:58:35.850
do the job or not. And over the last couple of

01:58:35.850 --> 01:58:37.409
years, you know, a lot of those guys have retired

01:58:37.409 --> 01:58:40.409
off. And so we've got this new generation and

01:58:40.409 --> 01:58:42.109
people shit on them sometimes. They're like,

01:58:42.170 --> 01:58:44.109
oh, they're, you know, they're lazy and they

01:58:44.109 --> 01:58:46.069
don't want to work. And that's not the experience

01:58:46.069 --> 01:58:49.069
I've had at all. Like I've seen, you know, people

01:58:49.069 --> 01:58:51.270
that are motivated to do this job. They want

01:58:51.270 --> 01:58:53.409
to stay in shape. They spend time going to the

01:58:53.409 --> 01:58:57.189
gym. They eat. really well. Um, and they, they

01:58:57.189 --> 01:59:00.189
take it serious, you know, and, and, you know,

01:59:00.189 --> 01:59:02.390
that, that crew that day was, you know, some,

01:59:02.470 --> 01:59:04.930
most of them were the normal crew there, but

01:59:04.930 --> 01:59:07.029
there was some that floated in. And I would say

01:59:07.029 --> 01:59:09.909
that pretty much 90 % of our department would

01:59:09.909 --> 01:59:12.750
be willing to go and do a class like that and

01:59:12.750 --> 01:59:16.090
give full effort because, um, you know, we've,

01:59:16.090 --> 01:59:17.590
we've got a department that takes that, that

01:59:17.590 --> 01:59:21.880
stuff serious. And the you know, any given shift

01:59:21.880 --> 01:59:24.000
that I work overtime or something like that,

01:59:24.039 --> 01:59:26.159
you know, most of them will go out there at the

01:59:26.159 --> 01:59:29.600
workout time and put a workout in. And, and,

01:59:29.619 --> 01:59:32.920
um, so I'm, I'm excited to see that the, that

01:59:32.920 --> 01:59:36.020
today's firefighters are taking it as serious

01:59:36.020 --> 01:59:39.140
as it is that, that, that, um, you know, health

01:59:39.140 --> 01:59:42.850
is, is a priority to them. So. i've said this

01:59:42.850 --> 01:59:44.810
a lot of course i mean we've all met the entitled

01:59:44.810 --> 01:59:47.430
young people and i've met lots of entitled old

01:59:47.430 --> 01:59:50.329
people too you know that exists every every culture

01:59:50.329 --> 01:59:53.079
right But, you know, this is one thing I've heard

01:59:53.079 --> 01:59:55.119
over and over again, and it's said with respect

01:59:55.119 --> 01:59:57.439
for that group is that, you know, firstly, the

01:59:57.439 --> 01:59:59.760
fit firefighter candidates we're getting now

01:59:59.760 --> 02:00:02.659
are in really good shape because luckily for

02:00:02.659 --> 02:00:04.739
them, they've come in where CrossFit and mud

02:00:04.739 --> 02:00:07.199
runs and all these other things are a thing now,

02:00:07.279 --> 02:00:09.859
even in stations, in departments, which is phenomenal.

02:00:10.399 --> 02:00:13.100
But then, as you alluded to earlier, they value

02:00:13.100 --> 02:00:15.340
their physical health, their mental health, their

02:00:15.340 --> 02:00:18.180
relationships. So that's not them not wanting

02:00:18.180 --> 02:00:20.600
to work. It's them looking from the outside in

02:00:20.600 --> 02:00:22.500
some departments and going, wait a second, 56,

02:00:22.779 --> 02:00:26.319
no Kelly, mandatory overtime. That does not sound

02:00:26.319 --> 02:00:28.500
like a healthy environment. No, thank you. I'm

02:00:28.500 --> 02:00:31.060
going to go be a welder. But we have an opportunity

02:00:31.060 --> 02:00:33.020
because a lot of Gen Zs are going into the trades

02:00:33.020 --> 02:00:35.340
because they're having that same, like we looked

02:00:35.340 --> 02:00:36.579
at, you know, we talked about, you know, they're

02:00:36.579 --> 02:00:39.100
looking at college going, you know, four years

02:00:39.100 --> 02:00:42.359
of my life. $60 ,000 in debt for a piece of paper

02:00:42.359 --> 02:00:43.760
that doesn't give you a job. Writing a bunch

02:00:43.760 --> 02:00:47.239
of stupid essays. Exactly. Exactly. So they are

02:00:47.239 --> 02:00:49.659
leaning into the trade. So we have a whole generation

02:00:49.659 --> 02:00:52.260
that wants to do what we do, but we've got to

02:00:52.260 --> 02:00:54.720
fix the things that are broken, the working environment.

02:00:54.939 --> 02:00:57.460
So I hate it when people say, oh, kids today.

02:00:57.579 --> 02:00:59.800
It's because, no, no, you're wrong. It sounds

02:00:59.800 --> 02:01:01.140
like you're the one with the problem if you're

02:01:01.140 --> 02:01:04.720
saying shit like that. Exactly. Exactly. Yep.

02:01:04.779 --> 02:01:09.680
There. It's been great to see, you know, this.

02:01:10.119 --> 02:01:12.479
I'm excited about this next generation. I'm definitely

02:01:12.479 --> 02:01:14.819
not one of the ones that are saying that we're

02:01:14.819 --> 02:01:16.920
screwed because I think the complete opposite.

02:01:17.000 --> 02:01:19.300
And, you know, it's funny because you made me

02:01:19.300 --> 02:01:21.439
think about a conversation we had the other day

02:01:21.439 --> 02:01:23.239
at the station. Somebody woke up and like, man,

02:01:23.420 --> 02:01:27.779
my shit was sleep. There we go. Yeah. My sleep

02:01:27.779 --> 02:01:30.819
was shit because they've got all these wearable

02:01:30.819 --> 02:01:33.300
devices and, you know, they're still getting

02:01:33.300 --> 02:01:36.600
better every day, but they're conscious of it.

02:01:36.640 --> 02:01:38.579
You know what I mean? I don't remember that conversation

02:01:38.579 --> 02:01:40.840
20 something years ago. Like nobody talked about

02:01:40.840 --> 02:01:43.539
that, but them getting up now going, whew, man,

02:01:43.640 --> 02:01:46.260
I got a three on my sleep score last night. Like,

02:01:46.279 --> 02:01:49.100
that's cool that they're, they, they see that

02:01:49.100 --> 02:01:51.359
stuff, you know, and they're, they're, they're

02:01:51.359 --> 02:01:54.300
working on it. And even like run clubs and all

02:01:54.300 --> 02:01:57.300
that stuff now are so popular. Because people

02:01:57.300 --> 02:01:59.420
are going away from that just, oh, we're just

02:01:59.420 --> 02:02:01.720
going to go out to the bar and get drunk or we're

02:02:01.720 --> 02:02:03.899
just going to go to the club. You know, now people

02:02:03.899 --> 02:02:05.479
are going to bed early because they know they

02:02:05.479 --> 02:02:08.260
got to get up at 5 a .m. to go hit the run club.

