Fire Fighter Fenton - Finding Laughter in the Flames with Brent Fenton

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Firefighter Fenton, aka Brent Fenton, takes us on an extraordinary journey through his two-decade career as a captain and paramedic in Arizona's fire service.  His experiences highlight the intense challenges of recruitment and the evolving landscape of public safety, all while maintaining a light-hearted look at life through his comedic social media presence. 

Brent's career is marked by his rise through the ranks, from a reserve firefighter to captain, with his father's medical emergency solidifying his decision to pursue paramedic training. His insights into the importance of experience before promotion, the rigorous promotional exams, and the lessons learned from setbacks provide a window into the realities of fire service. Adding to the mix is Brent's unexpected rise to social media fame through a humorous music video parody, which humanizes the badge and offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into firefighting, despite initial departmental hurdles.

This episode also dives into Brent's collaborations with Fire Department Coffee and his involvement with wildland fire teams, showcasing his commitment to bringing humor and camaraderie to audiences. Brent touches on the significance of maintaining mental health and the healing power of nature, sharing personal insights on balancing work stress with hobbies, family, and faith.  Join us for an engaging conversation filled with humor, resilience, and lessons that resonate with first responders and outdoor enthusiasts alike.

Produced by Phil Ewert Productions

Theme Music: Hero's Journey
Joel Loopez Tunepocket.com
Licensed by: Phil Ewert Productions

hometownherooutdoors.org

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
In the land of 10,000 lakes, a remarkable movement
was born.
Welcome to Hometown HeroOutdoors.
We are dedicated to honoringour military service members,
veterans and first responders byproviding them with
unforgettable outdoorrecreational opportunities.
We believe those who haveserved and sacrificed so much

(00:24):
for our country and communitiesdeserve a chance to reclaim
their spirit and find healing inthe great outdoors.
This is Hometown Hero Outdoors.
Welcome to the Hometown HeroOutdoors Podcast.

(00:54):
Here is your host, chris.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Tatro and today's another fall day.
As we're getting into fall atthe Hometown Hero Outdoors
podcast, we're super excited tohave Brent here today.
Brent Fenton is also known asFirefire Fenton.
He has a large social mediapresence.
If you guys haven't seen it, golook him up real quick.
You'll figure out who he is andthen get back to the podcast

(01:24):
and listen to everything here.
Pretty awesome guy, as you cansee.
If you're watching the videoyou'll see, but if you're
listening to the podcast he'sgot a bull right behind him.
So he's an outdoors enthusiasttoo.
He likes to do his elk huntingand mule deer, but he's amassed
over 1 million followers acrossthis platform, which gives
viewers a peek behind thecurtains of fire service through
a comedic lens.

(01:44):
Brent is a captain andparamedic with 20 years of fire
service serving in arizona andhe has been married to his
wonderful wife stephanie I addedthe wonderful part for you for
14 years and together they havefour children.
Brent has a love for jesus, hisfamily and the outdoors.
So, brent, thank you for comingon the podcast.
I know it was a little dancethere for a little bit, but
lives, lives happen, but you'rehere, so thank you for being

(02:06):
here.

Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
I'm glad to be here.
So what's the weather like inArizona today in late September?

Speaker 3 (02:13):
It made me laugh that you said fall, because right
now, well, the height today issupposed to be 104.
Yesterday we hit likeunseasonably, the last two days,
um, it was 114.
On saturday, it was 112,yesterday and today it's
supposed to be, yeah, 104.
So it's oppressive.
It's not fall.
Yeah, not yet.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Yeah, we're getting there for us too.
Uh, we had a little cold snapthere here in minnesota a little
bit ago where we were waking upto 45 degrees in the morning
for a couple days and, my gosh,it was wonderful.
I actually just got back from,uh, galveston and actually I was
down with the relentlessdefender foundation, gala, and
we went down to galveston and itwas 97 degrees out with like 70

(02:54):
humidity, and then we came backto 45 degrees and I was
thankful oh, yeah, seriously,yeah, we don't have that that.

Speaker 3 (03:01):
That is one thing about here is we don't have any
humidity, but it is just thissummer is holding on with both
hands.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Ready for that break in the weather so you can get
outdoors and do some more stuffand take a break on the air
conditioning bill.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Oh, yeah, yeah, it literally what?
Probably a week and a half agowe got, we thought it was
happening.
We're like oh, it's going tohappen.
Early it dropped down to like88 degrees.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Everybody was outdoors loving life and then it
was like nope, not yet, here'sanother 110 run.
Just kidding.
Yeah, no, that's too hot for me.
I spent some time in iraq andthat was it's like that it's.
It's just terribly hot and uh,yeah, there's nothing enjoyable
any of it.
But it is crazy though, becauseI mean you started hitting
those 70s or 60s sometimes andthen you're like I gotta put a
jacket on oh yeah, when it hits70 degrees I'm like, oh, this is
hoodie weather, yeah it's crazybecause here that's like 50 for

(03:51):
me kids above that I'm sweatingway too much, but but hey.
So, yes, thanks for being on theshow.
You know, um, I really want tohave our listeners learn who you
are as a person, um, talk aboutwho you are, where you came
from, how you got into theprofession you are.
There's a lot of things to talkabout.
You know, you have your largesocial media presence with your,
your humor that you do.

(04:11):
Um, I love them when they comeout.
Um, and then also, uh, you havea really good relationship with
fire department coffee and uh,talk about your involvement
there and maybe some outdoorstuff.
But why don't you just tell ourlisteners who you are, where
you came from and how you got towhere you are right now?

Speaker 3 (04:29):
Yeah, so as you stated and it says here, my name
is Brent Fenton.
I'm born and raised in Arizona.
I'm married to my wife,stephanie.
We got four kids.
Yeah, I've been in the fireservice for just over 20 years
and six months and so it's good.

(04:51):
I've got an older sister.
She's also a firefighter herein Arizona as well as her
husband.
So our entire family was lawenforcement and then my sister
and I kind of shifted with theirencouragement to go out to the
fireside.
So my dad did 26 years with thePhoenix police department.
I got another uncle who did 25with Phoenix and another uncle

(05:13):
that did 20 with East Valleydepartment.
So yeah, like I said, born andraised here and got gotten the
fire service and haven't lookedback.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yeah, it's probably good advice on their part.
I mean, I love law enforcement,but man, it's a lot.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
I was gung-ho.
I was gung-ho to be a policeofficer.
I wanted to follow my dad'sfootsteps.
When I was 16, I was going onride-alongs all the time and
then, towards the end, when Iwas a senior in high school, um,
one of his officers got he mydad was a sergeant one of his
officers unfortunately got uh,ambushed and got shot and killed

(05:54):
and my dad took that reallyhard.
He was, um, he was one of thefirst guys there to find him and
just took it really hard, tookit very personal, um, uh, a lot
of blame for he took a lot ofthe felt the responsibility,
felt like it was his fault.
That Mark was situation and, um,you know, I just remember him
telling me like he's, like, I'mnot going to your funeral, go be

(06:15):
a firefighter.
He encouraged me to go on aride along with some of his
buddies with the city of Phoenixand, uh, did some rides and,
you know, I, I, I, I always Itell the story I was bait and
switch, for sure.
It's like the very first ridealong.
I went on, I was with one ofhis buddies from high school and
we went there and they let me,he let me stay 24 hours, which
is like now that I know I'm likehaving a rider 24 hours would

(06:37):
be really annoying, but right,but he let me stay for 24 hours.
And at like two in the morning,I mean during that shift they we
had gunshot wounds, stabbings,um, car accidents, like all the
exciting things you know.
I mean the bigger calls thatpeople are like oh, this is
crazy, you know, right, no reallike medical assist, no medical

(06:58):
aid, nothing like that.
And then at like two in themorning, we get a structure fire
.
When we get there it spreads tothe next house and i'm'm
watching these guys kick indoors and disappear into smoke
and I'm like this is it.
And then, you know, now, fastforward here I am over 20 years
on and those shifts are few andfar between.
They do happen, but it's notall the time, and I was like
this is what you do every day.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
And of course they're like time, absolutely yeah,
that's good.
Well, I mean, I mean,firefighting does have its
complications too, you know.
I mean you guys do get exposedto quite a bit of trauma as well
, and uh yeah, but I I have afriend that actually uh, just
recently, three years ago, moveddown to the phoenix.
She's a law enforcement officerand she's talking about how
difficult and strapped they arefor staffing, just filling the

(07:49):
ranks to cover all the shiftsand a lot of mandatory overtime
type stuff.
And I think you guys excuse me,I don't have his exact name,
but you guys recently lost apartner down there- yeah, city
of Phoenix.

