Fire Service Culture and Mentorship

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
One thing that stuck on me in regards to persona fire service
is when I talked to guys that were were in the fire service,
same answer, right? Best job in the world, wouldn't
do anything else. You know, every this is this
typical stuff that that we experience in this career, but
it was always, you know, I talked to some other guys in in

(00:20):
different professions and I've never heard anybody talk the way
firemen talked about their job. Welcome everybody.
Copper State Fireman Podcast. It's podcasters for firemen
burning the ships of complacency, laziness and
excuses. We're promoting love and passion

(00:41):
for the job, encouraging eagerness and mastering the
craft of the fire service. Remember, the information,
opinion, values, recommendation and ideas are the host and the
individuals of this podcast and are not affiliated or endorsed
by the fire department's organization or companies the

(01:02):
individuals work for. This podcast is for general
information use only. Brought to you by the Copper
State Fools and sponsored by Solid Foundation Team, LLC Let's
go. All right, thanks for joining
us, guys. I'm sitting down here today with

(01:23):
Dan Petro. He has a total of 15 years in
the American Fire service. We're going to talk about
culture today, Midwest culture to be exact, but we'll kind of
cover all the coast. He's 15 years in American fire
service. Like I said, start in 2009,
start in Arlington, excuse me, started in Romeoville.
Correct, Danny? All right, then transferred over
to Arlington Heights since now he's in his current department.

(01:43):
Since 2016, Danny is a captain and paramedic in the fire
department, Specialty specialties held, technical
rescue, hazmat paramedic. This guy can do everything.
Big ticket items Danny's proud of is climbing the ranks through
the back seat to engineer to captain.
We all love that transition. That way you can supervise all
those roles, actually doing thembefore.

(02:04):
He's run the mentor program within our organization
currently, and he's involved in the hiring process, which is a
big reason why he actually picked the department he
currently works for. Having gained perspective
through the years of service. Danny started in a private
ambulance sector, working with two different departments prior
to the one he currently works with started in the suburbs of

(02:26):
Chicago, and he's all the way out here on the West Coast in
Arizona now. Danny, I didn't miss anything,
buddy. No, you got it.
All right, cool. All right, Well, good deal
ahead. First of all, thank you for
sitting down with us today. Again, just to remind everybody,
this is the Copper State FiremanPodcast sponsored by the Copper
State Fools. Danny is a Copper State Fools

(02:48):
member, so he's like to throw itout there.
We'll kind of interject a littlebit of that in the end, but
let's let's actually talk what we're sitting here to talk
about. So you came from another section
of the country, right? Just tell me, man, how did you
grow up in the fire, in fire service culture, especially that
Midwest culture? Yeah.
So a little, yeah, a lot of differences compared to, you

(03:09):
know, the Arizona culture. I think I got in at a really
good time, you know, seeing a lot of those old school
mentality guys on their way out in could, you know, good, bad,
indifferent, however you want tolook at it.
Some of the stuff I experienced probably wouldn't.
Fly today. Yeah, wouldn't, wouldn't go over

(03:29):
too well, but. That type of culture being more
rigid or jagged or however you want to put it more in your
face. Do you think that was a benefit
for you? Oh, big time.
And you and I have talked. I think the fire service in a
lot of ways was I didn't do any military service, right.
But my first year, we'll say my first couple of years was very

(03:51):
much like the military for me and how I came up.
Right. And how old were you when you
joined? I was 20, I want to say 23.
And I got a young box 2320. Four, yeah, but it was, it was
the military for me in a lot of ways, right.
Changed the kind of the person Iam, the person I was and it kind
of, you know, turned me into theperson I am today.

(04:13):
So. What were you doing before you
got introduced to the fire service?
So what? Figuring it out, dude, Yeah.
College or no? Yeah, junior college taking, you
know, all, every and all electives you can.
Underwater basket weaving, right?
Pretty much no clue, right? No clue what I wanted to do.

(04:34):
But you know, I had some, I had a good structure at home, right?
Had some really, really cool parents.
My mom constantly pushing me to to figure that out, right?
Grew up in a blue collar house household.
Dad was an ironworker shoot knewthat I didn't want to do that
watching him come watching him come home day in day out from
just back busted work. But one thing that stuck in me

(04:57):
in regards to persona fire service is when I talked to guys
that were were in the fire service same answer right best
job in the world wouldn't do anything else.
You know, every this, this typical stuff that that we
experience in this career, but it was always, you know, I
talked to some other guys and indifferent professions and I've

(05:18):
never heard anybody talk the wayfiremen talked about their job.
No. And you know, it's crazy too,
because you know, before we really dive into the culture,
it's it's a rarity. I mean, even out of all the
public safety left, I still kindof believe fire services, that
is still the only one left that we're we're the few and far
between and still do 20 to 30 plus years in one department,

(05:40):
right? You know, but especially like
take police right now, you know,there's so many cities and
counties and organizations dyingfor police officers are offering
these huge bonuses. So it's even that professional
has become very transient, whichis which is not the fire
service. Thank God, right, because I know
you and I feel the same way. Like this is not a, a stepping

(06:00):
stone or whatever. It's like you find the
department you love and they teach you how to be a freaking
man, right? Or woman for that example.
And you, you get back, right? And you get back by staying.
More importantly, teaching thoseyoung bucks that come up
underneath you do the same thing, you know?
The same thing that those old timers gave you, you know?
Yeah, but to back up and just talk about, hey, how do I get

(06:21):
into the fire service, right, Doing a little bit of research
of my own and and kind of talking with some guys that
pointed me in the right direction and got into EMT, EMT
school and that kind of gave me an awakening in regard to the
academic side, right? Always did, did decent in
school, but I just really started applying myself once I
got into that EMT course. And past that, got hired with

(06:43):
the private ambulance service. And again, got some pretty good
perspective in regards to just appreciation for the job.
You know, once you go full time and get the, the benefits to pay
and then just a culture that comes along with it, you have,
you build up an appreciation for, for that.
And yeah, I, I, it was a weird time in, in regards to getting

(07:07):
hired, right? Way different than out here.
You had to be they, they, everybody, everybody department
wise outside of the Chicago FireDepartment really wanted you to
be a paramedic and a firefighterbefore you even got hired.
Oh wow. So I had to man hit the ground
running right Got EMT, did abouta year not even in in the

(07:28):
private ambulance service and then went from zero to hero
right right to paramedic school just to make myself marketable
to get hired. Yeah, it makes sense.
That's how a lot of assessments are, it seems like.
Yeah, so, so that's what happened, right?
I got my paramedic through SaintMary's Hospital down in
Kankakee, IL, right? And then I started, I started
applying, right? Got got my foot in the door with

(07:49):
the Romeoville Fire Department and I was as green as they come,
man. I didn't know the difference
between an engine and A and a truck.
Dude, like being honest. And I think that, you know, kind
of steamrolled into the experience I got when I first
got in there. So they, they hired me under the
provision, Hey, we're going to send you to a fire Academy in

(08:11):
six weeks, right? And they have their own Academy.
They did, yeah. So I went through their
Romeoville's first ever fire, fire two, OK, they transitioned
to like basics of firefighting or BOFF, they call it.
But yeah, I went through the first ever class in that in the
Romeoville Fire Academy. And that's what really opened my
eyes at a fire service, right? Like getting that experience in

(08:35):
fire Academy and just being around some, some, some guys
that, you know, we're like larger in life and shoot, they
probably wouldn't, you know, recognize me today, but the
impact that they had on me, you know, down at the Academy and so
early on in my career, you know,guys from Chicago, Downers
Grove, you know, just all over suburbs of, of, of Chicago, just

(08:58):
some incredible dudes who I still, you know, I remember
every one of my art, my instructors at the time, I
remember every one of them, right.
You know, it's a crazy thing too, is I I challenge everybody
listen to this, especially if you're on the job.
It's like every single person remembers the recruit trained

(09:19):
officers, you know, at the bare minimum, because it's like
that's your first introduction that your real introduction to
the fire service, you know, So Imean, that's such a freaking
important job. And it's crazy because I have
the same experiences. There's there's guys that
probably have no clue that they had such a big impact on me, but
they did, you know, it's just one of those things.
And I'm sure that there's guys walking around.
They have like freaking Petro, man.

