There is alot of talk about DEI these days. Much of it is not accurate and much of it implies affirmative action… which is not DEI. In the fire service we will work with lots of different kinds of people. Some from the big city, some from small towns. We’ll work with liberals and conservatives, blacks, whites and browns, LBGTs, straights, religious and non-religious. If you’re a leader… and what??? yes, we’re all leaders, you have to be a leader for everyone on your crew. Take a few minutes to listen in to us talk about DEI as a wildland firefighter. You owe it to your crew to take a few minutes to listen and maybe discuss with your crew. As always, thanks for listening.

There are lots of emotions right now about the fires in LA. And there should be. Thousands of people are forced from their home and many of those will come back to nothing but devastation. But let us not fall into the trap of believing simple answers about why this fire is happening and why it’s causing so much damage. Listen in to this podcast and get some insights from an experienced professional firefighter/chief with 45 years experience on the job. Remember, there are no simple answers to complex problems… and we have a complex national problem regarding wildland fire.

Do you get tired of the topic of workplace bullying? I sure get tired of talking about it. But you know what? It’s still going on. It wasn’t long ago that an east coast female firefighter committed suicide due to bullying at the fire department. Actually there have been two in the last couple years. And those are just the one’s I’m aware of. How bad must they be treated to get to that point? Personally, I hear from firefighters and even their retired firefighter parents about workplace bullshit. It drives me crazy that here we are, almost 2025 and we still have that much inappropriate and unprofessional behavior at work. It seems like officers and firefighters think the workplace is a private club that they can treat people however they like. It isn’t. This is a job. It’s a profession and it’s a workplace that is funded by taxpayer dollars. Those taxpayers and hopefully your Chiefs expect professional performance. Take a few minutes to listen to this podcast and talk about it with your crew. We have got to do better folks! And as always, thanks for listening.

Do you get tired of the topic of workplace bullying? I sure get tired of talking about it. But you know what? It’s still going on. It wasn’t long ago that an east coast female firefighter committed suicide due to bullying at the fire department. Actually there have been two in the last couple years. And those are just the one’s I’m aware of. How bad must they be treated to get to that point? Personally, I hear from firefighters and even their retired firefighter parents about workplace bullshit. It drives me crazy that here we are, almost 2025 and we still have that much inappropriate and unprofessional behavior at work. It seems like officers and firefighters think the workplace is a private club that they can treat people however they like. It isn’t. This is a job. It’s a profession and it’s a workplace that is funded by taxpayer dollars. Those taxpayers and hopefully your Chiefs expect professional performance. Take a few minutes to listen to this podcast and talk about it with your crew. We have got to do better folks! And as always, thanks for listening.

What does it feel like when our job fulfills us? It’s pretty great, isn’t it? Having a passion for our job can make the time at work speed by. It also gives us a sense of purpose. We can excell on the job if all the stars line up. But what about the opposite? What happens if work is not fulfilling? What if we lost our passion for our job? How does going to work feel then? How does it effect our performance? It’s not just about being a firefighter. This topic applies to everyone from the hardware store manager to the uber driver. Listen in, think about it and consider having a discussion with your friends and co-workers.

If you’re reading this, I hope you know that our society is at a crossroads. We’re at a point that the largest wildland firefighting force… the US Forest Service is hemorrhaging firefighters right now. And they may be about to lose many more. Did you know that our federal firefighters are some of the lowest paid firefighters in the country. Yes, that’s right. The firefighters on those federal fire engines and hotshots crews and smokejumpers and rappellers… yea they normally make less than most of the other personnel assigned to a wildfire. And that includes everyone in a support role back in camp. Listen in to this episode and do what you can to support your federal wildland firefighters. Join Grassroots Wildland Fire Fighters and be an advocate. Or if you’re an employee, also join the union. It’s going to be a rough ride ahead.

Going to a fallen firefighter memorial ceremony is always an emotional event. There’s no way it can’t be. But what should a memorial look like? I recently attended the re-dedication of the Dude Fire Memorial not far from Payson Arizona. It made me think hard about memorial ceremonies I’d been to over my long career. Even though it was a re-dedication, there was never an original dedication. There had been no funerals with bagpipes. No procession of engines. No rows of firefighters standing in their dress uniforms. I have some strong opinions about the firefighter memorials that we have for our fallen brothers and sisters. Please listen in and let me know what you think.

Have you gotten used to being in risky situations? Maybe things that seemed risky when you were less experienced, don’t seem so bad anymore. Is that because now you’re more knowledgable and are aware of the mitigations being taken for your safety? Or maybe it’s because you’ve done something so many times that it just doesn’t seem scarey anymore. Listen in to this podcast and think about how your thinking has changed over the years. Let’s not just be students of fire. Let’s be students of our own thinking. Thanks for listening.

Have you ever had a problem with your reputation? I have. I had long and successful career in the fire service and yet I’ve had plenty of times when people spread rumors about me. Some of those negative stories were true. But some of them were absolutely false. What should I have done about it? What should you do about it when it happens to you. Because you know it will. I left an entire agency for many years in part due to false stories being told about me. I’ve heard plenty of experiences from young firefighters who’ve had similar experiences. And it’s not just young firefighters who this can happen to. I know a competetent Chief 1 who struggled with this same thing. Listen in to this story to get some perspective about how we might deal with a negative narrative being told about us.

Sometimes, we as leaders think an employees question is a threat to our authority. They may be trying to learn, but their curiosity can be squashed by how we respond. Our body language and the words we use are critical. You might not realize it but you have a direct impact on your organizations learning culture. How we react can filter down through the entire organization effecting how everyone responds to simple questions or providing perspective and input. The culture we create is critical for the learning environment that our employees and co-workers are living and working in.

Listen in to this story and decide for yourselves – what you think about it.