Stay Engaged with Battalion Chief Anthony Valverde

Chief Valverde

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
A lot and you know, seen a lot of people fail with the FGS.
We, we don't do that. We, we put them through
uncomfortable positions, but we coach them through it.
We talk them through it. We give them the confidence to
do it. And with that, a lot of people
come out of that like, man, I didn't think I was going to be
able to do that, man, thank you for talking me through that.

(00:20):
It's like, hey man, with that little Angel on your shoulder,
we're going to chirp and chirp and chirp and get you through
this. So you know, if and when that
day ever happens, hopefully it never does, but you're going to
go back to this training, you'regoing to go back and you're
going to you're going to take that what we call Boa, breathe,
organize, act. It's going to slow you down.
You're going to think about it and you're going to be like,
hey, I remember that Boa. What was it again?

(00:41):
I'm going to breathe. I'm going to slow my breathing
down. I'm going to organize my
thoughts and then I'm going to go and do what I was taught to
do and get myself out of the situation.
Welcome everybody. This is Copper say Fireman
podcast. This podcast is for firemen
burning the ships of complacency, laziness and
excuses, for promoting the love and passion for the job,

(01:03):
encouraging eagerness, and mastering the craft of the fire
service. The information, opinions,
values, recommendations and ideas are the host and
individuals of this podcast and are not affiliated or endorsed
by the fire departments, organizations, or companies that
individuals work for. This podcast is for general

(01:24):
information use only. Endorsed by the Copper.
Say Fools. All right, welcome back.
I am sitting down here today with Battalion Chief Anthony
Valverde. He's got 20 years in the
American Fire Service. He's been a paramedic for 18 of
those years. Career highlights.
He's been able to mentor and develop firefighters throughout
his entire career. He's held every rank in the

(01:45):
American Fire Service up to Battalion Chief.
He's been a paramedic for 18 of those years.
He has precepted many up and coming paramedics here in the
department that he works for. He's been IC and OPS chief for
several mega events in the area.He's currently a master
instructor for the IAFF Fire Ground Survival Program.
And that's what we're going to talk about today.

(02:06):
Big ticket items. He he's proud of.
He really just loves the job. This guy still comes back to
work. He loves it.
He loves to mentor, train up these guys, and just be in the
position he has to be able to develop, mentor, and point to
American Fire Service in the correct direction.
So again, thank you for your time coming out here today or
actually thank you for letting me come to your place and

(02:27):
hosting me. So I appreciate that.
Is there anything I missed Chiefin the intro?
No you didn't. Thanks for having me.
Yeah, absolutely. So 20 years in American fire
service. Awesome.
You've been Battalion Chief for about how?
How long now? They're going on nine months
now. OK.
So nine months, so within the first year and before we kind of
get into the topic, what was that transition like?
So you were a suppression captain now your Battalion Chief

(02:49):
was that was that a hard transition?
Do you prefer the captain position or the battalion?
Just kind of talk to the the listeners about that transition
for you personally. You know what the transition it
was, it was different. You know, in the department I
work in, you can act in that position prior to actually

(03:10):
getting promoted to it. So I was acting at BC for about
two years. I've been a, a captain going on
eight years and before that I was acting captain probably
another eight years before that.So I, I have it some pretty
significant fires under my belt,significant events under my
belt. And so for me personally, I
always feel in order to, to promote to that position, I want

(03:34):
to sit in that seat and I want to, I want to experience it.
I want to get as much experiencebefore I actually make that
move. And I was in a training position
prior to taking the, the BC examand I had a year left in my, in
my contract to be a training captain.
So I felt, you know, I was goingto leave a little early so I can
get my acum Battalion Chief. Like I said, I wanted to get

(03:56):
some, some seat time. I wanted to get in there, see if
that's something I really want to do because that's a, that's a
lot of responsibility. It's a huge responsibility.
And I want to make sure that that was something I wanted to
do before, before actually taking that exam.
So I actually did take the exam and and did well, came out
number two on the list. And from that point on it, it's

(04:16):
it's just constant learning. It's it's a different, it's a
different shuffle from being a company officer to being a chief
officers. Certain things you can say
around the the kitchen table as a captain that you can't say as
ABC, but you learn that role pretty quick.
You know, you, you, you learn that your people, you, you, you
learn pretty well. You learn what their what
they're willing to talk about and what they're willing not to

(04:37):
talk about around the fire, around, you know, Battalion
Chief or chief officer. Now, do you find, and I'm just
curious because I know everyone's story is different.
Do you find like the guys treat you any different after you're
promoted from say quote UN quoteone of the boys right to upper
management? You know what you, you see that
and, you know, going around to the stations, going, doing
station visits, going and checking on the, the, the women

(04:58):
and men in the fire service, especially in, in North
Battalion, it is different. It is different.
You get some conversations, you know, you get some sidebar
conversations and some people say, Hey, you know, can't
believe you went to the dark side.
And, and they have that conversation with you and I not
listen to them and, and, you know, I don't get defensive or
nothing. But the thing I do mention to

(05:19):
them is, you know, I'm sad that you see it that way, that, that,
you know, once you cross over tothe chief ranks, that there's a
comparison to, you know, our side, your side, we're on one
side, you know, and, and, and it's a fire service.
It's, it's to go out there, provide a service to train up
our members to go out there and,and do a great job, be safe
while doing it. You know, and, and I tell him,

(05:41):
you know, instead of saying, hey, you know, you went to the
dark side and say, hey, you knowwhat?
We have another soldier on that side that's going to fight for
us and take care of us, mentor us and develop us and and look
out for us. Yeah.
And we talk all the time, especially the boys, right, The
quote UN quote boys we always talk about.
We always want the fireman chief, right?
And not just talk about the chief, but all the chief company

(06:02):
or all the chief ranks. Because again, we want our
firemen to become chiefs to thenlead us into, you know, a more
aggressive, more efficient, moreproficient, whatever the case
might be department, right? We're trying to grow and be and
be better than what we we came across.
So it's it's I always find it's funny when guys get kicked back
when the good dudes make those positions.
And it's it's almost like the other end too.

(06:23):
It's like, well, if I didn't putin right, who did right, or who
would you have been willing to work for?
And it's never like, oh, I don'twant to work for you.
It's just like, oh, you know, like, oh, you're now you're
chief officer or whatever. So yeah, I was just curious on
how, how your journey one, especially with being less than
and and a year as a battalion sofar.
So it's it's super fresh. Yeah, you know what it is and,

(06:43):
and the way I look at it and, and I was kind of told when I
was testing was you got to have some operational credibility
and, and, you know, in order forpeople to actually trust you and
take you seriously. So I felt I went into this
process with that, like I said, 20 going on 20 years on the job
or now I do have 20 years on thejob.
And I was always at busy houses.We caught a lot of fire.

(07:06):
We caught a lot of trauma, you know, we were doing it.
You know, I've never went to thestation to go hide always, you
know, saw an opportunity to, to better myself and, and to get
those calls under my belt because I knew this is exactly
where I wanted to be. So, you know, that that does
help me, you know, get through as as my first year as a
Battalion Chief. Yeah, and absolutely in the the
department that you work for, I know the size.
So it's it's one of those departments that's extremely

(07:28):
busy, but small enough where everyone knows who everybody is.
So it's, it's nice that you camethrough the ranks because I know
a lot of departments have issueswith that Battalion Chief level
where you, you have a bunch of captains that will not take the
test and then they hire outside and then the guys are even more
pissed off. It's like, well, it's what do
you want? You know, you don't want to
promote, but at the same time you're pissed when an outside
guy comes in and promotes. So it's always great when you

(07:50):
know, the good firemen come up through the ranks of that
department promote to battalion because then they can make more
of effective change. And I and I, I have felt it on
the company officer level as a captain position where I can
affect more change now. So I can only imagine how you
feel from that position to the battalion level, accepting that
more responsibility in the the the ability to make a positive
change. So and again, we always

(08:11):
appreciate when the boys make the right calls and in the right
position. So it's it's always good to have
friends in high places, you know.
Oh, yeah, definitely. And like you, you know, you
talked about earlier mentoring, developing that the, the youth,
you know, the younger firefighters, the, you know, the
men and women in the fire service.
We're a young department and, you know, across the board
firefighters. Across the nation right now.