(09:39):
He had a huge, you need no freaking idea now.
They could be gone in another department by now for all we
know. But yeah, dude, that's great.
So. So you got involved.
You went to the Academy, right? Everything's good.
So you're on the job, right? How'd the guys treat you?
Yeah. So before I got that, that fire
Academy experience, that was I think the roughest part, right?

(10:00):
Because once I got my some, my head wrapped around the fire
service, the fire department culture, and I got a lot of that
from, from Academy, things started kind of kicking.
But before that, dude, it was, it was rough.
I came from a private ambulance sector, ran a little bit of 911,
most mostly interfacility stuff.So dude, I didn't.

(10:21):
I didn't know. Anything.
So yeah, it was a rude awakeningfor me, right?
Like that militaristic mentality, right?
Be seen, not heard. You know what?
I I had AI, had a work ethic, which was my saving grace,
right? Like, I worked.
I worked hard, but just hey, man, you like, if you weren't
cutting it, the guys would let you know right and and very

(10:42):
aggressively in some regard. So it, it came to the point,
man, I don't know if I was goingto make it through probation.
Do those first, you know, couplemonths.
It was rough for me. It was rough for me, you know,
I, I went into the fire service with the expectation of, Hey,
you got hired as a paramedic. We need you to function as a
paramedic, man, part of the team.
And I had very minimal experience.

(11:03):
No, it's no, not really any as far as a paramedic, right.
Maybe like six months in a private sector.
But my saving grace outside of that stuff man was was a guy
right who still my like my main mentor for today.
Dude is it. He's now a Battalion Chief for
the Romeoville Fire Department guy Marty Henry.
I mean, this guy took me under his wing and beat me down to

(11:26):
nothing and brought me back up, you know?
What was he at the time? Was he an engineer?
Firefighter, man, he was a backseat firefighter at a cush
little company, dude. He was out of station two.
It was a squad engine house. I'm sorry, a truck truck squad
house. And he left that house, came
down to station 3, rode the ambulance with me, man, and just

(11:49):
kind of showed me the ropes, dude.
He was like a true, like, you know, we talked about
brotherhood, dude. That's, I mean, I talked about
this guy in my captain's interview, right?
He had such an impact on me. And still to this day, like I, I
keep in touch with them when he comes out to Arizona, we link
up, I go back home, I try to go see him at the Firehouse, you
know, just an incredible, you know, he's a East Coast Boston

(12:13):
guy. Came over very confrontational
when he needed to be, you know, and, and that's what I kind of
needed, man. And yeah, probably some of the
stuff wouldn't fly today. And not throwing any kind of
shade. He, he, he was, he just had
passion and he cared, man. And and I could never thank him
enough. There, it's funny too, because I
mean obviously from when you gothired and when it got when I got

(12:35):
hired in the fire service, both of us in different departments
on different coasts and everything else.
But it's one of those things where, yeah, we, we both came up
right around the same time in different structures and
everything else. But, and like, like you said, it
was just different then. But more importantly, it's, it's
a lot of that was needed to, youknow, because it is a very

(12:57):
confrontational alpha career that we're in.
And it's, it's one of those things where we have to make
decisions in a very short, timely manner.
And it's like, shit, if it's thewrong decision, it's the wrong
decision, but we have to make itat least have a game plan.
It's one of those things like getting these kids like ready
for that hard nosed environment when it's like, Hey, you need to

(13:18):
do XYZ right now, right? And I didn't say please and
thank you and hey, when you havea chance, right?
But at the same time, what we'renoticing now in the in the newer
generation is when you raise your voice or you speak up, they
almost freeze for a second because they're like, shit, you
know, hey is standing mad at me.Be like, no, he's not mad at
you, right? He just needs you to do

(13:38):
something right now, you know, and it's like that.
And I, I, I love the fact that we came up through that because
I don't think that we're affected by changes in tones and
voices and attitudes, especiallyon the fire ground, because
that's just a fucking job, you know?
So I think that goes a long way.And I, and the newer generation
is not really experiencing that.So obviously we have to cater to

(14:00):
them a little bit differently tostill make them.
It's the same freaking job, you know, still make them that
aggressive, progressive, efficient fireman.
So I'm, I'm glad you had that experience because that's kind
of like the same, the same that I did.
But I, I apologize, keep going. No, it just, you know, it was
like, hey, if you had a a bad call or, you know, made made a
mistake and you know, it didn't go well, like, hey, they let you

(14:21):
know, hey, that that sucked, dude, you sucked.
Yeah, like we'll figure it out, dude.
Don't make the same mistake again.
And so you, you know, you adapt and change.
And as a, you know, in a leadership role in the fire
service now, you, you don't, youknow, you, you play to your
audience, right? The guys in your crew, you
exploit their, their, their strengths.
And you know, you don't have to sit there and tell somebody they

(14:42):
sucked or, or whatnot, but there's different ways of going
about that, right? And I kind of we've gotten, we
talked about this, right? We've gotten kinder, gentler,
softer and some some aspects forthe better.
I wish we could go back to some of that hard nosed kind of
Firehouse life and some, some aspects, but it's all good, man.

(15:03):
You know, it's I'm, I'm better, I'm better, stronger for going
through what I, you know, my first year in a fire service,
you know, I came here just polished, dude, super polished.
Haven't gone through probation 2times before getting here, you
know, so just having an understanding man and haven't
gone through, let's say a tougher environment if we want

(15:26):
you want to call it that. Right, so how long, how long
were you a fireman with Romeoville for?
So about four years, 4 1/2 yearsbefore I went to Arlington
Heights. OK.
So from day one walking in that Firehouse right to the last day
before you transferred over to Arlington Heights, how was the
attitude with the boys? Did were you?

(15:46):
Were you one of the boys at that?
Point yeah, for sure. I mean, that's the one of the
things again, that that made me fall in love with the fire, fire
service, right? It's just being one of the guys,
right. Yeah.
And just, you know, majority of this of this country works, does
this job for free as a volunteer.
And here we are getting paid andgetting paid well and, you know,
having good benefits to to do this stuff.

(16:07):
So, you know, having that brotherhood and that just
camaraderie around a Firehouse. There's just, it's, it's just a
win win. So win across the board.
Right. So when you left Romeoville,
right and you got, you said you,I mean you said already had to
go through probation twice, right.
So from the experiences you have, so you went from that snot
nose kid. Now you got at least four years
under your belt. You have a general idea at this

(16:28):
point, right. So how's that transition going
to a different department in thesame state?
Oh. Yeah, dude, it was, you know, my
dream job. I was, when I was leaving
Romeoville, I was going to go work for Chicago, right?
So that was. That was like, you're stepping.
Yeah, well, yeah. And and I don't want to call it
a step. Now I know that's a dirty word.
Yeah, but dude, that that department, Romeoville and

(16:50):
having that Romeoville fire Academy, we we had, I did, I had
the keys to the universe, man. I took every and any class,
right. And I had the opportunity to
just build my resume. So when I got to, you know, I
was testing out, when I was testing, I sat in front of these
hiring boards with a resume fullof certifications.

(17:12):
And the same goes for when I gothere.
I guess they're kind of razzing me, give me a hard time about
all the certifications I've had or that I came to this
department with, but I almost gave these departments no
option. They look at my resume, but
like, how do we turn turn this guy?
Down How do we say no to this guy?
So like, he's going to have to be a douche for us to say no.
Right or not? Not fit in with our culture, our

(17:33):
department. Right, right.
So I owe that all to that, the Romeoville Fire Department, the
Romeoville Fire Academy and justthat all that experience.
But by the time I got to Arlington, I was so, so polished
and, and, and dialed in in that regard.
And I knew the right playing thegame.
I had it, I had it down like theback of my hand.
So probation outside of the, youknow, just working hard, right,

(17:54):
Work my ass off and be out thereshoveling snow in the winter
time clearing, clearing the apparatus, you know, the front
apron to just just doing all theprobationary stuff.
It was work. But I knew I knew how to play
the game, man. So it wasn't, it wasn't hard for
me in that aspect. And then coming from having
experience, it was easy. I worked all my kinks out my

(18:17):
first couple years in a fire service, Yeah.
Exactly. So basically Arlington Heights
got a better version of you because of Romeoville, right.
So thank thank you Romeoville for Arlington Heights.
So then we can thank Arlington Heights over here for the the
product that they pushed out over in Arizona.
That's awesome. So before we keep going, just
because you said it and I just haven't had a chance to talk

(18:38):
about this yet on the podcast, right?
You said shoveling snow. OK.
So for the for the guys that work in climates like we do
here, that they don't see snow, right?
So just tell the audience a little bit about especially when
it comes down the fire service, right?
And the extra work that that creates.
So like, walk through a typical day when you're having like a
Nor'eastern or a nasty snowstormrolling through.