02:02:08.460 --> 02:02:11.460
And, you know, that's awesome. We have a run

02:02:11.460 --> 02:02:14.899
club here that, you know, 300 people showing

02:02:14.899 --> 02:02:18.300
up, 300 plus people showing up at freaking 5

02:02:18.300 --> 02:02:20.600
o 'clock in the morning. It blew my mind the

02:02:20.600 --> 02:02:22.159
first time somebody. told me to go out there

02:02:22.159 --> 02:02:23.479
and check it out. And I've been running for a

02:02:23.479 --> 02:02:26.220
long time and I was like, okay, well I'll go

02:02:26.220 --> 02:02:28.520
see. And the amount of people that were out there

02:02:28.520 --> 02:02:31.359
and they were excited and it was motivating.

02:02:31.420 --> 02:02:34.060
There was like dude on a blow, uh, uh, what do

02:02:34.060 --> 02:02:36.300
you call it? Yeah. And he's like, all right,

02:02:36.380 --> 02:02:38.140
good morning. Welcome to the run club. I was

02:02:38.140 --> 02:02:42.220
like, this is awesome. You know? And it's been

02:02:42.220 --> 02:02:44.000
an awesome for us because we've been able to

02:02:44.000 --> 02:02:46.529
kind of like get together as a group. you know,

02:02:46.529 --> 02:02:48.489
the firefighters, and then also some of the mentorship

02:02:48.489 --> 02:02:50.649
kids will come out and be out there early in

02:02:50.649 --> 02:02:53.050
the morning, go for our run and start our day.

02:02:53.369 --> 02:02:55.930
You know, first thing like that, that that's

02:02:55.930 --> 02:02:57.510
like gives you, it feels like you have so much

02:02:57.510 --> 02:02:59.829
more day, but what that does on the back end

02:02:59.829 --> 02:03:01.409
is it's like, all right, we're going to bed early.

02:03:01.510 --> 02:03:03.510
I'm not messing around. I'm not doom scrolling.

02:03:03.630 --> 02:03:05.489
Cause I got like four o 'clock is going to come

02:03:05.489 --> 02:03:08.210
real fast. Um, so it's awesome that you have

02:03:08.210 --> 02:03:10.470
healthy habits like that, that can, you know,

02:03:10.819 --> 02:03:12.680
inspire a bunch of people and it's, they've been

02:03:12.680 --> 02:03:14.880
doing a great job with it. So, um, I want to

02:03:14.880 --> 02:03:17.340
get you out there one day. Yeah. I don't do well

02:03:17.340 --> 02:03:19.340
in the mornings after I'll come pick you up.

02:03:19.520 --> 02:03:23.119
Yeah. I can roll out of bed. No problem. Um,

02:03:23.279 --> 02:03:24.960
well, speaking of running the last thing before

02:03:24.960 --> 02:03:28.260
we go to some, some closing questions, you don't

02:03:28.260 --> 02:03:32.060
just run, you've started something that you've

02:03:32.060 --> 02:03:36.100
been consistent come hell or high water. So What

02:03:36.100 --> 02:03:38.560
made you even get into running and talk to me

02:03:38.560 --> 02:03:40.739
about what you've done over the last eight plus

02:03:40.739 --> 02:03:43.819
years? Yeah. So I've, I've always kind of been

02:03:43.819 --> 02:03:47.020
a runner a little bit off and on. Um, and then

02:03:47.020 --> 02:03:51.039
back in like, it was December of 2016, I got,

02:03:51.079 --> 02:03:55.460
I had one of those running naps and I was just

02:03:55.460 --> 02:03:58.960
kind of running that month. Right. And, you know,

02:03:58.960 --> 02:04:02.789
just was into it. I looked back at the end of

02:04:02.789 --> 02:04:04.569
the month and I saw that I had run every day

02:04:04.569 --> 02:04:07.130
that month. I was like, Whoa, that's pretty cool.

02:04:07.229 --> 02:04:09.090
You know, and it was all pretty good distance.

02:04:09.130 --> 02:04:12.210
Like everything was over a 5k. So I said, all

02:04:12.210 --> 02:04:14.109
right. So I did that for one month. I wonder

02:04:14.109 --> 02:04:16.850
if I can do it for two months. And so of course,

02:04:16.850 --> 02:04:19.829
next month ran another full month and everything

02:04:19.829 --> 02:04:22.619
was over the distance of 5k. And I said, oh,

02:04:22.680 --> 02:04:24.819
I wonder how long I can get this, keep this going.

02:04:25.180 --> 02:04:27.819
So then since then, I've been running at least

02:04:27.819 --> 02:04:31.159
a 5k every day. No matter what, I've done it

02:04:31.159 --> 02:04:34.319
when I was sick, injured, had the shits, like,

02:04:34.420 --> 02:04:37.899
you know, every. The shits were your fastest

02:04:37.899 --> 02:04:40.260
5k. Yeah, it was really bad. Like sometimes you

02:04:40.260 --> 02:04:42.630
got to find the woods and. lost a couple of socks

02:04:42.630 --> 02:04:46.250
that way, but you know, it's, it has been amazing.

02:04:46.430 --> 02:04:49.609
And so today before I came, when we recorded

02:04:49.609 --> 02:04:54.729
this, I did my 3 ,270th run straight, which is

02:04:54.729 --> 02:04:58.510
eight years, 11 months and 13 days. Um, yeah.

02:04:58.590 --> 02:05:00.970
So it's been kind of a cool little journey and,

02:05:00.970 --> 02:05:04.489
um, I've learned so much more about myself than

02:05:04.489 --> 02:05:06.729
just, you know, what I can do physically. Like

02:05:06.729 --> 02:05:10.029
it's, it takes a commitment to, you know, get

02:05:10.029 --> 02:05:12.930
out there every day and do it. It's, you know,

02:05:12.970 --> 02:05:15.210
again, my poor wife has to deal with that because

02:05:15.210 --> 02:05:17.430
when she's trying to make plans, you know, I,

02:05:17.430 --> 02:05:19.649
I, I've got to work on that run. I've got to

02:05:19.649 --> 02:05:22.750
get my run in for that day. Um, so it's, you

02:05:22.750 --> 02:05:24.829
know, challenged me in my relationship, but you

02:05:24.829 --> 02:05:27.949
know, I've say, okay, I organized my day where

02:05:27.949 --> 02:05:30.390
I can find it. Uh, recently we went on a road

02:05:30.390 --> 02:05:32.270
trip. Well, last year we went on a road trip

02:05:32.270 --> 02:05:34.850
up to New York. We were going to, um, we were

02:05:34.850 --> 02:05:38.829
going to, um, what's the big waterfall up there?

02:05:39.229 --> 02:05:41.229
Niagara Falls. Yeah, so we're going Niagara Falls

02:05:41.229 --> 02:05:42.630
and we're driving straight through. We're starting

02:05:42.630 --> 02:05:44.750
in Ocala and we're driving all the way through.

02:05:44.850 --> 02:05:48.689
So we drove the entire day and, you know, I had

02:05:48.689 --> 02:05:50.649
to run at a rest stop. So we're at one of these

02:05:50.649 --> 02:05:51.970
little rest stops on the side of the road and

02:05:51.970 --> 02:05:54.270
I'm just doing loops around it to get my miles

02:05:54.270 --> 02:05:56.989
in. So I've had to do that before. I've run in

02:05:56.989 --> 02:05:59.390
a Walmart parking lot when we went to Texas.

02:05:59.470 --> 02:06:02.189
So kind of getting, you know, these run -ins

02:06:02.189 --> 02:06:04.770
sometimes become a challenge. But it's been good.