(08:32):
Oh yeah. You know, from firefighters to
new engineers, new captains, newBCS, DCS, all the way up, the
way I look at it is having that opportunity to mentor and
develop, you know, the up and coming captains, engineers,
medics. It's for me, it's you're, you're
trying to develop your and mentor your replacement.

(08:52):
Yeah, that's what you're doing. You want, you know, like they
always tell you, you know, you come to the fire service and and
you want to leave it better thanyou found it.
For me, I've been in those positions where I've mentor,
developed probationary firefighters and they end up
becoming my captain. It was my booter on the truck
and now I was working for him. He got promoted.
We took the same captain's test and they got, there were like 2

(09:15):
names or two numbers before me and they got promoted.
And that's awesome. Yeah.
But I was 100% fine with that. I was, I was 100% fine with that
because I knew I was able to, tohave an impact on that
firefighter. I trained and mentored them,
developed and gave them everything that I've learned,
everything that was shared with me.
And they did really well on the test and, and now they were my

(09:36):
supervisor. Then again, we flip the script.
Now I'm their supervisor again. So is it we're just playing
leapfrog? But I'm perfectly fine with
that. I'm 100% as long as I know I
have my thumbprint on that individual.
You know, I was perfectly fine with that individual leading me
so. Yeah, and then and doing good
things too. And it's funny, I always, I
always laugh when guys have issues with that, like, oh, you
know, I want the booter to promote before.

(09:57):
No, no, like I have the ability now where I'm working with
recruits. I would love to see one of my
recruits one day that I was ableto impact their life, become my
battalion or division, dependingon where I'm at.
You know, that would that would be amazing, you know, because
that means that we as mentors did a really good job and made a
very good impression on that individual.
And look what they're doing withthe fire service now.
So that's awesome. All right, well, let's get into

(10:18):
the actual topic. So please educate us.
So you are a master instructor with the International associate
of Firefighters, right? First of all, how many are there
in the nation? So a master instructors, there's
thirty of us nationwide, internationally, so that's
throughout the US and in Canada.So the IAFF, so they opened it
up and we have instructors from Vancouver, Winnipeg, we have

(10:43):
instructors from Boston, we haveinstructors from LA City, LA
County, Chattanooga, there, you name it, we have them.
And, and you know, I've been trying to become a master
instructor since 2016. So I had my name in the hat for
a while and finally got selected.
So yeah, there's thirty of us. How does for to explain to

(11:05):
everybody, including myself, howdo you get selected for that
position? Is that something that you have
to go to school, apply for all the above, like walk the
audience through? Like if they want to pursue that
in 20 years from now, like how would they start aligning their
career to kind of set themselvesup for success?
OK, so First off, you have to bea train the trainer.

(11:25):
So you you go to the the IFF website and then they have the
FGS site there where you can tryto find out where they're having
the train the trainers scheduled.
So we had one here in, in the city of Glendale, they had one
hosted, which there was another department that was sponsoring
it, that ended up getting the, the grant for it.

(11:48):
And it allows up to 30 firefighters to go and become
master, not master instructors, but train the trainer
instructors for the, for the fireground survival program.
So you have to have that under your belt 1st and then actually
train it throughout your city and other cities a couple of
times. So you get used to, to, to
delivering the, the, the productof being a being FGS instructor.

(12:12):
So I did that for about two years.
So like I said, let's go back 2016.
I put my name in the hat. So by doing that, you have to
submit a letter of interest to to the IFF and then let them
know you would like to be an instructor.
And then once they set you up, they'll give you a, a basically
an e-mail of all the requirements.

(12:33):
And that requirement is one of them being a train the trainer.
And then the other requirement is being good standing with your
local. And then you have to get a
letter signed by your vice president and your local
president saying, Hey, you know,I give this guy the, the, you
know, the, the blessing to move forward.
And then they'll send that to the District 10, which is our

(12:55):
our VP and, and District 10 has to sign off on it as well,
basically saying that, Yep, thisguy or gals good to go and push
it forward. So all what I had to do was
submit a 15 minute presentation of me instructing a course.
My background is I was the lead instructor for one of the high

(13:16):
school fire science programs. So teaching was, was part of my
background. You know, I love doing it and I
love educating people I love andespecially the fire service, you
know, you love talking about what you do, you know, and if
you love doing what you do, it'seasy to talk about.
So I went ahead and and submitted my video and we had
one of the Pi OS that that worked for our department help

(13:39):
edit it. I submitted that with my letter
of interest and then all my signatures I needed and it was
just a waiting game. You know this, this is a sought
after position. So it was a waiting game for for
an opening to happen. So there has to be.
So just so I understand too. So are there only so many is do
they cap it I guess? Yeah, they do put a cap.

(14:01):
On SO, you get to a point eventually someone would have to
leave for them to bring in a newmaster instructor.
That's correct. OK, I understand, right.
So we talked about the process of becoming a master FGS.
We keep saying that, right? So fire ground survival.
So let's talk about what that really is, what that entails and
what you're teaching when you are doing that class.
And then we'll kind of do a deepdive on what's your either your

(14:23):
favorite or most you feel like is the most important portion of
that class. So just kind of breakdown the
audience that's never been to it.
Heard of it. What is it and what are you?
What are you teaching the boys? OK.
So the FGS, it's a program that it you, your department can put
in for a grant. And then once it gets approved
for the grant, then we'll send anywhere up to seven master

(14:46):
instructors to your department to teach the program.
And, and we'll allow up to 3030 firefighters to submit to, to be
a part of that program. And we'll train them to be in
trainers or instructors for for their departments or other
departments. Is that the train?
The trainer you were talking. About that's the training the
trainer. So, so once we do that, then

(15:10):
what it takes basically it's, it's about four day process.
So the first day is a lot of PowerPoint presentations, a lot
of what's going to, you know, setting up the trailer, because
with this, with this grant, you do get a trailer and it has all
the props in it. So we'll go over how to set up
the props and then how to deliver the, the, the, the

(15:30):
message of the FGS, the fireground survival program.
So then the other three days, it's all hands on, it's out
there and on the grinder and it's, it's going through all the
different props and, and the waythey, the IFF put this course
together was it, it looked at a lot of the NIOSH reports and,

(15:50):
and how firefighters were dying,how, you know, what was the
biggest cause of firefighter deaths?
What was the most common out of all those?
And a lot of it was a asphyxiation.
So with with that was OK, so firefighters were in a in a bad
position, lost, trapped off their hose line, panicked and

(16:12):
ripped their face mask off because they, you know, when you
start over breathing your mask, you start panicking and you
went, the first thing you want to do is grab a fresh breath of
air and they get a fixated with their mask on.
So they want to RIP it off. So they're like, why are, why
are firefighters doing this? You know what, why are our, our
brothers and sisters, you know, perishing with 800 PSI of hair

(16:34):
still in their bottles or a functioning SCBA next to them?
So they can be kind of dove intothat and said, you know what, we
need to put a course together. We need to put something, a
program together to, to help our, our brothers and sisters
out and, and, and they came out with the FGS program.
So my favorite part of it is interacting with, with people