(18:58):
Like what's that look like for firemen that aren't used to
experience in that? Brutal dude, and again, gives
you a perspective, right? You come out here and it's you
know these guys are praying for rainy days I'm like I'll take
sunshine every day all day, right yeah, it was it sucked
dude waking you know you get back from a run in the middle of
the night the the the front apron it's full of snow.

(19:21):
We got there shoveling right 2-3in the morning in your in your
turnouts shoveling snow salt andcome back and put the plug the
heater in her propane heater andyou'd heat up that pump there
the the pump panel right, So it didn't freeze over fire ground
is just our engineer after he gets the the water to the hose
line, he's out there salting right or and and you can't shut

(19:42):
hose lines down. Yeah, because they freeze.
Because they'll freeze. So it's just a giant ice skating
rink and a lot of watch a lot ofguys and their careers on fires
because of some, you know, slip and fall.
Yeah, back injuries, right? Yeah, a lot of that.
I mean, from back East, where I came from, the same deal.
There's we retired so many guys from a back injury because of a
slip and fall during the winter,right?

(20:03):
And like, it's funny because when I came out here, I was
terrified, dude to because I didn't know what it was going to
be like to fight fire in 120 plus degrees, right, Being able
to come out of the house and notbe able to cool down.
My only thing was like, man, don't go down, don't go down.
You know, like and all these senior captains don't just don't
go down, bro. You'll be OK, right?
Just don't go down. They'll make fun of you for the
rest of your career. I'm like, OK, got it.

(20:23):
But you know, when guys ask me, you know, and then for all the
guys listening, it's, you know, Danny's right?
I mean, it's literally you're, you shovel, you know, So like, I
remember I'd show up to work, shovel that back apron, front
apron, right? You know, then you do runs and
you continuously shovel the Firehouse.
But then every single medical run we go on, right?
You're shoveling the path for the Gurney because the public
won't shovel, right? It's a snowstorm.

(20:44):
So you shovel away from there, right?
10 medical calls later, you catch a job.
Right now you're shoveling out hydrants, right?
And like you said, now the linesfrees up, you got to get brand
new lines, hang them in the hosetower.
It's like so much extra freakingwork on top of all that, like in
the and it's a benefit that we have now currently where we
work, you know, it's like we don't have to worry about that.
We just have the opposite. But yeah, so I just kind of want

(21:07):
to go on a tangent on that real quick, just because I, I know
it's an experience that probablyhalf the nation doesn't get to
experience, right? So for the guys that don't,
don't complain about the snow, right?
It's it sucks, right? And for the guys that do have to
deal with it, trust me, brothers, I feel you on that
one. Yeah, both.
Both of us feel you. My my coldest shift was 47 below
0. Oh see, I've never seen

(21:28):
temperatures like that. Ever.
Yeah, it hurt to breathe outside, man.
It was. So I remember we come out of
house fires and our regulators would freeze open immediately as
soon as we head outside. And then like, I know a medical
runs, our engineer would stay there and circulate the pump
panel because if not, like you said, it would freeze, you know,
So like all those nuances that like some some guys will have to

(21:49):
worry about or think about, right.
We just here we just have to hydrate like a a mother.
Yeah. And.
God forbid you got a like a campaign fireman, like a
defensive deal. You're you're rehabbing to go
warm up, right? Like putting your hands on the
courts lights to to heat them. Back up before they went all the
LED right? Right, So it's just crazy, man,
different, different again perspective and and just some

(22:12):
differences from East Coast, midMidwest to, you know, the
Sunshine State over here. Yeah, no joke.
All right, so I apologize. So you got with Arlington
Heights, you feel like super polished and dialed, right?
So that probation area, how doeshow does guys treat you
especially coming from another department?
Pretty good man. It was again just old school

(22:33):
department, a lot of guys, you know, 20 + 30 years on a job.
So it was funny. One of the one of the stories
that kind of cracks me up still is when you were on probation
over there, you just, you were the kid, right?
Everybody called you kid, kid. And probably my first couple
months, I missed an e-mail, right?
Our ship, my shift commander came down to the station and my

(22:58):
Lieutenant, my shift commander, and myself were all sitting in
the the firefighter. Office now you're just for
everyone. So your shift commander in the
system you came from, was that acaptain or is that?
A no Battalion Chief. OK, yeah.
So he, he came down, talked to and a chain of command was
really big, right? Like, oh, yeah, he didn't
really, unless the chief approached you.
But you know, your BC approachedyou.
You didn't really. Yeah, everything went through

(23:19):
that, Lieutenant. Yeah, it was big time on that.
So you know, Chief, hey, you know, Bill, I need you to tell
the kid he needs to check his emails.
You know so. I'm literally right there.
So my Lieutenant turns to me. He says, hey, kid, you got to
you got to check your emails. Like to that extreme.
It was just funny. But yeah, like kid thing and you

(23:40):
know, here, I know it's the booter booter robot over there
was the probation, you know, bigred shield probationary.
So everybody kind of knows, right?
But yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't bad, man.
He's like, as long as you had the good, like here, you know,
you show good work ethic, you show that you care.
You don't make the same mistakes.
Guys treat you guys treat you right, right.

(24:00):
You're going to get your balls busted.
You're get the pranks and the typical new guy stuff.
But that just means they like you.
Yeah, exactly. And it was just no difference in
that regards. Fun, you know, you have fun with
it. Guys pick on it means they like
you, you know, and you show thatyou could take it.
That's. Why?
I always tell guys it's like thebiggest thing with firemen
across the country is if they make fun of you and they bust
your balls means they like you, it's should be worried when they

(24:21):
don't talk to you, right? Or they're actually super, super
nice because then they're probably watching their mouth
around you for a reason, right? So yeah, dude, that's it's
definitely a different culture than we're used to right now.
So when you were going through your probationary year, then
your your time with Arlington asgeneral, like what was what was
probably the biggest thing that would like rub you the wrong way

(24:44):
with the culture over there? Was there anything that was
like, man, I wish, I wish the guys would respect me more like,
and I know you're younger or whatever where you just rolling
with the punches and just enjoyed every minute of.
It no yeah, I think exactly that.
I think I rolled with the punches that that was dude, that
was an apartment I never thoughtI'd leave.
I thought that was that was going to be, you know, where I

(25:05):
was going to end my career at and life kind of happened.
Met a great girl and came out here and, you know, three kids
later, you know, still doing ourthing.
And it ended up being the good move.
But no one left. Darling dude, I was the, I was
the second guy in the history ofthat department to ever walk
away. So I spun some heads, right?
And I talked about earlier, my dream was, you know, once I got

(25:28):
into the fire service, I had to work for Chicago.
So Chicago test at that time tested once every 10 years,
right? And it was, hey, you passed
that, you know, standardized test and you get put on the
lottery list and it goes for 10 years, right?
I got in. And then there's another route
you could take. You could, you could put in as a

(25:48):
for a paramedic and then you could, you know, do a couple
years or whatever and bridge over to the fireside.
So I got my call or my e-mail will say to come work for
Chicago and I was you know, you had a they had a residency
clause at the time they still may you had to live in a city
and was it was. Forever or just a period of
time? No, you if while you were

(26:09):
working for the city, you had tolive in the city, right?
And I think that was for all city employees, but for sure for
fire, police and fire. So I I turned that down, stayed
in Arlington and like I said, life kind of happened and
brought me out here in 2016, but.
It's a cult, so still in the culture thing, right?

(26:29):
So you go from Midwest, right, all the way to Arizona.
So what was culture wise, right?What was your biggest shock
coming out here at after you getthe job, right?
You're already through the Academy.
So it's day one in the Firehouse, day one of probation,
right? What was like your biggest
culture shock between the two? Was there anything that kind of
stood out to you? Talking backwards on a radio,

(26:53):
Yeah. OK, so yeah, so for everyone
that doesn't know, so the department that me and Danny
both work for, we we do not follow NIMS.
So I was the same way because prior military, right.
And then the department I work for everyone used NIMS.
So it was like coming out here, I took me a long time to figure
out how to talk because I'm like, man, these guys are
confusing me, you know. Then for them with us, they're

(27:13):
like what is wrong with you 2 you know like so yeah, talking
backwards anything else What about like the attitudes of the
guys or. No, I think you know what a big
difference was, is that I think the physical fitness, right and
I talked about that being a big reason the hiring process for
our organization was a big, big reason of why I wanted to pursue
this, this department in particular, but.

