Today is about what happens when the job we love meets a diagnosis that can change everything.

I am joined by Dawn Harding, a retired Chief Fire Officer, alongside Steve Norman, former Deputy Assistant Commissioner with London Fire Brigade and now working with the National Fire Chiefs Council, and David Little, a former MOD firefighter and on call Watch Manager.

Together, they are part of the Firefighter Parkinson’s Support Group, a newly established group created to support firefighters, retired firefighters and their families who are affected by Parkinson’s.

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition. It affects movement, balance, sleep, mood, confidence, family life, work, identity and so much more. It has no cure, and for many people the early signs are not always obvious. Stiffness, fatigue, frozen shoulder, sleep issues, gut problems or changes in movement can appear long before the symptoms people typically associate with Parkinson’s.

Useful links

Parkinson’s UK
https://www.parkinsons.org.uk/

Movers and Shakers
https://www.moversandshakerspodcast.com/

Spotlight YOPD
https://spotlightyopd.org/

Cure Parkinson’s
https://cureparkinsons.org.uk/

The Michael J Fox Foundation
https://www.michaeljfox.org/

The Neurological Alliance
https://www.neural.org.uk/

Guest contact - David Little
[email protected]

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Jag, better known to many online as Mr Honest has absolutely exploded across Instagram and TikTok over the last year and has become one of the most recognisable firefighter voices on social media, not just here in the UK, but across the wider fire service community internationally. 

What makes Jag stand out is that he is not just creating content from the sidelines. He is a serving firefighter with London Fire Brigade, living the job, understanding the culture, and using his platform to connect with firefighters, challenge thinking, bring humour, and open up conversations that people clearly want to be part of.

In a space where social media can sometimes become noise, Jag has cut through by being authentic, relatable, and properly connected to the people he is speaking to. He has built a huge following by being himself, and that is no small thing. 

Today we are going to get behind the content, behind the growth, and behind the person, to understand what drives him, what he has learned, and where he sees this whole firefighter social media space going next. 

Find Jag on socials HERE

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Millie Margetts is a firefighter with Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, a coach, athlete, Gladiators semi finalist, and someone who embodies the power of persistence. In this episode, we explore her journey into the fire service after years of setbacks, the challenges and opportunities that came with appearing on one of the UK's biggest television shows, and the mindset required to keep moving forward when things don't go to plan. From firefighting and fitness to confidence, social media, resilience, and personal growth, this is an honest and uplifting conversation about backing yourself, embracing opportunities, and staying optimistic in the pursuit of something bigger. 

Connect with Millie HERE

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CLICK HERE JOIN ME AT BLUE LIGHT SHOW | LONDON | JULY 2026

My guest today is Justin Fitzwater, firefighter with the Kansas City Fire Department and founder of Fitzwater Leather, a company renowned throughout the American fire service for creating some of the most stunning custom helmet fronts and leatherwork you'll ever see.

Fitzwater Leather INSTAGRAM

Fitzwater Leather WEBSITE

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CLICK HERE JOIN ME AT BLUE LIGHT SHOW | LONDON | JULY 2026

In this episode I sit down with Martin Brown, Chartered Engineer and Improvement Consultant at HORIBA MIRA, and one of the world's leading experts on the safety of new energy vehicles. With nearly three decades of experience designing and testing electric, hydrogen, hybrid and cryogenic vehicles, Martin brings a level of operational and scientific authority that is rarely found in a single conversation. We cover the real hazards firefighters face at EV incidents such as thermal runaway, the limitations of water suppression, the explosion risk now associated with fire blankets, why hybrid vehicles statistically carry the highest fire rate of any powertrain, and what crews are simply not being told about the gases released during a battery fire.

