August 19, 2025 • 20 mins
What happens when a routine call turns into a fight for survival? Join us as we delve into Into The Flames, an incredible book originally written by Robert L. Ritchey, compiled by Sandi Hilderman, and now brought to our network by Paul Hilderman. Discover the gripping true story of one firefighter's battle against an inferno, tested faith, and indomitable human spirit.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hey is Benji col Son of Alcohol from CBS Radio
and host of the syndicated talk show People of Distinction.
The talk gives you an in depth view of some
of the most dynamic, intelligent, and successful people on the planet.
Run to our website Alcohol Enterprises dot com for more info.
Email me through Benji at Alcohol Enterprises dot com if
you'd like to get involved with what we have going,
(00:30):
and as always, please continue to like and follow our broadcasts.
People of Distinction is internationally syndicated solely due to the
love and support that you all continue to give. We're
available across all major distributors, and as long as you
keep following, we're going to continue to put out the content.
Now sit back and strap in because on the line
with us today we have the impressive Paul Hilderman. Now
(00:53):
we're gonna be discussing an incredible book. Okay. Now. The
book was initially written by the late Robert L. Ritchie,
It was compiled by Paul's late wife, Sandy, and now
Paul is bringing it to our network. The book is
entitled Into the Flames. It's Amazon, It's Barnes Andnoblecityofbooks dot com.
(01:13):
But if you want to gather everything. Man, Listen to me.
You gotta check out the personal site. Into the Flames
dot Com is a one stop shop for it all.
More information on Paul, Sandy Robert, more information on the book.
Hyperlink set up to take it to the purchasing pic.
I'm telling you, man, listen, you want to gather it.
(01:34):
It's into the Flames dot com. That's where you want
to go. Type it into a search bar and be
greeted with all of it. And once we start talking,
I'm telling you, man, this book is much more than
just a catchy title. And listen, it is an absolute
pleasure to have Paul here on the line. People, Listen,
what happens when a routine call ends up churning into
(01:59):
the fight for your life? Who? Man, what a question.
It's something that is not a play on hyperbole. Okay.
In the book Into the Flames, we follow Bob Ritchie,
who happened to face an inferno. Okay, and not only
that inferno, it tested his training, it tested his faith
(02:24):
and his will to survive. Okay, And today we are
diving deep into the story behind that blaze. I'm telling
you this is just a rollercoaster of ride and I
was telling Paul on the pre screening call Man. When
we were doing research and preparation for today's interview, I
(02:47):
kept thinking about how amazing of a story this was,
how easily it would translate to a Hollywood film or
a television series. Listen, pick up the book first and
bark upon that journey. But don't be surprised if you
happen to see it on the screen near you very soon. Okay,
(03:07):
buckle up, because this conversation is about courage, It's about survival.
It's about the raw power, the raw power of the
human spirit when everything is burning down. Let's get into it. Paul,
first and foremost welcome to people of distinction, and thank
you very much for being a guest. How are you
doing today, sir?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Very good, Benji, I mean thank you for the opportunity
to thank.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
You absolutely Listen, Man, thank you for the opportunity of
showcasing it through our network. Man, it is a mutually
beneficial thing, I promise you that much. This book is compelling. Yeah,
as I mentioned, the title is engaging, it's intriguing, but
once you start to go into the words on the pages,
my goodness, it is a heart racing journey. That our
(03:54):
listening audience members aren't going to be able to put down.
So let's jump right in first and foremost, tell us
a little bit more about yourself and your background.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
A little bit about my background. I've got thirty plus
years in as a cook and a chef. I've got
thirty plus years in the healthcare business as an EMTNA
home healthcare aid and also a healthcare maintenance facility manager.
I've also got four years in as a radio broadcaster.
(04:25):
My first job was on an AM radio station in Billings, Montana,
and I also worked at an atfand station in a
small town in Wyoming. Plus I also had two plus
years in as a wild lance firefighter working alongside.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Abob love it. Oh, So when I picked up Man, Listen,
a very impressive and eclectic background. I will say I
was going to mention to you before Man, your voice
is pretty great. So I was thinking, I was like, man, listen,
you've got a career in broadcasting. Brother, And now I
hear it actually had that career. Okay, you've experienced it.