(27:33):
So expand on the physical fitness.
Yeah, just I mean you, I go backand and visit some of my old
firehouses and there you can't fit another cigarette butt and
some of those smoking, you know,canisters outside and shoot, I
don't think we have anybody thatsmokes like actively smoke
cigarettes, right, Like I. Don't think of 1.
Leisure, you know, like recreational, they're out at the

(27:54):
bars and stuff. You'll see it from time to time.
But we don't have anybody on a job that just sits, you know,
sit outside and smoke. I think our last guy retired
what, 3 or 4 years ago? At least.
Yeah, but just a physical fitness aspect, you know, and,
and rightfully so, because I toohad a pretty good awakening
coming from, I went through a summer Academy out here, right?

(28:16):
Have an experience, you know, 7 and something 7 plus years
before coming here. I wasn't concerned about
fighting fire in the heat, but Igot, I got my eyes opened in a
big way. That first fire on probation,
you know, I was, you know, just we'll say mid midtown, right,

(28:36):
157 and I wasn't prepared for that, right?
You go from a controlled environment and Academy to that
real world and you have to be, you have to physical fitness has
to be a priority. Hydration has to be a priority
out here. You know, when you're a hundred,
110 hundred, 15120°, there's no option.
So yeah, that was a big difference, you know, coming

(28:59):
coming from the Midwest. You know, it's funny too,
because the when I was on my probation year, I was on that S
ladder #2 and I had a super senior season captain that was
working for and I remember it was like a running joke for him
and the crew. So every day during that summer
was say for example, it's 115 a day.

(29:20):
Hey yo, Steve, what's the hottest you've ever been in?
I'd always ask them like, what'sit today?
And they're like 115. That's it today, right?
So it was a running joke for a long time, as you know, like
every day. It was like 1/16, 1:17, 1/18,
right? We ended up that summer.
I think we got to like 122. But I'll never forget my first
like legit multiple line workingfire here in the city.
It was 120 plus degree day and Iremember coming out and I must

(29:44):
have had a fucking look on my face, right?
Because people are coming up me like, bro, what's wrong?
What's wrong? What's wrong, right?
And I'm like, I'm confused, right?
And they're like, what are you confused about?
Be like, I feel the breeze, but I think it feels worse, you
know? And they start fucking dying
laughing. They're like, welcome to the
oven, brother. And I'm like, and then he
clicked. I'm like, yeah, it's like a
freaking oven. Because that's the first time

(30:06):
I've ever felt a breeze that washotter than the outside
temperature was at the time. That's what I felt like, you
know? And I'm like, I feel a breeze,
but it's not, it's not cooling me down, you know, like back
East or Midwest, you're like you, you try to find that
breeze, right? You're like, oh, I feel so much
better with the breeze and just not the situation out here, you
know? Yeah, it's funny.
So my, my first fire, we we got kicked out as a working garage

(30:28):
fire fully involved. And we got assigned on the
ladder to to pull a 2 1/2 right for to to, you know, whatever
reset, exterior reset, whatever you want to call it.
And we didn't really touch a whole lot on a 2 1/2.
Well, an Academy. And I remember thinking like I
knew what it's, you know, St. loop in a 2 1/2 sitting on it,
right. That was kind of like a, a go to

(30:49):
method where I came from. And I was like, I don't know if
that's an appropriate place. So I don't like, I don't want to
sit here in my first fire and sit on the 2 1/2.
And these guys were like, what the hell are you doing?
So I stood up and I'm taking this, this 2 1/2 and getting
worked over, right. And my captain at times, like,
hey, dude, let me show you something like he's, you know,

(31:10):
he's like, this is a lot easier.I'm like, God damn it.
Yeah. Like I yeah.
And you're not going to say, hey, Boston knew that, right?
He let me. Yeah, he let me get worked over
for a few minutes and told me, hey, like, go ahead and sit on
this thing and manipulate it, right.
So we put the, the garage fire outgoing inside and then start
our ladder work and we're pulling, you know, the whole 2nd
floor. And I'm, I'm gassed, you know,

(31:32):
I'm thinking in my head. I remember my engineer was like,
hey, you want me to pull that tool from you and, you know,
pull some And I'm like, no, I got it, Sir.
Thinking like. Please God RIP this tool out of
my hands. I can't see gas, but I really.
Want to, you know, so I'm still doing a thing like dude, I'm
going to I'm I'm seeing stars and I'm thinking in my head

(31:52):
like, do we go to rehab in this department?
Or. Like what are we doing?
Jesus, you know, you know, so finally, you know, like, hey,
let's go, let's go breakdown, let's go swap bottles.
And I sprinted around that ladder, you know, I, I stocked
the coolers that morning and I was just dumping ice water down
my back. Like you can't cool down enough,
you know, so just really puts anemphasis on the heat

(32:14):
acclamation, getting in your turnouts skills courses, you
know, and, and doing the stuff early, not in the dead of
summer, you know, starting in the spring or whatever.
And you're just staying on top of it all together all year
long. So yeah, that was a big eye
opener, a big eye opener for me.So what else besides before,
because after saying that, I really want to talk a little bit
about tactics difference betweenwhere you came from and here,

(32:37):
especially like close line deployments and stuff like that
because you talked to them 2 1/2.
But before we move on to that, because we're still talking a
little bit about the culture from Midwest to out here, do you
feel like the in I'm only askingyou this because I'll tell you
my story too, But like my biggest shock out here and you
kind of said it was like, hey, when that chief came to talk

(32:58):
because you forgot to check youre-mail, right?
He went right to your loo and was just like, hey, tell the
fucking kid to check his e-mail,right?
And then he turns to you. Hey, kid, check your e-mail,
right. That's kind of the system I came
from too. Like a Battalion Chief was, you
didn't see him. And if you did see him, he
talked to the captain and the captain deciphered if he was
going to transmit that information or not or whatever
the case might be. But like, I remember coming out

(33:18):
here and Chief Manor was out here at the time.
He's no longer with us, right? He's with another department.
But I remember he was the first chief that I met and he came
like right up to me and was justlike, shake my hand.
Hey, how you doing? Like, hey, I think he introduced
himself like his first name, youknow, and I was so drawn back
because I'm like, like, Oh my God, like I don't even know how
to interact with the Battalion Chief, right.

(33:39):
So I mean, I, I know that was like, I didn't know if you had
that same experience. But like, I remember telling
guys, I'm like, man, everyone's so nice out here, right?
Because we would eat our own, you know, within the house,
within the battalion with the, Imean everything, but it was just
like everyone's. So which is, which is a
positive. I really do believe like I like
the old school, but it was just like, it was nice that they were
more personable. I don't know if you had the same

(34:00):
experience I did. No, 100%.
I think that and I think it's a good thing, right?
But and it's, I think a lot of it has to do with the busy, the
busyness of our, of our organization, like a lot of that
stuff we don't have time for. And not to say I came from a
slow organization by any stretch, you know, but I didn't
come from, you know, 9 stations,40 plus, you know, almost 50,000

(34:24):
calls a year busy either. So there's a lot, there's some
downtime for a lot of that, a lot of that stuff to take place.
And, and, and a lot of it was just the deep rooted traditional
values of the fire service, right?
And the, and the, the rank structure and the chain of
command. And not that I don't think say
we're maybe we're a little axed on that here.

(34:45):
Not and not saying that that's abad thing, but there's just a
lot more, I don't know, camaraderie in some regard of,
you know, they don't play that. That's not part of the game
here, I guess. Yeah, no, I hear you.
Yeah, I mean, like every department has their own games,
quote UN quote games that you play or whatever.
But it's like you said, it's just deep rooted traditions in

(35:05):
the department, right. And I do wholeheartedly believe
across the United States especially, we all share a lot
of basic traditions. And hence half the reason why
the Copper State fools exist or all the fools, right, is we're
trying to keep those traditions alive and more importantly,
bring back a lot of the ones that are slowly kind of fade in
the way that are very good fire service traditions that that we
do need to keep around. So with all that saying, so you

(35:29):
were saying like, hey, that thatfirst real job you guys had or
whatever, you pulled a deuce in half, right?
So where you came from, did theyoperate a lot like they do on
the West Coast when it comes down to line deployment and
everything else? So like just walk me through
like a traditional quote UN quote bread and butter house
fire back where he came from. Like between the communication,
the culture, how the guys would like jazz each other up hose on

(35:52):
deployments. I know every fire is different,
right? But let's just kind of
generalize as much as you can just for listeners.
I think we're going through, youknow, the process, the engineers
process, the captain's process out here and just ingraining
these tactics, you know, where we're currently at.
In my head, I've lost a lot of how we did things, you know?