02:06:05.650 --> 02:06:09.670
It helps me to clear my mind. Like even today's

02:06:09.670 --> 02:06:11.670
run was really good because I wanted to think,

02:06:11.689 --> 02:06:13.189
I was trying to think about what we were going

02:06:13.189 --> 02:06:16.770
to talk about. And it quiets everything down.

02:06:16.829 --> 02:06:20.350
And to be on that run, to be on task like that,

02:06:20.449 --> 02:06:23.170
it takes away a lot of the other stuff and it

02:06:23.170 --> 02:06:24.869
helps you to think through things. I've come

02:06:24.869 --> 02:06:26.850
up with some of the best solutions to problems

02:06:26.850 --> 02:06:29.550
I've been dealing with on a run, you know, because

02:06:29.550 --> 02:06:31.050
I don't know if it's, I don't know if it's because

02:06:31.050 --> 02:06:35.609
of like, you're just, you know. or what it is,

02:06:35.670 --> 02:06:38.770
but it's definitely helped. I'm not the greatest

02:06:38.770 --> 02:06:41.510
runner. I'm not the fastest runner. I can't run

02:06:41.510 --> 02:06:46.789
these ultra mega 200 mile runs. That's not who

02:06:46.789 --> 02:06:50.010
I am, but I am dedicated to do it every day as

02:06:50.010 --> 02:06:52.010
long as I'm healthy. And it's been a blessing

02:06:52.010 --> 02:06:54.810
because it's helped me to kind of understand

02:06:54.810 --> 02:06:59.289
how valuable mobility is, right? So the fact

02:06:59.289 --> 02:07:01.250
that I can get up and I can run, like I'm...

02:07:01.600 --> 02:07:04.220
I appreciate that. It's easy to not appreciate

02:07:04.220 --> 02:07:06.800
that, right? To take it for granted. And I think

02:07:06.800 --> 02:07:08.960
that, you know, as you think about this thing

02:07:08.960 --> 02:07:10.979
that you're doing and then every day you're doing

02:07:10.979 --> 02:07:13.140
it and every day you're doing it, uh, it helps

02:07:13.140 --> 02:07:15.399
you to put in perspective and think like, how,

02:07:15.539 --> 02:07:18.600
how amazing is it that I can get up and go run

02:07:18.600 --> 02:07:21.920
for 30 minutes, an hour, two hours, something

02:07:21.920 --> 02:07:25.409
like that. And then, um, you know, get back and

02:07:25.409 --> 02:07:27.909
I've, and I've accomplished something. So that's

02:07:27.909 --> 02:07:30.189
been pretty awesome, but it does take some motivating

02:07:30.189 --> 02:07:33.409
to do. So in that I've tried to find little things

02:07:33.409 --> 02:07:36.189
to motivate myself into doing it. One is, um,

02:07:36.369 --> 02:07:38.550
going different places and running. So spending

02:07:38.550 --> 02:07:40.689
some time looking at like all trails and places

02:07:40.689 --> 02:07:43.449
where I can find cool running place, running

02:07:43.449 --> 02:07:46.029
trails to go on. So I've done a lot of the Florida

02:07:46.029 --> 02:07:49.359
trail. I've run on a lot of Florida trail. enjoy

02:07:49.359 --> 02:07:51.739
being out in nature. And that's been awesome

02:07:51.739 --> 02:07:54.300
to run. This is an amazing trail system that

02:07:54.300 --> 02:07:56.659
we have here in Florida. I've run on the Appalachian

02:07:56.659 --> 02:07:59.619
Trail and a couple of different states. Once

02:07:59.619 --> 02:08:01.220
you come out of Florida, everything is hilly

02:08:01.220 --> 02:08:05.359
and it's horrible. So I've got to see that. And

02:08:05.359 --> 02:08:07.220
then also recently, one of the things I've done

02:08:07.220 --> 02:08:09.699
to kind of keep myself motivated is I've started

02:08:09.699 --> 02:08:12.880
running in my zone. So one of the things that

02:08:12.880 --> 02:08:14.600
I've noticed when I was running in these different

02:08:14.600 --> 02:08:18.939
cities is that the best way to see a city, is

02:08:18.939 --> 02:08:21.680
to run it, get up early, go run through. I did

02:08:21.680 --> 02:08:24.300
in Seattle and it was awesome. I seen like all

02:08:24.300 --> 02:08:26.340
the garbage by the side of the road and it was

02:08:26.340 --> 02:08:28.220
quiet. There wasn't a lot of people out there.

02:08:28.460 --> 02:08:31.140
And, and it's, you know, that first thing in

02:08:31.140 --> 02:08:32.420
the morning when the city is starting to come

02:08:32.420 --> 02:08:35.020
alive and the first light is starting to hit

02:08:35.020 --> 02:08:37.539
this, these areas, you see it in a whole different

02:08:37.539 --> 02:08:40.949
perspective and it's amazing. So I've really

02:08:40.949 --> 02:08:44.250
learned to appreciate that. And then I was thinking,

02:08:44.289 --> 02:08:47.489
what if I did that in my first do? And so I'll

02:08:47.489 --> 02:08:49.229
just kind of start this area here and I'll run

02:08:49.229 --> 02:08:51.050
in my first do and I'll run down all of these

02:08:51.050 --> 02:08:52.710
streets. I haven't been on every street in the

02:08:52.710 --> 02:08:54.010
city. I've been here for 25 years, but I haven't

02:08:54.010 --> 02:08:57.149
been on every street. Let me do that. And what

02:08:57.149 --> 02:08:59.789
I've learned from that is, you know, the type

02:08:59.789 --> 02:09:01.930
of houses that are in that area, the type of

02:09:01.930 --> 02:09:04.909
alleyways that are there, where streets cross.

02:09:05.090 --> 02:09:06.970
And some of the biggest things is where streets

02:09:06.970 --> 02:09:10.159
stop. So, you know, going, working a territory,

02:09:10.220 --> 02:09:13.079
you'll know that it'll be, you know, the intersection