Speaker 3 (08:00):
Yep, yeah, it's crazy .
Yep, yeah, it's, it's crazy.
I remember, you know, growingup, when, when you know the
police department, policedepartment, fire department, I
mean it's, it's, it's, it'sinteresting the shift that has
happened, because there wasthousands of people applying for
you know, a handful ofpositions, at least in the fire
service, when I was firsttesting, like it wasn't uncommon

(08:22):
to have, um, like literally10,000 people.
They'd go down to the city ofPhoenix civic center and have it
completely filled up withpeople that have to do two
separate tests, like 5,000people at a time, and you'd be
testing for like 50 spots andit's just insane.
Like the, the uh, uh, thecompetition was crazy and same
thing with law enforcement.
And now it's like I, like I, I,when I noticed like something

(08:45):
is different, was when I startedseeing the police.
Cars used to be a decal thatsaid we're hiring, and they
would put it on and take it off.
And now they, every car thatcomes new is just painted, we're
hiring, it's just painted, itnever leaves the car, they're
just always hiring.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
And yeah, it's crazy yeah, she's told me some of the
stories about how crazy it isand days off are never days off
and consistently getting calledin to help out with different
stuff and that's a tough life tolive, you know, constantly
having to have your phone nextto you.
Well, as far as your time inArizona and you started your
career as a firefighter did youstart off?

(09:20):
Just walk us through yourhistory of how you started off.
You went to the academy, gotlaunched and then talk us as
you've gone through the ranksand to be where you are
currently yeah.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
So, um, you know, I got hired on as a firefighter um
back in 2004.
Um, and I started out in 2003is what was called a reserve at
the time, so it, it was kind oflike a um, almost like a
training position.
It wasn't a volunteer, it waspaid.
You got paid per call uh, veryminimal Um, but you got to do a

(09:53):
lot.
You got to do basicallyeverything.
You were just an extra guy onthe crew and it was really good.
It kind of helped um launch youinto your career and prepare
you for the position that youran.
And so um became full-time in2004.
Um, and just kind of my myinitial goals, you know, I
wanted to do all the hero stuff.
I was like, oh man, I want to.
I want to be a rescue guy.

(10:14):
I want to do that.
And and I still like, I love, Ilove all that stuff Um, I hit,
I basically hit every goal thatI had my, my, I never wanted to
be a paramedic.
My dad, when I was about two anda half years on the job, we
went back to Washington DC.
This is all another unfortunateseries of events.

(10:34):
His best friend was shot andkilled on Phoenix PD and we went
back to Washington DC for theFallen Police Officers Memorial
and while we were there my dadsuffered a heart attack, and so
it's kind of freaky.
Thankfully, everything workedout.
He made a full recovery.
He didn't really suffer anydeficits or any issues.
By the grace of God, everythingwas good.

(10:55):
But I felt very uneasy in thatwhole time because I was an EMT.
I wasn't very educated inanything beyond just basic life
support.
You know, I didn't knowanything about cardiology or
anything like that, and I'm likewatching the medics as they're
working on my dad and and thedoctor had said you know, the
positive outcome from my dadcame from the quick recognition

(11:20):
of the paramedics and theirearly interventions that they
did.
That's what ultimately savedhis life.
And I'm like man, that's crazy.
And so I'm like I got to go tomedic school Cause I'm like I
want to if I could do that forsomebody else.
I got to do this.
So I went to medic school, um.
Uh, so I've been a paramedicnow for almost 18 years.
Love it, um.

(11:40):
But I went to medic school, Um,I worked as a firefighter for 17
years, so I I stayed.
I never wanted to drive thetruck, um, I tested and got on
the engineer's list, but myintention was that, using that
as just a stepping stone to goto captain I didn't really ever
want to drive so tested forengineer, past that, um, and

(12:02):
then, yeah, at 17 years on, Ipromoted a captain and that was
kind of a plan for me.
I wanted to make sure that Ihad a good amount of experience
as a backseat guy, to make surethat I was very well prepared to
be in a supervisor role, andthat was kind of again following
in my dad's footsteps.
He was, uh, I think he was anofficer for 18 years before he
promoted to Sergeant and, um, Ithink it served me well.

(12:24):
I think it, you know itdefinitely served him well, you
know, I think you, youdefinitely um, earn the respect
to your peers when, uh, you knowhow to do the job and you've
kind of been in it for a whileand and uh, so it's definitely
prepared me to be a good captain.
That I am Um, I may not soundlike I'm freaking.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
No, no, you're prepared and you're comfortable.
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:47):
I feel comfortable.
Again, I'm constantly learning.
I'll always be learning, but itdefinitely.
I spent a long time in thebackseat doing that worker B
role Not that we don't work ascaptains, but it's just a
different role.
You know, you just pivot andnow you're doing more of the
supervisor, big picture things,and it's been into a lot of
scenarios now that I canremember back, recall when I was
a firefighter and you know kindof be able to forecast what may

(13:10):
or may not happen next kind ofthing.

Speaker 2 (13:11):
Right.
You know my experience too withpeople who are on for quite a
bit of time before they promote,generally don't have any
ambition to promote period.
There's usually something likea catalyst that happens and
you're like all right now, now,now I'm ready, or you're ready
for some change.
You know, um, new scenery, andjust like making sure you're
prepared.
I know, like in my career.
They say that you know, as aconservation officer, that it

(13:32):
takes you seven years toabsolutely experience absolutely
everything in your career fieldand everything you've learned
you know.
And so a lot of people aren'tpromoting until much after that
because we want to have theanswers before that it pops up,
especially for the people thatyou're in command of.
You know so.
But there's sometimes there's alittle catalyst that helps a
little push.
You see something that happensor you want to change something
here and you know you feelcomfortable in your shoes at

(13:54):
that point.
Is that something that happenedwith you?
You know so.

Speaker 3 (13:57):
I always, I always want.
My goal was always 10 years.
I'm going to do 10 years andthen I'm going to promote.
And, um, at 10 years, I tookthe test.
I passed, I got in the top fiveand they only needed four spots
.
So that, yeah, so I just it'sjust one of those like it sucked
but I made it and I was happy.
I was, I was shooting for it, Iwanted to get in the top five.
I got number five.
I was happy with that.

(14:20):
As my first time ever orcaptain promotional exam, I
should say so I didn't know whatto expect but I achieved that.
But then I got to act.
So when you're on a promotionallist, then you can act in that
role.
People call out sick ordifferent things, or if somebody
gets injured and they need along-term move up guide.
I got to do that for a bit andI had some like I'm not going to
, I'll be completely honest I soI didn't get it on that list.

(14:43):
And then the next test I took,I didn't pass and that was a
huge shot.
That was probably a, that wasprobably.
I always say it.
You know, at the time it waslike devastating.
But now I look back and I'mlike I needed that because I
feel like I was getting a littletoo comfortable, probably a
little, uh, overconfident inmyself and my abilities, and it

(15:04):
was a, it was a knockback,granted it.
Um, there's, you know, there'salways different things, but I'm
not going to make any excuses.
The fact of the matter is isthat I didn't pass that test and
so it sucked and so I had to dolike a remedial training and
things like that.
And then I did the remedialsmoke, that, and the chiefs were
like, why didn't you do thatduring the first test?
And I I'm like I thought I did,but I guess I didn't.

