July 16, 2025 • 48 mins
This episode features Josh Blum and John Vance.
For Waldorf University Blue Card credit and discounts: https://www.waldorf.edu/lp/blue-card/
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The July 2025 Blue Card Rundown provides a comprehensive update on training opportunities, program developments, and resources for current and prospective Blue Card users. John Vance and Josh Blum deliver news about the upcoming conference, educational partnerships, and support options available to the Blue Card community.
• September 29-October 3 conference in Sharonville, Ohio featuring 23 different classes and pre-conference workshops
• Limited seats remaining in pre-conference workshops, including Mayday Management, Critical Thinking, SAFE-T Trainer, and Engine 1 to the EOC
• New partnership with Waldorf University offering college credits for Blue Card certifications and 10% tuition discount
• Latest Silverback Leadership CE available focusing on the relationship between internal culture and external customer service
• Successful completion of first ARF train-the-trainer program with next session scheduled for December 15-17 in Phoenix
• Multiple upcoming training opportunities including train-the-trainer sessions in Minnesota, Michigan, and Phoenix
• Extensive support resources available through phone consultation, on-site assistance, and online materials at bshifter.com
• Visit the Blue Card booth at FRI in Orlando for in-person conversations and program information
Call us anytime with questions at 513-623-3897 or visit bshifter.com to access free downloads, register for classes, or learn more about the conference.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello and welcome to the V-Shifter podcast.
John Vance, Josh Bloom with youtoday for the Blue Card Rundown
for July 2025.
It's a little later in themonth Today is July 16th that
we're rolling this out, but wewant to bring you up to date on
(00:25):
everything that's going on withBlue Card.
Of course, we have a littleholiday in there.
I've got the holiday beardgoing right now, so I haven't
been in a fire station lately,but it'll be shaved off soon so
I'll have my credibility back.
How are you doing today, Josh?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm doing great Having a good summer In
Cincinnati.
We're 90 degrees and 80 or 90percent humidity.
That's always.
It's lovely, it's.
You're very wet when you gooutside.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, a couple weeks ago I went to New York for my
wife's birthday that's whereshe's from and this week I don't
know if you saw the recordamount of rainfall they had more
rainfall in one hour secondmost in history and the subways
were flooded and everything else.
So I was so thankful that Iplanned my vacation accordingly
(01:19):
and I didn't get stuck in thatmess.
Meanwhile, here in Minnesotait's very pleasant, so we're
having a nice Minnesota summerweather and it's cooled off a
little bit.
Yesterday was a scorcher, buthopefully, wherever you are,
you're enjoying your summer,you're able to spend some time
with your friends and family,you're getting out doing things
(01:40):
and, of course, stayingconnected with everything that's
going on with Blue Card.
First thing that we want to talkabout is the conference.
The conference is coming upSeptember 29th through October
3rd.
The general conference isOctober 2nd and 3rd.
We listen to everybody, we takethe input.
So on Friday we start to wrapthings up around 3.30, so you
(02:04):
can head on out and catch yourflight.
If you're coming in from out oftown, you can go to bshiftercom
and look at the entire lineupthere.
Do you have anything new withthe conference this week?
Josh, I know you've beenworking hard on all the details
and getting things together forthat.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah.
So the pre-conference workshopsare are filling up.
I think we got maybe 30 ormaybe 30 or so seats left
between those five classes for amayday management, critical
thinking, safety trainer trainer, maybe two or three seats left
in the cert lab and then theengine one to the EOC two day,
(02:43):
you know command class.
Yeah, between all five of themI think there's maybe 30 seats.
So if you're looking to getinto any of those classes, jump
on that.
The closer we getregistration's picking up, more
and more.
We got a big range of classesagain this year several, many,
(03:04):
many new classes, uh, and andsome classes that were repeating
.
That went over very well lastyear that I think some people
maybe didn't, you know, get tosee.
So, uh, yeah, that's reallygood.
And then, um, we're doing alittle bit of like a technology
uh piece where, um, we got uh,uh operations manager from a
(03:27):
dispatch center and a fire chiefgoing to do a class on you know
how do you work together.
And you know, john, rightbefore we got on here you
mentioned it when we weretalking about it of you know,
far too often our dispatchcenter can't do that, or they,
you know they refuse to do it orwhatever, and you know,
sometimes it just takes thatpush of no, we really need to do
(03:47):
this.
So let's just talk about how dowe do it.
How do we get the dispatchcenter to work with us and help
us?
And you know, sometimes it'sbecause I think, oftentimes
actually it's because they justdon't know what we need or how
they can help us, and I haven'tseldom do you ever run across
anybody who doesn't want to helpyou, right?
So, uh, how can we collectivelywork with the dispatch center?
(04:11):
Um, help them to help us?
So that's a kind of atechnology you know thing.
Um, the local UAS unit, thedrone unit um, ran by Hamilton
County USAR, is going to bethere.
So they're going to do demos,but they're also going to teach
a class on you know benefits ofdrones, how they work, kind of
some maybe a little bit of rulestuff with that, but they'll be
(04:33):
there and have a booth alsowhere they could answer any
questions that you have, andthey'll have their new regional
drone unit there.
They got tons of capabilitieswith FLIR and hazmat and I just
saw last week they were outdoing some training with, uh,
their drone that that picks upand carry stuff.
(04:54):
Uh, the piece that they wereworking on with the training was
like dropping a life jacket ora float like uh over the Ohio
river or you know, over a pondor lake or whatever to somebody
who's in the water.
So that's another good thing.
Digital combustion is going tobe there again, talking about
you know what's going on withthem, and they'll have a booth
space besides the class.
They'll have a booth space sothey can answer any questions
(05:15):
that you have about digitalcombustion or building your own
you know sets and reps orsimulations own, you know sets
and reps or simulations, um, andthen a wide range of other uh
classes really where, how do,how do we, how do we use
technology and how does it, youknow, benefit us.
(05:36):
So that's, that's just a littlebit of a.
It's not a sidetrack, but youknow some other classes that we
added, um, happy that we gotJohn Cirillo coming back to the
conference sharing hisexperience with you know flow
path and wind-driven fires.
Can't wait to hear Dan talkabout the latest with all the
lithium-ion battery stuff andhopefully by then we might have
(05:56):
a little bit more firm answer onyou know what's going on with
the lithium-ion battery blankets, with all the research they've
been doing and looking at thedata from all of that, shane,
with the sprinkler systems andwhat's going on with the
sprinkler systems and why it'simportant that not only we
(06:16):
understand the sprinkler systemsbut that push from the local
level to make sure things aresprinklered.
We look at that fall riverMassachusetts class or a fire,
and it's like you know, onething that would have made a
difference there likely is thatfast water from a sprinkler
(06:37):
system.
But yeah, so, looking forwardto that.
And then we got Ed Harten's beendoing the 10-minute trainings.
You know that we've beenpushing out every so often in
the Buck Slip what do we do thatonce a month, john, does that
come out once a month?
Yes, every month, yeah, everymonth.
Ed's been pushing that out.
So he's going to be doing aclass on like what do you really
(07:00):
do with that and what can youdo with it?
And like really do with thatand what can you do with it.
And like building some of yourown, even 10-minute, trainings
from your own experiences atyour own fire department.
So, yeah, we got a bunch ofgreat classes.
Dave anderson, uh from olathedoing, uh, really a building out
your own company officer class,like within your own
organization, like what doesthat look like?
How do you get the firemenready to be lieutenants and
(07:21):
lieutenants ready to be captainsand so on?
So so yeah, we got a big lineupIf you're looking at.
If you want to look at thelineup, it's on vshiftercom.
You can go to there and see allof the classes that we're
offering again this year.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
The EOC or Engine 1 to the EOC class, which we used
to call Expanded Command, butthat's just the byline, for it
should be particularlyinteresting to fire chiefs that
are also emergency managers.
And really the crux of theclass is everything starts off
with engine one.
When we start off strong, witha strong command presence,
(07:56):
strong IAP, we transmit that wedon't start off behind the eight
ball.
And we always point out thatthe Oklahoma City bombing
literally started with EngineOne pulling up and letting
everybody know that you knowthis building has been exploded,
We've got multiple victims, etc.
(08:17):
Well, that just ramped thingsup that much quicker.
So if you're responsible forgetting from Engine 1 to an EOC
operation, we'll show you howBlue Card does that and how just
changing a couple of titles,such as the Senior Advisor, the
IC, that it really becomes aNIMS Type 3 incident.
(08:38):
So if you are looking atputting on some kind of exercise
for your jurisdiction thatEngine 1 to the EOC, expanded
command workshop Plus, it justshows you how scalable Blue Card
is when we just start off witha few companies.
But we could go up to hundredsof resources to a long-term
(08:58):
12-hour operational period event, still using Blue Card and the
the basics of BlueCard when itcomes to the strategic
decision-making.
So another great workshop there.
Then the Certification Lab.
It's an opportunity to getcertified by lead BlueCard
instructors.
So if you're new to BlueCard oryou can't get into a Cert Lab
(09:21):
in your local area, we will bedoing that in Sharonville, Ohio,
starting September 29th.
So just a great group ofclasses that we have at
bshiftercom.
There's a tab up on the top.
You can read the whole lineupthere and get signed up.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
We still have hotels left, right, yeah, I think the
Hyatt might be full at theconference center, but the
second preferred hotel rightacross the street there, I think
there's plenty.
I think there's rooms in therestill.
So something else I just wantedto mention, john, is we have
many good experiences from thatengine one to the EOC piece.
(09:59):
So Winston-Salem, right withthe fertilizer plant fire, that
first new company officer getsthere, made some decisions and
that thing ramped up to I mean,I'm pretty sure it ramped up to
a type one event almost likewith all the runoff and
everything that happened with it.
So that only went the way thatit did.
And because engine one gotthere and made some decisions
right, right from the get-go,everybody didn't get there and
(10:21):
just do what they wanted.