(05:03):
I love it. The next question I have to ask Paul,
I'm curious to know how this book came to fruition.
Because out of all the backgrounds writing, was it one
of them. But I understand that you had your hand
in this book's creation as well. So talk to me
about your influence on this book and really how it
(05:23):
came to fruition.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Back in twenty nineteen, Sandy and I found out that
Bob had passed away. He was living in a small
town called Harleton here in Montana. When we went over
several months later to go through his house and clean
out his house, we found some yellow pieces of legal
paper with notes on it and page numbers and description,
(05:48):
and we started gathering all these pieces of paper together.
Later on months later, Sandy sat down started reading this
and come to find out that it was basically the
manuscript years prior, years ago, twenty thirty years ago. We
knew that Bob was looking at putting together a book,
(06:09):
but we didn't know that anything had taken place until
we were cleaning out his house and found these notes.
With my involvement of being a wild lance firefighter, I
was able to help Sandy while she was writing down
the notes. Because her penmanship is a heck of ale
i'd better than mine. I was able to help her
(06:30):
in the descriptions as far as what is what the
different tools of the trade, how things react, especially when
you're doing the communications on the radio. There's always a
lag time with the radio communications, which is really hard
and make things harder. But it was fun to do.
(06:51):
It was fun to do, and Sandy and I always
wish that Bob could have been around and see this
come into a book for instead of just yellow pieces
of tables.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
That brings up a great point and just a notion
to point out. Man, I love there's something beautiful about
the understanding that Listen, not everybody gets to have their
story put in the history books. But what I love
about it is that doesn't mean that their story isn't
worth being told. And aside from the fact that this
(07:25):
is just a remarkable story, is there's also something beautiful
about this about the wherewithal that you and Sandy had
to make sure that Bob's story was told, and in
this particular instance, it was something that was disseminated to
the public because my goodness, what an amazing story it is. Again,
(07:46):
the notion is beautiful, The story is incredible, and without
further ado, let's jump into it. Man, into the flames.
Tell us more about it.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
There's a lot of things if you start read the
book where it talks about his previous life, his previous
adventures in the forest Service. It talks about mangult Manult,
a fire that took place back in August of nineteen
forty nine, where there was thirteen firefighters that lost their
(08:20):
lives because they were trying to run the fire. Before
I forget, Mangulch is a location north of Helena, Montana,
which is Helena is the capital. These firefighters tried to
run uphill ahead of the fire lost their lives. Certain
things took place in the policies and procedures in the
(08:44):
Forest Service throughout the years as far as safety, this
is how we're going to look after your safety. And
that's something that Bob instilled in his crew. He instilled
that and pushed that into me when him and I
as soon as we got out of our vehicles to
either walk around on a fire or use a hose
(09:04):
or whatever. He would always push the fact do you
have your equipment on? Please make sure you have your
equipment on. Getting into the book, it talks about the
events leading up to what he went through, the fire
that he was assisting employment and the perils of what
(09:27):
his brain had to have been going through. Fight or flight,
especially fight or flight, and in that case, you get
smoky out. Trees are burning, trees are falling, grasses are burning.
Everything around you is hot, including the air. That's the
hardest part to put up with. When I was fighting
(09:48):
fire in northern California in nineteen ninety four, we didn't
see the sun for a week. When you've got two
hundred and fifty foot trees burning and you're hearing crack crack,
and you don't know if the tree or treats coming
down the way, it's a realization in your mind. You
(10:10):
have got to look around. And at the time, I
was a squad boss and I had the care of
five other guys with me that I had to keep
track of. When you're mostly looking at the ground to
take care of fires and you're busy doing things where
your peripheral vision gets lost, sometimes you lose your sense
(10:34):
of direction on where you are, especially when you can't
see visible markers such as hillsides or whatever it's And
I think Bob ran into that same thing. But he
knew during this fire where he was because he had
gone hunting in this area.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Before.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
He was an avid elk and deer hunter. He got
that from his parents. He had fun working as a firefighter,
but it was still serious people.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Again, we're here on the line with Paul Hilderman. Now
we're discussing a book that was originally written by Robert L.