(15:25):
And then I took it again, andthen I, and then I was
ultimately ultimately promoted,um, I got number three on that
list and made it, and, uh, butit was uh, you know it.
Just, I think everythinghappens for a reason and I, for
whatever reason, I was not meantto be either.
Personally, I wasn't, in mypersonal growth, ready to be in

(15:46):
that position, and God knew that.
And, um, and it didn't happen.
And but, uh, yeah, so, uh, myoriginal plan was to do 10 years
, um, and then it took me inseven additional.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
But here we are, you know.
Yeah, Everything happens for areason everything happens for a
reason, right?

Speaker 3 (16:07):
yeah, so how big is your department currently?
Uh, so, right now, we have umsix stations, the seven stations
under construction, uh, we have150 sworn members.
The area is, uh, 270 squaremiles.
So, yeah, that's pretty goodsize, what's?

Speaker 2 (16:21):
your shift work look like.
I know a lot of people on ourshow.
Um, we, we started to include alittle background, started to
include firefighters with ourmission.
Uh, originally we started in2017.
It was law enforcement andmilitary.
None of us were on fire, didn'tunderstand the world of fire
and as we branched out, you knowwe're like all right time for
fire and ems and we got to learna little bit about it.

(16:41):
You know we went throughlearning about, you know, first
responders, medical level andthen firefighter level one and
two and all those things.
So, when it comes down to thestructure of that, you want to
like let the listeners know alittle bit about what that fire
looks like.
I mean, it's some states seemstandardized across most of the
country, but some states are alittle different.

(17:03):
But when it comes down to thestructure of your training, when
it comes to being a firefighter, as well as what your shift
work looks like, it variesacross the country.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
Yeah yeah, definitely there's.
There's, you'd be surprised.
I mean, like so, in Arizona,the bulk of Arizona there's,
like back East, you got a lot ofvolunteer departments and, in
general, like the majority offirefighters I don't remember
the exact numbers, the exactpercentage, but the majority of
firefighters are volunteer Um,and then myself, I'm a career,

(17:38):
uh, firefighter.
So, as well as the majority ofthe state of Arizona, almost
every department in the state ofArizona is a career department.
There's, there might be acouple really small places that
have volunteer, but most of usare all, um, we're all career Uh
, we.
So in the, the Phoenix metroarea, um, there's, we're part of

(18:00):
this automatic aid system.
There's 28 different agencies.
Um, we all have the same, weall do the same training's.
28 different agencies.
We all have the same, we all dothe same training, speak the
same language, we have the sameSOPs, same radio frequencies,
all that stuff.
So we can all integrateseamlessly on a scene together,
which is which is very unique tosome systems, because in other
places I know it's not like that.
Where this department has theseradios, this department has

(18:29):
these radios and they come onthe same scene and they can't
talk to each other, and it's not, they got boundaries that they
go to and for us it's allautomatic, like it doesn't
matter what city it's in orwhere it's at the closest truck
is going to go um.
And so we are staffing is wehave four guys on every engine?
Um, we have two paramedics andtwo emts on every engine, every
ladder um, again, that's notnecessarily the standard, the um
across the nation.
A lot of places have three.
Some people have even two um um, and these are career places

(18:50):
have three um seems like overallthe minimum is three and then
um, like I know, a large portionof California is three men
staffing Um, and then they mightstaff their ladders for man um.
Other places they they evenhave two men staffing and then
volunteers.
You kind of take what you canget.
You know what I mean.
So and again, and then there'splaces that are full paramedics.

(19:12):
So there is a wider range.
But for me, where I'm atfour-man staffing, we work a
48-96 schedule.
So we work two days on, fourdays off, and there's a variety
of schedules out there.
Four days off, um, and there'sa variety of schedules out there
.
There's like a three, fourkelly where the guys will do one
on, one off for three days andafter that third day they get
four days off.
Um, there's a.
There's a 24, 72 out therewhere guys will work one day on

(19:36):
three days off.
Um, in the valley, though forthe most part there's the three,
four kelly, 48, 96 and then2448.
But, the 4896 really picked upquite a bit of steam as far as,
just because of you're morerested, with more consecutive
nights at home.

Speaker 2 (19:55):
Oh, that makes sense.
I mean really 48 hours on,that's quite a bit, it does.

Speaker 3 (20:00):
Yeah, the 48 can get really long and and my station
station is is it's the busieststation at my department, but
we're still not insanely busyLike there's like.
So we'll run.
Typically at my station we run20 calls in a tour, so we're
running 10 calls a day,sometimes more, sometimes less,
um, but uh, 10 calls a day.

(20:21):
We usually get up once or twiceevery night, but, like my
sister where she's at, she's ata very, very busy fire station
and they will run over 20 callsin 24 hours and they don't even
see their beds.
Oh, wow, there's my bedroom.
That's where I keep my stuffbefore I go home.

Speaker 2 (20:38):
Yeah, man, that's got to be pretty taxing.
Yeah, as far as.
Where was I going to go withthis?
I can't remember.
I just had a question in myhead and it escaped me.
So no, so it's a very uniquesituation.
When it comes to the full-timecareer, firefighters and the
volunteers, I know a lot ofdifferent states have different

(20:59):
things.
You go to North Dakota and it'spretty much primarily just
volunteer, except for GrandForks, maybe Fargo, maybe Minot.
You know very few and select.
But you know, when it comes tothe volunteer side of things,
when we started to establish andbring in firefighters into the
organization, when it comes toour mission, you know we're
going through the fire level oneand the fire level two and

(21:21):
initially we're going to do firelevel two, but then we found
out like North Dakota, like Ithink the only people in North
Dakota, their command staff, arethe only one who have fire
level two, two training.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
Most of them are fire level one uh, so yeah, yes,
we're so in the valley.
I guess we would all be firelevel two, because what you'll
do is you'll get hired and theysend you the academy.
In the academy, you get yourfirefighter one and two and, um,
you come out of that academywith, like your hazmat first
responder firefighter one andtwo.
You should have your EMT.

Speaker 2 (21:52):
Yeah, no, it's very interesting when you go across
the US and see the differentstandards.
That's for EMS as well as lawenforcement too.
Everyone has a little bit moreof a unique perspective and
angle on how they engage intheir careers.
But no thanks for letting usknow about that.
But the big part that I reallywant to know is your social
media following, so I was fullyexpecting the mustache to be

(22:14):
here.
Um, what happened?

Speaker 3 (22:17):
oh, you know I it just it comes and goes as it
pleases I love it.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
So let's talk about that, though.
So before the podcast we justtalked briefly about, you know,
the social media presence andreally showing people behind the
scenes of who you are andhaving some fun Not only with
your personality that you dowith social media, but others as
well and really humanizing thebadge and what goes on behind
the scenes.
So what really sparked that?
What was the catalyst, thething that you're like I'm going

(22:44):
to post this video and see whathappens, like what, where did
that come from?

Speaker 3 (22:48):
Yeah, so it's funny because I gave you my whole
history and just glazed overthat whole part.
No, it's all right, but yeah, no.
So back in 2011, um, you know,so my department, we do a
banquet every year.
You know it's, it's a uh, ithas kind of turned into a
charity banquet, but it used tobe like an awards banquet.
They still do, you knowfirefighter of the year, ems

(23:08):
provider, provider of the year,chief of the year, all these
different things, and it's it'sa good time where families can
come and hang out and do allthis stuff and and.
But you know, some of thoseevents can be, you know, they
can get kind of sterile, be kindof boring, and they wanted
something to.
We gotta, we gotta mix thingsup.
Should we do this?
Whatever?
Blah, blah.
And I was like you know, I'vealways had a passion for music

(23:30):
and comedy, um, and makingvideos.
I've made videos since I was inhigh school and, um, I was like
you know, maybe, maybe, I'llmake a music video and see what
happens.
And so, at the time, the, thesong I need you now by lady
annabelle was oh yeah.
So me, it just kind of happened, coming back from a call, me

(23:52):
and my partner David were, wewere coming back on the rescue,
which was the ambulance.
We were coming back from a calland we had just run a knee pain
.
And it was just that monotonouscall where the person's had
knee pain for, you know, threemonths and you know now it's two
in the morning and what bettertime to call than right now.