They evaluated some criticalfactors, communicated with the
people on site, figured out whatwas going on, had some
knowledge and experience ofwhat's going on at a facility
like that anyway, from pastgeneral responses and
pre-planning.
So that's one.
And then our own instructor,pat Dale, one of the places
(10:43):
where he was the fire chief, theurban interface, significant
fire, right, engine one getsthere, makes some decisions and
then I'll remember they lost.
They ended up losing a bunch ofhouses, but that went from, you
know, engine one to you know,uh, a pretty large scale like
wild line, wild land event wherethey lost a bunch of homes.
That was in an area where itreally might not have been
(11:06):
identified that it was going tobe a problem, but it was.
And then coming up on what wejust passed, the anniversary of
it, the Miami-Dade incident,right, so that first new company
officer in Miami-Dade, whenthat apartment building
collapsed, made someunbelievable decisions, right,
(11:27):
great size up, evaluated thefactors, didn't get sucked in
like directly to the event.
You know, started calling forresources right from the get-go.
You know, set up that strategicIC and the other chiefs that
were in route with that mindsetof, like, what was really going
on.
So, yeah, we always say it, butit all starts with engine one
and that they're going to makeit or break it.
(11:48):
So, yeah, that class is goingto be really good.
Tim Schaubel, you know,longtime fire chief, lots of
experience.
And then Kevin Alexander,longtime chief at the Houston
fire department, with plenty oflarge scale type events and
experience, so that that thatthat workshop will be really
good, like you said, you know,take back and like how can we,
(12:12):
how would we do this and why isit important that we do all of
these things on the front end ifwe're going to grow it in the
in the backend?
So it's a the foundation isvery important if you want it to
be stabilized later.
And then the cert lab thing.
I just want to throw this outthere because I keep getting
questions about it.
So, yeah, if you sign up forthe CertLab and the conference,
it's $830.
(12:32):
You get a free online when yousign up.
So for $830, you get the online.
You're going to get certifiedthe first three days and then
you're going to get two fulldays of the conference, your
pick of classes from 23different classes and three
different general sessions.
So, yeah, yeah, and lunch isprovided all week and we're
(12:55):
doing the Thursday nightgathering again at Third Eye
Brewing.
That always goes over real well, great place to network and
catch up with everybody.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Well, we are looking forward to it.
Cincinnati, ohio, general area,sharonville Convention Center,
september 29th through October3rd.
Of course, the generalconference is October 2nd and
3rd.
Easy to get to, easy to flyinto, inexpensive this is
probably one of the leastexpensive conferences that you
(13:25):
could go to, especially when youfactor in getting that credit
for a blue card subscription.
Would love to see you getsigned up and see you there.
We have an announcement to make.
Would love to see you getsigned up and see you there.
We have an announcement to make, starting now.
We are now officially partneredwith Waldorf University and you
know we value education.
We think it's one of thepillars, along with experience
(13:52):
and having great programs withinyour fire department.
But getting that educationahead of time and certainly to
move up the ranks, you're goingto need to have a bachelor's
degree.
And Waldorf has partnered withBlue Card and they are now
offering credits for you withyour Blue Card certification.
So if you are a Blue Card IC,you will get three credit hours.
If you're a Hazmat IC, you willget three credit hours.
(14:14):
And if you are a blue cardinstructor and you've attended a
train, the trainer you'll gettwo additional credit hours and
that's all at a 10 percentdiscount for just being
affiliated with blue card.
So if you're looking to get adegree in fire service
management and further yourcareer and you're looking for
that opportunity that's going tobe online, although they do do
(14:37):
live classes as well, but you'rea remote learner Waldorf might
be your solution.
We're going to include theinformation to access Waldorf in
the show notes.
If you're watching right now,here's the link waldorfeducom,
with blue card hyphenated and abackslash, but we'll send that
(14:58):
link out.
But it's a good opportunity,not only to get educated but get
a discount, and that discountis extended to family members of
blue card users as well.
The 10% discount.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, john, I think it's important that we say that
this is the kickoff right of it,but that you know we're already
in conversation about what doesit look like with you know
adding, if you have the MaydayWorkshop and Critical Thinking
and Expanded Command Workshop,like what does that do for me
towards my fire servicemanagement degree, and then you
(15:35):
know, know, also looking at acertificate program with them,
you know, down the road of youknow how does that tie together.
And then I'd be remissed if Ididn't mention the whole solar
back leadership piece and howthat uh is going to end up being
all hooked in and tied together, so kind of a one-stop shop for
(15:55):
your fire service education.
But then also the blue cardside of it giving you the tools
to run the fire ground, thesilverback leadership side of it
.
This is how you run your firedepartment.
So, yeah, connecting all thosedots.
So you know, stay tuned forstay tuned to all of that
because, like everything we do,we live in command function
(16:15):
seven.
We're always how do we do itbetter, what are we doing now
and how do we do it better?
So if you've got questionsabout that, you can reach out to
the officer, john or I eitherone, and we can help you out and
connect you with the rightpeople.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Well, we are very proud and welcome Waldorf as a
partner with us, because wethink that furthering your
education is important, andwe're just going to find new
ways to make your blue cardeducation work for you, too,
with credit hours.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
It brings a whole new meaning to the ABB College of
Knowledge.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Oh, I know it really does.
I mean we've been saying it fora while and, speaking of that,
there's a brand new SilverbackCE that's available.
It went live this week for allBlue Card users.
You can access that in yourdownload center.
And this time around it'sfocusing on the correlation
between the inside-outsidecustomer service customer
(17:19):
service.
So what the panel ofexperienced fire chiefs are
talking about is, if we'rebroken on the inside, we're
going to be broken on theoutside.
If we are running very well onthe inside, communicating well,
treating each other well, that'sgoing to carry out onto the
street.
And there's a lot of examplesand exercises and really
(17:40):
discussion when you look at thisand we give you some examples
of some things that havehappened that are good and some
things that have happened thatare bad in the past with fire
department customer service.
So if you're a believer inBruno's philosophy on fire
department customer service, youknow there's three sets of
customers.
It's the people that we serve,it's the people within the
(18:02):
department and then it's otherdepartments whether it's other
city departments and other firedepartments that we deal with
and we should really treat themall the same.
Just because we're the insidepeople, a lot of times that gets
dysfunctional, and I've seen ithappen, man.
I've seen it on the street.
I've watched dysfunctional firedepartments show up and treat
(18:23):
Mrs Smith absolutely horriblebecause they're having a bad day
at the firehouse, so they'regoing to, they're going to take
that out on Mrs Smith.
And then I also see the firedepartments that they're.
They're having a good time atwork, they're all on the same
page and when they go out theydeliver that service in the same
exact way.
So check that out, go tobshiftercom or Blue Card and go
(18:47):
into your download center brandnew CE and there's an article
this week, also on bshiftercom,that walks you through the CE
and talks about how that looksand really what you should be
doing with that, along with agreat article from Nick this
week on fire chiefs and how wecan be the equalizer in those
(19:08):
relationships within thedepartment too, instead of
letting things get dysfunctional.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, the only thing I got on this overback
leadership thing, john, is thatthere's three modules up and I
think four and five are.
Are, you know they're, they're,they're ready to probably be
posted.
But, um, you know the intentionis there's going to be eight or
nine you know modules and thenon the back end of it there'll
be a three day in-person class.
So we we've been getting thatquestion a lot Like is there
(19:35):
going to be, you know anin-person thing, kind of like
what Bruno used to do, wherehe'd go on site and facilitate
those conversations and workthrough, you know, the whole
customer service piece andorganizational management at
your fire department helping youwith that?
So the answer to that is yes.
So once all the modules forSilverback leadership are
(19:56):
together, it will become asingle program and then on the
back end of it there'll be athree or four day, you know
in-person um class about, uh,really, organizational
management, running your firedepartment, customer service, um
, all of those parts and pieces.
So it's a, it's a, it's goingto be a system much like blue
card run the fire ground.
(20:17):
This system is uh, how do we,how do we run our fire
department?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
All right.
Since last time that we gottogether on the uh rundown, we
had the ARF class, the, theinaugural ARF train the trainer
using blue card, adapting it tothe ARF world.
How did that go in Phoenix, andwhat's next?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
for the ARF program.
Yeah, so the that ARF trainerin Phoenix we had 24 students
from all across the country eastcoast, the west coast, uh, the
south and a couple folks fromCanada.
So we got lots of good feedbackon the class during the class
and we've gotten lots offollow-up feedback, you know,
(21:00):
since the class has ended on,you know, organizations
connecting to the Blue Cardsystem to manage the hazard zone
at an airport when it involvesaircraft and even when it
doesn't involve aircraft.
So again, you know we're we'retaking people's input, feedback,
(21:22):
always making adjustments.
One of the biggest takeawaysfrom the presenters was how many
organizations actually haveresponsibility for an airport.
But they're the standardstructural fire department and
they may have an ARF truck buthave very limited training.
(21:43):
So there was a lot of takeawaysfor them at that.
And then a lot of organizationsor I shouldn't say a lot, but
several organizations that werein the class that are first due
behind.
They're due on the initialresponse to an airport, though
there's some kind of response atthe airport.
(22:04):
So you know, connecting thedots of like what does that look
like?
And then, on the flip, peoplewho work at the airport
installation got them thinkingabout the outsiders coming on to
the airport of.
Well, how does that go?
How do we organize that?
And there was a bit ofcommunication and discussion
about, you know, you run thisdrill and you have, you know, 50
(22:27):
ambulances and 50 additionalghost ambulances and you act
like you have this mass casualtyand you got all these teams
there and it's all.
You know this staged thing andit's taped off and we set up
this big thing and, uh, though,it's a good exercise, it's smoke
and mirrors because, uh,everybody just does what they're
told to do and they feed themlunch and you know, you go home
(22:48):
and it's like, well, there'sreally no like why connected to
it or any of that.
