Mesa (Ariz) Fire & Medical Department Chief Mary Cameli is facing the same budget problems as most department are having these days, but she's overcoming them with some new ideas, proving once again that necessity is, indeed, the mother of invention. ***Don't forget to check out our show notes at Code3Podcast.com AND download the free Code 3 app from the Google Play store!

Should fire departments continues to handle EMS calls? Or should private ambulance companies take it over? Would it save cities money do to that? Join Scott as he discusses the realities of the situation with Prescott, Ariz Fire Chief Dennis Light and Central Arizona Fire & Medical Authority Chief Scott Freitag. ***For more on paramedic history go to http://www.Code3Podcast.com

As we commemorate the fourth anniversary of the LODD of 19 of the 20 members of the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew, we talk with the man in the middle of the events in June and July 2013: Former Prescott Fire Chief Dan Fraijo. He speaks frankly about the behind-the-scenes aftermath of the worst firefighter LODD since Sept. 11, 2001.

Today's firefighters need a college education. Once upon a time, a man went to the academy, and jumped on the engine and learned on the job. Engineer Eric Merrill explains how and why that's changed.

Firefighting in the old days was wild and sometime,s violent, as competing fire companies tried to be the first to respond. Money was on the line, and these guys wanted the money. Prescott firefighter Conrad Jackson wrote a book about his department's history a couple of years back, and he's now the go-to source for info about the state of Arizona's oldest department.

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It's getting tougher to recruit volunteer firefighters these days, and Chief Robert Rielage says it might be because people don't even realize they're served by volunteer departments. On this episode of Code 3, he talks about ways to recruit and retain an unpaid force.

Lots of kids wanted to be a firefighter when they grew up, and then became one.
Not Nathan Green. He decided in college to give it a try and then knew it was the career for him.
Scott talks with Nathan this week and finds out why he joined the fire service.

Mayer Fire Capt. Tom Haney discusses how his department deals with EMS responses, when having two runs at the same time can mean he responds to EMS calls alone.

Central Arizona Fire's Jeremiah King talks Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in firefighters, his role in an Honor Guard, and why he likes being married to a firefighter, even though she's on a different shift schedule.

Our current 911 system is built on the backbone of 1960s technology, and it's going to have to be re-built from the ground up. Communications consultant Barry Furey talks about what that means to first responders and their communities.