Speaker 4 (24:10):
And nothing's changed .

Speaker 3 (24:11):
I just figured I might as well go now, kind of
thing.
And so we were driving back andthat song was on and it was.
It was like one 15 in themorning and I was like it's a
quarter after one call the 911,cause my knee hurts now and we
started dying laughing and I waslike maybe that's it.
And I was like maybe that's it.

(24:32):
And I was like, maybe I'll,maybe I'll make that song and
I'll just redo all the lyrics.
So I, um, came back and justlooked up the lyrics and started
changing it, writing it down,went home, um, my wife and I
that's how we met was doingmusic, um, through our church
and, uh, I came home and showedher it and she just laughed,
rolled her eyes, was like oh mygosh.
And so I recorded my part of itand was like hey, could you

(24:54):
sing?
It's a duet, can you say so?
We sang it, harmonized together.
I made the video.
And it's one of those thingsyou know in that process, that
creative process, you're goingover it again and again and
again and you get done editingit and I'm like I look at her, I
was like I don't know if thisis funny.
And she's like what?
And I'm like I've watched athousand times now.
I don't think it's funny.

(25:14):
I don't even know if it isfunny, would it?
You know?
I was like, all right, we'llput it out there.
And we brought it to the banquetand they play.
They said we got a video, um,something different.
This is from Brent Fenton,whatever they play it and the
place.
There was about 300 people atthat banquet and the place just
erupted in laughter and it wasfirefighters from my department,

(25:35):
other departments, people havecome from all over different
sponsors and stuff and they weredying laughing.
And I remember looking at mywife and we both were just in
shock at one how loud everybodywas laughing, and then just to
how how well it was received,and then everybody wanted to
know where they could see it andso I had a youtube.
But it was just kind of I wasjust making stupid videos here

(25:55):
and there I think my most viewedvideo before that had like
maybe 100 views, maybe.
So I said, well, it's on myyoutube, you know, especially
for the guys who couldn't comehere on shift.
So here it is and like the net,by the next morning it had like
almost a million views I hadgained thousands of subscribers.
I was like, okay, something ishappening and it was wild.

(26:18):
It.
I mean, it blew the lid off ofit and created some drama
because you could see thedepartment that I worked for in
it nobody knew it was gonna dothat, you know, and it just kind
of I never got in trouble oranything like that.
But it, it was just it was knewit was gonna do that, you know,
and it just kind of I never gotin trouble or anything like
that.
But it, it was just, it was up,it was down.
You had to take it down and putit back up, and take it down,
put it back up.
There's a bunch of other stuffwith that, but that's kind of

(26:39):
how it all launched, but kind ofby accident 911.

Speaker 4 (26:46):
What's your emergency ?

Speaker 5 (26:47):
yeah, I think I need to go to the hospital.
My knee just started hurting.
Is anything else bothering you?
No, it's just my knee.
Uh, okay, we'll send help.
Pacing by the window Wonderingif I should call, I bet they're

(27:09):
probably sleeping.
But I don't really care at all.
And I wonder if I ever crossedtheir mind.
Because I call them all thetime it's a quarter after one.
Because I call them all thetime it's a call to Raptor One.

(27:31):
I'm all alone and I need younow, said I wouldn't call.
But I've lost all control and Ineed you now and I don't know
how I can do without.

(27:52):
I just need you now.
Another night of wishing,hoping that nobody calls no more

(28:13):
overdoses.
I hope nobody trips and fallscuz I know we are the first
thing on their mind, becausethey call us all the time.

(28:33):
It's a quarter after oneCalling 911, cause my knee hurts
now.
No, I didn't fall, I've got nocomplaints at all, just my knee
hurts now and I don't think Ican drag myself Cause my knee

(28:58):
hurts now, cause if I get hurtI'll give you guys a call.

(29:22):
It's a quarter after one Callthe 911, cause my knee hurts now
.
And I bet she didn't fall,she's got no complaints at all,
just her knee hurts now and Idon't think I can drive myself

(29:48):
Cause my knee hurts now.
I just need you now.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
Oh, daisy, I need you now, and now it is really
taking on a life of its own, andit's been a fun ride you got a
lot of videos on there.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
It's.
It's fun, though.
Um, how do you come up withsome of these things like?
One of my favorite ones wasrecent, when um was it?
Uh, there was a camper and atruck that was on fire and they,
they backed up the water tenderto it.
Oh yeah, yep, I laughed.
I think I watched that thinglike 30 times and I died every
time, like how do you think ofthat stuff?
Like I, you're creative, I amnot, so I'm just curious you

(31:05):
know, a lot of it is.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
I just kind of, you know, I kind of pay attention to
what's happening around me anduh, that that particular one is
the one where I'm screamingthat's not your job, that I've
literally been on that call LikeI.
Actually a good friend of mine,he works, he works, um, for
another department, but he waswriting, he was trying to get
hired in our department.
He was writing with us and weget kicked out on this fire.

(31:27):
It comes out as a vehicle fireand it's on the interstate.
And we get in computer, says,uh, semi on fire.
And so it's like, all right,this is gonna be a good one.
And he had never seen a firebefore.
So he's super excited.
You know, we're excited.
Get on the freeway, huge, calm,black smoke, traffic's backing
up.
We're like, oh yeah, here we go.
And as we're about 100 yardsout, you see the smoke

(31:48):
dramatically change from blackto white.
And then, as we pull up,there's no smoke and there is a
county water truck right thereand he just drilled it with his
jet gun.
Put it out, completely put itout.
And we're, I was like oh, andall of us were just you know
what the heck?

Speaker 2 (32:03):
you know you're ready to put it up yeah.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
And so we get there and the guy's like, yeah man,
yeah, you know, and uh, we'relike good job.
And guy's like, yeah, man, yeah, you know, and we're like good
job.
And he's like are you guys mad?
And I said I'm like, I'm like,no, we're not mad.
He's like I thought I was beinghelpful.
I was like you were helpful.
I said that you know, I'm likewe're firefighters, we want to
fight fire.
And he's like oh he's like no, Ifeel bad, I took your fun.
I'm like no, dude, a hundred,10 out of 10, a hundred percent.

(32:29):
You, you see that you do that.
Don't, don't drive by something.
Put it out Like I was, likeit's, you know, whatever.
It's a bummer for us but youdid the right thing, you know we
all laugh at a good thing.
But just someone had a bunch ofwater right now, yeah.
So yeah, I, you know, justcoming up with the videos, a lot

(32:49):
of it is just from my ownexperiences.
Or I've found that there's afine line between just sheer
comedy and when people are angry.
So when I hear guys complainingabout stuff, whatever, or
something that happened, I'lljust write it down and I'm like
you know, I find that if whenyou're in, when you're in a

(33:11):
situation that's making youangry, if you can like pull
yourself out of that situation,kind of look at it, it is kind
of funny and so like I'll writeit down and then I'll sit back
and look at it and kind of pullout from that like 30,000 foot
level and look at it and be likeif I could recreate that moment
and then put it out there.
People go oh my gosh, I havebeen that guy or I've been in

(33:32):
that snare or that's so-and-so,and they share it and send it to
this guy and this guy andeverybody laughs.
This is totally you.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Real life scenarios that you can feed off of.

Speaker 3 (33:41):
Yeah, I would say comedy is around us.
Comedy is always around us.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
You just got to look for it.
Hi, this is Phil podcastproducer for the Hometown Hero
Outdoors podcast.
I know your time is valuableand we thank you for listening
to our podcast.
Can I ask you a favor?
On whatever podcast platformyou are listening to us on right
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It is very helpful in growingour podcast and expanding the

(34:12):
message of HHO.
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Speaker 2 (35:59):
So you've been doing the social media stuff you said
since 2011?
Yeah, and do you?
So?
I know you do collaborationvideos like that with other
people, and also you're wearinga t-shirt we can talk about too,
called the Fire DepartmentCoffee Company.
Yeah, so I know you docollaboration videos with others
, and then also with the FireDepartment Coffee.
You want to talk about that atall?