So, um, garth trainer was wasvery successful.
We got the dates for the nextone in December posted, so we're
looking forward to continuingto deliver that program and all
the feedback we're getting fromthose that have taken it and
(23:09):
those that are signing up totake it is there's nothing else
out there like it.
So we we joined and we're partof this ARF US ARF working group
, which I think every airportinternational airport anyway in
the United States has people whoare connected to it and they're
like yeah, we there's, there's.
There's task level requirementsand training, but we don't
(23:34):
spend a lot of time talkingabout this organization and
building it out of what itreally looks like with our own
folks or when that outsideresponse comes on to comes
through the gate and ontoairport property.
So we're looking forward tocontinuing to deliver that
program and continuing to refineit To meet the needs of
(23:57):
everybody.
Whether you're, you know, thelargest airports that take the
largest aircraft, or whetheryou're the municipal airport
that takes, you know, personalaircraft, or you know the
Learjet-like type, you knowprivate company aircraft, the
system still applies aircraft.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
The system still applies.
So december 15th through 17th atthe alan brunicini command
training center, phoenix,arizona, that's where the next
one will be, and bshiftercom,again your source for signing up
and getting more information onthat.
Um, great program.
I didn't know anything aboutarf until I went through it and
I learned a lot.
I mean, in particular, likeyou're saying, it's all over the
(24:44):
place the way people deploywhat their capabilities are, but
the emergency remains the sameright, the emergency still needs
to get mitigated and you'regoing to still have the same
system that you manage it with,no matter if you're showing up
with one crash truck or you'regetting a full first alarm or
you know, we talk about some ofthe airports that are staffed
(25:05):
with 45 daily, with someairports that are staffed with
16, some are with one.
But the system again isscalable to make it work, no
matter your size, and I thinkit's good that you said Josh too
.
It's like you don't have tohave, like a major airport,
these municipal airports, and Ican think of a lot of examples
where they have two trucks inthe station.
(25:26):
One faces the runway, one's astructural engine that comes out
the other way and they'reresponsible for both.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah, it's a, it's a another piece to the all hazards
management and the system youknow, still 100% applies.
So what's packaged up in thereis that group's done a great job
with it and the people workingon it, you know, have lots of
(25:55):
aircraft experience and airportresponse experience, have lots
of aircraft experience andairport response experience.
So JT from Hawaii 25 years Ithink now at airports, the chief
at the Phoenix Sky HarborAirport, who has 25 or more
years at the airport and I thinkmaybe 40 years, 35, 40 years at
(26:20):
the Phoenix Fire Department,his knowledge and experience and
connection as far as theresponse and standardizing the
way that we do things andorganize Glazer with his
military experience.
And then you know ChrisStewart's time that he worked at
the airport and now the inputfrom these 24 people who
attended the trainer and now theinput from these 24 people who
attended the trainer, withreally not a ton of input on you
(26:43):
know things to drasticallychange it.
It's like I told Chris Stewartit's kind of like the first blue
card train, the trainer.
It's like, yeah, you probablyought to add basements into
there, and that's kind of thesame kind of thing that happened
with this RF classes.
You know people have things thatyou know could be changed or
whatever, but none of it wasrelative to the system.
It was more about you know,maybe some terminology or other
(27:08):
components.
So there's, just like the bluecard system, there's, you know,
simulations, several simulations, and there's going to keep
being.
We're going to continue to havemore and more simulations and
there's going to keep being.
We're going to continue to havemore and more simulations.
There's a standardized responseSOP that has been through I
don't know a hundred or sopeople's hands now that work at
active airports.
You know, reviewing.
(27:29):
Like what does that responselook like?
The preloads, an IC tacticalworksheet, basically all the
parts and moving pieces as theyapply to ARF that we have for
BlueCard.
And then you know all the ARFpeople get.
They get the hazmat IC.
You know modules as well,because every airport has that
(27:53):
basic hazmat component andmajority of them actually
probably have significant hazmatcomponent.
So, yeah, lots of parts andpieces connected to the ARF
program and I'm looking forwardto seeing that continue to roll
out and grow.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
So if somebody out there is responsible for
continuing education, for bluecard and other topics within
your department, for continuingeducation for blue card and
other topics within yourdepartment, we have a lot of
trainers and workshops that arestill open, with some seats for
the rest of 2025.
So we've got the ARF open butwe also have, you know, some
onesies, twosies, you know a fewseats here and there and I'm
(28:35):
going to go through that rundownand these are all posted as
well at bshiftercom.
But we are coming back toFlorida A number of classes in
Florida.
I can't believe how much we'rein Florida in the next couple of
months, especially July 28ththrough August 1st.
Bay County, Florida.
Where's Bay County at?
(28:56):
What area is that it's?
Speaker 2 (28:58):
the Panama City Beach area the training site is
actually.
You know they're not going tobuild a training center on the
beach, but it's in that area.
It's in the county.
Panama City Beach is in Bay.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
County.
Well, we have a few seats openthere.
We're back in Hawaii.
We're in Maui September 8ththrough the 12th.
A few seats open there.
Nope, that class is over, soldback.
Oh, okay, all right well, that'sgood to know, that's good that
when I looked at it the otherday I I made that note.
So okay, hawaii's out.
(29:31):
You know, and it's funny, wealways have a blue card user
that sees that we're going toHawaii and they try to couple
that with a vacation.
So no, no such luck this time.
Minnesota, september 15th,through the 19th Plymouth
Minnesota blue card train thetrainer.
A few seats, two seats, I thinkavailable there Is that.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yep, there's still two seats.
Yeah yeah, we expanded thatclass.
We're going to go up to 16students in that class, so
excellent that class.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
We're going to go up to 16 students in that class, so
excellent.
Michigan, sterling heights,detroit metro area, october 13th
through the 17th.
I think there's six.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Maybe six seats left, but we're waiting on a couple
names.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
So four or six seats in that class and then the big
box workshop coming to cottagegrove, minnesota, november 20th
through the 21st.
So is that one full or is that?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
It's full with a giant waiting list Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
I should have checked on that earlier too, so I'm
just teasing everybody now withwhat you didn't get signed up
for.
Now I do know for a fact wehave some openings at the AVB
CTC for some Train the Traintrainers in September, october,
november and December.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yeah, I think September there might be two
seats and then I haven't lookedsuper close at it but there's
probably six seats left, maybein each of those other classes.
But OK, they're starting tofill up.
We just picked up severalregistrations for that December
trainer.
This week All right.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Well, the best source information bshiftercom.
If you're either looking for atrain the trainer or workshop or
to get signed up for theconference, all of it, you can
go there and find youreducational opportunities.
Anything else on the horizonfor 25 that might get added?
Or are you working on somethings right now and you want to
wait to announce?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
So we got some availability in December that we
could fit some things in if youwere looking to do something
still yet in 2025.
I will tell everybody that 2026, we already have about 14
workshops that we're working onthe dates for.
Uh, if you're interested inhosting a big box workshop, uh,
(31:47):
send us something, you know assoon as possible that that, um,
I guess more than interest.
If you're looking forinformation, we can send you
that.
But, uh, we're gonna probablystart working on that schedule
schedule with Shane Ray heresoon for the 2026 big box
workshops.
There's probably only going tobe five, maybe six of them again
in 2026.
(32:08):
And that's, you know, shane, Ithink Shane's on a plane 300
days a year, so that's based onyou know his availability, and
so those will be spoken for andthey'll fill up, you know really
fast.
And then the critical thinkingMayday workshop you know his
availability, and so those will,those will, those will be
spoken for and they'll fill up,you know, really fast.
And then the critical thinkingmayday workshop safety trainer,
trainer, expanded command ops,those, those workshops.
(32:29):
We got just working on datesfor all of those and we'll be
posting 2026 Phoenix trainerdates probably coming up here in
August for the first six months.
But if you're looking forworkshops, for train-the-trainer
classes or we'll talk moreabout it, but just IC and Blue
(32:49):
Card Command support for 2026,just reach out to us, let us
know.
Our schedule, usually bySeptember, starts to fill up
pretty quickly for that firstquarter.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
so, um, if you're looking to do something, we just
want to make sure that we canget you on the, on the schedule
and on the calendar and when yousee the date, sign up because
they they feel fast, as, as wejust talked about, well, good,
uh, hey, coming up, we're goingto Orlando.
We're going to be there for FRI.
We have a booth.
What are we looking forward toin Orlando and what are we going
(33:26):
to be doing at the booth thisyear?
Yeah, so Orlando's.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
You know we're happy to go there.
There's actually firedepartments.
It's an inside joke.
There's actually firedepartments in Florida that do
blue card.
John, did you know that?
I did not know that.
We say that because there was afire chief that worked in
Florida that moved from Floridato the Midwest and told the fire
department he went to thatthere's no fire departments in
Florida that do blue card.
(33:51):
And then we sent the map to hispeople and they were like, oh
wow, there's hundreds of firedepartments in Florida that do
blue card.
Many, many, many county firedepartments in Florida that do
blue card.
Many, many, many county firedepartments in Florida that do
blue card.
So, yeah, we're looking to happyto be in Orlando looking to
catch up with, you know,everybody from Florida and
everybody else that comes to theI-Chief Conference, just how
(34:13):
they're doing, what's going on,how we can support them.
You know, catching up with allthe support pieces that we do
and talking about the AARprogram.
We'll have that there.
Uh, chris Stewart's going to bethere so he can, you know,
provide information on on theARF program and what's going on
with that and talk about all ofthose parts and pieces.
So, yeah, we're in the uh techarea at the iChiefs conference
(34:38):
again this year so you'll beable to catch up with us in that
tech zone.
When you're walking aroundlooking at all the booths, if
you find the tech area, it'll beeasier to find us and catch up.
We're looking forward tocatching up with everybody there
.