Ritchie and compiled by Paul's wife, Sandy. The book is
entitled Into the Flames. Remember, man, it's Amazon, it's Barnes
and Noble. Into the Flames dot com, cityof Books dot com.
(11:28):
There's just there's a listen research it and you're going
to find so many places where it's available. But I'm
always gonna push towards the website, man, because it really
is the one stop shop for it all. Into the
Flames dot Com is where you gotta go. Pick up
your copies today, and trust and believe we've barely scratched
(11:50):
the surface. There is so much, there's so much to
be found about the narrative itself that I'm purposely avoiding
because I want that to be where you go next,
because this is something that is going to keep you
at the edge of your seat and something that I
want to go to next. Here Paul and I know
(12:12):
Bob's faith played a part in all of this, and
I want to quickly touch up on that now, because
I think it's fair to assume that anybody placed in
such a harrowing position, such a devastating position, it's gonna,
like you mentioned the fight or flight, it's gonna have
you really looking internally and trying to piece things together,
(12:34):
trying to gain your perspective. I want to now go
to Bob's faith and what that played not only in
his journey on that day battling the fire, but also
in his life. And I know that it's something found
within the book as well that readers are going to
be able to pull from. But talk to us a
little bit more about them.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Bob's parents were incredible. Bob's and fan dad was a
Methodist minister for roughly fifty years. He did many things
in the churches, did a lot of things for the
people around him. Bob and Sandy were raised in a
(13:16):
very trusting and loving home. As they called themselves, they
were p K's preachers kids. That doesn't mean that they
were angels in any way, shape or form, because I
know several stories that they've told me over the years,
and they had a fun life. Their parents instilled a
lot of good things into their heart and their souls.
(13:40):
Believe in yourself, Believe in God, Believe in prayer. Believe
that God is going to answer your prayer. There's multiple
Bible verses that I could quote, but that would be
almost discern them. There's always a way out of a situation.
God will show you how to get out of the situation.
(14:02):
He will open that door for you. But believe, just
believe the fact that you can make it through certain
instances in your life, and you will thank yourself later
for trying to do something that way.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Paul, I'm curious, man, Listen. I understand this is obviously
Bob's story. We got that, but of course it was
compiled by your wife and you. Paul and Sandy had
a close relationship, right There was clearly this dynamic between
the three of you. So I want to take a
quick opportunity here, man and talk to our listening audience
(14:41):
about the connection that the three of you established it
and really how the three of you came together to
almost be a family amongst yourselves.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Okay, Bob became an EMT several years before Sandy and
I did. We found out what it was like, how
he was interact acting as far as being on the
ambulance or answering emergency calls by pickup because there was
a lot of ranches around. Sandy later became EMT while
(15:13):
we were still living in Villain's, Montana, through the fire
station that she was working at. She loved it so
much and enjoyed the training and the ride alongs and
things of that nature. And then several years later, by
the way, since I was working at this hospital in Harlequin,
I went ahead and got into my EMT training, took
(15:36):
the test. We all got our EMT basics and did
the breadlongs, and the ambulances did emergency calls. We did
the rodeos because you always have to have empts at rodeos.
We all had a good time with it. Our youngest daughter, Laura,
(15:56):
also became one of the patients on the state EMT
staff when we went around the state to do the
testing for the new EMTs. She was a patient at
that time. My mom was a nurse r N for
almost fifty years, so it came naturally. It came by blood.
(16:21):
It was fun. We had a good time doing this.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Paul as a man I'm curious to know as we
begin closing out, if Bob we're here right now, how
do you think he'd want his story being used as
a for training, for awareness, or for maybe even something
more personal.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Benji, I would have to say it's both. I can't
rule out one without the other. Yeah, he Once you
read the book and you see what took place, it
is a training situation. It is a training and a
reminder of your training in your life because of the
different things that Bob was trained in with the Forest Service,
(17:09):
it is also a life lesson. And also Bob would
have loved to have seen this probably going several different directions,
possibly into the movie genre with your movie up there
in lights on a marquee. He didn't do a lot
of the media things that we do as such of today.
(17:31):
He was more of the hands on type of person,
being a mechanic, being a force working for the Forest Service.
He helped people out. I think they're also that's the
training that his parents put in there, helping people out.