(16:54):
from all over the, the country and, and throughout Canada.
You know, I've been fortunate enough to go ahead and, and
train one of the largest cities,which is, which is the Phoenix
Fire Department. And, and, you know, when you go
into a larger city, it's kind ofyou're kind of going in there
with, you know, doubts, like arethey going to accept this?
Are they going to, you know, what, what can you bring to us

(17:16):
that we don't already know? How, how are you going to teach
us to be better than what we are?
And to go in there and, and teach these, these men and women
a new skill or brush it, you know, refresh them on a skill
that they've learned already andteach them a new way of doing
it. They were very receptive.
And, and we had, we had, at thattime, I think we had six

(17:38):
different cities that were a part of it as well.
And anywhere from A2 year firefighter all the way up to a
28 year firefighter captain. And to see them go through it
and, and to mentor them and, andcoach them through, you know,
this guy, he's probably about two years away from retiring and
he went to this program because he wants, he wants to be able
to, to teach his department. And at the end of the course,

(17:58):
have him come up and, and thank and thank you for, you know,
hey, man, there's a lot of stuffI didn't even think about a lot
of stuff that you walked me through that I didn't think I
was going to make it. And then just to be that that
that coach, I would say to coachthem through, talk them through
whatever skill that they went through and let them know that,

(18:18):
Hey, we're doing this because wewant you to be successful in the
worst day ever, which is a mayday, you know, and that's
what we that the fire ground survival is basically encompass
around is maydays. So it's that worst case scenario
that a firefighter never wants to go through.
So we put this training on. So when, when and if that ever
happens that they go back to their training, they go back to

(18:40):
that, that drill that we put on for them.
And one thing in the fire service that we never want to
do, and I see it a lot is, is cause training scars.
You know, one thing that we don't want to do is go in there
and force people to do things and put them in uncomfortable
positions and, and they panic and they freeze up and they
don't get through it, you know, and that's what we, that's,

(19:01):
that's the old fire service. We did that a lot.
And, you know, seen a lot of people fail with the FGS.
We don't do that. We, we put them through
uncomfortable positions, but we coach them through it, we talk
them through it, we give them the confidence to do it.
And with that, a lot of people come out of that like, man, I
didn't think I was going to be able to do that, man, thank you

(19:22):
for talking me through that. It's like, hey, man, with that
little Angel on your shoulder, we're going to chirp and chirp
and chirp and get you through this.
So you know, if and when that day ever happens, hopefully it
never does, but you're going to go back to this training, you're
going to go back and you're going to you're going to take
that what we call a boa breathe,organize act.
It's going to slow you down. You're going to think about it
and you're going to be like, hey, I remember that boa.

(19:43):
What was it again? I'm going to breathe.
I'm going to slow my breathing down, I'm going to organize my
thoughts and then I'm going to go and do what I was taught to
do and get myself out of the situation.
And to me, when you hear people after you're done doing that
five day training, that four daytraining, come back and say,
man, that was awesome, man. I appreciate, I appreciate
everything that you did. I appreciate your perspective on

(20:06):
some things. I like your delivery.
I like the way you came across, man.
At first I was kind of skepticalabout this and.
And then, you know, you see the load and reduce prop and there's
a little, little square and you want me to go through that
little square. I don't think that's happening.
And then they make it through itand then they, they, they build
that confidence. And then at the end of the
program, we do a confidence course, which basically compiles

(20:28):
everything that we put them through that week.
And they have to go through thatconfidence course in order to,
to successfully graduate the program and become a trainer
trainer. And if they don't, then we'll
give them an opportunity later on down the road to do it again
or maybe that day. But you do have to complete
that. That is part of the course to to
get certified to be a trainer trainer.

(20:49):
Well, that's a we've we've been saying it for years.
So they always say like the old school, same your highest level
or the the highest level of stress you experience, you
always resort back to your lowest level of training, right?
And then to be the guy that elevated that individuals lowest
level of training to where it needed to be to actually survive
that incident, it's got to feel absolutely amazing.

(21:12):
You know, it's like, I can't imagine how you felt after
training a very large fire department and then getting all
that positive feedback. It's like, holy cow, right.
Well, this we're we're doing, we're doing a good thing.
We're doing a good thing for ourguys, neighboring departments,
every everything under the sun. So you talked about you have to
pass this confidence course at the end.

(21:32):
So can you break down at least the events that you put all
these students through prior to that confidence course?
Yeah. So prior to the confidence
course, we have multiple props that we have set up.
So one of them being an entanglement prop.
So the the candidate will go through the the entanglement

(21:53):
prop. We'll we'll kind of hang them up
in certain areas. We'll talk, we'll talk them
through it. A lot of times.
We'll, we'll, prior to sending them through, we'll, we'll do a,
a quick briefing of what they'regoing to experience and then
we'll talk about what kind of equipment do you have on you?
What kind of tools do you carry with you and why?
You know, how often do you checkthem out?

(22:13):
You know, a lot of them, you know, don't carry cutters or
don't carry any, any kind of straps or anything like that on
them. It's just a, just to see what
they have on them in case something like this was to
happen. So when I was teaching the class
in the Valley, we had a lot of the, the firefighters pull out
their, their cutters in their intheir pockets and they are

(22:34):
rusted shut, you know, because you catch fire after fire and,
and it gets all your stuff wet and they can even open them or,
or with gloved hands, they can even grab a grab them out of
their pocket because of dexterity that you have.
So we're just showing them little trades of the, you know,
tricks of the trade of, Hey, let's tie off of a piece of
webbing on there, put a golf ball on the back of that

(22:55):
webbing. So, you know, it hangs off and
you can just grab it and pull itout.
You know, just little things that little Nuggets that we pick
up, you know, from other departments, other members that
say he this was works best for me or this, this works better,
you know, if you have it this way or carry 2 sets.
Because if something was to happen, you're pinned on one
side, the side that you have your tool on.
Now I can access my other side, my other tool in my other

(23:18):
pocket. So, so that, that's a good
course to go through. You know, like I said, we'll
hang them up, work them through that, show them how to, you
know, different techniques of cutting wires.
If they do get entangled, if, ifa piece of their equipment does
get hung up, another one would be a ladder Bale.
So you know, if you're, if you're inside of a structure and
you need to bail out a window and you know, hopefully you have

(23:41):
a good engineer or a good a ladder company that put a ladder
at that base of that window where you're able to safely exit
that window, come out, swing andthen slide down that ladder.
So we show them those techniques.
Another another one is the low and reduced like I talked about
where you have say, if you have a collapse and the only way out
of a structure is to to breakthrough a drywall.

(24:04):
And knowing how those forms are set up, they're 24 on center and
you're able to force enough of that wall out to, to make it
into a safe room and how to navigate that, how to take off
your air pack and either maneuver that air pack through
that, that opening or keep it onand do it.
So there's, there's a ton of, ofskills that we show you prior to

(24:25):
that confidence course. We build you up, build that
confidence up. One of the big ones is the SCBA
familiarization. So you, you think about is, oh,
that's easy. That's my, that's my pack.
I know my pack left, you know, from top to bottom, I know where
everything's at until we black you out and until you have
gloves on. And then we have you navigate
through it. We kind of, we kind of put some

(24:46):
hiccups in there for you to kindof maneuver through, but with
you being blacked out and no gloves on or I mean with your
gloves on and and then do that, you see people fumble,
especially that, yeah, don't check off their packs regularly
like they should be. You know, like we always say you
if you're going to do it, do it like you do it out in the field,
you know, gloves on, Navigate through that, operate your radio

(25:09):
with your gloves on, everything with your gloves on.
Because without it, you know, your dexterity is different and,
and people don't know exactly which strap is where, where's
your lifeline at, where, you know, where's your gauge at?
Where's your handle at, where your buckles at.
So, you know, I love doing that.I, I love doing that, that
confidence court or I'm sorry, the SCBA familiarization part,

(25:31):
just to, just to see people and then have that conversation with
them afterwards. Say, came in, you got it.
You got to step it up, man. Especially company officers
doing that, you know, you see them fumbling through some stuff
and then have that conversation is, hey, you have, you have
three other people in your truckthat are looking up to you for
mentorship, for for guidance. And then you can't even do it

(25:52):
yourself. And then now they're looking
towards you as you're going to lead us out of here.
If if you know, shit hits a fan.So, you know, there's a lot they
said that leads up to that confidence course.
Yeah, and it it it's crazy too, because I've, I've taken the
course that Chief teaches and I've been one of his students.