(36:13):
I just remember it wasn't a whole lot of talking, you know,
And I was a backseat guy, so I knew, you know, I was kind of
like that moth to the candle. Yeah, the blinders were a little
tight still. Still, but I knew what my job
was and it was, Hey, I'm going to get this hose line if I was
on the engine to the fire and and and that's that, right?
Do a search along the way and all that stuff.
But if I wasn't on an engine, a truck company or a squad

(36:34):
company, it was we're trying to beat the engine in so we could
go get that interior search, youknow, get a primary all clear
and. Cool, you doing that search with
or without a hose? No, no hose line, right.
So, so I know that's different. I know like that Brett Tarver
fire out here changed a lot of stuff in the in the Phoenix area
with with doing searches with the hose line right, making that

(36:57):
mandatory. But I think there was a lot of
benefits to getting at least getting that perspective of
searching without a hose line, right?
Like seeing though that thermal layering and having that
visibility right, it force you to get down to your hands and
knees and look and right. And if as long as the fire
hadn't been going for too long, your visibility was pretty good

(37:18):
underneath the smoke. So, and I mean, that's like,
it's that that goes to the talking point to like every
action we do as an equal and opposite reaction.
Some are good, some are bad. It's all about mitigating that
opposite reaction, either good or bad, right?
Or at least understanding it. But like I know with that Brett
Tolliver fire, the biggest take away that we learned across the
nation because of unfortunately what happened to him, right, was

(37:40):
how many individuals it's going to take to actually rescue a
down firefighter. You know, and then for everyone.
And if you haven't listened to or read about that study, you
need to because it basically broke down.
It takes about 12 guys to extricate 1 down firefighter,
right? But in that fire, there was
multiple maydays, I believe theyresuscitated 2 individuals

(38:03):
outside of Brett from that fire.Like, I mean, it was just
because at that point everybody's going in, right?
That's their brother, you know, And at that point, we all would
have done the same thing. But yeah, it's, it's you're
absolutely right when it comes down to to those things.
But you know, just seeing the culture, not really the culture,
but just the American service change, you know, like searching

(38:23):
without the hose line, you're talking about thermal layering
and everything else. And you can, your visibility is
good. And one of my gripes when we
started doing, you know, the transitional attack or whatever
you guys call it in the departments you work for, but
hitting it hard from the yard orwhatever, it's basically
knocking down the bulk of the fire from the exterior, then
making entrance, right. And I understand all the
benefits of it. You knock down the Btus, you

(38:44):
make a more survivable space, but the same time again,
everything has the opposite and equal reaction, right?
When we darken down the fire from the exterior, then we go to
search, right? We disrupted that thermal layer
and now we no longer have that great visibility because I
remember asking guys, I'm like, should we reset it every time?
Especially when I was a back step guy?
Like should we really be resetting the fire every single

(39:06):
time, right? And obviously the answer is we
don't do any anything every time, right?
But you know, just trying to learn a new tactic and try to
figure everything out. And you know, that's something
just to keep in the back of yourbrain for everyone listening to
like if you guys do reset fires,right?
That's going to hinder your search.
It's going to hinder your visibility.
So again, way off topic on that one, right?

(39:27):
So you came out here, you're getting your butt kicked right
back East or excuse me, back in the Midwest, you kind of had the
blinders on a little bit. So when you came out here trying
to learn the culture and everything else, like, how did
you adapt to that? I think it was a pretty easy
transition. The culture, you know,
surprisingly and I don't know what your experience was, is the

(39:48):
culture in regards to the fire service was extremely similar,
right? And when I first got into the
fire service, I remember one of my senior firefighters that
always used the, you know, the line, hey, same circuits,
different, different clowns, right?
Yeah, I love that. And it's been, it's been just
that, right? And as I've progressed and moved
along and moved apartments, you can almost pick out those

(40:12):
characters from each department,right?
And you know those guys are are here in some form or fashion.
Yeah, they just look a little different and they have a
different name, right? Exactly.
So culture wise, I'd say there wasn't, it was a pretty, it was
a very smooth transition, right.And, and like I said, having the
experience that I had and the upbringing I had in the fire
service was, was it was easy, was easy for me, right?

(40:36):
Got you. Well, now let's, because I know
you said that a lot of the memories are tactic wise, kind
of went by the wayside because you've been here for a very long
time now, you know, if you made your way through the ranks.
So you've had to and I had to dothe same thing.
You almost have to forget things.
I I know when I came out here, there was one individual that
they loved how we do an on scenereport because it was so much
different. So every time I'd work with

(40:58):
them, they'd be like, Hey, Steve, O give me an on scene
report real quick and I would right.
And then I remember when I was testing, I think when I opened
my acting book, right, So I was thinking about maybe testing for
captain. I wanted to start acting right,
get some experience, experience in this system under my belt.
And that individual would ask meagain.
I told him I'm like, listen, I can't do this anymore.
And they're like, no, why, right.

(41:19):
I'm like, it's, it's fucking me up, right?
Because I'm trying to learn a brand new system, a brand new
way to talk. I'm like, I can't.
And I'll be honest with you right now, I couldn't do a back
east on scene report like I should be able to.
And that was purposely done right because I had I had to
kind of forget that information.But you did say about talking,
so you know, I came from a system the same way.

(41:40):
There was like we did very little talking, predetermined
running assignments, right? You only talked like it was bad
news only, right? So unless something went
sideways, no one fucking said a word, right?
Which is great when you have emergencies maydays and stuff
like that. Compared to the region that we
work in now, which is very structured.
We talk a lot on the radio, right, which increases

(42:01):
accountability dramatically. But at the same time, I remember
when I was on probation, I went to my captain and I'm like kind
of same, same deal you were talking about before when you
talk about sitting on that deuceand a half, You know, I asked
the innocent question. Hey, Skip, how do I call a
mayday, Right. And the captain starts going
through the whole process to call the mayday.
I'm like, no, no, no, let me, let me reword this.

(42:22):
I know how to call the mayday. I said, but how do I get across
on the radio? And then he's like, what do you
mean? I'm like, how do I get some
airtime? Because people are making
assignments, they're talking or whatever.
And he kind of stopped for a second and was like, Oh yeah,
dude, it is hard, right? You know, So like, that was a
culture thing that I had to completely adjust because I'm
like, it's because obviously that's a super high stressful

(42:43):
event, right? Like, how are we going to do
that? But I mean, prime example right
there, like just on cultural changes between, you know, East
and West and Midwest and West orwhatever, or just whatever
department you work for, if theychoose to talk or not talk, you
know? So with all that going, right,
so you came out here, everything's good.
You've made your way through theranks, right.

(43:03):
So tell me about how that process went for you coming from
another department. Did did you feel like did you
feel like the culture from back Midwest really helped you
floors? Because I mean, you like Danny's
been on how? How many years now here. 8 1/2.
8 1/2 OK, so almost nine years here, right?
So you've, you've made it through probation, been a back

(43:25):
step fireman for many years, right?
Promoted engineer and then now you've been promoted captain,
right? So very successful in a short
period of time, right? So do you How?
How did that Midwest culture help you develop and then be the
captain that you are now? Well, I think I had the same
attitude as as anybody, you know, being younger in the fire
service, I wanted to, I want to stay in the back seat and fight

(43:46):
fire, right? That's the cool thing to do.
Yeah, I don't want to. Yeah, I don't want to be, I
don't want to ever want to promote to engineer like
engineer culture here compared to where I came from.
That was, hey, I'm kind of I'm ready to to stop going interior.
I'm going to. I'm going to, yeah.
My body hurts a little bit. And rightfully so, right.
You got a ton of seniority points testing for engineering

(44:08):
and even Lieutenant out there. But those those guys were
primarily and the engineer position was a super senior guy,
right? That was towards the end of his
career. So when I got out here, I was
like, I ain't trying to drive right.
I want to be interior and whether that means.
You know, in the backseat, yeah.Right.
So taking that approach here, it's it is different, right.