We'll have Bruno's customerservice book and anatomy and
(35:00):
physiology and fire command andseveral books there if anybody's
looking for any of those books,otherwise we'll be there
hanging out.
Might even try to get a podcastor two in Love it.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Well, come see us at FRI.
I think that's a goodopportunity too.
Whether you want to bringsomebody by the booth that has
some questions about Blue Card.
There's a lot of misinformation, really about what the program
is.
So if you're new to it forwhatever reason, or you've got a
neighbor that's new to it,bring them by, we can have that
conversation.
It's so much better to sit andtalk about things than to try to
(35:40):
blast over social media or evenemail back and forth.
So it's a chance to get thosequestions answered and to have
those discussions on what we'reall about.
If you're new to it, or you'rebringing somebody who is new
into the program and then thatkind of brings us to support,
and then that kind of brings usto support.
(36:07):
You know we've had somedepartments lately that you know
might be challenged, eitherchallenged by a neighbor,
challenged by new staff.
You have that backstepfirefighter that's making a lot
of noise, that doesn'tunderstand why we do what we do,
and we're all about explainingthe why, and we want you to be
able to reach out to us.
You know Josh is on the phonealmost all day long.
I'm surprised it hasn't growninto your head at this point,
(36:27):
answering questions, talking topeople, giving them the support.
We've got an excellent staff ofother people that help out with
that too, so you know if you'relooking to get supported,
whether it's questions, you needan answer for something.
Some examples please reach outand contact us.
We have that information andwe've heard probably about every
(36:54):
question there has been.
So what can we say aboutongoing support and what would
you like folks to know aboutthat?
Josh?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah.
So one thing with ongoingsupport is if you ever have a
question or something comes up,I don't care if you're sitting
in a meeting and you want topick up the phone, call me or
email me.
I mean, if you need animmediate answer, pick up the
phone and call me 513-623-3897.
And unless I'm on the phonewith somebody or on this podcast
, uh, I usually answer.
(37:23):
That's, uh, that's that's whatI do, because I it's that
important to all of us that, uh,we know that.
We know that something you pickup right now might be used in
two minutes and make adifference.
So that's part of it.
So I put our customer support,as far as the fire service goes,
(37:46):
right up there against anybody.
If we don't have an answer,we're going to get you the
answer.
So, yeah, you can call me, textme, email me, call the office,
call John, text John, you know,whatever.
If you're having troublegetting a hold of us, you can
always call the office.
Call John, text John, you know.
Whatever.
If you're having troublegetting a hold of us, you can
always call the office.
Jen, randy, anybody who'sconnected to the system knows
(38:07):
that.
They're the value of those two.
They do a ton of work and theysit in the dark back there
sometimes in the back end.
You know doing support andputting people online and
answering questions and you knowhelping.
So, um, you know every, everysystem has, you know, um, parts
(38:28):
and pieces that that you knowcause challenges.
So, yeah, just just reach outif you need any kind of support,
whether it's technical supportor you're having some kind of an
operational piece.
Um, we're, we're here to helpyou.
And you know, to kind of goalong with that is if you go to
bshiftercom, there's in the freedownload section.
There's tons of information inthere now and that just keeps on
(38:48):
growing.
So you know tons of NIOSHreports to reference and other
reports as well, as I think wegot 14 SOGs in there now, our IC
tactical worksheets in there,the IC tutorial video on how do
you use the IC worksheet.
Yeah, so that B-Shifter websiteit's just the beginning and
(39:08):
we're working to catalog that soit's easier to search and find
things whatever.
And then all the stuff thatgets put up in the buck slip
ends up on there.
So you know that that's asupport piece.
That really, the B shiftercomfree downloads and all that
Everybody has access to, thatit's.
That's not.
That's not just for payingpaying customers, if you're.
(39:30):
If you're a paying customer andyou're an instructor, that
download center has literallyand I'm not exaggerating
thousands of hours of trainingmaterial and curriculum in it
and we keep adding to the CEmaterial.
So if you're looking withinyour organization to sharpen up
(39:51):
on communication skills,priority traffic, strategic
shifts, managing the Mayday,building out an organization,
division, ops, hazmat,responding to violent crimes, I
mean it's.
I could go on and on and on ofall the, all the stuff that is
in there.
So if you're looking forsomething, we probably we
(40:13):
probably have it in there and ifyou can't find it, just reach
out and we can, you know, getyou, get you connected to it if
you're an instructor.
And then the other part of itis how, what we can do to help
you as an organization with,like, how you're training, how
your training goes with bluecard and connecting all the dots
(40:35):
.
So one thing I was just having aconversation with a customer
recently about was having theirhaving their students do the
accountability.
They were having someaccountability questions.
So having their students do theaccountability CE because they
have full access, so they theyhad all of them do the CE module
(40:56):
and then that gave them thatbasic cognitive platform to come
in and on shift they werehaving conversations and going
over all the other parts andpieces of accountability,
because one of their things wasit was the Bay Floor Fire Talk
thing of we don't have thesepassports and we don't use those
same passports and all of that.
(41:17):
Well, they were missing thewhole piece of accountability.
Right, it's like that.
That that passport is is partof the tools, and if you use
another kind of tool to do it,then that's fine.
But you know there's task,tactical and strategic level
accountability.
Well, after they went through it, I actually got a phone call
back from them and they said, uh, the light bulb came on for
(41:41):
them.
And they said the light bulbcame on for them and they
realized that we were missinglike half of the accountability
besides us using you know, adifferent kind of tag.
And the tag they were using wasperfectly fine.
It still identified the companyand the people on the company
and it still was getting putforward to a division boss.
But when they talked aboutaccountability at the task level
, uh, this, this person told methat the company officer's
eyeballs kind of lit up like, oh, yeah, like that.
(42:03):
We need to do better with that.
And why we communicate statuschange.
Well, we communicate a statuschange because the division boss
and the strategic IC is doingand tracking the position and
function of the companies, doingand tracking the position and
function of the companies, andso everything we have is like
(42:24):
tied together.
So, on that, if you're comingto the conference you could
catch Sean Glazer's class on thewhole sets and reps piece.
So how do you assign a CE outand then you bring them in and
you can use the sets and repsthat we have, either in person
or you could do it virtually,you know, through a shared
platform of getting folksfine-tuned, if you will, on
(42:50):
after they do some cognitivelearning piece on a CE component
.
So this whole, this wholecustomer service piece and
connecting with the customers is, I don't know, there's like a
million pieces to it, right, Imean pretty much.
So everything we do is aboutthat customer service piece and
(43:12):
connecting with the customer andhelping the customer be able to
deliver in their ownorganizations.
You know the product, so thatthey have a single system and
everybody gets on the same page.
Everybody gets on the same page.
So, besides all of that stuff.
You know, one thing that we doprobably 20 or so times a year,
(43:34):
is the onsite support.
So if you're running your firstcert lab, or you haven't run a
cert lab for a while or you justwant some outside influence to
come to a cert lab that you'redoing, you know we do that, uh,
pretty regularly.
So Eric Phillips, just not toolong ago, was in Baton Rouge and
spent three days with them at acert lab and you know the
(43:55):
feedback we got from, uh, thepeople who attended it as well
as the instructors there, waslike, well, honestly, for us it
was priceless because theyweren't really getting the
straight message from some ofthe people who they were getting
their training from before.
(44:16):
So they got the straight bluecard message and then now Baton
Rouge can make blue card whatthey want to make it for
themselves.
They're not getting athird-hand version of the
in-person blue card class andthen they're still going to make
, you know, maybe some kind of achange to it for how they
deploy or whatever.
So, like I said, we usually do20 or so of those a year
(44:39):
supporting.
We just send one instructor to,you know, a three-day IC cert
lab to help support and reallyexplain the why and talk about
you know what blue card is allabout.
And then we're doing, you knowmore and more, as we always have
, of the uh two day in person,kind of just blue card update
pieces or uh attending likeoperations, uh meetings or
(45:03):
workshops.
So just a few weeks ago ChrisStewart and I were in Worcester
for two days with their commandstaff, a bunch of their senior
officers, senior captains, andit was just a, it was a blue
card update and we were there tojust answer questions.
You know Chief Dyer is makinghas made the push at that fire
(45:25):
department of blue card is theWorcester Fire Department
command system and we were thereto just help support them and
answer any questions that theyhad.
So you know, we did a little bitof talk on the, not a little
bit, we did a lot of discussionon how do you apply the system
(45:47):
to you know your response, yourcapabilities, your buildings and
all of that, and really it'sit's the critical factors, right
, it all goes back to juststarting with a critical factor.
So the system is the system.
Whether you're going to a 1000square foot slab on home or
(46:08):
you're going to a 50 story highrise.
The system is still the system.
It's just how much do you growthe system, but, no matter what,
it still starts with engine one.
So, um, we, we, we do quite afew of those um, two day, um in
person.
You know, day in person.
You know why, support, support,support, blue card with the,
(46:32):
why you know classes and andhelping them continue to move
forward and answer questionsthat they have you know
internally.
And then you know every day,john, as you're very well aware,
the office, you, me, nick,sometimes we're on the phone and
emailing of we got a question,or how do we do this, or why do
(46:53):
you do that, or why wouldn't youdo whatever, and with Chris
Stewart coming on board, withhim spending more time with us,
that's just going to bring it toa whole new level, also with
with our connection to all ofthe best practice things that
(47:15):
are out there, from FSRI, nfpaand then the NFSA, all of those,
all of those groups that aredoing research and putting out
things of that.
This is, this is how we shouldbe doing business.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
So very good.
Well, any final thoughts beforewe wrap it up today, Josh.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
No, I think that's it .
I think we covered quite a bit.
I wouldn't have thought we weregoing to be on here for 45
minutes talking about and givingan update, but we all.
It always ends up being thatlong.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Yeah, we say that every month.