(26:12):
And it's funny because even after that I changed a couple
things that I felt like I was very comfortable with.
One was my cutters, my dykes, right?
I ended up doing exactly what you did, right?
You. I took a piece of webbing and
then some paracord. I wrapped a big old handle.
So and then I show kids. Now I'm like, like, I invented
it, right? But now I can put a gloved hand
through. It's easy to find because it can

(26:33):
hang out of my pocket because that's why I learned by going
through the confidence course with you.
So I'm like, I couldn't find it in my pocket prior to him cycle.
This makes it, Why the hell, AndI think of that before, how easy
is that? And then literally I, and I've
heard it from multiple members, every single person, especially
during the SCB or afterwards, they're like, I am going to
start checking off my pack with my gloves on, right?
I even just talked to a captain not too long ago and he went

(26:56):
from Firehouse to Firehouse in a24 hour shift.
And then we did the right thing,checked his pack out when he
went to the new Firehouse, but he did it without looking at it
with the gloves on because he felt comfortable in the morning
doing their just clothes on. So he's like, I'm going to step
on my game a little bit. So I'm just going to close.
So just guys being able to do iton their own or they're picking
up something new. It's just like, that's that's

(27:17):
exactly why, I'm sure that's exactly why you're doing and
what motivates you do exactly what you're doing right now.
Oh yeah, 100%. And, and, you know, being a part
of this cadre, you, you talk to firefighters from across the
country, you know, and we always, we always think, man,
you know, sometimes we have a bad in our department.

(27:39):
And then you talk to somebody from another department and
they're going through the same thing they're going through, you
know, the same Mandos, you know,the people getting Mandos,
budget cuts, same issues. You know, it's like the Yeah.
You can't get trucks, can't get packs, can't get fire hose like
all the. Issues, Yeah, like we want 2
trucks, Guess what, Houston wants 100 trucks, right?

(28:02):
New York wants so, you know, 300trucks.
So it's like everybody needs trucks, everybody needs
equipment, everybody needs manpower.
You know, we, it's like, how do we get these, these young
firefighters motivated? How do we how do we get them?
You know, we always look back and say, man, I remember when I
was a booter, I couldn't do this.
I couldn't do that without getting my butt shoot.
Now it's like today's a different fire service again.

(28:24):
I go it's, it's just a cycle. You could pull clippings out of
the paper from years back and they were going through the same
problems then as we're going through now.
It's just a cycle that keeps getting it's, it's how we as
company officers, chief officers, senior firefighters
mentor the, the, the new person,right.
So with talking to a member, part of the cadre from

(28:49):
department back east, they were putting their members through
the confidence course. And I remember hearing the story
was one of the members was out of shape, you know, was a pretty
big firefighter, went through the confidence course and almost
blew out their knee, got injured, you know, and that's

(29:09):
the last thing we want. What are what are two things
that that shut down training? Yeah.
Yeah, injuries and money, right?Injuries and and damaged
equipment, damaged equipment, Yep.
So that shut down training really quick.
So, you know, this being backed by the, you know, IFF.
So it's like, OK, hey, did we dosomething wrong or did the

(29:30):
member do something wrong? Well, the member, you know, we
have a lot of those members thatthat are quick to blame you, you
know, you forced me to do this. You you caused me to almost in
my career this and that when allwe're trying to do is prepare
them for that worst day, for that maybe that maybe situation.
So. The 12 Big Macs is what killed
them for the last 20 years, right?

(29:53):
Oh yeah, so listening to listening to, you know, my buddy
on the cadre tell the story, I can already picture several war
members and I'm like, OK, I wantto hear this.
So of course the member was blaming the program, you know,
the instructors for getting for getting injured.
Well, that members pulled off the truck, put on a modified

(30:15):
duty and then had to go rehab. Well, going to rehab, getting on
a on a strict regiment, actuallydieting and then coming back a
year later and going up to that member and saying, you know
what, hey, I apologize. And the guy's like, apologize
for what? And he was like, you know, I

(30:36):
blamed you for, for my injury. He's like, it was, it was all
me. He's like, I was out of shape.
I was out of condition. I was not physically ready to,
to perform that day. And my weight and my
unconditioned body causes injury.
And you know what? I changed my lifestyle.
I changed my workouts. I think you probably saved my

(30:57):
life. Wow.
Right. And I'm like, that's awesome.
You know, I was just like, it just gave me chills just to hear
that he's like, you know, maybe that injury is what probably
saved my life because I was going on this path of, you know,
I'm just heart. Disease.
Exactly. I'm just winging it, hoping that
we don't get that big one, hoping that we don't get that

(31:19):
big fire and hoping that I can make it out of that big fire and
hoping that all this training you're putting us through is not
to come and get me. And that, you know, my buddy was
telling me about it and I was just like I said, he gave me
chills. And I'm like, dude, that's
awesome. Because that's not the impact
that we wanted on that person. You know, we wanted to train

(31:39):
them for that worst day scenario, but it had a bigger
impact on them. And I'm like, that was, that was
awesome. You know, you hear that.
And, and like I said, just talking to individuals and, and
hearing how, how this program impacts them in different ways I
go it's, it's a game changer. That's awesome.
So with, with this program beingso involved as master instructor
now, how does that look for your, your career outlook?

(32:01):
So is that something that you can hold on to forever or do you
have a timeline where you you have to commit and then it's
hey, it's, it's time for someoneelse to go through.
As long as I'm I'm active firefighter, as long as I'm on
the job still I can, I can do itas long as I want.
That's awesome. That's a that's a cool thing
about it. Like I said, it, it is a group

(32:22):
of 30 and the reasoning they want to keep it.
They want to keep it nice and tight.
Just so you know, we we all deliver the same message and it
and it's an awesome cadre. They have same cadres for
hazmat. They have cadres for like fit to
thrive, health and Wellness while and stuff.