(44:33):
There's a lot of young guys and if you're, you're hungry, you
can, you can promote and, and with the mentor program, I, I
pound that into these guys is the doors.
The opportunity at this department is endless.
If you maintain, you know, like crush probation, maintain a good
reputation, work hard and, and be involved.
And it's, it's literally that simple, man.
Guys are going to want to help you guys are going to want to

(44:54):
see you successful. So I think that path, you know,
really helped me here and I had the the desire to promote to
engineer because I wanted to promote to captain, right?
And I wanted to have all facets of this, this job down in
regards to being a good backseatguy, being a good engineer, you
know, and that's going to lead me to be a good captain, you

(45:17):
know, and which I'm in the process of.
But. I want to be lying.
He or he is a good captain. He's just being modest right
now. I want to, I want to be able to,
you know, help to help, you know, build, build those guys
that you know, and be able to not be a dead end, right.
Have questions about the engineer stuff, the backseat
stuff. I want to be an Ave. for, you

(45:38):
know, just just helping out and and getting those questions
answered appropriately so. Dude, I love it.
And so I mean, and that's all that's all culture.
What you're talking about too isespecially like the, the, like
you said, the endless possibilities.
But really we do have a culture out here that's like, hey, man,
like if you're stagnant, you need to continue.
In other words, like, hey, aftera couple years, we're pushing

(45:59):
guys. Hey, you have your acting
engineer yet, Why not, right? Let's teach you right?
And I appreciate that a lot withus constantly trying to make
guys uncomfortable. But at the same time, and I, I
feel like we probably came from the same type of culture.
And I'm curious on what your answer is.
But like where I came from, whenguys would is the same deal.

(46:20):
But if they promote engineer or whatever, or we call them pump
operators and and wholeheartedlyand and with all love and due
respect, I would call them plumpoperators because they would
typically get big bellies, right?
And we always say they man, theymust have the highest uniform
allowance because the steering wheel would, you know, cut a
little thing right across their belly wherever they rubbed, you
know, so they had to constantly buy a new T-shirts.
But anyway, but with that said, I appreciated that because I

(46:44):
remember one of my drivers, he had 30 plus years on the job.
I mean, I think he was been an engineer for 20 of those years.
But the nice thing about it is he's been at that station, at
station 18, right? The officer never told him a
single turn. He might tell him like once he
got in the neighborhood, like maybe the last left or right to
turn. But I mean that that man knew
every plug. He knew every alleyway, every

(47:06):
back way if the road was closed,you know, and you miss that
experience right when you come out to a more forward thinking
department where they're like pushing, hey, get uncomfortable,
promote, get uncomfortable, promote or at least act, you
know, see that other job, you kind of have that same
experience coming. Through Oh yeah, Oh yeah.
That was, I mean, I couldn't tell you how many times when I

(47:28):
was, when I was brand new, let'ssay at Arlington Heights, shoot
driving like driving a squad or whatever, right.
Because the engineer typically drove the engine or the ladder.
Now in Arlington, just to clarify a squad, what was the
squad for you guys? So.
The squad was like a shoot, probably half the squat.
It wasn't quite a it wasn't a heavy rescue, it was probably
half the size. I'm trying to compare it to

(47:50):
something out. Here.
Still a rolling toolbox though. Yeah, right.
Not an ambulance, not a pickup truck, right?
Yeah. So it could do just majority at
any any operation on the fire ground.
OK. Any water and hose or no?
No, none of that. So, you know, air pack tools for
square entry stuff, extrication,all that kind of stuff.
But yeah, it was a it primarily chased the ambulance went on all

(48:12):
the fire. It was probably the best truck
to be on because you went to everything.
You went to everything and anything.
So the engineers were were dedicated to driving the the
tower right or the engines and that organization and
specifically so. Gotcha.
All right, So what do you miss from the culture from Midwest

(48:34):
where you grew up compared to out here?
I know everything's different every you know, everything's
good and bad, everything else, right?
But what's one thing that like you wish?
Like if you could just pluck onething from your last apartment
and insert it to your current apartment, what would that be
culture wise? The helmets.
Nope, dude. Wait, hold on.
Yes, yes, right. So the helmet.

(48:56):
So what is your preferred helmet?
We rocked Karen's 10/10. OK, so just a traditional
composite, right? OK.
Yeah, dude, same, same with me, right?
You know, I, I, I, I came from traditional helmets, right?
Are the, the metros or whatever this, I love to call them, the
salad bowls, you know, they wererecruit helmets, right?
So in recruit school, that's what you wore, right?

(49:18):
But once you graduate and, you know, on paper, you're a
firefighter, right? You haven't been one of the boys
that you got that Karns 10/10 and then they gave us the option
we could buy a leather right. The department used to work for
had to be a Sam Houston right because the New Yorkers weren't
they were missing some sort of rating on their impact cap or
whatever, but they were heaviestsin but ended up transitioning
to like a bend to low rider. I love that freaking lid to the

(49:41):
point. But I mean, I'll tell you what,
I believe that is a culture tradition thing because it also
falls under like morale, you know, because it's like, I know
where I came from. Like man, I had the passport,
right? So for the guys that don't know,
you know, the leather Shields inthe front and right in the
middle, just the numbers, I would switch out and I only went
between like 3 different houses.So I just had all those houses

(50:02):
printed. So depending on where I was
going, I put that 18 today, 26 the next day, you know, 33 the
day after or whatever the case might be.
I love that stuff, you know? No, there's a lot to that.
I'm A and I've made it known here.
We joke around at least our helmets are black.
I like that we have black helmets here, but I do.
I like, I like that there's something to that.
The pride, the tradition of those traditional fire helmets

(50:24):
that I don't know. It's cool, man.
And you know, I still have my old one, but I don't know if it
is what it is. Maybe someday we'll we'll get it
done here. Right.
So outside of helmets, what else?
What other thing you bring? In and and not to give that
cliche answer, but do they just the guys, man, like I miss
there's a lot of guys that just I I got I was fortunate enough

(50:45):
to to come up and shit. Some of these guys are some of
my best friends, man, from 2000,May of 2009 when I got hired
right. Still talk to one of my best
friends, Mikey, that we went through Romeo with the
Romeoville together and we, we kind of both went separate ways
at about the same time after we did about four or 4 1/2 years
there. But great, just great people in,

(51:07):
in Arlington, Romeoville. That's it, dude.
Just probably just the guys, youknow.
No, I got you for sure. All right, before we get on to
the the questions for firemen for Season 1, is there anything
you want to add on culture, anything we didn't talk about
anything you want to address anything that's.

(51:29):
Important to you? Yeah.
One one thing that that kind of caught me off guard was, you
know, I understood what mutual aid was, what auto aid was and
that was a big difference comingout here.
So yeah. Dude, let's talk about.
That mutual aid was, I was, you know, we were a mutual aid
department where I came from. And unless shit was hitting the
fan in our town, we ran all the calls within, you know, our city

(51:50):
limits. So and, and you take pride in
that. And I'm not saying we don't take
pride here, right, But having that ability for auto aid and
it's better for the public. I, I 100% agree, right?
The closest truck goes to whatever call, but there was a
sense of pride in in, in tradition in that, hey, there
might be a Firehouse from a different town, you know, a

(52:11):
block and a half away. But and we're, you know, we're
6-7 blocks away, but we're stillgoing to take that call because
it's in it's in our district. So that was a little bit of a of
a difference. But I mean, you come out here,
shit, we're we're splitting a station with, you know, yeah,
which is crazy. And it's for the most part

(52:31):
working. I mean, I'm not stationed out of
that, out of that, that house ona regular basis, but we make it
work, you know, and you talk, you go, I go back and tell these
guys from my old my old fire departments and they're like
that, that's that would never work like it does.
You know, I'm not saying those guys are super thrilled about

(52:51):
sending a truck to one of our stations.
But again that auto way deal it it makes sense right for the
public. It does, it works.
And it's funny because throughout the United States, I
mean, I believe that is the majority of the departments are
a mutual aid, right? You don't, you don't get help
from another neighboring department unless you ask for

(53:12):
it, right? You actually have to come on the
radio or some people have to make phone calls, right?
You have to call, maybe they're their chief and ask if you know.
But like that's where I came from the same thing.
And it was crazy because the, you know, the public believes,
you know, across the nation thathey, when they call 911, if
their house is on fire, Grandma Smirkins is in cardiac arrest or
I mean, whatever or little Joeystoe hurts right from 1 extreme

(53:36):
to another. They're expecting that the
closest truck comes. They don't care what city it's
from or what county it's from orwhatever it is.
They just want trained professionals there right now.
You know, and that truly does work in the system that we're in
right now, which is amazing. It doesn't matter whose city it
is where and it doesn't even have to be their normal running
areas. They just happen to be at the
grocery store and now they're closer.