Speaker 3 (36:18):
Yeah, yeah, so you know I love to do collaborations
.
I've collaborated with a lot ofdifferent people over the years
.
I especially, you know it'sjust fun to connect with people
over you know, um, it's just,it's just fun to connect with
people over over you know commonthings, and for me, it's also a
lot of fun to collaborate withpeople where it's just
completely separate worlds andyou can just come together and
do fun stuff and it's just funto to be able to, to just bring

(36:42):
a smile to somebody's face, letpeople escape reality for just a
little bit.
You know that's that's my wholething is is I love that for
just a little bit.
You know that's that's my wholething is is I love that.
My goal was to make my page andescape.
You know, and I don't want toyou're you're never going to see
the, the videos of.
You know I don't know You'renot going to see.
You know watches, firefightersbravely do this blah, blah.
It's like, yeah, we do that.

(37:03):
Or, or law enforcement, they dolike you're going to see satire
, you're going to see stuffthat's funny, um, and so, yeah,
collaborating is is always funbecause you know you just reach
broader audiences.
Um, uh, I got involved with firedepartment coffee back at the
end of 2020.
Um, and so me and Jason Pattonfrom fire department chronicles,

(37:23):
um, him and I had talked foryears, um, just kind of trying
to come up with something,collaborate back and forth, and
then, um, he came on board withfire department coffee, I
believe in 2017.
And then, um, yeah, we'd justbeen talking for years and then,
at the end of 2020, heintroduced me to um, uh, luke

(37:43):
Schneider, who's the the uhowner of fire department coffee,
and, um, they invited me out.
And so, the beginning of 2021,I came out to uh, rockford,
illinois, and, uh, we were gonnamake a video and it was kind of
like their first date with me,my first I don't know who is
this guy, you know, whateverright um and uh, so yeah in

(38:05):
rockford, yeah, and it wasfreaking freezing it.
It was February.
It was like the warmest daywhen we were there, it was 17,.
Like ridiculous, and we werespraying each other with.
We were doing a St Paddy's Dayvideo and we were spraying each
other with green water out of afire engine and it was so free
like literally couldn't film oneday because it was snowing so

(38:27):
hard.
So we filmed, or we had to filma different video inside and
the next day the snow was donebut it was just freezing cold.
But we had a great time.
We hit it off, um, everybodygot.
I got to meet all the guys fromfrat apartment coffee and, um,
it was just awesome.
And I remember flying home andwas telling my wife like it was

(38:54):
a lot of fun.
I was like I was like I reallyliked those guys and you know I
was home for you know a day andthey're calling me the next day
like, hey, we'd like to makethis a, not just a one-time
thing.
We'd like to invite you out orinvite you as part of fire
department coffee.
So I joined the ranks of firedepartment coffee and have been
with them ever since and it's agreat time, man.
We we get to travel around Umwe we usually about four times a
year we'll go to the Illinoisfire service Institute, um in

(39:16):
Champaign, illinois, and we'llfilm it's.
It's always a whirlwind, we wego once a quarter.
We're there, for we filmed forthree days and we do about 20
videos or so in three days andit just insane.
As we've gone, as we've, youknow, done it more and more, we
get more and more efficient anduh, but it's, it's a good time

(39:36):
and it's been, it's been a blastto kind of come up with these
fun ideas and I've actuallydriven out to dc, and I was on
the way home two years ago and Iwas actually behind a fire
department coffee trailer forquite a while.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
I probably probably had it back towards Illinois,
but oh yeah, I don't know whowas driving, though.
Um, I tried to get a peak, butuh, but they probably were going
back that way.
Um, I've driven throughRockford probably a dozen times.
I don't think I ever stoppedthere, though I can't yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah I've heardstories.

Speaker 3 (40:09):
Yeah, Rockford.
Rockford has has some roughareas, that's all right, though
Bookplace doesn't though.
Yeah, but it's uh, yeah, that'sthat's where it's all at.
You know it's um, it's uh, it'sbeen a lot of fun and um, yeah,
like, the whole city ofRockford smells like coffee now.
It's awesome no-transcript.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
So hopefully we can make a connection here with fire
department coffee a littledeeper way.
I think Cool.
So as far as your your, youhave your outlet with your
videos and the satire that youdo.
You have a good support networkand whatnot.
But you know, in the fireindustry do you do anything with
wildland fire or just purelystructure.

Speaker 3 (41:02):
No, so I'm also.
So my department you know, wehave a special ops division in
that we have our technicalrescue hazmat and our wildland
team and so, um, so I'm a memberof our wildland team as well.
A lot of our area it's a it's apretty diverse area.
Like I said, it's 270 squaremiles.
We've got everything from likewhere my station's at.
You know, we're right in themiddle of two large care homes.

(41:22):
There's a mall right down thestreet, like it's it's city, and
then you go, you know, fivemiles to the North and you're
going to get into some likeurban interface, where people
have large, larger acre, youknow, larger square foot homes,
larger acreage properties, andit gets out into open land.
So it's 270 square miles, but alot of that is open desert.
So we do a lot of wild land, alot of wild land, urban

(41:45):
interface, um, and so actually,just uh, three weeks weeks ago I
just got back from a two-weekdeployment, so we'll deploy all
over the state.
Um, we'll go all over reallyanywhere in the country.
Um, we, just we have a truckthat just got back from idaho,
so oh, I'll go kind of go allover yeah well, it's a small
world.

Speaker 2 (42:03):
I actually, uh, with my career I I deployed a
wildfires too to help withsecurity as a security level too
.
You know, and I've been inmontana, northern california,
oregon, um northern minnesotafor all that stuff.
You know the red card side ofthings, yep, you know, and it's
interesting because not a lot ofdepartments do have that
ability.
You know, some of ourvolunteers do have um an

(42:26):
outstate minnesota, do have someof that minimal training, but
it's a whole different.
I think a lot of people don'treally understand.
You know, people see you're afirefighter and they mainly
think structured fire you know,and when you talk about wildfire
.
we have a gentleman coming onthe podcast in a couple of weeks
here who does nothing aboutwildland fire, and I'm really
excited to have him at least beable to share his experiences

(42:48):
and educate individuals on whatwildland fires.
When you're in the Midwest uphere, you know wildland fire is
not something you hear veryoften, but out West it's a it's
constant, especially down by youtoo, with how dry it is, oh
yeah.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
Yeah, and we send, and pretty much every deployment
.
I mean, you're going into adeployment knowing that it's
going to be, at a minimum, 14days.
It could go up to 21.
But, yeah, you know, we go allover.
We send everything from UTVswith paramedics on them to all
the way up to, like, type 3engines.
We've done Type 1.
We sent Type 1s to Californiawhen it was burning a few years

(43:21):
ago.
I went to Napa in 2017 on a Type3 engine just up there for a
couple weeks and, yeah, I loveit because, I mean again, I love
the outdoors and I love thecamp and a lot of it is.
You're going into the mostbeautiful places you would
otherwise have no reason to goto and you're fighting.

(43:42):
You know you're fighting fire.
You're camping out.
You're doing it with yourfriends.
You know, and it's just it'sit's hard work.
Um, you get to go out there.
You get to see these friends.
You know, and it's just it'sit's hard work.
Um, you get to go out there,you get to see these spots, you
make a little bit extra moneyand then you come home and you
get to bring also thatexperience back to your
department and, yeah, um butit's sleep for an entire week
straight when you're done yeah,I don't know how those guys do
it.
It's crazy, oh yeah yeah, thehot shot guys, the hot shot guys

(44:06):
, the hand crews, that I meanthat's crazy, it's a different
beast for sure, the lack ofprotection.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Like you know, they're going in with their
green pants and yellow shirt anda helmet and I mean obviously
some other things.