(32:43):
So they have a lot of these cadres through the IFF.
Fortunately, like I said, I'm blessed to to be a part of this
one. It's very humbling knowing that
I was, I was one of seven selected to be, you know, a
master master instructor. And there's like I said, a total
of 30 of us throughout the US and in Canada.
And to be able to go train departments, the the FGS program

(33:09):
just recently, I believe last year went to Chicago Fire to go
teach. And I think from what I was told
by some of the instructors, there were not, not a lot of
people go into Chicago and teachand they're very tight knit
there. And they're, they're Chicago
Fire, right? You know, nobody comes in and

(33:29):
teaches us anything. We, we got it right.
And we sent, we sent the best that we have part of the
instructors, you know, to go teach.
And they were very, very welcoming, really very, very
receptive to to the FGS program.That's amazing.
Yes, and actually they taught two classes there back-to-back.
And like I said, all the feedback that that our

(33:51):
structures had were and they thethe women and men in Chicago
Fire, they love the program and,and it looks like we're going to
go back so. That's awesome.
And again, like the the more of this program gets involved in
all the fire departments across the United States and Canada,
obviously, right, But I mean it just makes collectively us as
brothers and sisters better across the nation and that's all

(34:12):
we're trying to do. So then for you to be part of
that is got to just be amazing. I'm super fucking jealous.
I hope I have the opportunity toget to something like that in
before the end of my career. But it's like I said, you're
doing strong work. You're freaking.
You're definitely a value to thedepartment you work for.
I'm proud that I've been able towork underneath you while we

(34:33):
kind of start winding down this.Is there anything about the FGS
that you want to share with the audience before we get into the
questions for Season 2? You know what, like I said, if,
if your department's able to, toput in for the grant or a
surrounding department, secure as one, try to get in there and
try to get in there. Try to be a, a train the trainer

(34:56):
for the FGS. You're going to learn so much
and you're going to take so muchout of it and you're going to be
able to impact people's lives. You're going to, you're going to
be able to train people. Like I said, for me coming into
this, I, I have a training background and, and I learned so
much. I mean, just like I said, you're
working with with people from all over the US and in Canada

(35:21):
and some of these departments, man, you got LA City, LA County,
you got Boston, You have, we hada, a gentleman from FDNY.
He's no longer with the program.He had to step down for some
personal reasons. But I mean, you work with the
best of the best. And sometimes I'm just when
we're at, at dinner, you know, on one of these cadre retreats,

(35:43):
I just listen, you know, I have a lot to say, but I just listen.
And I'm like, man, because there's a lot of wisdom out
there. And, and, you know, being 20
years on the job, I still feel like I'm the booter sometimes,
you know, and like, I like to bethat sponge.
I like to just listen and, and take in what everybody's talking
about and then come back to my city and apply it, you know,

(36:07):
because it's very humbling. Like I said, this, this career,
this, this job that we have, youknow, it's not for everybody.
And, and for me, you know, beingable to, to surround myself with
a lot of positive people that, you know, like I said, there's
some people that have 30 plus years on the job that are, that
are cadre instructors. And that's, that's 30 some years

(36:28):
of experience that, you know, that you can learn from and,
and, and just be that sponge, you know, listen up.
That that's what, you know, my son, I tell him the same thing.
I go, hey, when somebody's talking, listen.
Listen to what they have to say because they have stuff that
maybe I've might have not sharedwith you or, or taught you or,

(36:49):
or, you know, you've experienced.
Listen, you know, just just be there.
And if you don't know anything, ask, you know, if you want to
figure something out, ask because I know you and I, when
we came up in the fire service, the first thing we were told is
keep your mouth shut. Yeah, keep your eyes open, ears
open and your mouth shut. Correct.
You know, and now you look back and you're like, it was some

(37:12):
pretty stupid information that we were given because it's like,
hey, well, why do we do this? Because that's how it's always
been done. That's not an answer.
It's like, why do we do this? Well, that's how we've done
before. It's like, no, I need to know
why we need to do this or why dowe do it this way.
So I understand better. Yeah, you know.

(37:32):
But, and that's actually what we're actively doing now with
this new generation coming up. It's the I, I always make it a
point that every new skill we teach these kids, I always
incorporate the why. This is why it is thoroughly
important that your body is hereinstead of there.
Your right hands there, whateverthe body mechanics are because
of you will get fucking killed, hit whatever the scenario is

(37:54):
career ending injury, something along those lines.
But I feel like when you explainthe why, at least I know for
guys like us when we find out the why it's like OK now I can
buy in on it. Or even better, hey have we ever
tried it this way? Because now I know the why I
feel like this may be more efficient.
Could we try it right? And sure shit most of the time
it is. And then we start adopting a new
program or a different hose layer, a pull or turn out gear,

(38:18):
whatever. But it's all comes down to that.
Why? And I was literally having this
conversation with the fellow recruit training officer today
and said, be mindful what you tell this generation, Like and I
I never I don't like to put the kids in generations, but I was
like, say the infancy. So five years and under in the
fire service, which is pretty much half the fire departments
in the country right now. But with that said, they will

(38:40):
Fact Check you. So the days of you do it that
way because hey, captain overseen, you told me to do it
that way, right or gone. You know, it's no, I do it that
way because of Boo Boo Boo. And they start going through
because, and guess what, if you bullshit them, they will call
you out on it, which I appreciate, you know, and it's
it's it's funny because I alwayssay, like every day I want to
learn something new about the fire service.
And it might be the smallest, most my new little detail,

(39:01):
right? And I'm like, Oh shit, I know
that that's pretty cool, right? And just that constant learner.
But these kids coming up now, I feel like because of the wealth
of information that they have, they want to be those constant
learners, which is going to makeus much better supervisors
because they're going to be thathard charger.
And we just got to kind of pointthem in the right direction.
But we got to give them, like you said, the why the
information because we never gotit grown up in the fire service

(39:23):
and we're seeing the benefits ofteaching that now.
And like, I'm pretty sure you kind of agree with that.
Oh yeah, 100%. They, they have all the
information, like I said, in a matter of seconds, you know, on
their cell phone. And you and I are about the same
age as one of those things where, like, we came up in a
generation. We had no Internet.
You know, it's just like, you'relike, what do you mean?
You guys had no, yeah, no, that didn't come to, like, high

(39:45):
school, you know, But all right,So outside of us being on the
older side. So we'll get into the questions
for Season 2. So we asked why.
So we always asked why. Why do you want to be a fireman?
We asked why when you're trying to get different positions in
the department. But this is a why for Chief
Alvarady. Why did you want to become a
fireman back in the day? You know, that's a good
question. It was something that I thought

(40:10):
I always wanted to do. And I remember this clear as
day. It was my senior year.
I was like, I need to get my shit together.
Yeah. For me, college wasn't, it
wasn't a thing. It was, it was, you know, the
school thing, you know, I like it, but it's not there's no way

(40:30):
I'm going to do 4 years of a college and then try to get a
degree. And we had career day and it was
a, it was a, one of the departments from the, the city I
went to school at came in and yeah, they, they talked highly
of the fire service. And, and the thing was, it was
all you need was your EMT. That was your ticket to the

(40:51):
dance. Once you had that, you go test,
you'll get hired. Right now we're looking for
firefighters. Right and high school diploma.
And high school diploma, yeah. So I was like, OK, I'm like a
credit away from graduating, so check.
And then I was like, I'm going to do this, I'm going to go to
one of the local colleges and community colleges and I

(41:12):
enrolled two weeks right after Igraduated.
I started plugging away, got my EMT and then Phoenix Fire was
testing. That was the first apartment
that, you know, I was like, all right, let's do this.
I went to go apply. I actually showed up probably 5
minutes before the door. The doors were going to close
and the, the line wrapped aroundthe building.

(41:33):
Wow, I didn't get in. No shit.
Yeah, I didn't get in and you didn't.
Even get a chance to take a. Test No, no, I was eight, like
1818 1/2. So, you know, there's a lot of
growing up I still needed to do so waited for the next one and
then took the test and, you know, went through the process.
And I'm like, man, I thought, I thought it was easier than this.

