Combustible

Often we start the recorder before we actually start the portion of the discussion we intended to record. Here, there is a little impromptu discussion on ego's role in the fire service.

This is the second part of our two part podcast detailing (our own) Mike Hatcher's involvement in the I-85 bridge collapse. As a result of the truly great job that Atlanta Fire Rescue did that day, a few members of the department were asked to be a part of a delegation of first responders from the incident who were invited to the White House.

It's not exactly a debate on the pros and cons of a 2 1/2, but you can't deny that it isn't everyday one of us gets invited to the White House to meet the President. And regardless of your politics, it's an invitation to the White House to meet the President. You probably aren't going to get one of those in your lifetime, so listen to Hatch.

Sooner or later in your firefighting career, you come across an incident that you really didn't fully anticipate. You find yourself looking at the hellish reality in front of you and think, "Now what?"

On the evening of March 30, 2017, a stockpile of what the DOT called "non-combustible" material caught fire under a large elevated span of Interstate 85 approximately a mile north of the skyscrapers of downtown Atlanta. As the fire rapidly unfolded on most Atlanta residents' televisions, those of us not on scene watched as a 100' long, five lane wide section of interstate pancaked to the ground below. One of our regular moderators, Hatch, just happened to have had a front row seat as the incident commander.

For this podcast, we sit down with Hatch and let him walk us through how he ended up on scene, what he was thinking, and how he processed what was going to have to be done.

On this episode we attempt to tackle the very prickly topic of breaking your department's rules for the sake of "doing what we took an oath to do." We're not sure we provide any real answers for our listeners here, but we hope that at the most basic level, we show that the simple act of discussing these topics is beneficial in itself. If a single listener takes something from this podcast and it prompts a kitchen table discussion at the firehouse, well, then we've done our job here. We originally had a guest lined up for this discussion, but that didn't work out. So what you get is a gathering of the usual suspects.

We also take time to answer two listener provided questions.

Every good series has an origins episode. Our origins won't involve altering time or the story, but it may answer some questions about how this whole thing came to be.

Tom Hancock and Keith Schneider are two of MAFFC's founding members and they sit down with us to discuss just what it took to start a firefighter conference, what it takes to keep going, and where we hope the conference will go from here.

Steve Kerber and Dan Madrzykowski of Underwriters Laboratories are the most famous guests we have had on Combustible. They both have been on the forefront of research into some of the fire service's most deeply held beliefs about how we fight fire. Wind driven fires. Positive pressure ventilation. Flow Path. Sound familiar?

During this episode we talk to them about

• What you do when you don't get the results you were expecting

• The nature of presenting "controversial" findings to a very traditional group of people

• Why you go to Sweden or New Zealand to get a doctorate

• Just what it means to be an Honorary Battalion Chief with FDNY

• Why research matters to the fire service

And as always, we have a war story or two and then unleash our Pivot questions on them and get some truly surprising answers.

When we here at Combustible asked Frank Martinez why he didn't discuss his cancer during the last podcast episode, he answered in a very Frank manner, "Because you didn't ask!" Fair enough. With newly published figures on firefighter cancer putting our risk of developing cancer at 68%, we really wanted to talk with Frank about his diagnosis, his outlook, his work on HB 216, and his advice for all of the rest of us.

This podcast is a special edition. Special because it doesn't follow our normal format, and special because Frank opens up to us about what is understandably a very personal issue for him and his family. Admittedly, cancer is a subject most of us would rather not talk about, or for that matter even listen to others talk about. But do yourself a favor and listen to Frank.

During the episode, it is suggested that we start to encourage each other to get tested, screened, and checked for cancer. We should all be the example for those around us. And when you do get checked, encourage others by posting to social media with the tag: #BecauseOfFrank.

Do it for you and your family. And do it #BecauseOfFrank.

(This podcast has limited explicit language which some may find offensive.)

Frank Martinez is a to-the-core backstep firefighter. He has spent a large part of the last fifteen years on one of the southeast's busiest technical rescue teams. And as Frank says, he's been slayin' it.

For this episode of our podcast we talk to Frank about what he feels is most important about being a tailboard firefighter and whether spending a career perfecting your craft on the tailboard (and not promoting) is an acceptable goal.

Our jumping off point for our discussion with Frank is "What do new firefighters owe the fire service?" As is our normal mode of operation, the conversation flows wherever it wants to go after that. We talk about:

• Why We Hesitate to call MAYDAY

• The Benefits of an Informal Critique

• The Best Advice Frank Ever Got

• Proving Yourself and Being Worthy

• Being Part of Something Bigger Than Yourself

Frank answers our Pivot questions and gives us, what we now consider to be, our favorite war story so far in the short history of this podcast: The No Mas Cantina Fire.