If you see somebody alongside the road that's got a
flat tire, pull over and find out if they need
an extra hand, pay it forward. That's probably one of
(17:54):
the best pay it forward.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
And what a great message to to lean into. Man,
it's to close out of because people listen. We talk
about it constantly here through people of distinction, and it
could be viewed as a bit of a cliche, but
we meet it wholeheartedly. Man Like when it comes to
our quote unquote human family. There there's a lot of
division right now. There's a lot of separation amongst us
(18:20):
here in the States, but amongst us in the world
right now. And I'm not going to go into the
specifics one thing or another on what keeps us divided.
It's not pertinent to today's interview. But the main thing here,
it's just imagine that notion of paying it forward, of
being more empathetic to those around us, and what the
(18:41):
world could look like if we actually did that. It's
a beautiful thing, and it's something like I'm an optimist,
so I believe we could get there, but it's something
that I recognize is in short supply, and this book
is a phenomenal reminder of that. Yeah, the level we're
talking about this fire that was blazing around, but when
(19:04):
you read it between the lines, Bob Ritchie's story, isn't
it isn't just about the flames, right, It isn't just
about one firefighter's courage. It is about that, but it's more,
it's deeper, right, It's about this, the unbreakable bond between
brothers and sisters and these firefighters and this team of
individuals who run towards the blaze when everyone else is
(19:29):
fleeing from it. And what that bond means is something profound. Listen,
I encourage you all again pick up the book. It's
called Into the Flames, Into the Flames dot Com, it's Amazon,
it's Barnes and Noble, it's a lot of other places.
Remember we're here on the line speaking with the impressive
(19:49):
Paul Hilderman. But the book was it was written initially
by Robert L. Ritchie. That's the name you're gonna wanna
you're gonna want to search for. And also remember that
it was also piled by Paul's wife, Sandy Hilderman. But
once you start to research it, you're going to find
a number of places that have it. And I promise
you this is what you're not going to be able
(20:09):
to put down. Paul, I just listen, man. I want
to thank you for honoring your friend's legacy in such
a beautiful and raw depiction, but also giving us a
window into what that brotherhood truly looked like, what it meant.
Thank you once again for writing it, but more so
(20:29):
for being here with us to discuss it all through
people of distinction.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Thank you, Benji
Hey is Benji col Son of Alcohol from CBS Radio
and host of the syndicated talk show People of Distinction.
The talk gives you an in depth view of some
of the most dynamic, intelligent, and successful people on the planet.
Run to our website Alcohol Enterprises dot com for more info.
Email me through Benji at Alcohol Enterprises dot com if
you'd like to get involved with what we have going,
(00:30):
and as always, please continue to like and follow our broadcasts.
People of Distinction is internationally syndicated solely due to the
love and support that you all continue to give. We're
available across all major distributors, and as long as you
keep following, we're going to continue to put out the content.
Now sit back and strap in because on the line
with us today we have the impressive Paul Hilderman. Now
(00:53):
we're gonna be discussing an incredible book. Okay. Now. The
book was initially written by the late Robert L. Ritchie,
It was compiled by Paul's late wife, Sandy, and now
Paul is bringing it to our network. The book is
entitled Into the Flames. It's Amazon, It's Barnes Andnoblecityofbooks dot com.
(01:13):
But if you want to gather everything. Man, Listen to me.
You gotta check out the personal site. Into the Flames
dot Com is a one stop shop for it all.
More information on Paul, Sandy Robert, more information on the book.
Hyperlink set up to take it to the purchasing pic.
I'm telling you, man, listen, you want to gather it.
(01:34):
It's into the Flames dot com. That's where you want
to go. Type it into a search bar and be
greeted with all of it. And once we start talking,
I'm telling you, man, this book is much more than
just a catchy title. And listen, it is an absolute
pleasure to have Paul here on the line. People, Listen,
what happens when a routine call ends up churning into
(01:59):
the fight for your life? Who? Man, what a question.
It's something that is not a play on hyperbole. Okay.