(41:56):
You know he lied to me. All he needed was my EMT.
Yeah. Yeah, they're hurting for
firefighters. I go, there's 8000 people in
line and I go, they're not hurting that bad.
I go, there's a lot of people that want to do this.
So finally, you know, it took, it took some time, it took some
commitment, it took a lot of networking and I was finally
able to get hired in 2004. But this is something I always

(42:19):
wanted to do. I've, I've always wanted to be
in a position to help people. I always wanted to be in a
position to, to, to do the rightthing and, and be a part of
something bigger than me. And the fire service was that I
knew a lot of people that were on the job and just hearing them

(42:40):
talk about the security of the job, the benefits, the time off,
the the availability to be with your family.
Coach to do. All the good things to do
everything and and the pay was good, you know, and at the time,
you know, I thought it was good and I was like, that's, that's
me, sign me up, let's do it. So getting hired, it was like,

(43:03):
all right, I'm here, I'm going to do everything I said.
I'll, you know, live my interview and I look back at it
now and and I and I have, you know, everything I said in my
interview. I look back now and I'm like,
check, check, check, check and continue to do, you know,
continue to stay involved, engaged.
And then still like I, like I said, I love the job.

(43:23):
I love coming to work everyday. My wife, she gets mad at me
sometimes because she's like, I hate you.
You're excited to go to work. I'm like, yes, I am.
I going to love it, you know, because you could run the same
call three times in a row and it's going to be different every
time. You're right, you know, same
patient 3 * a rows could be different.
As as, as, as we all know, we all, we all have a couple of

(43:45):
those in our first do. And it's, it's funny too.
So I mean, tell the audience also.
So I mean, you have such a love and passion for the job.
What's your boy doing right now?He just started the Academy the.
Hell, yeah. Right.
So I mean, now I and I have a soft spot for generational
firemen. I think that's the coolest thing
ever. So, like, how's it make you
feel? I mean, it's a little off on the
questions, but like, what does it feel like as a dad, but more

(44:07):
importantly, as a fireman, Right.
And then now your boys fall in your footsteps.
Yeah, you know what, It's awesome.
It's it's something that, you know, I always thought like,
man, that'd be awesome if, if hewanted to become a firefighter,
but it was never something I pushed on him.
You know, one day he, he came upto me and said that that's what
he wanted to do. I'm like, all right, son, I

(44:28):
think I might know some people that can help you get there.
You know, that's awesome, but you got to put it in the work.
I go, it's not going to be givento you.
It's not going to be handed to you.
And you got to put the work in. And, and he did, he did, you
know, right after high school, you know, matter of fact, during
high school, he enrolled into the EMT program through W MEC
and it was during COVID. So it was right when, you know,

(44:52):
he was enrolled in EMT and finishing his senior year.
They went, they went online, youknow, and everything was and,
and you know better than anybody, EMT as hands on, you
have to be there, do it, you know, and they did it all
online. So to graduate high school and
get his EMT his senior year, I was like, man, that's awesome.

(45:13):
I go, you know what? That just shows right work
ethic. Yeah, huge.
And he worked on the weekends too.
He, he was working at a pizza joint.
So I was like, you know, your first interview comes up, you
have a ton to talk about and he didn't realize it sitting there.
And, you know, and I talked to him and I started naming all
this stuff and OK, you did this,you did that.
You did this while you were in high school.

(45:35):
I go that show. That's that's that's called work
ethic, son. How old was your boy when he
went through his first interviewcycle?
They got picked up at. He was 18 1/2.
All right, so not even 19 years old.
And then I know because we've all sat on interview panels.
You're like, oh fuck, here comesa kid right out of high school.
He has zero life experience, andthen here's your boy come in
with boom boom, right? Yep.

(45:56):
Talk about like walking away from everybody else.
That's amazing. Oh, yeah, yeah, it was, it was
exciting to see him, you know, get his, his foot in the door
and it was, it was awesome. You know, the department he went
out and worked for, he was driving the ambos and, and he
learned the fire service and he started his own reputation away
from my department and that was awesome.

(46:19):
And then to get feedback from, from members, from outline
departments that, that run callswith them and type, you know,
they talk highly of him and, andit was always good things.
I was like, man, that's, you know, talk about proud, proud
dad moment, you know, and it was, it was awesome.
And then finally he got the callfor us, you know, and, and he

(46:39):
started the Academy and now it'sjust like, all right, hands off
and go to work. Yeah, let him, let him do his
thing. And it's it's got to be, it's
got to be cool to kind of hear or see his perspective, like
with your base knowledge and, and knowing what is actually
going on and then kind of hearing his perspective.
It's got to be a cool, it's got to be a really cool experience

(47:02):
for you, for sure. It is, it is.
It goes back to, you know, my training background and starting
with people that have zero knowledge on, on what the fire
service is about and what the equipment's about and all that.
And being it's just having that patience and talking him through
it. And it's like, son, hey, it's
going to come, you know, and he's one of those guys that he

(47:25):
wants, he wants to be at 100% right now, right now.
You know, just the other night Iseen him in the back and patio
and he was throwing his pack fortime.
And I'm like, Hey, son, you're, you're further ahead than a lot
of other people. I'll tell you right now because
there's some people week 5 or 6 that still weren't making your
times. And I go and you're, you're
right there I go, you're, you'replugging along just fine.

(47:47):
So, but it's just like I said, being having that, that soft
voice and, and being that, that mentor and having, you know,
that, that experience to be ableto talk them through stuff and
work, you know, work through things, some things.
But it's awesome because I normally did that with people I
didn't know. Right now I'm doing it to my
son, so. Yeah, that's, that's super cool.
Yeah. All right.

(48:07):
So great, great answer for question one and then question
1.5, right, that no one else hasgone.
So that's cool. So let's get on to the next one.
So, favorite part fire department tradition, but more
importantly, why? Favorite fire department
tradition? Oh, man, I think for me, it's,

(48:29):
it's the razzing. It's, it's, it's, you know, hey,
you know what? It's the rite of passage.
And and I don't say hazing, I say razzing.
I say, you know, in the, in the fire, in the fire station.
If we're not messing with you, there's a reason why.
Yeah. So I think, you know, growing up
at the busy houses, the fun houses, it's like that's the

(48:50):
rite of passage. That's, you know, if we mess
with you, it's because we like you, you know, we're giving you
a hard time because hey, we see something in you and, and we
really like it. So it's just like I said, it's
that rite of passage. I think we all been through it.
And once you, once you figured out and you know that you're
accepted, I think that's the best thing ever.

(49:12):
And it's like, man, I I survivedthat, especially, you know,
being a probationary firefighterand going through that, it was
tough. But at the end it was like, man,
that was awesome. I learned a lot.
Yeah. You know, I think I think that's
that that's one of the favorite,like one of my favorite
traditions of the fire service was just the the razzing you got

(49:33):
from the guys and girls of you know, that that came before me
so. Absolutely.
And it's, I literally just said that the other day and I say it
to the, the young members comingup or the, the ones that are
trying to get a job. I said, understand training
environments are loud, they're aggressive, right?
The guys are going to rag on you.
It's just, it's part of the job as part of our traditions, part

(49:55):
of our culture. You should never be worried
until they stop talking to you. That's, that's when you have a
problem. That's when you have either
they're a bad Rep or they're madat you.
I'm like, if they're giving you a hard time or they're really
laying in your ass, it's becausethey really care.
They really want you to do better, right?
If they're giving you, they're just messing with you.
They love you, You know, it's when they stop talking to you.
It's that's that's the problem, you know?

(50:15):
Oh yeah, and it's it and that's the opposite of most other
cultures. It's like, you know, or I, I say
cultures as an outside the fire service, but it's it's like
everything else. It the plain J Monday through
Friday job. It's a completely different
story. That would be completely
unacceptable. Like what?
You can't talk to me like that. Be like, and we're, we're asking
like, like why, why aren't you making fun of me right now?
Like what, what I do wrong? You know, like let me fix it.