It's like, wow, we have thatmuch going on and not much news.
But that is that's what we'redoing here.
And command function numberseven.
As you always say, we're alwaysreviewing, revising, making it
better and offering new andimproved classes and products
and ways to learn about command,risk management, accountability
(48:09):
all the stuff that we justtalked about so well.
Thanks, josh.
Good talking to you.
I'll.
I'll see you in Orlando in justa few weeks, at FRI.
We'll be hanging out together,so I'm looking forward to that.
Sounds good.
Thanks, john.
See you later.
Thanks for listening to BShifter.
Hello and welcome to the V-Shifter podcast.
John Vance, Josh Bloom with youtoday for the Blue Card Rundown
for July 2025.
It's a little later in themonth Today is July 16th that
we're rolling this out, but wewant to bring you up to date on
(00:25):
everything that's going on withBlue Card.
Of course, we have a littleholiday in there.
I've got the holiday beardgoing right now, so I haven't
been in a fire station lately,but it'll be shaved off soon so
I'll have my credibility back.
How are you doing today, Josh?
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm doing great Having a good summer In
Cincinnati.
We're 90 degrees and 80 or 90percent humidity.
That's always.
It's lovely, it's.
You're very wet when you gooutside.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Yeah, a couple weeks ago I went to New York for my
wife's birthday that's whereshe's from and this week I don't
know if you saw the recordamount of rainfall they had more
rainfall in one hour secondmost in history and the subways
were flooded and everything else.
So I was so thankful that Iplanned my vacation accordingly
(01:19):
and I didn't get stuck in thatmess.
Meanwhile, here in Minnesotait's very pleasant, so we're
having a nice Minnesota summerweather and it's cooled off a
little bit.
Yesterday was a scorcher, buthopefully, wherever you are,
you're enjoying your summer,you're able to spend some time
with your friends and family,you're getting out doing things
(01:40):
and, of course, stayingconnected with everything that's
going on with Blue Card.
First thing that we want to talkabout is the conference.
The conference is coming upSeptember 29th through October
3rd.
The general conference isOctober 2nd and 3rd.
We listen to everybody, we takethe input.
So on Friday we start to wrapthings up around 3.30, so you
(02:04):
can head on out and catch yourflight.
If you're coming in from out oftown, you can go to bshiftercom
and look at the entire lineupthere.
Do you have anything new withthe conference this week?
Josh, I know you've beenworking hard on all the details
and getting things together forthat.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah.
So the pre-conference workshopsare are filling up.
I think we got maybe 30 ormaybe 30 or so seats left
between those five classes for amayday management, critical
thinking, safety trainer trainer, maybe two or three seats left
in the cert lab and then theengine one to the EOC two day,
(02:43):
you know command class.
Yeah, between all five of themI think there's maybe 30 seats.
So if you're looking to getinto any of those classes, jump
on that.
The closer we getregistration's picking up, more
and more.
We got a big range of classesagain this year several, many,
(03:04):
many new classes, uh, and andsome classes that were repeating
.
That went over very well lastyear that I think some people
maybe didn't, you know, get tosee.
So, uh, yeah, that's reallygood.
And then, um, we're doing alittle bit of like a technology
uh piece where, um, we got uh,uh operations manager from a
(03:27):
dispatch center and a fire chiefgoing to do a class on you know
how do you work together.
And you know, john, rightbefore we got on here you
mentioned it when we weretalking about it of you know,
far too often our dispatchcenter can't do that, or they,
you know they refuse to do it orwhatever, and you know,
sometimes it just takes thatpush of no, we really need to do
(03:47):
this.
So let's just talk about how dowe do it.
How do we get the dispatchcenter to work with us and help
us?
And you know, sometimes it'sbecause I think, oftentimes
actually it's because they justdon't know what we need or how
they can help us, and I haven'tseldom do you ever run across
anybody who doesn't want to helpyou, right?
So, uh, how can we collectivelywork with the dispatch center?
(04:11):
Um, help them to help us?
So that's a kind of atechnology you know thing.
Um, the local UAS unit, thedrone unit um, ran by Hamilton
County USAR, is going to bethere.
So they're going to do demos,but they're also going to teach
a class on you know benefits ofdrones, how they work, kind of
some maybe a little bit of rulestuff with that, but they'll be
(04:33):
there and have a booth alsowhere they could answer any
questions that you have, andthey'll have their new regional
drone unit there.
They got tons of capabilitieswith FLIR and hazmat and I just
saw last week they were outdoing some training with, uh,
their drone that that picks upand carry stuff.
(04:54):
Uh, the piece that they wereworking on with the training was
like dropping a life jacket ora float like uh over the Ohio
river or you know, over a pondor lake or whatever to somebody
who's in the water.
So that's another good thing.
Digital combustion is going tobe there again, talking about
you know what's going on withthem, and they'll have a booth
space besides the class.
They'll have a booth space sothey can answer any questions
(05:15):
that you have about digitalcombustion or building your own
you know sets and reps orsimulations own, you know sets
and reps or simulations, um, andthen a wide range of other uh
classes really where, how do,how do we, how do we use
technology and how does it, youknow, benefit us.
(05:36):
So that's, that's just a littlebit of a.
It's not a sidetrack, but youknow some other classes that we
added, um, happy that we gotJohn Cirillo coming back to the
conference sharing hisexperience with you know flow
path and wind-driven fires.
Can't wait to hear Dan talkabout the latest with all the
lithium-ion battery stuff andhopefully by then we might have
(05:56):
a little bit more firm answer onyou know what's going on with
the lithium-ion battery blankets, with all the research they've
been doing and looking at thedata from all of that, shane,
with the sprinkler systems andwhat's going on with the
sprinkler systems and why it'simportant that not only we
(06:16):
understand the sprinkler systemsbut that push from the local
level to make sure things aresprinklered.
We look at that fall riverMassachusetts class or a fire,
and it's like you know, onething that would have made a
difference there likely is thatfast water from a sprinkler
(06:37):
system.
But yeah, so, looking forwardto that.
And then we got Ed Harten's beendoing the 10-minute trainings.
You know that we've beenpushing out every so often in
the Buck Slip what do we do thatonce a month, john, does that
come out once a month?
Yes, every month, yeah, everymonth.
Ed's been pushing that out.
So he's going to be doing aclass on like what do you really
(07:00):
do with that and what can youdo with it?
And like really do with thatand what can you do with it.
And like building some of yourown, even 10-minute, trainings
from your own experiences atyour own fire department.
So, yeah, we got a bunch ofgreat classes.
Dave anderson, uh from olathedoing, uh, really a building out
your own company officer class,like within your own
organization, like what doesthat look like?
How do you get the firemenready to be lieutenants and
(07:21):
lieutenants ready to be captainsand so on?
So so yeah, we got a big lineupIf you're looking at.
If you want to look at thelineup, it's on vshiftercom.
You can go to there and see allof the classes that we're
offering again this year.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
The EOC or Engine 1 to the EOC class, which we used
to call Expanded Command, butthat's just the byline, for it
should be particularlyinteresting to fire chiefs that
are also emergency managers.
And really the crux of theclass is everything starts off
with engine one.
When we start off strong, witha strong command presence,
(07:56):
strong IAP, we transmit that wedon't start off behind the eight
ball.
And we always point out thatthe Oklahoma City bombing
literally started with EngineOne pulling up and letting
everybody know that you knowthis building has been exploded,
We've got multiple victims, etc.
(08:17):
Well, that just ramped thingsup that much quicker.
So if you're responsible forgetting from Engine 1 to an EOC
operation, we'll show you howBlue Card does that and how just
changing a couple of titles,such as the Senior Advisor, the
IC, that it really becomes aNIMS Type 3 incident.
(08:38):
So if you are looking atputting on some kind of exercise
for your jurisdiction thatEngine 1 to the EOC, expanded
command workshop Plus, it justshows you how scalable Blue Card
is when we just start off witha few companies.
But we could go up to hundredsof resources to a long-term
(08:58):
12-hour operational period event, still using Blue Card and the
the basics of BlueCard when itcomes to the strategic
decision-making.
So another great workshop there.
Then the Certification Lab.
It's an opportunity to getcertified by lead BlueCard
instructors.
So if you're new to BlueCard oryou can't get into a Cert Lab
(09:21):
in your local area, we will bedoing that in Sharonville, Ohio,
starting September 29th.
So just a great group ofclasses that we have at
bshiftercom.
There's a tab up on the top.
You can read the whole lineupthere and get signed up.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
We still have hotels left, right, yeah, I think the
Hyatt might be full at theconference center, but the
second preferred hotel rightacross the street there, I think
there's plenty.
I think there's rooms in therestill.
So something else I just wantedto mention, john, is we have
many good experiences from thatengine one to the EOC piece.
(09:59):
So Winston-Salem, right withthe fertilizer plant fire, that
first new company officer getsthere, made some decisions and
that thing ramped up to I mean,I'm pretty sure it ramped up to
a type one event almost likewith all the runoff and
everything that happened with it.
So that only went the way thatit did.
And because engine one gotthere and made some decisions
right, right from the get-go,everybody didn't get there and
(10:21):
just do what they wanted.
They evaluated some criticalfactors, communicated with the
people on site, figured out whatwas going on, had some
knowledge and experience ofwhat's going on at a facility
like that anyway, from pastgeneral responses and
pre-planning.
So that's one.
And then our own instructor,pat Dale, one of the places
(10:43):
where he was the fire chief, theurban interface, significant
fire, right, engine one getsthere, makes some decisions and
then I'll remember they lost.
They ended up losing a bunch ofhouses, but that went from, you
know, engine one to you know,uh, a pretty large scale like
wild line, wild land event wherethey lost a bunch of homes.
That was in an area where itreally might not have been
(11:06):
identified that it was going tobe a problem, but it was.