In the book Into the Flames, we follow Bob Ritchie,
who happened to face an inferno. Okay, and not only
that inferno, it tested his training, it tested his faith
(02:24):
and his will to survive. Okay, And today we are
diving deep into the story behind that blaze. I'm telling
you this is just a rollercoaster of ride and I
was telling Paul on the pre screening call Man. When
we were doing research and preparation for today's interview, I
(02:47):
kept thinking about how amazing of a story this was,
how easily it would translate to a Hollywood film or
a television series. Listen, pick up the book first and
bark upon that journey. But don't be surprised if you
happen to see it on the screen near you very soon. Okay,
(03:07):
buckle up, because this conversation is about courage, It's about survival.
It's about the raw power, the raw power of the
human spirit when everything is burning down. Let's get into it. Paul,
first and foremost welcome to people of distinction, and thank
you very much for being a guest. How are you
doing today, sir?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Very good, Benji, I mean thank you for the opportunity
to thank.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
You absolutely Listen, Man, thank you for the opportunity of
showcasing it through our network. Man, it is a mutually
beneficial thing, I promise you that much. This book is compelling. Yeah,
as I mentioned, the title is engaging, it's intriguing, but
once you start to go into the words on the pages,
my goodness, it is a heart racing journey. That our
(03:54):
listening audience members aren't going to be able to put down.
So let's jump right in first and foremost, tell us
a little bit more about yourself and your background.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
A little bit about my background. I've got thirty plus
years in as a cook and a chef. I've got
thirty plus years in the healthcare business as an EMTNA
home healthcare aid and also a healthcare maintenance facility manager.
I've also got four years in as a radio broadcaster.
(04:25):
My first job was on an AM radio station in Billings, Montana,
and I also worked at an atfand station in a
small town in Wyoming. Plus I also had two plus
years in as a wild lance firefighter working alongside.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Abob love it. Oh, So when I picked up Man, Listen,
a very impressive and eclectic background. I will say I
was going to mention to you before Man, your voice
is pretty great. So I was thinking, I was like, man, listen,
you've got a career in broadcasting. Brother, And now I
hear it actually had that career. Okay, you've experienced it.
(05:03):
I love it. The next question I have to ask Paul,
I'm curious to know how this book came to fruition.
Because out of all the backgrounds writing, was it one
of them. But I understand that you had your hand
in this book's creation as well. So talk to me
about your influence on this book and really how it
(05:23):
came to fruition.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Back in twenty nineteen, Sandy and I found out that
Bob had passed away. He was living in a small
town called Harleton here in Montana. When we went over
several months later to go through his house and clean
out his house, we found some yellow pieces of legal
paper with notes on it and page numbers and description,
(05:48):
and we started gathering all these pieces of paper together.
Later on months later, Sandy sat down started reading this
and come to find out that it was basically the
manuscript years prior, years ago, twenty thirty years ago. We
knew that Bob was looking at putting together a book,
(06:09):
but we didn't know that anything had taken place until
we were cleaning out his house and found these notes.
With my involvement of being a wild lance firefighter, I
was able to help Sandy while she was writing down
the notes. Because her penmanship is a heck of ale
i'd better than mine. I was able to help her
(06:30):
in the descriptions as far as what is what the
different tools of the trade, how things react, especially when
you're doing the communications on the radio. There's always a
lag time with the radio communications, which is really hard
and make things harder. But it was fun to do.
(06:51):
It was fun to do, and Sandy and I always
wish that Bob could have been around and see this
come into a book for instead of just yellow pieces
of tables.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
That brings up a great point and just a notion
to point out. Man, I love there's something beautiful about
the understanding that Listen, not everybody gets to have their
story put in the history books. But what I love
about it is that doesn't mean that their story isn't
worth being told. And aside from the fact that this
(07:25):
is just a remarkable story, is there's also something beautiful
about this about the wherewithal that you and Sandy had
to make sure that Bob's story was told, and in
this particular instance, it was something that was disseminated to
the public because my goodness, what an amazing story it is. Again,
(07:46):
the notion is beautiful, The story is incredible, and without
further ado, let's jump into it. Man, into the flames.