(50:36):
Like I'm so sorry. Yeah, you don't want to be that
firefighter, you know, with three years on a job, walk to
the kitchen table when everybodytakes off.
Yeah, You know, leave that for me, the chief, you know.
Exactly. Yeah, you're right that that
happens just because of rank, right?
Exactly. Here's a brand new question for
Season 2, so you'll be the firstguy that gets to answer it.
If you could only tell one thingto a guy on the job with five

(50:59):
years or less, what would it be?But again, that why?
Why? I think that one thing would be
always stay engaged. OK, so explain that a little
bit. And what I mean stay engaged is
know what the department's about, what is going through,
try to get involved as much as possible, whether it's being a

(51:21):
part of committees, being part of Labor, being a part of
training cadres. Have your finger on a pulse, ask
questions and always train, you know, always, always, you know,
I have, I have captains come up to me and they get put on the
ladder and, and the first thing they ask is, you know, how did

(51:45):
you get comfortable as a ladder captain?
How did you get, you know, comfortable as a ladder
engineer? It was training, going out to
the grinder, you know, doing every, every scenario you can
think of and then throwing a hiccup in it.
And then how you going to how you going to fix it?
Always going to my captain and and telling them, Hey, can we,

(52:05):
can we set up this drill? Can we set up that drill?
You know, and then just getting that and, and being able to
accept that constructive criticism, you know, you're not
going to be perfect. And another thing I would like
to tell people is if you make a mistake, own it.
Don't make excuses. That's that's the last thing we

(52:27):
want to hear, anybody wants to hear.
Just own it. It's so much easier if you mess
something up. If you wreck something, own it.
Yeah, hey, my bad, right? And believe me, I've been in
that situation where I had a chief officer come down the
station one shift and that that officer was like, so ready for

(52:48):
for the excuses. And then they came, sat down and
it was all over e-mail. You know, this was a funny story
because it was like, hey, how's it going?
You know? Hey, do you check your emails on
your off day? I go, yeah, occasionally.
All right. Do you see an e-mail that came
through that I sent the other day?
I go, yeah, you know what I did and I go.

(53:10):
And I was waiting till today to get back to you on it.
I was just going to get with my crew real quick and, you know,
find out, you know, some things before I got back with you.
OK, well, you're the only one that didn't send a response.
Back I go, oh, man, you know what?
You're right. I should have at least responded
saying, hey, let me get back with you next shift.

(53:31):
My bad. I go.
That won't happen again. Yeah.
What and and what did that do that chief officer?
He just looked at me like, all right, well, I guess we're done.
Yeah, you need anything from. You you guys good you guys.
What do you guys got going for today?
He's like he walked like he was.He's.
Going to fight, yeah, basically.He walked away kind of pissed

(53:53):
because like he was like I wasn't expecting this.
I was waiting for excuses. I was waiting for this.
I go no, you know what my bad. I should have I should have
followed up with you. I go in my mind.
I was thinking this and I shouldhave done that I go, but I go
won't happen again. Nice.
And then it was and that taught me a lot too.
And from that point on, but likeI said, if you, if you make a

(54:14):
mistake, if you, if you cause something, you know, cause an
accident or whatever, you, you, whatever you do, just own it.
That's the easiest thing you cando.
Yeah, and it's funny too, because I know growing up and
I'm, I'm sure you're raised mostlikely pretty similar to me, but
like I remember my parents when I was very young, like, hey,

(54:35):
don't lie, right? Like if you do something stupid,
just own up to it. Yes, you're going to be in
trouble, right? But the punishment is going to
be, you know, we're talking elementary school.
You'll be grounded for a week compared to if you lie.
And then we will find out right,which, you know, you'll be
grounded for a month. But it's funny because those
elementary skills still apply toa grown man profession.

(54:56):
Now, you know, and it's it's so simple, but that's difficult for
people sometimes. You know, the pride gets in the
way. Ego is a huge issue with that
because you know, some of those guys, I mean, we were all type
alpha personalities. And they'll say like, I don't
give a fuck if I was wrong. I am not going to admit because
of who that guy is or the fact that I'm just not going to admit

(55:16):
to achieve that I'm wrong on anything, you know, but you
know, it's, it's crazy. It's just like we've we've all
been taught that, you know, by our good parents and then we
still have to apply it to grown adults now, right?
And it's, it's, it's crazy. It's like the the easiest thing.
It's like the we'll talk about the brothers from Phoenix.
You know, they always say be nice.
Like it goes a fucking long way.It's the simplest thing in the

(55:37):
world. We learned in kindergarten.
Be nice, share, you know, don't take someone else's shit.
Yeah, and the biggest thing is if if you, if you say it, you
got to do it. You got to live it because like
you said, man, they're, they're watching you.
They're waiting for you to, to get outside that, that line to,
to come back at you, you know, and you know, you're, you're
preaching it and you got to, yougot to live by it.

(55:59):
And, and that's one thing like you can go back and, and
register calls that you've been on.
And there was a call where it was a pediatric call and, and we
were three medics deep on the truck that day.
And it was a, it was a pretty bad call.
It was a A2 year old and came out as an unconscious person.

(56:20):
And then in route it got balanced to a code, which is,
you know, pulseless and not breathing.
So we get there and, and I get there the same time undercover
cop gets there too. He's putting his his vest on and
running up with me. I told the the crew grab the
equipment and all that. I'm going to run up and see what
we have get up there and the kids on the on the ground

(56:41):
exactly how it was took the the last breath as soon as I got up
there. So I started to see PR on the
kid and, you know, started noticing some things.
I'm like, man, this kids bruisedup, this brute, this this kids
got cuts on his face covered in water and there's some vomit
next to him. So I'm like, what happened?
You know, and, and the mom and and and boyfriend were there and

(57:03):
they were coming up with every story in the in that they could,
you know, and it wasn't matchingup.
And I was just angry, frustrated.
And I'm like, you know, let's let's go.
You know, I got my crew and we loaded the kid up and we put him
in back of the ambo and, and shagged ass to the hospital.
Well, you have a 2 year old right in front of you.
We're, we're trying to do the best we can.

(57:26):
And when we were pushing medications, we were loading it
up and then passing it on. Well, one of the one of my medic
partners, we we accidentally gave too much of the medication.
Oh, OK. OK, so when we get when, you
know, we pull up to the hospital, it's like, hey,
where's the rest of that medication?
It's like, no, you, you had it. They're like, I gave it.

(57:49):
I thought it was a flush. Oh fuck.
They're like, oh man, I go all right, we got pulses back on the
kid. We know kiss our breathing and
all that as we were willing to the hospital.
Well, the ambo driver and the other guy, one of the other guys
are like, well, we can just write it up in our chart that we
gave it to him in this sequence.And I'm like, no, yeah, we we're

(58:13):
gonna, we're gonna document exactly what happened.
I go because this is gonna, thisis gonna go to court.
I go, this is, this is, you know, this is.
It's a big deal. Yeah, this is a suspicious near
death. I go, we're going to, we're
going to fess up to what we did,you know, as soon as we got in
there, told the doc, I go, hey doc, this is what happened.
You know, and and one of the medications was zappy and the

(58:35):
other one was saline. And at the time there was a
shortage in EPI. So they were packaging it and it
looked like EPI. Yeah, they were in the saline
flushes. Yeah, so and they weren't
labeled so it, it was an honest mistake, but I go we we gave the
kid a full adult dose and the doctor looked at me and he's
like, you know what, That kid probably needed it.
Oh shit. And he's like, we're going to

(58:57):
hold off. We got Rosk on the kid, one of
my medic partners, man, he took it hard.
It was hard for him. But I'm like, we're not going
to, we're not going to pledge todocumentation.
We're going to document exactly.And we're going to, we're going
to talk about it. And, you know, we went out of
service afterwards and we talkedabout it and it was like, hey,
it was an honest, honest mistake.