And then coming up on what wejust passed, the anniversary of
it, the Miami-Dade incident,right, so that first new company
officer in Miami-Dade, whenthat apartment building
collapsed, made someunbelievable decisions, right,
(11:27):
great size up, evaluated thefactors, didn't get sucked in
like directly to the event.
You know, started calling forresources right from the get-go.
You know, set up that strategicIC and the other chiefs that
were in route with that mindsetof, like, what was really going
on.
So, yeah, we always say it, butit all starts with engine one
and that they're going to makeit or break it.
(11:48):
So, yeah, that class is goingto be really good.
Tim Schaubel, you know,longtime fire chief, lots of
experience.
And then Kevin Alexander,longtime chief at the Houston
fire department, with plenty oflarge scale type events and
experience, so that that thatthat workshop will be really
good, like you said, you know,take back and like how can we,
(12:12):
how would we do this and why isit important that we do all of
these things on the front end ifwe're going to grow it in the
in the backend?
So it's a the foundation isvery important if you want it to
be stabilized later.
And then the cert lab thing.
I just want to throw this outthere because I keep getting
questions about it.
So, yeah, if you sign up forthe CertLab and the conference,
it's $830.
(12:32):
You get a free online when yousign up.
So for $830, you get the online.
You're going to get certifiedthe first three days and then
you're going to get two fulldays of the conference, your
pick of classes from 23different classes and three
different general sessions.
So, yeah, yeah, and lunch isprovided all week and we're
(12:55):
doing the Thursday nightgathering again at Third Eye
Brewing.
That always goes over real well, great place to network and
catch up with everybody.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Well, we are looking forward to it.
Cincinnati, ohio, general area,sharonville Convention Center,
september 29th through October3rd.
Of course, the generalconference is October 2nd and
3rd.
Easy to get to, easy to flyinto, inexpensive this is
probably one of the leastexpensive conferences that you
(13:25):
could go to, especially when youfactor in getting that credit
for a blue card subscription.
Would love to see you getsigned up and see you there.
We have an announcement to make.
Would love to see you getsigned up and see you there.
We have an announcement to make, starting now.
We are now officially partneredwith Waldorf University and you
know we value education.
We think it's one of thepillars, along with experience
(13:52):
and having great programs withinyour fire department.
But getting that educationahead of time and certainly to
move up the ranks, you're goingto need to have a bachelor's
degree.
And Waldorf has partnered withBlue Card and they are now
offering credits for you withyour Blue Card certification.
So if you are a Blue Card IC,you will get three credit hours.
If you're a Hazmat IC, you willget three credit hours.
(14:14):
And if you are a blue cardinstructor and you've attended a
train, the trainer you'll gettwo additional credit hours and
that's all at a 10 percentdiscount for just being
affiliated with blue card.
So if you're looking to get adegree in fire service
management and further yourcareer and you're looking for
that opportunity that's going tobe online, although they do do
(14:37):
live classes as well, but you'rea remote learner Waldorf might
be your solution.
We're going to include theinformation to access Waldorf in
the show notes.
If you're watching right now,here's the link waldorfeducom,
with blue card hyphenated and abackslash, but we'll send that
(14:58):
link out.
But it's a good opportunity,not only to get educated but get
a discount, and that discountis extended to family members of
blue card users as well.
The 10% discount.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, john, I think it's important that we say that
this is the kickoff right of it,but that you know we're already
in conversation about what doesit look like with you know
adding, if you have the MaydayWorkshop and Critical Thinking
and Expanded Command Workshop,like what does that do for me
towards my fire servicemanagement degree, and then you
(15:35):
know, know, also looking at acertificate program with them,
you know, down the road of youknow how does that tie together.
And then I'd be remissed if Ididn't mention the whole solar
back leadership piece and howthat uh is going to end up being
all hooked in and tied together, so kind of a one-stop shop for
(15:55):
your fire service education.
But then also the blue cardside of it giving you the tools
to run the fire ground, thesilverback leadership side of it
.
This is how you run your firedepartment.
So, yeah, connecting all thosedots.
So you know, stay tuned forstay tuned to all of that
because, like everything we do,we live in command function
(16:15):
seven.
We're always how do we do itbetter, what are we doing now
and how do we do it better?
So if you've got questionsabout that, you can reach out to
the officer, john or I eitherone, and we can help you out and
connect you with the rightpeople.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Well, we are very proud and welcome Waldorf as a
partner with us, because wethink that furthering your
education is important, andwe're just going to find new
ways to make your blue cardeducation work for you, too,
with credit hours.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
It brings a whole new meaning to the ABB College of
Knowledge.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
Oh, I know it really does.
I mean we've been saying it fora while and, speaking of that,
there's a brand new SilverbackCE that's available.
It went live this week for allBlue Card users.
You can access that in yourdownload center.
And this time around it'sfocusing on the correlation
between the inside-outsidecustomer service customer
(17:19):
service.
So what the panel ofexperienced fire chiefs are
talking about is, if we'rebroken on the inside, we're
going to be broken on theoutside.
If we are running very well onthe inside, communicating well,
treating each other well, that'sgoing to carry out onto the
street.
And there's a lot of examplesand exercises and really
(17:40):
discussion when you look at thisand we give you some examples
of some things that havehappened that are good and some
things that have happened thatare bad in the past with fire
department customer service.
So if you're a believer inBruno's philosophy on fire
department customer service, youknow there's three sets of
customers.
It's the people that we serve,it's the people within the
(18:02):
department and then it's otherdepartments whether it's other
city departments and other firedepartments that we deal with
and we should really treat themall the same.
Just because we're the insidepeople, a lot of times that gets
dysfunctional, and I've seen ithappen, man.
I've seen it on the street.
I've watched dysfunctional firedepartments show up and treat
(18:23):
Mrs Smith absolutely horriblebecause they're having a bad day
at the firehouse, so they'regoing to, they're going to take
that out on Mrs Smith.
And then I also see the firedepartments that they're.
They're having a good time atwork, they're all on the same
page and when they go out theydeliver that service in the same
exact way.
So check that out, go tobshiftercom or Blue Card and go
(18:47):
into your download center brandnew CE and there's an article
this week, also on bshiftercom,that walks you through the CE
and talks about how that looksand really what you should be
doing with that, along with agreat article from Nick this
week on fire chiefs and how wecan be the equalizer in those
(19:08):
relationships within thedepartment too, instead of
letting things get dysfunctional.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, the only thing I got on this overback
leadership thing, john, is thatthere's three modules up and I
think four and five are.
Are, you know they're, they're,they're ready to probably be
posted.
But, um, you know the intentionis there's going to be eight or
nine you know modules and thenon the back end of it there'll
be a three day in-person class.
So we we've been getting thatquestion a lot Like is there
(19:35):
going to be, you know anin-person thing, kind of like
what Bruno used to do, wherehe'd go on site and facilitate
those conversations and workthrough, you know, the whole
customer service piece andorganizational management at
your fire department helping youwith that?
So the answer to that is yes.
So once all the modules forSilverback leadership are
(19:56):
together, it will become asingle program and then on the
back end of it there'll be athree or four day, you know
in-person um class about, uh,really, organizational
management, running your firedepartment, customer service, um
, all of those parts and pieces.
So it's a, it's a, it's goingto be a system much like blue
card run the fire ground.
(20:17):
This system is uh, how do we,how do we run our fire
department?
Speaker 1 (20:23):
All right.
Since last time that we gottogether on the uh rundown, we
had the ARF class, the, theinaugural ARF train the trainer
using blue card, adapting it tothe ARF world.
How did that go in Phoenix, andwhat's next?
Speaker 2 (20:39):
for the ARF program.
Yeah, so the that ARF trainerin Phoenix we had 24 students
from all across the country eastcoast, the west coast, uh, the
south and a couple folks fromCanada.
So we got lots of good feedbackon the class during the class
and we've gotten lots offollow-up feedback, you know,
(21:00):
since the class has ended on,you know, organizations
connecting to the Blue Cardsystem to manage the hazard zone
at an airport when it involvesaircraft and even when it
doesn't involve aircraft.
So again, you know we're we'retaking people's input, feedback,
(21:22):
always making adjustments.
One of the biggest takeawaysfrom the presenters was how many
organizations actually haveresponsibility for an airport.
But they're the standardstructural fire department and
they may have an ARF truck buthave very limited training.
(21:43):
So there was a lot of takeawaysfor them at that.
And then a lot of organizationsor I shouldn't say a lot, but
several organizations that werein the class that are first due
behind.
They're due on the initialresponse to an airport, though
there's some kind of response atthe airport.
(22:04):
So you know, connecting thedots of like what does that look
like?
And then, on the flip, peoplewho work at the airport
installation got them thinkingabout the outsiders coming on to
the airport of.
Well, how does that go?
How do we organize that?
And there was a bit ofcommunication and discussion
about, you know, you run thisdrill and you have, you know, 50
(22:27):
ambulances and 50 additionalghost ambulances and you act
like you have this mass casualtyand you got all these teams
there and it's all.
You know this staged thing andit's taped off and we set up
this big thing and, uh, though,it's a good exercise, it's smoke
and mirrors because, uh,everybody just does what they're
told to do and they feed themlunch and you know, you go home
(22:48):
and it's like, well, there'sreally no like why connected to
it or any of that.
So, um, garth trainer was wasvery successful.
We got the dates for the nextone in December posted, so we're
looking forward to continuingto deliver that program and all
the feedback we're getting fromthose that have taken it and
(23:09):
those that are signing up totake it is there's nothing else
out there like it.
So we we joined and we're partof this ARF US ARF working group
, which I think every airportinternational airport anyway in
the United States has people whoare connected to it and they're
like yeah, we there's, there's.
There's task level requirementsand training, but we don't
(23:34):
spend a lot of time talkingabout this organization and
building it out of what itreally looks like with our own
folks or when that outsideresponse comes on to comes
through the gate and ontoairport property.