02:09:13.079 --> 02:09:18.119
of 13th street and 14th Ave. And you would think

02:09:18.119 --> 02:09:20.579
if you just jump, jump on 13th street, you'll

02:09:20.579 --> 02:09:22.479
get right to 14th Ave, but that doesn't always

02:09:22.479 --> 02:09:24.119
work because they'll put a park in the middle

02:09:24.119 --> 02:09:27.720
or something like that. Um, and so you see that

02:09:27.720 --> 02:09:29.920
you kind of see how the city's grown up over,

02:09:29.979 --> 02:09:33.939
um, in certain areas. And then like, um, Just

02:09:33.939 --> 02:09:36.680
recently, I did an area over there by the old

02:09:36.680 --> 02:09:39.180
train station. So back in there, some industrial

02:09:39.180 --> 02:09:42.399
spots where they have like fuel depots and just

02:09:42.399 --> 02:09:45.420
target hazards that if we got something there,

02:09:45.460 --> 02:09:46.840
it'd be good to know what we're getting ourselves

02:09:46.840 --> 02:09:49.199
into and probably a good spot to stage and stuff

02:09:49.199 --> 02:09:52.420
like that. So you get to see buildings and you

02:09:52.420 --> 02:09:54.100
slow down and you figure out how these cross

02:09:54.100 --> 02:09:56.859
streets work, where the train tracks are, that

02:09:56.859 --> 02:09:58.859
if you went this way, you're going to get stuck

02:09:58.859 --> 02:10:01.479
at the train if it's coming. So it really has

02:10:01.479 --> 02:10:04.760
been. Something that tied in, you know, my passion

02:10:04.760 --> 02:10:07.319
for running and then also my passion for the

02:10:07.319 --> 02:10:09.779
job. So it's been kind of cool doing that. And

02:10:09.779 --> 02:10:12.920
it's given me some talking points to. with the

02:10:12.920 --> 02:10:14.859
crews, my crew, you know, like I could say, Hey,

02:10:14.880 --> 02:10:16.560
the other day I was running over this area here

02:10:16.560 --> 02:10:19.479
and there's this crazy warehouse that, um, is

02:10:19.479 --> 02:10:21.359
set back really far. And if we're going to go

02:10:21.359 --> 02:10:23.020
this way, let's go, let's go ride by it real

02:10:23.020 --> 02:10:24.539
quick. I want to show you guys this because you

02:10:24.539 --> 02:10:26.260
want to share it. I think that was one of the

02:10:26.260 --> 02:10:28.859
biggest takeaways when I was in prevention, I

02:10:28.859 --> 02:10:30.880
would see these buildings and I would do all

02:10:30.880 --> 02:10:32.819
of these walkthroughs and inspections and stuff

02:10:32.819 --> 02:10:36.439
like that. And It was stuff that I felt like

02:10:36.439 --> 02:10:38.800
needed to be shared with the rest of the department.

02:10:39.260 --> 02:10:41.520
And I'm seeing that same thing on some of these

02:10:41.520 --> 02:10:46.220
runs. So I've got a couple more days where I

02:10:46.220 --> 02:10:48.000
got to get these runs in. I don't know how long

02:10:48.000 --> 02:10:49.920
it's going to take me, but I'm hoping that I

02:10:49.920 --> 02:10:51.859
get it done in the next couple months. And then

02:10:51.859 --> 02:10:53.460
it's on to the rest of the city. And I'll see

02:10:53.460 --> 02:10:55.659
if I can run every street in the city of Ocala.

02:10:55.739 --> 02:10:59.220
That'd be kind of a cool accomplishment. And

02:10:59.220 --> 02:11:01.020
I'll probably see a lot. So I'll probably one

02:11:01.020 --> 02:11:03.619
day be running by your house here. It's a nice

02:11:03.619 --> 02:11:06.760
place to run. I would imagine, you know what

02:11:06.760 --> 02:11:09.079
the craziest thing about when you run in like

02:11:09.079 --> 02:11:12.500
a concentrated area. So right now, if we said,

02:11:12.539 --> 02:11:14.939
Hey James, let's go do a, let's go do four miles,

02:11:15.000 --> 02:11:17.239
right? We'll run out of the neighborhood. We'll

02:11:17.239 --> 02:11:21.100
go down 200 and we'll go to the Wawa. We'll turn

02:11:21.100 --> 02:11:22.479
around. That'll, that'll get us our four miles.

02:11:23.039 --> 02:11:25.539
It's crazy how many miles you get. If you just

02:11:25.539 --> 02:11:27.180
said, all right, we're going to run every street

02:11:27.180 --> 02:11:30.020
in this, in this neighborhood. And it would be

02:11:30.020 --> 02:11:33.149
like. 20 miles because you go up, you go down.

02:11:33.149 --> 02:11:35.149
And basically what I'm doing is my little app.

02:11:35.210 --> 02:11:36.890
I try to like paint every street and I look,

02:11:36.909 --> 02:11:38.529
I'm looking at it like, okay, I got to go back.

02:11:38.529 --> 02:11:40.090
And you're trying to figure out how you're going

02:11:40.090 --> 02:11:43.350
to go back and do all this stuff. And, um, I

02:11:43.350 --> 02:11:46.390
don't know how many miles of roads there is in

02:11:46.390 --> 02:11:48.829
Ocala and I'm sure there's a figure somewhere,

02:11:49.010 --> 02:11:52.920
but I'm, I would imagine it is a lot. And anybody

02:11:52.920 --> 02:11:55.960
in any town can do something like that. And it's

02:11:55.960 --> 02:11:57.239
cool because a lot of these roads, there's no

02:11:57.239 --> 02:11:59.119
traffic. So that's the other thing is you're

02:11:59.119 --> 02:12:01.199
in here sometimes battling with traffic. And

02:12:01.199 --> 02:12:02.880
when you're running on these kind of side streets,

02:12:03.260 --> 02:12:07.960
it's not that bad. But yeah, that's kind of a

02:12:07.960 --> 02:12:11.060
hobby of mine. When were you running in Texas?

02:12:11.359 --> 02:12:17.739
How long ago? It was one of my cousin's wedding.

02:12:17.840 --> 02:12:20.640
And I think he's been married for five or six

02:12:20.640 --> 02:12:23.300
years. Okay, because a Hispanic man running through

02:12:23.300 --> 02:12:25.039
Texas at the moment, you might end up in an ice

02:12:25.039 --> 02:12:27.920
van. So it's probably a good time. Yeah, yeah,

02:12:28.000 --> 02:12:30.420
yeah. A little more dangerous than, yeah, that

02:12:30.420 --> 02:12:34.819
would be something. All right. Well, no, I think

02:12:34.819 --> 02:12:36.359
it's phenomenal, though. It's funny with the

02:12:36.359 --> 02:12:38.000
prevention side. It'd be interesting to see if

02:12:38.000 --> 02:12:39.920
there were any kind of career stories there.

02:12:40.039 --> 02:12:43.880
But we had to do inspections at Anaheim. And

02:12:43.880 --> 02:12:46.760
one example I remember of how good it was, I

02:12:46.760 --> 02:12:48.319
mean, you see all these facilities, you know,

02:12:48.319 --> 02:12:51.640
different hazards and manufacturing. There was

02:12:51.640 --> 02:12:56.359
one where this gentleman who's a scientist kind

02:12:56.359 --> 02:12:59.399
of did weathering so he could age your product

02:12:59.399 --> 02:13:01.119
for you and tell you how long. And I would imagine

02:13:01.119 --> 02:13:04.899
he's probably not with us anymore. But there

02:13:04.899 --> 02:13:07.439
was someone living within that facility, not

02:13:07.439 --> 02:13:10.340
legally, but there was a bedroom within that.

02:13:10.479 --> 02:13:12.600
And then there was a shitload of bees in the

02:13:12.600 --> 02:13:15.279
back too. So you had all these chemicals and

02:13:15.279 --> 02:13:19.000
potions. You had a life safety issue. And then

02:13:19.000 --> 02:13:22.659
you had hives of bees. So if you just got called

02:13:22.659 --> 02:13:25.460
to that address, you would have no idea. But

02:13:25.460 --> 02:13:28.439
knowing in that particular situation to bunker

02:13:28.439 --> 02:13:31.479
up or mask up before you get to the bees, go

02:13:31.479 --> 02:13:33.720
back, hope that you can cut a door and get to

02:13:33.720 --> 02:13:35.800
that person if it's not too fully involved and

02:13:35.800 --> 02:13:39.020
then get your ass out, you know, or just knowing

02:13:39.020 --> 02:13:41.119
that that person's done if there's a significant

02:13:41.119 --> 02:13:43.920
fire there. You wouldn't know that unless you

02:13:43.920 --> 02:13:46.720
were in that building. So I'm a huge fan of,

02:13:46.720 --> 02:13:49.140
you know, even the regular firefighters doing

02:13:49.140 --> 02:13:51.319
some sort of inspection. It can be cursory, but

02:13:51.319 --> 02:13:53.060
rather than testing hydrants, I mean, that should

02:13:53.060 --> 02:13:55.920
be a water department job. If that's your hydrant,

02:13:55.939 --> 02:13:58.359
make sure it works for us. But yeah, going into

02:13:58.359 --> 02:14:01.180
these businesses and places where, you know.