Speaker 3 (44:18):
They're fire shelter and but it's just wild,
especially with how quickeverything can change in a
heartbeat I mean, that's anyfire but yeah, I don't think
people really understand the uh,it's not just, you know, going
out in the woods and being like,yeah, let's, I guess we'll do
something here.
There's, there's.
I mean, every wildland guy islike, is like a meteorologist,

(44:39):
you know what I mean like theyall are very in tune with the
weather, what the weatherpatterns do, what the weather
does, what the weather is doing.
Yeah, humidity and inversionsand all these things, and like
what that means for fire growth,fire spread, all that stuff
they're all very in tune withthat, because if you're not,
that's what's going to kill you.
You know weather, field,topography, the three things
that move wildfires around, andand uh, and if you're not paying

(45:01):
attention to all those, um,yeah, you're going to get,
you're going to find yourself ina bad situation.
And you can be paying attentionto all those and still end up
in a bad situation.
Because that's one thing wealways say in the fire service
is we work in the world of youknow, crap happens and sometimes
it just happens, right.

Speaker 2 (45:18):
What's the movie about the hot shots down there?
Was that New Mexico or was thatArizona?
That was?

Speaker 3 (45:23):
Arizona yeah.
I can't remember the name of it, but it's the Granite, only the
Brave, I think.
Maybe.

Speaker 2 (45:31):
Oh, yeah, that sounds great.

Speaker 3 (45:32):
Yeah, that's the Granite Mountain guys from
Prescott.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
Yeah, and if the listeners, if you ever want to
really see what WildlandFirefighters do, go watch that
movie and how much things canchange in a heartbeat.
It's a really good tribute tothem and a very unfortunate
circumstance.
But uh, you know, that's thethings that our our firefighters
deal with, especially instructures too.
I mean, you guys have yourrisks, especially too yep,

(45:57):
that's a.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
That's a prime example of you know highly
trained people and sometimes itdoesn't matter how trained you
are.
Things can just change and it'sout of your control and it's
unfortunate for sure it is.

Speaker 2 (46:09):
So you're saying, uh, about being out in the wildland
, fires and whatnot and beingenjoying being out in nature and
it's definitely.
You get to see some pretty coolscenery with that.
But let's talk about that bullthat's sitting behind you yeah
early on.
You talked about elk hunting,yeah, and mule deer hunting.
Let's talk about that.
What got you into that?
When did that start?

Speaker 3 (46:27):
you know what?
It's funny?
I am very new, I'm I'm probablytwo years in.
I grew up my uh, so my dadwasn't a big hunter, um, and I
think it's just probably becauseneither was my grandpa um my.
Neither of my grandpas were myuh, my, so my grandpa.
I'm sorry, I have adhd, sosometimes I go down these little

(46:48):
paths and get you to where Iwant to be.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
Don't worry, get both of us on a podcast.

Speaker 3 (46:54):
It's a great idea.
So my grandfather on my mom'sside.
He died when I was young, I waslike three, and so my grandma
got remarried to my step grandpa, which I just consider my
grandpa.
But anyway, bob was an avidhunter, avid, avid hunter, um,
and I grew up where animals werelike personified, you know,
watch disney movies and I'm likeI don't want to kill bambi's
dad or mom.

(47:15):
That's messed up, you know.
And then you know, andliterally that was kind of how
it was in my mind until, like Igot older and was like man.
You know, like it's a greatskill to have.
I would, I love being outdoors.
I don't really know anythingabout it.
I started learning about it andto quickly realize that is not
the case at all, like they'renot just like happy families

(47:36):
running around out there andthat is, and they will kill each
other trying to get to, youknow, a doe, or you know, or a
cow, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (47:44):
Like not all sunshine and rainbows.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
Not at all.
Yeah, like I fall that page.
Nature is metal and I'm like,yes, that is, it is metal.
That's right, that's accurate,yeah, and so um, you know, I
just I was always intrigued byum, archery and just cause I'm
like, I'm like I just feel likethat's not, that rifle hunting
is not hunting, but like archeryis like hunting.

(48:09):
Hunting Like you have got toget in, and then I've learned
and cause again I don't know,like the, the tree stand in a
cornfield is not a thing outhere, like it's just not, that's
, we just don't have that.
So mule deer hunting in thedesert is incredibly hard and
this is I'm speaking from twoyears experience doing it.

(48:29):
But it's incredibly hard andevery, every bow hunter that
I've talked to is like, oh no,there's no bones about it, it's
hard.
People are like, oh, so you gotin hunting, so you picked the
most difficult thing to do.
But man, I it is.
It's just every time I go out Ilearn something.
Um, you know, and I was thatguy where, um, uh, everybody's

(48:51):
like okay, you know, get, buy abow.
You know, get, get some camo orwhatever, start doing, but
start putting in.
Just start putting in, becauseit's going to take you a while
to get drawn.
And I get drawn for an archerybull I want to tag last year and
I'm like so you know, I'mdropping yeah, dropping
thousands of dollars, gettingeverything, and then here we go,
you know, and it's like the thehardest thing I've ever done,

(49:15):
greatest thing I've ever done,hooked for life, for sure.
Um, you know, I I did not fillmy tag, which was unfortunate.
I that's hunting yeah, and, andthat's that's.
See, that's what I learned toowas like I thought, well, when
you go hunting, you, oh, you'realways successful, and that is
not the case, very much not.
And so, yeah, and and so, likelast year when I went out you

(49:37):
know, they it was I went outwith um, with my friend jim, and
he's a very experienced hunter,and even he was like man, this
is a difficult year because theyjust weren't running, they just
did not run.
It wasn't literally until likethe last night we got a cold
snap and then they were justripping bugles and and I'm just
like, where was this the lasttwo weeks, you know?
And I did get a shot on one, um, I was by myself, so I went out

(50:03):
, I did, you know it was, I did11 days total.
The last four days I was bymyself, and so I like sat water
because I'm like man, like I cancall, but I don't I'm not good
at all the different, like I cando like a locator, bugle, cow
call, but I can't do likechuckles and all that kind of
stuff.
So I'm like right, you knowthere's a lot going on, trying

(50:25):
to get into positions on theseanimals, and and so, um, uh, it
was like the next to last night.
I sat water.
I was in just like a littlebrushed out blind, and I was
able to call in a bull and itand it was, uh, it was uh, six
by six.
Nothing crazy huge, but it wasgood.
I was insanely.

(50:45):
I didn't anticipate how much Iwould be shaking and uh it was.
He was 40 yards, he was in thewater, um, he turned a bugle.
I drew back, I shot and I hithis shoulder and I knew just
just that hard stick and I knewit.
I could see that it only went inabout that far.

(51:08):
He jumped up.
I calcaled, he ran up what Ithought was another 10 yards, so
I knocked another arrow again.
I don't know what.
I don't know right, I'mthinking he's gonna run in any
second, which I definitely hadtime to range him again.
But I was just like.
I'm like I think that's, Ithink that's 50 yards, so I put
a draw back, I let one fly hewas probably more like 60 yards

(51:29):
and it, just right under hisbelly, hit the ground, took off,
it sparked, he took off runningand man, yeah, and just didn't
get it, didn't make it happen.
I was, but I'll tell you what Icame back and told my wife for
not being successful.
Um, I was I.

(51:50):
I came back feeling incrediblyfulfilled and like I still felt
like I won because I learned.
You know, now I feel like whenI go in the woods, I don't, uh,
I don't feel lost.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
No, it's good.
So I mean, you're a brand newhunter and the way you look at
it it's a, it's a puzzle, right?
You got 100 pieces and you putall 99 pieces together actually
almost got that last one all theway in there, right?
I mean, for your first year,that's pretty impressive.
That's really cool.