(53:57):
They get picked up on that call because everything's GPS right,
which is amazing. But like, I remember like
countless fires that we would watch burn across a city line
because they and ask for help, you know, and that's just how it
was. It's like we don't get to go
unless they ask for help. And you know, it's, it's, it's
crazy if you think about it in the long run, But you're, you're
absolutely correct. The system that we work in is a

(54:20):
better system by all means, right.
But I do agree with you that pride and tradition.
I mean, I remember we would havelike just in our double houses,
like the engine crew did not like the ladder crew, right.
And because the engine and she'slike, Hey, we do all the work.
We put the fire out the ladders,like you're just a bunch of hose
monkeys, right? We're the ones that actually do
the real men's work bug, you know, whatever.
And then forget it. We get put out for a job.

(54:42):
We're friends right now, right? So we go there and now we're now
we're pissed off at the departments or excuse me, the
the companies in our battalion for the same department, because
we want to handle it all of ourselves, right?
And then, God forbid, a house from another battalion comes.
We're like, fuck those guys, right?
And these are all our dudes, youknow?
But like, we would eat our own, you know?
And here we're like, hey, just come going over.

(55:03):
Like, hey, there's plenty of fire for everybody.
Yeah. And there's still that healthy
competition next door, right? And you know, they're better
than us. We're better than them.
And I think that's. That's a good thing.
Yeah, it's a great thing. I loved.
I loved it. That's a huge draw for me.
And the fire services that that healthy competition, right, We
all get, we all bring each other.
Up. It's all part of that culture,
right? But I think having that auto

(55:25):
wade aspect of the department is, you know, it helps build
relationships, especially sharing a station, right?
Because for the most part, thoseguys, you know, they, they all,
we're all doing the same job, man.
And we're running in the auto aid system.
So it helps, you know, build, you know, tear down those walls
and build those relationships, which is huge, right?

(55:45):
And we got that. Then that special operations,
TRT, hazmat community, we get towork hand in hand with guys all
over the valley, which allows usto do just that, right?
Build relationships and I mean, that's that's really important.
Like I've, I've been fortunate to be on on fires with multiple
different cities, right? And here, like a battalion from

(56:07):
another city outside of ours, right?
Have a heartache would say one of an action that one of our
crews did say, let's just, you know, generalize to say a vent
hole, right, say our ladder vented on the House and the
battalions, like I'm not sure ifit should have been vented,
right. I I've been on calls like that
where the city that that battalion works for those guys
end up stick enough for our guysbecause they were interior,

(56:29):
right? They needed the whole they
called for it, right? And it's just one of those.
But it all goes down to those relationships that could have
easily gone the opposite direction and say at those guys,
I didn't tell them to do nothing, right?
But no, you're right. We all work together and because
of those relationships we build and and because they're hey,
they arrive on scene next, we'regoing to give them a freaking
assignment right now, right? So I wholeheartedly believe that

(56:52):
it's all about communication relationships, especially in
this profession. So and I believe we do a very
good job of it, you know, especially compared to the rest
of the nation. I kind of feel like, you know,
at least coming from where you came from, where I came from, I
think we do it a little bit better, right, just because of
the system that we work in. Is there is there anything else
you want to add about just the cultural differences or fired

(57:14):
fire should say American Firehouse cultures in general?
Anything you want to add at all?You know, one thing, one thing I
know we're shit we're over an hour already, but we talked
earlier about something that really drew me to this
department. And then we talked about the
physical fitness aspect of of our or just the valley, right.
The fact of and what drew me to to this organization in

(57:36):
particular was was our hiring process, right.
I went through the first was called the combine Yeah, OK.
That our organization put on andI wasn't sold then I'm moving
out here 100% right. I wanted to I was had a great
career, great organization I worked for I wasn't going to
leave that just for anything. So I wanted to secure a job out
here before I made that move forthose of you guys don't know

(57:58):
right, we do a, the typical, youknow, put in for the process,
first round, second round interview and then we we send
our our recruits or the people testing to look out the combine,
right. So it's three days or
orientation day and then pretty much 2 days of, you know,
physically beating them down. You know one.
Of the hardest things I've ever been through physically and what

(58:22):
really stood out to me, right with our organization, that is
if these guys are willing to setthe bar this high just to get
your foot in the door, you know,like I, this is the type of
organization that I want to I want to work for right.
And we run, you know, 4040, almost 50,000 calls a year out
of nine stations good, you know,good, good, good fires, good

(58:43):
medical, you know, we get, we get all the good stuff.
So all that stuff drew me. And then physical aspect of of
the standard that this department holds in the fact
that it's not just an HR formality like a lot of the
places where I came from where right.
The firemen get to hire the future fire, that's what.
Makes all the sense in the world.
You know, it's mind blowing thatthat hasn't caught on across the

(59:05):
country. But when I first started at both
my other departments, it went, it was, you know, I went through
HR, the city did the put on the,the hiring process, the testing.
The first time I met any of the guys was, you know, like day one
when I went to the truck. So that was a huge, a huge
difference and a huge benefit to, to, to this place and, and

(59:26):
why and, and shit. I mean, I, I got a no thanks.
My first, my first go, you know,I think it was 2015.
I tested here. That's hard to give me a no.
Thank you. So I had to do, I had to do it
twice. And, and when they gave me the
no thanks here, I knew like, youknow, like I'm, I'm going to
come, I'm coming back. Like I'm, I'm going to, I'm

(59:47):
going to, this is, this is my job, like I'm going to get this
job. So that was, that was a big, a
big draw to me, right? Is the, the standard that we put
on our organization, on our, ourorganization in particular from
a physical, physical fitness standard and, and just it's our
members. You know, picking the future of
this organization, right? So it's a little bit of

(01:00:07):
accountability on our ourselves,like, hey, I put my I put my
name kind on this guy in the hiring process.
Like I'm going to ensure he delivers on the interview stuff
that he talked and, and you knowwhat he did in the combine and
said he was going to do for thisorganization.
So it's a cool piece that not a lot of departments nationwide
are capitalizing on, so. Dude, I love it And just a

(01:00:30):
little shameless plug here, keeplistening to future episodes.
We're actually going to sit downwith a captain that runs our
hiring process. So you'll you want to know more
about the combine and everythingelse, stay tuned.
That's going to be explained in detail on a, a future podcast,
my brother. Well, without keeping the
audience waiting any longer here, let's get into questions,

(01:00:50):
the four questions for Season 1.You ready?
Ready. All right, so question #1 why
the why, right? Why did you get into the fire
service? So what?
When did it bite you? When did you decide?
And he's like, man, this is whatI want to do.
Yeah, I think I kind of touched on it earlier, right?
Is just doing that that a littlebit of work on the front end and
in figuring out that these people that were in a fire

(01:01:13):
service had such a love and a passion for the job.
And it's you love what you do. You never work a day in your
life. So having that perspective on,
you know, a lot of these guys saying that you're, you know,
hey, I hit the lottery getting to the fire service.
It's the best job in the world. Every day is different.
All that stuff, not saying, but like all that was was, yeah.
It was a huge draw for me to, you know, pursue a career that's

(01:01:36):
people felt that passionate about.
And then you throw in, you know,the, the camaraderie, the
brotherhood, the, the, you know,that sports mentality which you
grew up, grew up playing sports my whole life, all that, just it
all made sense, right? And then solidifying that with
doing the groundwork, right, taking the EMT, going to
paramedic school, you know, getting my foot in the door with

(01:01:58):
my first apartment, all that stuff.
It just, it was an easy transition, right?
I don't have a crazy call or a crazy calling of, hey, I'm going
to, I want to be a firefighter. It happened later in life and it
it just all fell into place for me so.
God I love it. Freaking great answer, man.
All right, all right brother question #2 So far so good.