02:14:01.520 --> 02:14:03.479
God knows there might be, you know, you go onto

02:14:03.479 --> 02:14:05.079
the roof of some of these buildings and the AC

02:14:05.079 --> 02:14:07.619
unit is, you know, tons and tons and tons. Okay.

02:14:07.720 --> 02:14:09.659
We probably don't want to get under that. Yeah.

02:14:09.760 --> 02:14:12.619
Um, those are invaluable. So what about when

02:14:12.619 --> 02:14:14.199
you were in the prevention side, you don't have

02:14:14.199 --> 02:14:17.199
to name businesses, but were there any, any places

02:14:17.199 --> 02:14:19.399
you went into and you're like, Jesus Christ,

02:14:19.479 --> 02:14:21.460
there's so many, there's so many in James. And

02:14:21.460 --> 02:14:23.180
we run into that a couple of times too, where

02:14:23.180 --> 02:14:26.619
there was people live in, um, inside buildings

02:14:26.619 --> 02:14:28.800
where they shouldn't have been living. Um, you

02:14:28.800 --> 02:14:31.600
know, and had to deal with that is a. It's kind

02:14:31.600 --> 02:14:35.739
of a tough gig. You work independently. You lose

02:14:35.739 --> 02:14:39.140
that crew. A lot of reason why people get into

02:14:39.140 --> 02:14:40.779
the fire service, they want to be part of a crew.

02:14:40.899 --> 02:14:43.100
They want to be part of a team. Inspectors are

02:14:43.100 --> 02:14:46.289
out there. grinding it out inspection after inspection

02:14:46.289 --> 02:14:48.949
by themselves just kind of dealing with the businesses

02:14:48.949 --> 02:14:51.430
so you kind of lose that connection it's not

02:14:51.430 --> 02:14:53.710
the most glamorous position in the fire service

02:14:53.710 --> 02:14:56.609
but man is it valuable and you see so many things

02:14:56.609 --> 02:14:58.750
like that one of the really cool things that

02:14:58.750 --> 02:15:01.090
i was able to do is i left prevention and went

02:15:01.090 --> 02:15:05.939
into training so i had all of those Like locations

02:15:05.939 --> 02:15:08.359
in mine where this is a crazy target hazard.

02:15:09.119 --> 02:15:11.859
Buildings downtown that are over 100 years old

02:15:11.859 --> 02:15:14.840
that have these really weird stairwells and they

02:15:14.840 --> 02:15:17.699
shoot out to nowhere. They've got basements.

02:15:17.840 --> 02:15:20.659
In Florida, we don't think a lot about basements.

02:15:20.779 --> 02:15:23.319
In the historic part of Ocala, there's a ton

02:15:23.319 --> 02:15:25.619
of basements. And I identified a ton of these

02:15:25.619 --> 02:15:27.960
and I was like, wow, this is something that the

02:15:27.960 --> 02:15:30.880
crews need to be aware of. So I was able to kind

02:15:30.880 --> 02:15:32.420
of transition the stuff that I learned while

02:15:32.420 --> 02:15:35.500
I was in prevention. as a training officer and

02:15:35.500 --> 02:15:37.840
bring crews through and do these walkthroughs.

02:15:37.859 --> 02:15:41.399
And you know, the, the fun training is when we

02:15:41.399 --> 02:15:43.399
can put our bunker gear on and do firefighter

02:15:43.399 --> 02:15:46.899
shit. Like that's, that's fun. But these actual

02:15:46.899 --> 02:15:49.119
walkthroughs were so valuable because it really

02:15:49.119 --> 02:15:51.579
gave us an opportunity to talk about how long

02:15:51.579 --> 02:15:54.359
the stretch was going to be, what type of line

02:15:54.359 --> 02:15:56.939
we would bring in initially, how we would recon

02:15:56.939 --> 02:15:58.859
figure out where the fire is because some of

02:15:58.859 --> 02:16:00.380
these big buildings, you've got to really slow

02:16:00.380 --> 02:16:03.319
down. Like we're so used to these single family

02:16:03.319 --> 02:16:06.880
residential structures where we show up and just

02:16:06.880 --> 02:16:09.260
go as fast as we can to put the fire out. That

02:16:09.260 --> 02:16:11.539
same tactic is not going to work in these big

02:16:11.539 --> 02:16:13.840
box or these big strip malls or something like

02:16:13.840 --> 02:16:15.520
that. We got to slow down, figure out exactly

02:16:15.520 --> 02:16:18.520
what's going on, figure out which one's on fire

02:16:18.520 --> 02:16:21.550
and know how they connect. get somebody from

02:16:21.550 --> 02:16:24.890
the facility that knows it. Um, and so we were

02:16:24.890 --> 02:16:26.149
able to, you know, I was able to kind of start

02:16:26.149 --> 02:16:28.050
a program where we were doing a lot of these

02:16:28.050 --> 02:16:30.449
walkthroughs at the different, um, target hazards

02:16:30.449 --> 02:16:32.530
that I identified when, when I was in prevention.

02:16:32.829 --> 02:16:35.290
So, um, that was really cool to kind of bring

02:16:35.290 --> 02:16:37.629
that to the, to the guys. And, and, and it all

02:16:37.629 --> 02:16:40.590
came from that feeling. And I know you probably

02:16:40.590 --> 02:16:42.950
felt it when you were doing these company level

02:16:42.950 --> 02:16:45.350
inspections, like everybody needs to know this,

02:16:45.409 --> 02:16:47.069
you know what I mean? There's certain places

02:16:47.069 --> 02:16:49.500
where you go and you're just like, Everybody

02:16:49.500 --> 02:16:52.200
needs to see this in the department. And it's,

02:16:52.200 --> 02:16:54.579
you know, either it's an email going out or something

02:16:54.579 --> 02:16:57.540
like that. But, you know, there's nothing more

02:16:57.540 --> 02:16:59.500
valuable than actually putting your own eyes

02:16:59.500 --> 02:17:02.479
on it. So, you know, we were able to do a ton

02:17:02.479 --> 02:17:05.299
of those. And even now I've been doing crew level

02:17:05.299 --> 02:17:07.799
inspections with the guys that I'm working with

02:17:07.799 --> 02:17:10.459
now and then trying to bring other crews down

02:17:10.459 --> 02:17:13.219
and go through, you know, our first due area

02:17:13.219 --> 02:17:16.290
and what's out there. And then even... Every

02:17:16.290 --> 02:17:19.309
month it changes. So on my way driving into here

02:17:19.309 --> 02:17:23.229
to see you, you know, that road that leads into

02:17:23.229 --> 02:17:25.030
the neighborhood, all of those new apartments

02:17:25.030 --> 02:17:27.629
are going in. Those are all wood frame construction.