Tell us more about it.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
There's a lot of things if you start read the
book where it talks about his previous life, his previous
adventures in the forest Service. It talks about mangult Manult,
a fire that took place back in August of nineteen
forty nine, where there was thirteen firefighters that lost their
(08:20):
lives because they were trying to run the fire. Before
I forget, Mangulch is a location north of Helena, Montana,
which is Helena is the capital. These firefighters tried to
run uphill ahead of the fire lost their lives. Certain
things took place in the policies and procedures in the
(08:44):
Forest Service throughout the years as far as safety, this
is how we're going to look after your safety. And
that's something that Bob instilled in his crew. He instilled
that and pushed that into me when him and I
as soon as we got out of our vehicles to
either walk around on a fire or use a hose
(09:04):
or whatever. He would always push the fact do you
have your equipment on? Please make sure you have your
equipment on. Getting into the book, it talks about the
events leading up to what he went through, the fire
that he was assisting employment and the perils of what
(09:27):
his brain had to have been going through. Fight or flight,
especially fight or flight, and in that case, you get
smoky out. Trees are burning, trees are falling, grasses are burning.
Everything around you is hot, including the air. That's the
hardest part to put up with. When I was fighting
(09:48):
fire in northern California in nineteen ninety four, we didn't
see the sun for a week. When you've got two
hundred and fifty foot trees burning and you're hearing crack crack,
and you don't know if the tree or treats coming
down the way, it's a realization in your mind. You
(10:10):
have got to look around. And at the time, I
was a squad boss and I had the care of
five other guys with me that I had to keep
track of. When you're mostly looking at the ground to
take care of fires and you're busy doing things where
your peripheral vision gets lost, sometimes you lose your sense
(10:34):
of direction on where you are, especially when you can't
see visible markers such as hillsides or whatever it's And
I think Bob ran into that same thing. But he
knew during this fire where he was because he had
gone hunting in this area.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Before.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
He was an avid elk and deer hunter. He got
that from his parents. He had fun working as a firefighter,
but it was still serious people.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Again, we're here on the line with Paul Hilderman. Now
we're discussing a book that was originally written by Robert L.
Ritchie and compiled by Paul's wife, Sandy. The book is
entitled Into the Flames. Remember, man, it's Amazon, it's Barnes
and Noble. Into the Flames dot com, cityof Books dot com.
(11:28):
There's just there's a listen research it and you're going
to find so many places where it's available. But I'm
always gonna push towards the website, man, because it really
is the one stop shop for it all. Into the
Flames dot Com is where you gotta go. Pick up
your copies today, and trust and believe we've barely scratched
(11:50):
the surface. There is so much, there's so much to
be found about the narrative itself that I'm purposely avoiding
because I want that to be where you go next,
because this is something that is going to keep you
at the edge of your seat and something that I
want to go to next. Here Paul and I know
(12:12):
Bob's faith played a part in all of this, and
I want to quickly touch up on that now, because
I think it's fair to assume that anybody placed in
such a harrowing position, such a devastating position, it's gonna,
like you mentioned the fight or flight, it's gonna have
you really looking internally and trying to piece things together,
(12:34):
trying to gain your perspective. I want to now go
to Bob's faith and what that played not only in
his journey on that day battling the fire, but also
in his life. And I know that it's something found
within the book as well that readers are going to
be able to pull from. But talk to us a
little bit more about them.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
Bob's parents were incredible. Bob's and fan dad was a
Methodist minister for roughly fifty years. He did many things
in the churches, did a lot of things for the
people around him. Bob and Sandy were raised in a
(13:16):
very trusting and loving home. As they called themselves, they
were p K's preachers kids. That doesn't mean that they
were angels in any way, shape or form, because I
know several stories that they've told me over the years,
and they had a fun life. Their parents instilled a
lot of good things into their heart and their souls.
(13:40):
Believe in yourself, Believe in God, Believe in prayer. Believe
that God is going to answer your prayer. There's multiple
Bible verses that I could quote, but that would be
almost discern them. There's always a way out of a situation.
God will show you how to get out of the situation.