(01:02:19):
So who is the most influential person so far in your fire
service career? Yeah.
So I, I touched on them a littleearlier, right.
First year in the fire service. Yeah.
I consider just a true mentor who kind of laid a lot of the
foundational stuff in regards tomentor, the mentorship that I've

(01:02:40):
kind of tried to emulate throughout my career.
Marty Henry, right Battalion Chief with Romeoville.
Now is he? Still on the job?
Yeah, yeah, he, he just, I mean,just showed me, you know, what
it really meant. And I'm not just from the mentor
standpoint, just hey, this is the right way this job supposed
to be to be done. And man, there was a point where

(01:03:03):
I was kind of contemplating maybe this fire service isn't
for me, right? Because I said and, and kind of
to backtrack a little bit, my only exposure was the private
ambulance sector, right? And I didn't go through the fire
Academy just yet. And that obviously helped me a
bunch. Marty took me under his wing and

(01:03:23):
just showed me kind of, hey, this is the right way, right?
Was very confrontational when heneeded to be.
Held me accountable, which is a big thing, right?
And it's still kind of holds true to today.
And I think we do a good job of that here, right?
Holding each other accountable. Absolutely.
But he man just gave up a really, really cush environment

(01:03:44):
in regards to where he was at housewives.
That was, you know, with really good buddies of his and left
that because he saw something inme to, you know, kind of show me
the ropes in the right way. And and I can't thank him enough
for that. So that guy, like I said, just
just foundational in where I've made it career wise and can't

(01:04:07):
think that guy enough. Dude, that's awesome.
And I know for a fact, probably every single personal incident
listening to this, they have that guy, you know, especially
the good ones. So good way to fucking shout out
to your mentor, right? Give them some props because
that's the hardest thing we do. You know, you tell these guys so
much they mean to you and they'll never really understand.
But any chance we get to tell them, you know for sure?

(01:04:30):
So, yeah, so good job, brother. You, you turned out a freaking
amazing fireman. And we're reaping the benefits
having them over with us. All right, so two more to go,
buddy. You're almost done.
Third question Favorite fire department tradition?
I don't know, we talked about this, you know, it's again, a
kind of a cliche answer, but just that kitchen table, right,

(01:04:53):
That family environment. But to just kind of expand off
of that because I do love that about just the fire service in
general and being able to go anywhere in the country and
popping in a different firehouses throughout the nation
and seeing that same camaraderiehappen.
But just that mentality in I mean, I don't I don't know that

(01:05:14):
there's another occupation that shares this with the fire
service is just that being one of the guys.
And and you know, when I, when Isay being one of the guys, it's
not inclusive to, you know, men and women, it's we.
All know that brother sisterhood, guys are guys, girls
are guys, it's all the same thing.
Just that station banter, the the competitiveness, you know,

(01:05:40):
holding each other accountable, all that when it comes from a
place of love. And I just I love that about the
fire service man And I, I had anawesome upbringing family wise,
grew up with two brothers, a huge, a huge family in regards
to grew up with all my cousins, right?
All my aunts and uncles were allsuper, super close for the most
part. I just love that the fire

(01:06:00):
service emulates that family aspect and the brotherhood and
it's still alive, right? People say Brotherhood's fade
and all. It's still, it's still there,
right? It's just different, you know,
and I think, I think anytime someone has that, that mentality
that's like, oh, it's, it's stopped or it's whatever,
whatever that negative banter is, I really don't buy into

(01:06:21):
that, you know, I don't believe it.
It's, it's still there. It's just different, right?
And some things are different for the better.
Some, you know, it depends on your personal outlook are
different for the worse or whatever, however you want to
put it, but it's just different.And I think as long as you hold
on to whatever the traditions are right and then you continue
those I I think it's a positive outcome all the way around.

(01:06:41):
Before we get on to the last question, because you said you
came from big family. Anyone else in your family on
the job? I have one uncle, one uncle that
works for a suburb of Chicago where he's retired now, but OK.
Gotcha. Yeah, didn't really have a huge
impact. You know shit about the fire
service before I got into it, man, so.
You know, I was, I was the same boat as you.
So dude, you know, good job. I, I agree with you

(01:07:02):
wholeheartedly that kitchen table is, is sacred, you know,
on, on all different levels. So I hope that never goes away
in the fire service. I can't imagine.
I can't see it ever gone away. But keep my fingers crossed at
least, and the rest of our careers will.
We'll never see it fade. All right, So kind of kind of
the opposite of that, right? Not necessarily tradition wise,
but if you could snap your fingers and just change one

(01:07:24):
thing in the fire service, anything you want, right,
instant gratification, what would it be?
But more importantly, why? Yeah, easy.
And just to play off that last answer, actually, I did some
thinking when you brought this question up to me.
You know, prior to the podcast, I'd pull every, I'd RIP every TV
out of bedrooms and bring back the old school, you know, common

(01:07:46):
bunk, you know, and I know there's some Gray area with, you
know, guys and girls, you know, being in the Firehouse.
And maybe that had something to do with the change that took
place. But my old department, we had
like more like cubicles, but it was an open common bunk room.
And then one of my initial firehouses, station one in
Romeoville was still that commonbunk room, right?

(01:08:07):
No one had a place to go hide and watch TV or whatever the
case in their own little privatebedroom.
Everybody kicked it at the Bay, the bend the Bay table, right?
There's a little TV there. And then from there it was the
kitchen table. So I would, I would replace
that, right? I'd get rid of all that secluded
in that environment that gives you somewhere to hide or not be

(01:08:31):
out there with the guys. I got you know it.
You know, it's funny because youknow, I I do definitely see the
advantages of the private rooms and everything else, but like,
I'm kind of in the same boat as you.
I wish we ripped every TV out right.
I actually wish we would get ridof the day rooms.
I'd rather put all of her furniture that's in the day
room, champagne room, whatever you guys want to call it, right?
I put it right back in the freaking Bay, right, because I

(01:08:53):
love being in the Bay because what happens and we've I've I've
talked to other individuals on those podcasts too, Like you
hang out in the Bay long enough,eventually compartment Starkey
and open dog, you start talking shop.
I mean, and then the best thing is you get a job.
You freaking right there. You know, it's like it's it's
amazing like I some of our houses still have a little bit
of furniture in bays and like I always take advantage of like
you'll find me hanging out most of the time in the Bay.

(01:09:17):
But I'll tell you what, because I came up in the system where we
had common bunk rooms too. I do not miss trying to fall
asleep before the snore. Typically that plump operator,
the engineer, right with that big old belly.
It's like shit, you know, I remember we used to carry.
I don't know about you guys, butlike just rolls the toilet paper
next to our racks instead of herflinging them at people you know
just enough for them to roll over.
Be like, OK, let me try to get to sleep.

(01:09:38):
Yeah, unless they were the officer or super salty senior
guy those they got kicked out, you're snored, you're out of
there. We didn't have the opportunity
like the officers, the the Lieutenant and the captain would
have his own private room. But outside of that, everybody
getting guys and girls. You know, our our ambos were,
were firemen, right? But we're, you know, mixed male
and female and they just, I'm not sure if it's still like

(01:09:59):
that, but they, it was all common bunker man.
And we never thank God, we neverknock on wood.
We never had any sort of issues like that.
So dude, yeah, you killed it, man.
So anything you want to add? We're we're at the end of our
podcast, right? I really appreciate you spending
your time with us sharing your stories, right, to insight that
a lot of people don't have. So thank you for sharing your,

(01:10:20):
your stories. You know the traditions, what
you love. More importantly, just a passion
you have for the fire service. Anything you want to close us
out on or you you think you hit everything?
No, I think just, you know, thank you for the time and share
I guess my path to where I'm at in the fire service.
And yeah, man, I'm passionate about this, about this job.

(01:10:41):
I hope, I hope that I portray that right.
I think I do and and within our organization, but just keep that
flame burning with the younger guys and you know, that whole
old adage the let's leave this place better and we found it
type mentality. So thanks for the platform to be
able to kind of talk. Yeah, absolutely.
And so dude, Danny, again, thankyou so much for your time,

(01:11:02):
brother. You killed it, right?
Hopefully this podcast goes on for several years and I can get
you back on here when you make Battalion and we could have a
whole nother conversation. How's that sad brother?
We'll listen. Hey everyone, thank you for
listening. You guys have a a great evening
and we'll catch you on the next episode.

(01:11:23):
Thanks for joining us. Always remember, the most
important grab you'll make in your fire service career is
saving a complacent firefighter from themselves.
Catch you next episode.

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