02:17:28.530 --> 02:17:31.309
They're very low protection. So you've got a

02:17:31.309 --> 02:17:34.549
complete three story apartment complex with.

02:17:35.200 --> 02:17:37.340
wood frame and a small little sprinkler system

02:17:37.340 --> 02:17:40.200
that's designed to you know contain it but not

02:17:40.200 --> 02:17:42.159
extinguish it can you imagine if they went up

02:17:42.159 --> 02:17:44.379
at this point where they are now man they had

02:17:44.379 --> 02:17:47.100
that in anaheim right yeah right when i got hired

02:17:47.100 --> 02:17:48.920
so when we were in the academy they just had

02:17:48.920 --> 02:17:51.780
it but it's kind of like that big apartment complex

02:17:51.780 --> 02:17:55.399
but still in the timber phase and it raised everything

02:17:55.399 --> 02:17:57.739
everything was gone right across from angel stadium

02:17:57.739 --> 02:18:00.399
oh yeah So, yeah, I mean, you've got the exposure.

02:18:00.500 --> 02:18:02.340
So if one goes up, then they're all going to

02:18:02.340 --> 02:18:04.079
light up. They're the most dangerous at this

02:18:04.079 --> 02:18:07.079
point, too, because now none of your stairwells

02:18:07.079 --> 02:18:09.899
are set up. None of your standpipes are in. Like,

02:18:09.920 --> 02:18:12.799
it's just everything's kind of loose. And if

02:18:12.799 --> 02:18:14.559
you're going there to fight fire, you know, you're

02:18:14.559 --> 02:18:17.559
expecting a certain level of the building being

02:18:17.559 --> 02:18:20.299
stable. And that stability isn't there at this

02:18:20.299 --> 02:18:22.780
point in the construction phase. And we spent

02:18:22.780 --> 02:18:24.819
a lot of time kind of working at job sites trying

02:18:24.819 --> 02:18:27.639
to keep them from catching fire because, you

02:18:27.639 --> 02:18:29.629
know. most of the fires that started a construction

02:18:29.629 --> 02:18:31.889
site are because of human error. Like somebody's

02:18:31.889 --> 02:18:34.770
cooking on the job site or they're smoking on

02:18:34.770 --> 02:18:38.290
the job site. We had a hotel going in, in right

02:18:38.290 --> 02:18:40.870
close to the hospitals over there. And there

02:18:40.870 --> 02:18:42.709
was a fire that started because some homeless

02:18:42.709 --> 02:18:44.489
people got in there, try to shelter out of the

02:18:44.489 --> 02:18:46.989
rain while it was under construction. And luckily

02:18:46.989 --> 02:18:49.090
it didn't catch all the way, but it did start

02:18:49.090 --> 02:18:50.989
a fire in one of the rooms. And it was, you know,

02:18:50.989 --> 02:18:54.889
scary to think about, you know, there's no. good

02:18:54.889 --> 02:18:57.770
way for these crews to fight this fire. And they're

02:18:57.770 --> 02:18:59.930
coming on scene to something that there's a lot

02:18:59.930 --> 02:19:04.030
of unknowns. So yeah, I know there's a lot of

02:19:04.030 --> 02:19:07.209
departments right now that don't require their

02:19:07.209 --> 02:19:09.549
senior officers to go through each department

02:19:09.549 --> 02:19:11.750
of the, or each division of the fire department.

02:19:11.809 --> 02:19:14.700
But I always felt like. Doing it, I feel like

02:19:14.700 --> 02:19:17.659
that would be a very important thing for any

02:19:17.659 --> 02:19:20.520
executive level officer at any department is

02:19:20.520 --> 02:19:22.760
to spend time in these different parts of the

02:19:22.760 --> 02:19:25.360
department because you learn so much. I was lucky

02:19:25.360 --> 02:19:27.680
enough to do it because of the way my career

02:19:27.680 --> 02:19:30.780
fell. But man, the lessons that you come away

02:19:30.780 --> 02:19:33.739
from being in training, you learn how to schedule

02:19:33.739 --> 02:19:37.579
a full department going through some type of.

02:19:39.139 --> 02:19:41.719
education right so you you know how to move trucks

02:19:41.719 --> 02:19:43.799
around you know how coverage needs to work you

02:19:43.799 --> 02:19:46.120
know how catching people up all of that stuff

02:19:46.120 --> 02:19:48.319
so you work at the at the high level of the department

02:19:48.319 --> 02:19:50.780
getting everybody through something in prevention

02:19:50.780 --> 02:19:52.739
you're working with all of the buildings and

02:19:52.739 --> 02:19:55.899
you're having these like meetings with construction

02:19:55.899 --> 02:19:59.799
folks and you're having these community leaders

02:19:59.799 --> 02:20:02.909
coming in and going hey you know, this guy's

02:20:02.909 --> 02:20:05.209
a good guy. Like we really want this business

02:20:05.209 --> 02:20:07.950
to be here in our city. Like what, what can we

02:20:07.950 --> 02:20:09.829
do? And you're finding solutions to some of these

02:20:09.829 --> 02:20:12.549
things because you get, not only are you trying

02:20:12.549 --> 02:20:14.569
to follow the fire code, but you're kind of trying

02:20:14.569 --> 02:20:17.049
to figure out what your community wants and you're

02:20:17.049 --> 02:20:19.469
kind of the subject matter expert. So now you

02:20:19.469 --> 02:20:21.729
have to figure out how to make the balance between

02:20:21.729 --> 02:20:25.229
safety, security. That was a big thing at like

02:20:25.229 --> 02:20:26.969
the schools, you know, they want these schools

02:20:26.969 --> 02:20:29.600
to be secure for the kids, but. By doing that,

02:20:29.639 --> 02:20:31.340
a lot of times you can make them very unsafe.

02:20:32.379 --> 02:20:34.600
Kids are locked in. Yeah, they want to lock kids

02:20:34.600 --> 02:20:37.459
in, but that locks them in. So if a fire breaks

02:20:37.459 --> 02:20:41.180
out, that's not good. So there was a lot of balancing

02:20:41.180 --> 02:20:44.620
and learning how to navigate that stuff. And

02:20:44.620 --> 02:20:47.780
the only time really in my career that I got

02:20:47.780 --> 02:20:50.979
to do that was in fire prevention. So as unattractive

02:20:50.979 --> 02:20:53.760
as it is for people that are really interested,

02:20:53.979 --> 02:20:56.670
really. you know, that love their job as being

02:20:56.670 --> 02:20:58.670
a firefighter on the line and going to emergency

02:20:58.670 --> 02:21:03.549
calls, it makes a much more well -rounded person,

02:21:03.770 --> 02:21:06.069
especially when you get higher up in the ranks

02:21:06.069 --> 02:21:08.270
and you've got to make decisions that not just

02:21:08.270 --> 02:21:11.270
affect, you know, your EMS division, but just

02:21:11.270 --> 02:21:13.889
affects your fire prevention division, your training

02:21:13.889 --> 02:21:17.290
division, all that stuff. So I know there's some

02:21:17.290 --> 02:21:20.690
systems where they do that, but I think more

02:21:20.690 --> 02:21:23.409
of them should look at it because it really does.

02:21:24.930 --> 02:21:28.329
There's no substitute for the experience of working

02:21:28.329 --> 02:21:31.790
in those different divisions. Absolutely. Yeah.