(59:18):
But I go the best thing about itis we don't have nothing to
hide. Yeah, because it's it was, it
was talked about. The doctor was aware of it.
The documentation showed we called our EMS director at the
time. They were aware of it.
I'm like, I can sleep comfortable at night because of
that. Compared to not being honest
about it exactly, you know. So that goes back to just own it

(59:41):
if you make a mistake. We're human, we're not perfect,
we're going to make mistakes. We're especially in stressful
situations. Of course, that's why we train,
train, train and we train for those worst case scenario.
So that doesn't happen. But it it, it's bound to happen.
You run enough of them, something bad is going to
happen. But like I said, we're not
perfect, right? You're right.

(01:00:01):
And that's that was impactful for sure.
All right, so let's get to we'llget to the last question.
This is my favorite question. So if you could snap your
fingers, 0 sweat equity, immediate gratification, it
would change one thing in the fire service.
What would it be? That's a good question.
I know. That's why I like it so much.
Yeah. So many different avenues you

(01:00:23):
can kind of expand on. Yeah, you know what I think it
would be what? It'd probably be one thing I can
change. Yeah, so that would involve
either getting rid of something,implementing something,
literally changing something, you know.
So I'll give you an example. If I was king of the world,
right, and I would change something, I would change to the
department I work for. I would switch to predetermined

(01:00:44):
running assignments. That way when you arrive on
scene, that's your associated job to cut down shatter on the
radio. That's me.
OK. Yeah, that, that does sound
good. Yeah.
You know what, I think it would just be I don't know, that's a
good one. You.
Know so like I always tell guys when I ask this question like
think about, you know, if you owned your own fire department

(01:01:07):
exactly. I know for a fact the department
you work for isn't perfect exactly how Chief Alverdi would
run it right if he's king for the day.
So just pick just what would onething be that you like me if I
could affect right now that would make a change.
You know, a lot of guys will do like a something that would
dramatically affect something for the boys, you know?
It would be exactly what you said.

(01:01:28):
OK, because what, what's the number one firefighter killer is
the 3C's communication complacency and in continuity,
right, the crew continuity, that's huge right now.
You know the roster that that wehave currently, it changes all
the way up until 8:15, 8/20. And normally they're set, they

(01:01:51):
should be set by 7 and they're constantly updating and you
cannot work. You probably, you know, the way
the rosters are set up now is you work with one person and he
won't work with them again for another 5-6 shifts.
So being a company officer, having a training program in

(01:02:12):
place and trying to trying to get your crew on the same page
with that same sheet of music doesn't happen no more because
you don't know who your crew is going to be.
You have guys doing 4890 sixes, so that's out the door and then
people on comp time, injured vacation.

(01:02:33):
I mean those are just perks of the job.
But then again, it doesn't allowyou to have that consistent
crew. When I got on, it seemed like
all the crews worked together for many years and they were on
shift together all the time. Now you you don't see that.
No, you don't at all. Yeah, the the it's it's like an

(01:02:55):
Airbnb at the station. It's like, you know, it's just
constantly revolving and you have new people coming in every
shift. And and I thought, you know, I
never thought I'd be the point, especially in department I'm in,
is to see people walk through the door and I don't know who
they are. Yeah, yeah.
So it's like, man, it's it's it's crazy how times are.

(01:03:18):
We talked about it already, you know, young department, but it
it's happened several times where where we get those people
come in and I have no clue who they are, you know, so if that's
one thing I can change, it wouldit would be something like that.
It is to try to keep that continuity together to keep
that. But it's in today's times, it,
it's hard, it's hard to do. And, and you know, the people

(01:03:41):
that are building those rosters,I give them the most respect
because they're getting 20 different phone calls and, you
know, they're trying to do the right thing.
But it it's, it's a department that we're in.
It's time that we're in. Yeah, everything so dynamic and
specialties and staffing issues and every, I mean everyone
listening, everyone's having staffing issues of some sort
and, or lacking paramedics or lacking just straight firemen or

(01:04:05):
what, whatever the case might be.
So it's, I think it's a constantstruggle across everybody.
I but I feel the same way. And I was like, I remember
coming out here and that was oneof my big eye openers because
the department came from back east.
It was very consistent with yourcrew.
So it was like what I'm like, man, it was, it felt like a new
guy every day. But for me, especially initially
it was nice because I was starting to meet all the guys,

(01:04:27):
but then it was just, you're right, you're like, and then you
start thinking about becoming a company officer and then you
start realizing those nuances on, hey, how does that affect my
performance or my cruise performance?
Because again, like you said, eight shift starts at 8:00.
You're you're saying it and it'strue.
Moves are still being made all the way up to 830 sometimes.
And it's like, OK, wait, I had this guy.
Now I don't have the and who do,who do I do?

(01:04:49):
I have enough guys, right. So it's like, holy smokes.
But and then you again, you're it's almost like you're doing an
expectation talk every freaking day because you're like, all
right, when's the last time I did work with this guy?
OK, Hey, just a refresher. This is as my engineer, that's
why I expect you to do boom, boom, boom, boom, right fire.
But you know, as a good company officer, but yeah, it's, it's
it's crazy. So that's a really good answer.
No one's ever said that one before.

(01:05:10):
So that's that's really good. It took you a man to get there,
but you got there. Solid.
Because like I said, man, there's just so much.
And like I said, when you have apassion for the job, I I can
only think of like, if you don'tlike something, then you want
everything to change, right? Yeah, Yeah.
I don't like the way this happens.
I don't like the hours we work. I don't like our pay, but we
have a lot of good things in ourdepartment.
So that that's a hard question because like I said, I'm

(01:05:34):
blessed, man. I'm in a good spot.
I've always been in a good spot,you know, great department,
great people I work with. So that that is a hard question.
Yeah, it is. But you'd like said you did a,
you did a super solid answer. So that's it for these.
So this is the first time we sitdown for Season 2.
So first I want to thank you foryour time again.
I really do appreciate it. Is there anything you want to

(01:05:55):
leave the audience with before we sign off?
You know, I appreciate you having me on.
Like I said, just everybody out there, just stay involved, stay
engaged in your organization. If you have an opportunity to
get in any training positions, if you have an opportunity to,
to be a train the trainer for FGS, jump on it because it opens

(01:06:16):
up so many opportunities. And that's just not FGS.
There's so many other cadres that the IFF offers.
Take advantage of it. Reach out to your, your VP,
reach out to your district president and all that and see
what opportunities you have because they're, there are a ton
of them out there. And, and just take advantage of
them 'cause like I said, it, it opens up so much and it, and it

(01:06:39):
opens up so many doors and you build so many relationships, you
know, through these programs. So.
And it makes you a better fireman, honestly.
You know, like we all know anyone that's ever taught out
there, as soon as you start instructing, you become better
at that skill dramatically rapidly.
Yes, you do. You know, if you want to be
better at something, right, that's learn how to do it, start

(01:07:00):
teaching it and then it's just gangbusters from there on out.
Cool. So hey, we're going to leave
with that, right? We're going to call the episode.
That's going to be the episode title.
I'm telling you what. So Chief Alberti, we're leaving
with a really good positive message there for the boys,
right? It's stay fucking engaged,
right? Do the right thing.
I love it. So again, thank you for your
time. Appreciate it and we'll see you
guys in another two weeks. Thanks for having me.

(01:07:21):
Thanks. Thanks for tuning in.
If we in the fire service, we would set our egos aside, stop
hating on each other and focus on the important things like our
crews, our department, firemen, health and fitness, and the
people we are sworn to protect. Imagine what this job would be
like. See you in two more weeks.