Combustible

With a unscripted (and unedited) podcast like ours, you don't really know where the conversation is going to go. We always start our podcasts with a single question for our guest. Our "jumping off point" for this week's discussion with Captain Pabel Troche is, "How do you take the format and lessons of a non-firefighting class and turn them into a successful class for firefighters?"

A few years ago Captain Troche participated in a military style endurance challenge and from that saw an opportunity to make the fire service stronger by adapting it for firefighters. From that starting point we talk about the ideas of quality people, individual vs. team training, the fire service as a "forced marriage," firefighter addiction, PTSD, and the organic nature of a class. And like most good conversations, at the end you find yourself wondering how you ended up where you did.

We're proud to announce (again) the beginning of a new initiative to bring you even more in our efforts to build better firefighters. In the simplest of terms, MAFFC is firefighters training firefighters. So, now we're podcasting firefighters speaking to firefighters frankly about the fire service.

Our production is a little bare bones (the first was recorded in Shane's kitchen with iPhones,) but we promise the content is all there. In this first episode we ask Assistant Chief Shane Dobson and Battalion Chief Mike Hatcher if they could turn back the clock 24 years, "What would they tell themselves as a rookie firefighter?" The conversation takes off from there covering plugging people in, the nature of promotions, luck on the fireground, and many more topics.

At only 1 hour long, we're not asking you to make a huge investment of time. Download the podcast and give it a listen as you drive to work, mow the grass, etc. And then be on the lookout for our next episode which we're already working on bringing to you.