02:21:32.329 --> 02:21:33.909
Well, we've been chatting for almost two and

02:21:33.909 --> 02:21:35.250
a half hours. So I want to be mindful of your

02:21:35.250 --> 02:21:37.030
time. We both got to go take a class in a little

02:21:37.030 --> 02:21:39.690
while. Oh, yeah. We got to get out of here. So

02:21:39.690 --> 02:21:42.530
first of the closing questions, is there a book

02:21:42.530 --> 02:21:44.610
or are there books that you love to recommend?

02:21:44.750 --> 02:21:47.290
It can be related to our conversation today or

02:21:47.290 --> 02:21:53.959
completely unrelated. Gosh. So. The one book

02:21:53.959 --> 02:21:57.079
I've been reading mostly right now is the emergency

02:21:57.079 --> 02:22:01.139
plan for the airport because we got a airport

02:22:01.139 --> 02:22:03.379
inspection going up. So I haven't had much time

02:22:03.379 --> 02:22:07.219
to read any kind of like regular books. So nothing

02:22:07.219 --> 02:22:12.620
on the book, the book area. I did have been trying

02:22:12.620 --> 02:22:15.719
to read this one about this guy who walked the

02:22:15.719 --> 02:22:19.040
entire planet. I cannot remember the name of

02:22:19.040 --> 02:22:20.899
it. I wish I could remember it right now. And

02:22:20.899 --> 02:22:24.040
I'm a couple chapters in. But basically, he decided

02:22:24.040 --> 02:22:25.780
he was going to walk the entire plane. He started

02:22:25.780 --> 02:22:29.159
with his dog. And he was pushing a cart. And

02:22:29.159 --> 02:22:32.200
then it just basically follows his whole journey

02:22:32.200 --> 02:22:34.440
around the world. But it's an adventure book,

02:22:34.559 --> 02:22:36.219
a good one. If I can find it, I'll send it to

02:22:36.219 --> 02:22:37.559
you. Maybe you can put it in the notes or something

02:22:37.559 --> 02:22:39.959
like that. But it's been a pretty good read.

02:22:39.959 --> 02:22:42.479
I need to finish it. Brilliant. Yeah. What about

02:22:42.479 --> 02:22:45.879
documentaries, film, television, any of those?

02:22:53.689 --> 02:22:58.049
We just watched this documentary and it happened

02:22:58.049 --> 02:23:00.989
here. I think it's called Good Neighbor. I saw

02:23:00.989 --> 02:23:04.969
it too. Wow. Crazy story. Wow. It's definitely

02:23:04.969 --> 02:23:07.829
worth watching. It started to become a stand

02:23:07.829 --> 02:23:11.340
your ground case. kind of navigated all through

02:23:11.340 --> 02:23:13.600
that. And it happened right here in Marion County.

02:23:13.700 --> 02:23:17.659
And it showed kind of the things that our law

02:23:17.659 --> 02:23:19.739
enforcement brothers and sisters have to deal

02:23:19.739 --> 02:23:21.340
with on a day -to -day basis where people are

02:23:21.340 --> 02:23:26.000
calling 911 and, you know, how that all transpired.

02:23:26.020 --> 02:23:29.000
But it was pretty interesting. To me, it was

02:23:29.000 --> 02:23:31.780
two things. Firstly, seeing how those neighbors

02:23:31.780 --> 02:23:33.899
were, and I agree with you completely, pretty

02:23:33.899 --> 02:23:36.260
much every law enforcement officer that you saw

02:23:36.260 --> 02:23:39.120
through their body cam. I was so impressed by

02:23:39.120 --> 02:23:41.760
their professionalism because some of the things

02:23:41.760 --> 02:23:43.440
that they were called about, and we've all been

02:23:43.440 --> 02:23:46.100
on those calls, you know, is you're really going

02:23:46.100 --> 02:23:47.840
to have to take a breath. Like, oh my God, not

02:23:47.840 --> 02:23:51.340
again. Why are we going back? But then the person

02:23:51.340 --> 02:23:53.780
who, you know, the murderer in this case, if

02:23:53.780 --> 02:23:56.639
you want to put it that way, there is no greater

02:23:56.639 --> 02:24:00.780
example of what happens when you match. mental

02:24:00.780 --> 02:24:04.979
ill health, and then divisive politics that created

02:24:04.979 --> 02:24:07.860
that issue. There is no question in my mind that

02:24:07.860 --> 02:24:10.780
if it had, and I'm talking about from both sides,

02:24:10.819 --> 02:24:15.739
a unifying voice in leadership of this country,

02:24:15.799 --> 02:24:18.739
and then filtering down to, you know, state,

02:24:18.899 --> 02:24:22.360
city, etc., that that person would have believed

02:24:22.360 --> 02:24:25.260
the things that she did. And had that level of

02:24:25.260 --> 02:24:28.379
prejudice and basically execute one of her neighbors

02:24:28.379 --> 02:24:31.520
through the door. It was just fucking so clear

02:24:31.520 --> 02:24:36.340
as day. Like she was a full on propaganda dripping,

02:24:36.620 --> 02:24:40.600
you know, psycho by that point. And she was just

02:24:40.600 --> 02:24:43.280
waiting for that opportunity to do it. And so

02:24:43.280 --> 02:24:46.700
if that's not the poster for enough is enough,

02:24:46.780 --> 02:24:50.159
we need to stop this divisiveness, this nastiness,

02:24:50.239 --> 02:24:54.270
this. deliberate splitting apart of of you know

02:24:54.270 --> 02:24:57.469
and and pigeonholing certain people and setting

02:24:57.469 --> 02:24:59.989
them against each other it was that because that

02:24:59.989 --> 02:25:02.149
should never have happened and those poor kids

02:25:02.149 --> 02:25:04.670
that one scene where he says my heart is broken

02:25:04.670 --> 02:25:07.889
i mean becky and i sat on the couch just weeping

02:25:07.889 --> 02:25:10.510
oh you know and it just it should never have

02:25:10.510 --> 02:25:13.389
happened and so you know there should be a national

02:25:13.389 --> 02:25:16.129
conversation after that alone saying what the

02:25:16.129 --> 02:25:19.799
fuck are we doing yeah like people that, you

02:25:19.799 --> 02:25:22.579
know, are all Americans are at each other's throats

02:25:22.579 --> 02:25:25.899
over vaccines or masks or, you know, the left

02:25:25.899 --> 02:25:29.100
or the right or pro -police, anti -police. And

02:25:29.100 --> 02:25:31.700
we're just missing the point. Like those are

02:25:31.700 --> 02:25:34.299
the fricking slivers of extremism on each side

02:25:34.299 --> 02:25:36.739
and it's ripping everyone else apart and creating

02:25:36.739 --> 02:25:41.000
tragedies like that. Yeah. Yeah. I agree a hundred

02:25:41.000 --> 02:25:44.020
percent. It's, it was, it was insane to see something

02:25:44.020 --> 02:25:47.319
like that. Who responded? Was that Marion Fire?

02:25:47.790 --> 02:25:51.510
It just hit home after you saw our guys out there

02:25:51.510 --> 02:25:55.809
dealing with that. And those poor people, I mean,

02:25:55.850 --> 02:26:01.850
it was horrible. Horrendous. Well, next question.