Speaker 3 (52:19):
It was cool, man.
It, like I said, I mean justabsolute rush and and and.
Man, I don't care how tough youare, how tough you think you
are, four days in the woods byyourself is sketchy.
Like when I was, when I wastrying to track and like, so I
went over, I went to where I soI went to where I hit him, I

(52:40):
ranged back to or where I didthe second shot and ranged back
and that's how I knew I was like, okay, that was like, yeah,
that was.
I was off on my yardage but Iwas looking for blood, didn't
see and and I saw as he ran off.
I mean, my arrow was probably,you know, it, hit that bone,
it's he's going to knock it offin a tree and be totally fine.
But I, I followed his, histracks for like a mile and a

(53:01):
half and it was pitch black bymyself.
Then I get in some rocky areaand I couldn't see his tracks
anymore.
I'm like I need to get back tothe side by side and I, like I
remember, called my buddy, mybuddy Jared, and I was like and
he works, he actually works formarsupial no-transcript, just in

(53:35):
case I get a mountain lion,take me out, or something
somebody knows?

Speaker 2 (53:43):
and it can get really sketchy when that sun goes down
.
Nothing good happens when thesun goes down, that's for sure,
that's pretty cool.
No good for you.
That's exciting.
I've always been an outdoorenthusiast myself, but I started
my hunting career a littlelater in life too, which is
nothing wrong with that.
I think the best thing is beingable to not only get out there

(54:04):
and just relax and resetyourself, but spending that time
with others too.
You said you had gone with afriend for several days too you
know, like those are memoriesthat you can't get elsewhere.

Speaker 3 (54:18):
Yeah for sure, that was uh good.
I was just, yeah, I mean itjust instantly hooked and I told
my wife like just a little bitago I was like man, it's like
because I'm getting ready to gohunting with my, so my
brother-in-law got a cow tag andso we're gonna go, um, like
october 17th, I think, it opensup the 18th, so we're going up
like 17th to the 20th and we'rejust I'm just like so excited

(54:38):
because, you know, I and I stillhaven't cleaned one.
So like, yeah, I'm excited,like, if nothing else, I want to
be there for that, so I can,can, I can still just learn, you
know, cleaning an animal, yeah,biggest animal I've cleaned is
a white tail, so it's.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
That's quite the task , especially when you're humped
in there, you know, and yougotta get back to your side by
side or whatever.
It's a lot of work, yeah forsure.

Speaker 3 (55:03):
Yeah, there's deer between Arizona and New Mexico
oh, yeah, yeah on the San Carlosuh reservation that that used I
don't know if it still is, butit used to have the world record
elk on, I mean massive.
I got to go on a wildfire therea few years ago and I was just
like, oh, I mean, the wildlifewas incredible on that trip too
bear and whitetail and likemassive whitetail deer and

(55:26):
massive elk.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
It's just incredible yeah, well, and arizona is a
very diverse state too.
You know, a lot of people thinkarizona, I think cactus and hot
, hot, I mean that's there.
But uh, I went to flagstaff afew years ago and, uh, I don't
think my wife at the timerealized that there was that
much snow there and she was nothappy with me.
yeah, we were way up there andit was absolutely gorgeous.

(55:48):
But being from Minnesota andbeing a Minnesota driver, and
getting up there and watchingpeople in two-wheel drive with
chains on their tire was kind ofcomical, I'm not going to lie.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
Yeah, we don't know how to drive in snow, that's for
sure.

Speaker 2 (55:59):
I don't blame you.
How often do?
You have it, but turn it aroundon us.
I can't go anywhere without airconditioning where you guys are
ever, so that's how it goes,but no, that's super cool.
Congratulations on, you know,having a nearly successful hunt.

Speaker 3 (56:18):
Um, but hopefully things will turn around for you
this next season.
Yeah, that that's.
You know, I'm hoping, man, Iwas telling my wife I'm like
it's just not fair and she'slike what?
I'm like?
It was like the single most funthing I've ever done in my life
and I can't do it every yearbecause I gotta get drawn for it
.

Speaker 2 (56:32):
You know I can do over the counter, but yeah, yeah
suppose you go up to coloradoand do over the counter up there
too.
Yeah, that's not too far, atleast, but yeah, no, that's cool
.
Well, thank you for coming onthe podcast.
Uh, you know, one of the thingsI really really wanted to talk
about too since we have a fewmore minutes here was about the
mental health side of things youknow and some of the ups and
downs that people experience inthese professions and whatnot,

(56:55):
and I just want to.
Is there, what are the thingsthat work for you to help with
positive reinforcement of yourmental health, like when you're
having a downtime?

Speaker 3 (57:11):
I know you do your social media, but is there
something else out there thatmaybe others could dive into a
little bit?
For when it comes toself-preservation mind, body,
soul yeah, I think for me, thethings that really have helped
me with maintaining my mentalhealth throughout my career,

(57:31):
would one, like you said wetalked about this behind the
curtain of like who I am outsideof the fire service I think
that's a big thing is like Idon't have my identity wrapped
up in um, the fact that I'm afirefighter.
I love being a firefighter, I'mproud to be a firefighter, um,
I'm it's.
It's an amazing, fulfillingcareer.
Um, it'll give you everythingand it'll also take everything,
but for me, it's just.
I've just remembered that youknow I'm a husband and I'm a

(57:56):
father.
You know I'm a friend, I'm abrother, I'm a son, I'm all
these things, and what I do forwork is a firefighter.
And sometimes I feel likepeople can get it flipped on
where I'm a firefighter whohappens to be these other things
, and because you know when youyou know, god forbid you have a
career ending, injury oranything like that, or or

(58:19):
something happens in the careerthat you just didn't anticipate.
It can be really unsettlingwhen your foundation is shaken
from you and now you're likewhat am I left with?
And so for me, you know, myfoundation is in my faith, you
know in Jesus Christ and and andmy family and that, just for me
, it's really what keeps mesolid.

(58:43):
You know, it keeps me centered.
You know we live in a brokenworld with broken people, and
you know I just, uh, you know welive in a broken world, um,
with broken people, and you knowI, just for, for me, my faith
in Jesus is what is, is whathelps me, it was what gives me
hope, cause I know it's notalways going to be like this Um
and um actually, and for me also, um, um actually, and for me

(59:12):
also, um, uh, just having likeoutdoors, that escape.
You know, for me, the outdoor,the outdoors and my family, all
these things, my comedy, myfaith, these are all escapes
from all the garbage, all thestuff that's happening, the the
bad things I see on calls andthings like that.
Um, it makes me moreappreciative of when things are
like, when I, when I do get offduty and I get to spend time
with my family, and things likethat.
Um, it makes me moreappreciative of when things are
like when I, when I do get offduty and I get to spend time
with my family and stuff likethat, you know, I realized that

(59:34):
not everybody gets that luxuryand um, so for me it's it's I
it's spending time with.
For me, hobbies are big things,so like music.
Um, I love to play music, playguitar big thing, so like music.
Um, I love to play music, playguitar, drums.
Um, I love to just go hike.
I like to go out and do glassand you know, in the outdoors,

(59:54):
for me to just just to get out,I just feel like, you know,
nature is just such a so healingin itself, and just getting out
there and just being in nature,I don't know what it is, it's
just good for our souls.
Um, uh, for me, I also knowthat when I start to, I can
start to feel like I'll start toknow like man I need to do is

(01:00:16):
if I'm like not physicallyactive.
That's when I really will startto notice like man.
I just, overall, generally feellike crap.
Um, my mental health feels likecrap, I just feel sluggard, I
don't want to do anything, Idon't want to go anywhere, I
don't want to see anything youknow, um, but if I'm consistent
with um, working out um and,like my diet, eating good stuff,

(01:00:40):
it's just good in, good out, Ithink, I believe, and um, and
honestly, recently, dude, I gotinto um.
You know, I've seen this wholecold plunging trend oh yeah
stuff, and at the gym we go toit has a cold point and I've
gone by and I'm like absolutelynot screw that.
That's terrible.
I started doing it like andthis is only within like the

(01:01:00):
last two months and dude, likemy mood overall, like people
like see me on the oh, he'sfunny guy and this, and that I'm
like I'm still just a normalguy that has the same struggles.
I still get frustrated, getangry at stupid things that I
shouldn't.
I have four children right, yes, like I still have life.
Life still hits me, just like ithits everybody else.