So we're looking forward tocontinuing to deliver that
program and continuing to refineit To meet the needs of
(23:57):
everybody.
Whether you're, you know, thelargest airports that take the
largest aircraft, or whetheryou're the municipal airport
that takes, you know, personalaircraft, or you know the
Learjet-like type, you knowprivate company aircraft, the
system still applies aircraft.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
The system still applies.
So december 15th through 17th atthe alan brunicini command
training center, phoenix,arizona, that's where the next
one will be, and bshiftercom,again your source for signing up
and getting more information onthat.
Um, great program.
I didn't know anything aboutarf until I went through it and
I learned a lot.
I mean, in particular, likeyou're saying, it's all over the
(24:44):
place the way people deploywhat their capabilities are, but
the emergency remains the sameright, the emergency still needs
to get mitigated and you'regoing to still have the same
system that you manage it with,no matter if you're showing up
with one crash truck or you'regetting a full first alarm or
you know, we talk about some ofthe airports that are staffed
(25:05):
with 45 daily, with someairports that are staffed with
16, some are with one.
But the system again isscalable to make it work, no
matter your size, and I thinkit's good that you said Josh too
.
It's like you don't have tohave, like a major airport,
these municipal airports, and Ican think of a lot of examples
where they have two trucks inthe station.
(25:26):
One faces the runway, one's astructural engine that comes out
the other way and they'reresponsible for both.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
Yeah, it's a, it's a another piece to the all hazards
management and the system youknow, still 100% applies.
So what's packaged up in thereis that group's done a great job
with it and the people workingon it, you know, have lots of
(25:55):
aircraft experience and airportresponse experience, have lots
of aircraft experience andairport response experience.
So JT from Hawaii 25 years Ithink now at airports, the chief
at the Phoenix Sky HarborAirport, who has 25 or more
years at the airport and I thinkmaybe 40 years, 35, 40 years at
(26:20):
the Phoenix Fire Department,his knowledge and experience and
connection as far as theresponse and standardizing the
way that we do things andorganize Glazer with his
military experience.
And then you know ChrisStewart's time that he worked at
the airport and now the inputfrom these 24 people who
attended the trainer and now theinput from these 24 people who
attended the trainer, withreally not a ton of input on you
(26:43):
know things to drasticallychange it.
It's like I told Chris Stewartit's kind of like the first blue
card train, the trainer.
It's like, yeah, you probablyought to add basements into
there, and that's kind of thesame kind of thing that happened
with this RF classes.
You know people have things thatyou know could be changed or
whatever, but none of it wasrelative to the system.
It was more about you know,maybe some terminology or other
(27:08):
components.
So there's, just like the bluecard system, there's, you know,
simulations, several simulations, and there's going to keep
being.
We're going to continue to havemore and more simulations and
there's going to keep being.
We're going to continue to havemore and more simulations.
There's a standardized responseSOP that has been through I
don't know a hundred or sopeople's hands now that work at
active airports.
You know, reviewing.
(27:29):
Like what does that responselook like?
The preloads, an IC tacticalworksheet, basically all the
parts and moving pieces as theyapply to ARF that we have for
BlueCard.
And then you know all the ARFpeople get.
They get the hazmat IC.
You know modules as well,because every airport has that
(27:53):
basic hazmat component andmajority of them actually
probably have significant hazmatcomponent.
So, yeah, lots of parts andpieces connected to the ARF
program and I'm looking forwardto seeing that continue to roll
out and grow.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
So if somebody out there is responsible for
continuing education, for bluecard and other topics within
your department, for continuingeducation for blue card and
other topics within yourdepartment, we have a lot of
trainers and workshops that arestill open, with some seats for
the rest of 2025.
So we've got the ARF open butwe also have, you know, some
onesies, twosies, you know a fewseats here and there and I'm
(28:35):
going to go through that rundownand these are all posted as
well at bshiftercom.
But we are coming back toFlorida A number of classes in
Florida.
I can't believe how much we'rein Florida in the next couple of
months, especially July 28ththrough August 1st.
Bay County, Florida.
Where's Bay County at?
(28:56):
What area is that it's?
Speaker 2 (28:58):
the Panama City Beach area the training site is
actually.
You know they're not going tobuild a training center on the
beach, but it's in that area.
It's in the county.
Panama City Beach is in Bay.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
County.
Well, we have a few seats openthere.
We're back in Hawaii.
We're in Maui September 8ththrough the 12th.
A few seats open there.
Nope, that class is over, soldback.
Oh, okay, all right well, that'sgood to know, that's good that
when I looked at it the otherday I I made that note.
So okay, hawaii's out.
(29:31):
You know, and it's funny, wealways have a blue card user
that sees that we're going toHawaii and they try to couple
that with a vacation.
So no, no such luck this time.
Minnesota, september 15th,through the 19th Plymouth
Minnesota blue card train thetrainer.
A few seats, two seats, I thinkavailable there Is that.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Yep, there's still two seats.
Yeah yeah, we expanded thatclass.
We're going to go up to 16students in that class, so
excellent that class.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
We're going to go up to 16 students in that class, so
excellent.
Michigan, sterling heights,detroit metro area, october 13th
through the 17th.
I think there's six.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Maybe six seats left, but we're waiting on a couple
names.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
So four or six seats in that class and then the big
box workshop coming to cottagegrove, minnesota, november 20th
through the 21st.
So is that one full or is that?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
It's full with a giant waiting list Okay.
Speaker 1 (30:28):
I should have checked on that earlier too, so I'm
just teasing everybody now withwhat you didn't get signed up
for.
Now I do know for a fact wehave some openings at the AVB
CTC for some Train the Traintrainers in September, october,
november and December.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yeah, I think September there might be two
seats and then I haven't lookedsuper close at it but there's
probably six seats left, maybein each of those other classes.
But OK, they're starting tofill up.
We just picked up severalregistrations for that December
trainer.
This week All right.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
Well, the best source information bshiftercom.
If you're either looking for atrain the trainer or workshop or
to get signed up for theconference, all of it, you can
go there and find youreducational opportunities.
Anything else on the horizonfor 25 that might get added?
Or are you working on somethings right now and you want to
wait to announce?
Speaker 2 (31:24):
So we got some availability in December that we
could fit some things in if youwere looking to do something
still yet in 2025.
I will tell everybody that 2026, we already have about 14
workshops that we're working onthe dates for.
Uh, if you're interested inhosting a big box workshop, uh,
(31:47):
send us something, you know assoon as possible that that, um,
I guess more than interest.
If you're looking forinformation, we can send you
that.
But, uh, we're gonna probablystart working on that schedule
schedule with Shane Ray heresoon for the 2026 big box
workshops.
There's probably only going tobe five, maybe six of them again
in 2026.
(32:08):
And that's, you know, shane, Ithink Shane's on a plane 300
days a year, so that's based onyou know his availability, and
so those will be spoken for andthey'll fill up, you know really
fast.
And then the critical thinkingMayday workshop you know his
availability, and so those will,those will, those will be
spoken for and they'll fill up,you know, really fast.
And then the critical thinkingmayday workshop safety trainer,
trainer, expanded command ops,those, those workshops.
(32:29):
We got just working on datesfor all of those and we'll be
posting 2026 Phoenix trainerdates probably coming up here in
August for the first six months.
But if you're looking forworkshops, for train-the-trainer
classes or we'll talk moreabout it, but just IC and Blue
(32:49):
Card Command support for 2026,just reach out to us, let us
know.
Our schedule, usually bySeptember, starts to fill up
pretty quickly for that firstquarter.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
so, um, if you're looking to do something, we just
want to make sure that we canget you on the, on the schedule
and on the calendar and when yousee the date, sign up because
they they feel fast, as, as wejust talked about, well, good,
uh, hey, coming up, we're goingto Orlando.
We're going to be there for FRI.
We have a booth.
What are we looking forward toin Orlando and what are we going
(33:26):
to be doing at the booth thisyear?
Yeah, so Orlando's.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
You know we're happy to go there.
There's actually firedepartments.
It's an inside joke.
There's actually firedepartments in Florida that do
blue card.
John, did you know that?
I did not know that.
We say that because there was afire chief that worked in
Florida that moved from Floridato the Midwest and told the fire
department he went to thatthere's no fire departments in
Florida that do blue card.
(33:51):
And then we sent the map to hispeople and they were like, oh
wow, there's hundreds of firedepartments in Florida that do
blue card.
Many, many, many county firedepartments in Florida that do
blue card.
Many, many, many county firedepartments in Florida that do
blue card.
So, yeah, we're looking to happyto be in Orlando looking to
catch up with, you know,everybody from Florida and
everybody else that comes to theI-Chief Conference, just how
(34:13):
they're doing, what's going on,how we can support them.
You know, catching up with allthe support pieces that we do
and talking about the AARprogram.
We'll have that there.
Uh, chris Stewart's going to bethere so he can, you know,
provide information on on theARF program and what's going on
with that and talk about all ofthose parts and pieces.
So, yeah, we're in the uh techarea at the iChiefs conference
(34:38):
again this year so you'll beable to catch up with us in that
tech zone.
When you're walking aroundlooking at all the booths, if
you find the tech area, it'll beeasier to find us and catch up.
We're looking forward tocatching up with everybody there
.
We'll have Bruno's customerservice book and anatomy and
(35:00):
physiology and fire command andseveral books there if anybody's
looking for any of those books,otherwise we'll be there
hanging out.
Might even try to get a podcastor two in Love it.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Well, come see us at FRI.
I think that's a goodopportunity too.
Whether you want to bringsomebody by the booth that has
some questions about Blue Card.
There's a lot of misinformation, really about what the program
is.
So if you're new to it forwhatever reason, or you've got a
neighbor that's new to it,bring them by, we can have that
conversation.
It's so much better to sit andtalk about things than to try to
(35:40):
blast over social media or evenemail back and forth.