02:26:02.610 --> 02:26:04.969
Is there a person that you would recommend to

02:26:04.969 --> 02:26:08.549
come on this podcast as a guest to speak to the

02:26:08.549 --> 02:26:10.829
first responders, military, and associated professions

02:26:10.829 --> 02:26:19.729
of the world? Yes. Yeah, I think, um, I think

02:26:19.729 --> 02:26:23.049
there's a guy we work with and he would be a

02:26:23.049 --> 02:26:25.430
really good, he would be a really good, good

02:26:25.430 --> 02:26:29.969
guest on the show. Um, he's been through quite

02:26:29.969 --> 02:26:32.350
the journey in his life, but, uh, and he's pretty

02:26:32.350 --> 02:26:34.930
influential guy at the department and his name's

02:26:34.930 --> 02:26:37.850
Dan Pope. Um, I think, I think you might know

02:26:37.850 --> 02:26:40.670
him. We did jujitsu for a bit together. Yeah.

02:26:40.670 --> 02:26:45.139
Yeah. And he is, uh, he. I work with him at the

02:26:45.139 --> 02:26:47.639
department and he's awesome there, but where

02:26:47.639 --> 02:26:51.399
he really shines is at the fire college. He has

02:26:51.399 --> 02:26:57.000
become the type of instructor that has just the

02:26:57.000 --> 02:27:01.520
ability to connect with these recruits. And I

02:27:01.520 --> 02:27:05.680
mean, even years and years after they've gone

02:27:05.680 --> 02:27:07.959
to the college, they still talk about Pappy.

02:27:10.009 --> 02:27:14.350
So it's amazing to see him in that element and

02:27:14.350 --> 02:27:18.370
his ability just to how much impact an instructor

02:27:18.370 --> 02:27:21.209
at just your minimum standards class can have.

02:27:21.370 --> 02:27:23.670
And I think he would be an awesome one to see

02:27:23.670 --> 02:27:27.149
how he approaches that and the way that he can,

02:27:27.149 --> 02:27:30.690
you know, ride that line between somebody that

02:27:30.690 --> 02:27:33.629
they love to hate, you know, and it would be

02:27:33.629 --> 02:27:36.819
awesome. Brilliant. Yep. All right. The last

02:27:36.819 --> 02:27:38.620
question before we make sure everyone knows where

02:27:38.620 --> 02:27:41.879
to find you, what do you do to decompress? Uh,

02:27:42.020 --> 02:27:44.719
yeah. So I've been running for, um, eight years,

02:27:44.899 --> 02:27:48.979
11 months. Yeah, definitely. Um, the runs have

02:27:48.979 --> 02:27:52.559
helped me with that, but, um, I think to keep

02:27:52.559 --> 02:27:55.659
me sane, I I've got a really good, uh, I've got

02:27:55.659 --> 02:27:58.729
a really good partner in my wife who. Um, takes

02:27:58.729 --> 02:28:01.530
me out of my normal element. She gets me away

02:28:01.530 --> 02:28:06.170
from kind of the fire service, EMS, all of that

02:28:06.170 --> 02:28:11.010
kind of stuff that we do and lets me see what

02:28:11.010 --> 02:28:13.430
they're doing in the arts and kind of the beauty

02:28:13.430 --> 02:28:15.790
of, of our arts community and stuff like that.

02:28:15.829 --> 02:28:17.870
And she's kind of helped me to get involved in

02:28:17.870 --> 02:28:20.870
that stuff. And it really takes my mind off of

02:28:20.870 --> 02:28:24.250
some of the shitty stuff that we see and, you

02:28:24.250 --> 02:28:27.090
know, shows me that not our community just isn't.

02:28:27.280 --> 02:28:29.719
a bunch of emergency calls. It's, you know, a

02:28:29.719 --> 02:28:32.479
beautiful place where people make amazing art

02:28:32.479 --> 02:28:35.319
and get together and, and, and enjoy time with

02:28:35.319 --> 02:28:38.100
each other and listen to good music. And, and,

02:28:38.139 --> 02:28:41.520
uh, and you know, so that's been pretty, pretty

02:28:41.520 --> 02:28:43.639
awesome. And that's a good decompression for

02:28:43.639 --> 02:28:46.979
me. When we were in medic school, I did a couple

02:28:46.979 --> 02:28:50.520
of rides with you guys at the Tuscawilla station

02:28:50.520 --> 02:28:54.540
years ago. Um, and it was so cool going to the

02:28:54.540 --> 02:28:57.479
couch sessions with you and Olivia. being in

02:28:57.479 --> 02:28:59.200
that space now because obviously you have the

02:28:59.200 --> 02:29:02.139
new fire station so that was purchased and now

02:29:02.139 --> 02:29:05.420
watching rock bands play while people were doing

02:29:05.420 --> 02:29:08.479
um was it the car the rug rug making wasn't it

02:29:08.479 --> 02:29:11.239
so yeah so it was kind of funny because i even

02:29:11.239 --> 02:29:13.020
though i was only there three shifts i think

02:29:13.020 --> 02:29:15.680
it was yeah i could still see exactly you know

02:29:15.680 --> 02:29:18.520
the engines were here and rescue was there and

02:29:18.520 --> 02:29:22.000
and so yeah to see what was a fire station your

02:29:22.000 --> 02:29:24.719
world now become olivia's world it was kind of

02:29:24.719 --> 02:29:27.790
a Really cool, unique lens that we have. Yeah,

02:29:27.790 --> 02:29:31.250
she finds ways to do that all throughout the

02:29:31.250 --> 02:29:34.229
community. So it's always a good time. Absolutely.

02:29:34.510 --> 02:29:36.370
All right. Well, for people listening, if they

02:29:36.370 --> 02:29:39.090
want to reach out to you, follow you, where are

02:29:39.090 --> 02:29:41.450
the best places online to do that? Well, I'm

02:29:41.450 --> 02:29:45.930
on Instagram at Anthony R. Ortiz. And I post

02:29:45.930 --> 02:29:49.870
kind of videos from my runs. a lot of shit that

02:29:49.870 --> 02:29:52.010
we do at the fire station. So mostly our training,

02:29:52.049 --> 02:29:54.090
try not to do anything that would get me in trouble.

02:29:54.430 --> 02:29:59.670
Um, and then also on Facebook and, uh, that's

02:29:59.670 --> 02:30:02.770
just Anthony Ortiz and same thing. Kind of just,

02:30:02.790 --> 02:30:04.770
I think a lot of that, it's just videos of my

02:30:04.770 --> 02:30:07.090
wife doing crazy stuff. So if you want to see,

02:30:07.149 --> 02:30:09.889
be entertained by an entertainer, it's a good

02:30:09.889 --> 02:30:13.350
place to see it. So yeah. And for people listening,

02:30:13.430 --> 02:30:15.870
the class that I put on CrossFit Iron Legion,

02:30:16.010 --> 02:30:19.750
downtown Ocala. 5 p .m. every Monday, free to

02:30:19.750 --> 02:30:23.090
anyone, first responder, military, dispatch,

02:30:23.350 --> 02:30:26.729
corrections, etc. So with that being said, I

02:30:26.729 --> 02:30:29.469
want to thank you so much for driving down here,

02:30:29.649 --> 02:30:31.450
being so generous with your time. We've been

02:30:31.450 --> 02:30:33.430
talking for two and a half hours. Yeah, it was

02:30:33.430 --> 02:30:35.290
a good catching up with you. It was. So thank

02:30:35.290 --> 02:30:36.430
you so much, mate. All right.