(01:01:20):
But I would say, man, that that,whatever that does to you, like
the cold plunge with thedifferent uh, you know,
releasing the different hormonesin your body, man, like,
overall, my general, just thethings that I'm passionate about
, sticking with my passions isreally what it's.

(01:01:51):
Having that escape from the fireservice, because a lot of times
and this is just me speakingfrom what I've seen and and
having friends that wouldprobably admit the same thing
when you're completely wrappedup in just your job and just
your career, you just don't havean escape.
And I've even had to andsometimes, like I go through,
you know, on social media, and Iwill unfollow pages and it's

(01:02:13):
nothing personal to the creatoror anything like that, it's just
I can't have that keep cominginto my feed.
Um, I, I just I got to cleanthat up, get that out of there,
because it can, it can be.
You know, it's an echo chamber,whether it's good or bad, and
if it's negative stuff like that, it's just going to keep
feeding you that same thing andthat can be really bad for your

(01:02:33):
mental health.
And I also recommend stayingout of comment sections no, I
can't imagine.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
I mean you guys, and the comment section has got to
be crazy, but I feel you, I meanI get it with our social media
too and just being outdoorenthusiasts that like to hunt,
we get it too, but I, that'sprobably really good advice.
The cold plunge, though it'sinteresting you brought that up
because, um, uh, this lastfebruary we had, uh, two
burnsville officers and afirefighter that were murdered

(01:03:02):
on a call up here and, uh, weput together a, uh, a mental
health and wellness day for them, and for that, you know, we
brought in our friends at Abaij,on the backside, that does
equine therapy with horses, andthen we brought in another
person, brittany Misquick, withwellness that fits, she's a
psychologist and then we came inas well, and one of the things

(01:03:23):
that we did was not only letthem know about who we are and
what we do as an organization,but we brought in Asana I'm
sorry the northerners will killme for saying it that way a
sauna, and we brought a coldplunge with as well.
You know, and the feedback thatwe got from the PD and the fire
about the cold plunge, it washuge.

(01:03:43):
Everyone thought it was justamazing how cleansing it felt.
You know, to get all warm andloosened up, almost
uncomfortable, and then go sitin a freezing cold bath does not
sound interesting at all.
But they said that what it didfor them like releases
endorphins or whatnot, but justlike a reset of the body.

Speaker 3 (01:04:02):
It really does, and that's that.
I'm exactly the same way Like.
I freaking hate cold water, butthe cold plunge.
If you're going to do it, I say, just get in it.
Don't don't go slow, just getin it, cause otherwise you'll
never.
Yeah, if you just get in it, thefirst 15 seconds suck, and then
you're good, and then it's justlike your body, I mean you're,
you're cold, but like, and then,and then when you get out and
like, if you like, pass, likeyou know you'll, you'll shiver

(01:04:24):
and stuff like that, but it'slike, it's just makes you feel
so energized, feels good.
Like I said, my mood isimproved.
And then my wife also has a umshe she owns her own uh mobile
IV business and she does likewellness stuff and she also has
a hyperbaric chamber.
Oh cool.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
So, yeah, very good things about those, the H-Bot,
yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:04:50):
It's legit.
Huh, that's pretty cool.
That's interesting.
Yeah, this one's scary.
66% of Americans would struggleto pay for a thousand dollar
emergency.
We don't.
This one's scary 66% ofAmericans would struggle to pay
for a thousand dollar emergency.
We don't keep any money in thesavings accounts, right.
The scary part about that is isthat eight out of 10 of us

(01:05:11):
watching this right now aregoing to experience a $5,000
whoopsie.
Every 10 years, something'sgoing to happen.
Kid's going to break a leg andthere's going to be
out-of-pocket max medical thatyear.
Right, there's going to be ahell storm or a fire or some
kind of a natural disaster thatcauses us to have to write a big
old check for our deductiblefor the roof replacement or the
car.
Right, something's going tohappen, and I want you to think

(01:05:31):
back to the last time you had afinancial emergency.
Was it the event that causedthe stress or was it trying to
figure out how to pay for theevent that caused the stress?

Speaker 2 (01:05:55):
well, thank you, sir.
I appreciate you joining us.
Uh, do you have any taglines oranything you want to do with
your personality before we leavethe podcast, for a little hook
for everyone?
Uh, I put you on the spot.
You can say no.

Speaker 3 (01:06:10):
I don't know if I already tagged on.
Yeah, Check out FirefighterFinn morons.

Speaker 5 (01:06:14):
Yeah, I'll look very.

Speaker 3 (01:06:15):
If you check me out, I'll look very different.
My voice will sound different.
There's people that I'vewatched and go is that you?
Yeah.
So, so, in case you haven'tfigured it out, the mustache is
not real um but I'm disappointed.
Last time we were filming inillinois I was.
It was before we just got doneeating and so I'm in the

(01:06:36):
bathroom and I'm putting it onand this guy walks in and goes
my whole life was a lie and Istarted laughing.
I was like I was like, oh,sorry man, he goes.
And the voice I was like, yeah,sorry, sorry man, he goes.
And the voice I was like, yeah,sorry man, I'm a huge fraud.
And he started I'm all, I'mactually a firefighter, but he
started laughing.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
That's hilarious, but he's like I.

Speaker 3 (01:06:54):
Just he's like oh my gosh, my whole life was a lie.
I was like sorry.

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
That's hilarious.
No, thanks for coming on.

Speaker 3 (01:07:14):
Do you do any speaking engagements or anything
, contact you for anything likethat?
I have, yeah, in the past I'veI've gone a couple times and
actually we went to um, went tonew zealand, oh yeah, uh, yeah
earlier this year and that wasthat was amazing got to go there
and um uh, I got to mc the uhthey do it was for the blood
cancer leukemia uh likefoundation in in auckland, new
zealand, and um got to go thereand did the firefighter sky
tower challenge, so I got tocompete.
Got to go there and did theFirefighter Sky Tower Challenge,
so I got to compete, got to dothe climb in the Sky Tower,
which was awesome, and then thatevening I got to MC their event

(01:07:35):
.
So that was really really cool.
I've done some other speakingengagements and stuff at some
different conventions.

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
That's cool.
So how do people get a hold ofyou if they want to Not only
just follow you on social media,but get ahold of you for
something like that?

Speaker 3 (01:07:47):
Yeah, social media, or at just firefighterfenton at
gmailcom Very good.

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
Well, thanks for coming on.
I appreciate it.
I hope to have some moreconversations with you down the
road and do something with firedepartment coffee.
Maybe we can get you up herefor a gala in March.
We'll have to let you know whatour dates look like, but I
think people like to see up here.
I think we have uh individual umnamed aj.
He does a social media.
Oh no, it's the popo, not sureif you've.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, he mightbe coming up for that.

(01:08:15):
So, um, yeah, it's just fun toget everyone in the same room
that has a good personality andbe able to humanize things a
little bit.
But I really do appreciate youcoming on, though.
Thank you, yeah, thank you somuch for having me.
This is awesome.
Yeah, yeah, and uh, I'll justhang on for a minute after the
podcast and we'll talk up acouple quick things.
But, uh, for our listeners, uh,thank you for tuning in and, as

(01:08:36):
brent said, you can find him asfirefighter fenton on all the
social media platforms and hisyoutube.
And just go dig in.
It's just a nice little breakand kind of refreshing to have a
little humor in your life andtake a peek into the profession
of the firefighting world andit's a lot of fun.
So thank you again, brent, andeverybody.
Thanks for listening and we'llsee you on the next podcast.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:08:58):
The Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast is made
possible by the followingsponsors O'Neill Electric
Contractors.
The Minnesota Police and PeaceOfficers Association.
Relentless Defender, appareland Financial Cop Financial
Advisors.
Thank you for listening to theHometown Hero Outdoors podcast.

(01:09:20):
For more information, visit ourwebsite at
hometownherooutdoorsorg.