So it's a chance to get thosequestions answered and to have
those discussions on what we'reall about.
If you're new to it, or you'rebringing somebody who is new
into the program and then thatkind of brings us to support,
and then that kind of brings usto support.
(36:07):
You know we've had somedepartments lately that you know
might be challenged, eitherchallenged by a neighbor,
challenged by new staff.
You have that backstepfirefighter that's making a lot
of noise, that doesn'tunderstand why we do what we do,
and we're all about explainingthe why, and we want you to be
able to reach out to us.
You know Josh is on the phonealmost all day long.
I'm surprised it hasn't growninto your head at this point,
(36:27):
answering questions, talking topeople, giving them the support.
We've got an excellent staff ofother people that help out with
that too, so you know if you'relooking to get supported,
whether it's questions, you needan answer for something.
Some examples please reach outand contact us.
We have that information andwe've heard probably about every
(36:54):
question there has been.
So what can we say aboutongoing support and what would
you like folks to know aboutthat?
Josh?
Speaker 2 (37:01):
Yeah.
So one thing with ongoingsupport is if you ever have a
question or something comes up,I don't care if you're sitting
in a meeting and you want topick up the phone, call me or
email me.
I mean, if you need animmediate answer, pick up the
phone and call me 513-623-3897.
And unless I'm on the phonewith somebody or on this podcast
, uh, I usually answer.
(37:23):
That's, uh, that's that's whatI do, because I it's that
important to all of us that, uh,we know that.
We know that something you pickup right now might be used in
two minutes and make adifference.
So that's part of it.
So I put our customer support,as far as the fire service goes,
(37:46):
right up there against anybody.
If we don't have an answer,we're going to get you the
answer.
So, yeah, you can call me, textme, email me, call the office,
call John, text John, you know,whatever.
If you're having troublegetting a hold of us, you can
always call the office.
Call John, text John, you know.
Whatever.
If you're having troublegetting a hold of us, you can
always call the office.
Jen, randy, anybody who'sconnected to the system knows
(38:07):
that.
They're the value of those two.
They do a ton of work and theysit in the dark back there
sometimes in the back end.
You know doing support andputting people online and
answering questions and you knowhelping.
So, um, you know every, everysystem has, you know, um, parts
(38:28):
and pieces that that you knowcause challenges.
So, yeah, just just reach outif you need any kind of support,
whether it's technical supportor you're having some kind of an
operational piece.
Um, we're, we're here to helpyou.
And you know, to kind of goalong with that is if you go to
bshiftercom, there's in the freedownload section.
There's tons of information inthere now and that just keeps on
(38:48):
growing.
So you know tons of NIOSHreports to reference and other
reports as well, as I think wegot 14 SOGs in there now, our IC
tactical worksheets in there,the IC tutorial video on how do
you use the IC worksheet.
Yeah, so that B-Shifter websiteit's just the beginning and
(39:08):
we're working to catalog that soit's easier to search and find
things whatever.
And then all the stuff thatgets put up in the buck slip
ends up on there.
So you know that that's asupport piece.
That really, the B shiftercomfree downloads and all that
Everybody has access to, thatit's.
That's not.
That's not just for payingpaying customers, if you're.
(39:30):
If you're a paying customer andyou're an instructor, that
download center has literallyand I'm not exaggerating
thousands of hours of trainingmaterial and curriculum in it
and we keep adding to the CEmaterial.
So if you're looking withinyour organization to sharpen up
(39:51):
on communication skills,priority traffic, strategic
shifts, managing the Mayday,building out an organization,
division, ops, hazmat,responding to violent crimes, I
mean it's.
I could go on and on and on ofall the, all the stuff that is
in there.
So if you're looking forsomething, we probably we
(40:13):
probably have it in there and ifyou can't find it, just reach
out and we can, you know, getyou, get you connected to it if
you're an instructor.
And then the other part of itis how, what we can do to help
you as an organization with,like, how you're training, how
your training goes with bluecard and connecting all the dots
(40:35):
.
So one thing I was just having aconversation with a customer
recently about was having theirhaving their students do the
accountability.
They were having someaccountability questions.
So having their students do theaccountability CE because they
have full access, so they theyhad all of them do the CE module
(40:56):
and then that gave them thatbasic cognitive platform to come
in and on shift they werehaving conversations and going
over all the other parts andpieces of accountability,
because one of their things wasit was the Bay Floor Fire Talk
thing of we don't have thesepassports and we don't use those
same passports and all of that.
(41:17):
Well, they were missing thewhole piece of accountability.
Right, it's like that.
That that passport is is partof the tools, and if you use
another kind of tool to do it,then that's fine.
But you know there's task,tactical and strategic level
accountability.
Well, after they went through it, I actually got a phone call
back from them and they said, uh, the light bulb came on for
(41:41):
them.
And they said the light bulbcame on for them and they
realized that we were missinglike half of the accountability
besides us using you know, adifferent kind of tag.
And the tag they were using wasperfectly fine.
It still identified the companyand the people on the company
and it still was getting putforward to a division boss.
But when they talked aboutaccountability at the task level
, uh, this, this person told methat the company officer's
eyeballs kind of lit up like, oh, yeah, like that.
(42:03):
We need to do better with that.
And why we communicate statuschange.
Well, we communicate a statuschange because the division boss
and the strategic IC is doingand tracking the position and
function of the companies, doingand tracking the position and
function of the companies, andso everything we have is like
(42:24):
tied together.
So, on that, if you're comingto the conference you could
catch Sean Glazer's class on thewhole sets and reps piece.
So how do you assign a CE outand then you bring them in and
you can use the sets and repsthat we have, either in person
or you could do it virtually,you know, through a shared
platform of getting folksfine-tuned, if you will, on
(42:50):
after they do some cognitivelearning piece on a CE component
.
So this whole, this wholecustomer service piece and
connecting with the customers is, I don't know, there's like a
million pieces to it, right, Imean pretty much.
So everything we do is aboutthat customer service piece and
(43:12):
connecting with the customer andhelping the customer be able to
deliver in their ownorganizations.
You know the product, so thatthey have a single system and
everybody gets on the same page.
Everybody gets on the same page.
So, besides all of that stuff.
You know, one thing that we doprobably 20 or so times a year,
(43:34):
is the onsite support.
So if you're running your firstcert lab, or you haven't run a
cert lab for a while or you justwant some outside influence to
come to a cert lab that you'redoing, you know we do that, uh,
pretty regularly.
So Eric Phillips, just not toolong ago, was in Baton Rouge and
spent three days with them at acert lab and you know the
(43:55):
feedback we got from, uh, thepeople who attended it as well
as the instructors there, waslike, well, honestly, for us it
was priceless because theyweren't really getting the
straight message from some ofthe people who they were getting
their training from before.
(44:16):
So they got the straight bluecard message and then now Baton
Rouge can make blue card whatthey want to make it for
themselves.
They're not getting athird-hand version of the
in-person blue card class andthen they're still going to make
, you know, maybe some kind of achange to it for how they
deploy or whatever.
So, like I said, we usually do20 or so of those a year
(44:39):
supporting.
We just send one instructor to,you know, a three-day IC cert
lab to help support and reallyexplain the why and talk about
you know what blue card is allabout.
And then we're doing, you knowmore and more, as we always have
, of the uh two day in person,kind of just blue card update
pieces or uh attending likeoperations, uh meetings or
(45:03):
workshops.
So just a few weeks ago ChrisStewart and I were in Worcester
for two days with their commandstaff, a bunch of their senior
officers, senior captains, andit was just a, it was a blue
card update and we were there tojust answer questions.
You know Chief Dyer is makinghas made the push at that fire
(45:25):
department of blue card is theWorcester Fire Department
command system and we were thereto just help support them and
answer any questions that theyhad.
So you know, we did a little bitof talk on the, not a little
bit, we did a lot of discussionon how do you apply the system
(45:47):
to you know your response, yourcapabilities, your buildings and
all of that, and really it'sit's the critical factors, right
, it all goes back to juststarting with a critical factor.
So the system is the system.
Whether you're going to a 1000square foot slab on home or
(46:08):
you're going to a 50 story highrise.
The system is still the system.
It's just how much do you growthe system, but, no matter what,
it still starts with engine one.
So, um, we, we, we do quite afew of those um, two day, um in
person.
You know, day in person.
You know why, support, support,support, blue card with the,
(46:32):
why you know classes and andhelping them continue to move
forward and answer questionsthat they have you know
internally.
And then you know every day,john, as you're very well aware,
the office, you, me, nick,sometimes we're on the phone and
emailing of we got a question,or how do we do this, or why do
(46:53):
you do that, or why wouldn't youdo whatever, and with Chris
Stewart coming on board, withhim spending more time with us,
that's just going to bring it toa whole new level, also with
with our connection to all ofthe best practice things that
(47:15):
are out there, from FSRI, nfpaand then the NFSA, all of those,
all of those groups that aredoing research and putting out
things of that.
This is, this is how we shouldbe doing business.
Speaker 1 (47:30):
So very good.
Well, any final thoughts beforewe wrap it up today, Josh.
Speaker 2 (47:38):
No, I think that's it .
I think we covered quite a bit.
I wouldn't have thought we weregoing to be on here for 45
minutes talking about and givingan update, but we all.
It always ends up being thatlong.
Speaker 1 (47:46):
Yeah, we say that every month.
It's like, wow, we have thatmuch going on and not much news.
But that is that's what we'redoing here.
And command function numberseven.
As you always say, we're alwaysreviewing, revising, making it
better and offering new andimproved classes and products
and ways to learn about command,risk management, accountability
(48:09):
all the stuff that we justtalked about so well.
Thanks, josh.
Good talking to you.
I'll.
I'll see you in Orlando in justa few weeks, at FRI.
We'll be hanging out together,so I'm looking forward to that.
Sounds good.
Thanks, john.
See you later.
Thanks for listening to BShifter.
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