(14:02):
He will open that door for you. But believe, just
believe the fact that you can make it through certain
instances in your life, and you will thank yourself later
for trying to do something that way.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Paul, I'm curious, man, Listen. I understand this is obviously
Bob's story. We got that, but of course it was
compiled by your wife and you. Paul and Sandy had
a close relationship, right There was clearly this dynamic between
the three of you. So I want to take a
quick opportunity here, man and talk to our listening audience
(14:41):
about the connection that the three of you established it
and really how the three of you came together to
almost be a family amongst yourselves.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Okay, Bob became an EMT several years before Sandy and
I did. We found out what it was like, how
he was interact acting as far as being on the
ambulance or answering emergency calls by pickup because there was
a lot of ranches around. Sandy later became EMT while
(15:13):
we were still living in Villain's, Montana, through the fire
station that she was working at. She loved it so
much and enjoyed the training and the ride alongs and
things of that nature. And then several years later, by
the way, since I was working at this hospital in Harlequin,
I went ahead and got into my EMT training, took
(15:36):
the test. We all got our EMT basics and did
the breadlongs, and the ambulances did emergency calls. We did
the rodeos because you always have to have empts at rodeos.
We all had a good time with it. Our youngest daughter, Laura,
(15:56):
also became one of the patients on the state EMT
staff when we went around the state to do the
testing for the new EMTs. She was a patient at
that time. My mom was a nurse r N for
almost fifty years, so it came naturally. It came by blood.
(16:21):
It was fun. We had a good time doing this.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Paul as a man I'm curious to know as we
begin closing out, if Bob we're here right now, how
do you think he'd want his story being used as
a for training, for awareness, or for maybe even something
more personal.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Benji, I would have to say it's both. I can't
rule out one without the other. Yeah, he Once you
read the book and you see what took place, it
is a training situation. It is a training and a
reminder of your training in your life because of the
different things that Bob was trained in with the Forest Service,
(17:09):
it is also a life lesson. And also Bob would
have loved to have seen this probably going several different directions,
possibly into the movie genre with your movie up there
in lights on a marquee. He didn't do a lot
of the media things that we do as such of today.
(17:31):
He was more of the hands on type of person,
being a mechanic, being a force working for the Forest Service.
He helped people out. I think they're also that's the
training that his parents put in there, helping people out.
If you see somebody alongside the road that's got a
flat tire, pull over and find out if they need
an extra hand, pay it forward. That's probably one of
(17:54):
the best pay it forward.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
And what a great message to to lean into. Man,
it's to close out of because people listen. We talk
about it constantly here through people of distinction, and it
could be viewed as a bit of a cliche, but
we meet it wholeheartedly. Man Like when it comes to
our quote unquote human family. There there's a lot of
division right now. There's a lot of separation amongst us
(18:20):
here in the States, but amongst us in the world
right now. And I'm not going to go into the
specifics one thing or another on what keeps us divided.
It's not pertinent to today's interview. But the main thing here,
it's just imagine that notion of paying it forward, of
being more empathetic to those around us, and what the
(18:41):
world could look like if we actually did that. It's
a beautiful thing, and it's something like I'm an optimist,
so I believe we could get there, but it's something
that I recognize is in short supply, and this book
is a phenomenal reminder of that. Yeah, the level we're
talking about this fire that was blazing around, but when
(19:04):
you read it between the lines, Bob Ritchie's story, isn't
it isn't just about the flames, right, It isn't just
about one firefighter's courage. It is about that, but it's more,
it's deeper, right, It's about this, the unbreakable bond between
brothers and sisters and these firefighters and this team of
individuals who run towards the blaze when everyone else is
(19:29):
fleeing from it. And what that bond means is something profound. Listen,
I encourage you all again pick up the book. It's
called Into the Flames, Into the Flames dot Com, it's Amazon,
it's Barnes and Noble, it's a lot of other places.
Remember we're here on the line speaking with the impressive
(19:49):
Paul Hilderman. But the book was it was written initially
by Robert L. Ritchie. That's the name you're gonna wanna
you're gonna want to search for. And also remember that
it was also piled by Paul's wife, Sandy Hilderman. But
once you start to research it, you're going to find
a number of places that have it. And I promise
you this is what you're not going to be able
(20:09):
to put down. Paul, I just listen, man. I want
to thank you for honoring your friend's legacy in such
a beautiful and raw depiction, but also giving us a
window into what that brotherhood truly looked like, what it meant.
Thank you once again for writing it, but more so
(20:29):
for being here with us to discuss it all through
people of distinction.
Speaker 2 (20:33):
Thank you, Benji
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