If you spend any time on social media, you’re probably familiar with Curt Isakson.

He has a massive presence on Facebook and about 6,000 followers.

Chief Ike, as he’s also known, has had a 30-plus-year career in the fire service.

He's also been an advocate for treatment of firefighters who sufFer from PTSD.

So it was not a big surprise when Curt decided to enroll in the IAFF’s Center of

Excellence for Behavioral Health Treatment and Recovery.

It’s an in-patient treatment program held at a facility in Maryland. The program is

designed for firefighters and treats a variety of emotional problems. While

about a third of the participants suffer from PTSD, there are also victims of

substance abuse and other issues, like depression.

In Curt’s case, he decided to check himself in to be treated for PTSD.

As his social media followers know, his request for time off to be treated was

denied by his employer, Escambia, County, Florida, Fire-Rescue.

Curt decided to go anyway.

When he returned, he was forced into retirement.

But Curt is not sorry he went, even though he lost his job.

When Bill Niemann joined the fire service in 1976, the landscape looked very

different. This was a time of rubber boots, and riding the tailboard of the

engine. SCBAs were the newest thing, and not everyone got to have one.

When Bill Niemann joined the fire service in 1976, the landscape looked very

different. This was a time of rubber boots, and riding the tailboard of the

engine. SCBAs were the newest thing, and not everyone got to have one.

But for the second half of his career in the fire service, Bill carried a gun. He

was an assistant fire marshal assigned to the Arson Crimes Unit of  Prince

William County, Virginia. Back then, there were no rules for fire investigations.

 Just wait until you hear how he wrote his own rulebook.

Speaking of writing, Bill has also written a novel. It’s titled “Heavy Fire Showing.”

But for the second half of his career in the fire service, Bill carried a gun. He

was an assistant fire marshal assigned to the Arson Crimes Unit of  Prince

William County, Virginia. Back then, there were no rules for fire investigations.

 Just wait until you hear how he wrote his own rulebook.

Speaking

of writing, Bill has also written a novel. It’s titled “Heavy Fire Showing.”

When

Bill Niemann joined the fire service in 1976, the landscape looked very

different. This was a time of rubber boots, and riding the tailboard of the

engine. SCBAs were the newest thing, and not everyone got to have one.

But

for the second half of his career in the fire service, Bill carried a gun. He

was an assistant fire marshal  assigned

to the Arson Crimes Unit of  Prince

William County, Virginia. Back then, there were no rules for fire investigations.

 Just wait until you hear how he wrote his

own rulebook.

Speaking

of writing, Bill has also written a novel. It’s titled “Heavy Fire Showing.”

If you’re a member of a volunteer department, you’ve probably run into the problem of Incident Command.

The issue is, who’s going to be the IC on a given fireground.

Now, if your volunteer department is lucky enough to have career firefighters showing up to calls with you, the problem’s not so bad. Odds are, that career firefighter is going to be the one who takes command of the scene.

But what if the response is all-volunteer? Who takes command then?

That’s the question we’re going to examine on this edition of Code 3.

My guest today is Richard Ray. He’s got over 30 years in the fire service. He’s both a firefighter with the Creedmoor, North Carolina Volunteer Fire Department. His full-time job is battalion chief with the Durham, North Carolina Fire Department. He instructs on a national level as well.

This edition of Code 3 is a little different than most.

It’s about a Fire Chief who lost his job after he incurred the wrath of the Union

Local’s officials and, ultimately, the IAFF.

Scott Freitag was the chief of the Central Arizona Fire and Medical Authority, or

CAFMA.

The agency was created under Scott’s leadership when two fire districts combined under

a JMA to form CAFMA in 2015.

CAFMA covers 365 square miles of territory of Yavapai County, Arizona. And it serves

about 100,000 residents from 12 stations.

One day in August 2024, a press release showed up in email inboxes saying that the

IAFF had censured Scott Freitag by a vote of 2,520 to 0.

I

was pretty startled to get this news because I know Scott Freitag to be an

honest, decent Fire Chief who was genuinely concerned about the welfare of his

firefighters.

As you’ll hear, the no-confidence vote led to Scott’s firing after 11 years as

Fire Chief in September 2024.

How this all went down depends on whose story you believe. It may well have had

little to do with firefighting and much more to do with politics and a health

plan.

Are you tired of being told to “think outside the box?”

Well, if you are, I have good news: today’s show is about thinking inside the

box.

It's about looking at structures as a series of boxes, determining which box has the

active fire in it, and how to attack that fire. Boxes determine flow path in

large modern residential structures.

It’s an interesting idea, and it was developed for the Plano, Texas fire department

by Eric Wahlberg, a 30-year veteran of Fire/Rescue and an assistant

chief. He is also a Master Firefighter with the state of Texas.

One of the first tools you were taught about when you started this job is the basic ground

ladder.

Once you learned how to throw one, it was no big deal, right? The longer the ladder, the more firefighters get to carry it. Except…

What if there’s not enough people on the fireground to do that?

You might be surprised to find that the 24-foot extension ladder can safely be carried and placed by just one firefighter.

Now, a lot of understaffed fire departments, especially volunteers, already know this. But if you started at a fully-staffed department, you may not have had to throw a ladder this size alone.

Today’s guest runs seminars on the use of ground ladders, and this is one of his favorite topics.

Kevin Weis started his career in the fire service in 2012 as a volunteer firefighter in Coldwater, Ohio. He’s been on the career side since 2014, starting in Defiance, Ohio. In 2020, he moved to the Glendale, Arizona Fire Department.

Kevin’s currently

a firefighter/ paramedic and specializes in TRT & Haz Mat. He’s also been a

fire inspector.

He teaches

several hands-on-subjects, including search

tactics, forcible entry, hose line management, and of course, ground  ladders.

One of the least exciting jobs for a firefighter is the dreaded Community Risk Reduction assignment.

In an urban environment, CRR may mean doing a meeting with the people you serve. Or maybe you’re changing smoke alarm batteries.

Either of those—not exciting, but not so much work, either.

But if your department covers urban and rural areas, where you could be tasked to fight a brush fire, well, now you may have to do some physical labor ... plus those meetings.

Not all, or even many, departments have dedicated crews to community risk reduction. Often, CRR is one person, whose job may include other responsibilities.

Today, I’m talking with one of our favorite guests, Chad Costa, about what CRR can do for your community…and what you can get out of it, too.

Chad is assistant fire chief for the Petaluma, California, fire department. He has over 25 years on the job.

(This episode is a rebroadcast of a June, 2018 edition of Code 3) On June 30, 2018, the fifth anniversary of the LODD of 19 members of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew at Yarnell Hill, a memorial ceremony was held in Prescott, Arizona, their home base. The brief ceremony commemorated their loss and celebrated their lives. This is the event.

Incident commanders, here are some questions for you:

How much thought do you put into where you set up your command post?

Is it usually on the alpha side of a structure? Why is that? Routine? Street access?

What about distractions? For example, noise. That can not only give you a headache but also make you miss an urgent radio call, right?

My guest on this edition of Code 3 has been considering questions like this for a while. He has suggestions for things to think about the next time you pull up to the fireground and are ready to drop that tailgate.

Robby Bergerson is the executive deputy chief of the Waco, Texas Fire Department. He’s got three decades in the fire service, having served in every rank and supervising every division. He’s also a credentialed Chief Fire Officer through CPSE.

This week’s show is related to last week’s. If you haven’t heard episode 344 with Jennifer Stanislaw, go ahead and listen to it—it dovetails nicely with this one.

On this episode, we’re talking about the importance of setting standards for probie training.

Years ago, that training consisted of handing the probie a mop as often as a ladder. It was designed to “teach a solid work ethic.”

But just as hazing has (mostly) faded away in the firehouse, new firefighters expect better training on the techniques they’ll need in the field. Their bosses expect them to know those tactics as well.

That’s why today’s guest says it's important to set the bar for probies and keep raising it. He has some ideas of how to do that.

Jesse Marcotte is the training chief for the Northville Township, Michigan Fire Department. He is a member of the UL FSRI Training Advisory Committee. And he served as a board member of the ISFSI.

He also spoke on today’s topic at FDIC 2024.