The second half of the conversation moves into territory that I think every firefighter, every officer and every person in the wider emergency services ecosystem needs to hear. Martin has spent years researching the contamination left behind by battery fires on PPE, on vehicles handed to recovery, and in the lungs of people who never wore a fire kit in their life. His warning is clear and deliberately drawn: the residue from lithium battery fires is reaching tow truck drivers, mechanics and battery disposal workers who have no training, no PPE and no awareness of what they are absorbing. He draws a direct and uncomfortable parallel with asbestos — a material once valued for fire protection, whose risks were known before they were acted on.

contact Martin HERE

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***The views expressed in this episode are those of the individual speakers. Our partners are not responsible for the content of this episode and does not warrant its accuracy or completeness.***

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CLICK HERE JOIN ME AT BLUE LIGHT SHOW | LONDON | JULY 2026

On the 6th of January 1995, at five in the morning, a man discovered his sofa was on fire in apartment 509 of a thirty-storey residential block in North York, Toronto. He tried to put it out, failed, and ran leaving his apartment door wide open behind him. That single decision set off a chain of events that killed six people, all of them found above the twentieth floor in smoke-filled stairwells, in a building where the fire never meaningfully spread beyond the room it started in.

In this episode I'm delivering a full operational debrief of the Forest Laneway fire, one of the most instructive high-rise residential incidents ever documented. I'm following the physics of stack effect in a thirty-storey concrete building on a sub-zero January night. I'm looking at the scissors staircase design that confused both escaping residents and arriving firefighters. I'm examining the sixteen-minute window of survivable self-evacuation that closed before a quarter of the building had even heard the alarm. And I'm asking the questions this incident demands we ask about how we brief high-rise fires, how we communicate with trapped occupants, and how many of the same failure points are sitting inside buildings in your area tonight.

This is not a story about one bad night in Canada thirty years ago. This is a lesson in what happens when ordinary things go wrong in the right order.

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In this episode of our AFOA 2026 Conference Live mini-series, you are going to hear a presentation from Peter Critchell and Craig Rayner exploring the development of the all-hazard leader within aviation fire and rescue. Drawing on experience from across the UK fire and rescue sector, the session examines how organisations can move beyond simple compliance to develop truly competent, confident and adaptable incident commanders capable of operating in complex, high-risk aviation environments. The discussion covers command competence, behavioural assessment, interoperability, decision making under pressure and the importance of continuous professional development through realistic training, simulation and structured review. This presentation challenges organisations to think critically about how command capability is developed, assessed and maintained within modern emergency response environments.

Access all episodes, documents, GIVEAWAYS & debriefs HERE

Learn about AFOA HERE

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In this episode, I speak with Kresse Wesling CBE, co-founder of Elvis & Kresse, about how decommissioned fire hose once destined for landfill became the foundation of a sustainable luxury brand built on three pillars: rescue, transform and donate. Kresse shares the origin story behind discovering London Fire Brigade hose, the journey from handmade belts to globally recognised products, and why 50% of profits from the Fire-hose Collection support The Fire Fighters Charity. This is a conversation about purpose-led business, waste, craftsmanship, environmental responsibility, firefighter legacy, and the powerful idea that materials which have served once can still have work left to do.

Connect with Kresse HERE

See Elvis & Kresse Products HERE

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***The views expressed in this episode are those of the individual speakers. Our partners are not responsible for the content of this episode and does not warrant its accuracy or completeness.***

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In this special High Rise Masterclass miniseries, The Firefighters Podcast brings you live recordings direct from the International Tall Buildings Conference and specialist high rise firefighting masterclass held in London in May 2026. Across this series, internationally respected high rise firefighting instructor Brent Brooks shares decades of operational experience, command insight and research driven learning around modern tall building firefighting. These talks explore the realities of high rise operations including water supply, hose movement, flow paths, fire behaviour, ventilation, stairwell management, command pressures and firefighter safety inside increasingly complex urban environments. Designed for firefighters, instructors and incident commanders alike, this series bridges the gap between fire dynamics science and real world fireground tactics through honest, practical and highly valuable operational discussion.

Additional Presentation Material from Brent Brooks HERE

International Tall Buildings Conference HERE

Brent Brooks LinkedIn HERE

Brent Brooks Website HERE

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FIRE & EVACUATION SERVICE LTD 

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***The views expressed in this episode are those of the individual speakers. Our partners are not responsible for the content of this episode and does not warrant its accuracy or completeness.***

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I sit down with Helmut Zepf, Managing Director of the PPE Division at PBI, and Bill Lawson, President of PBI, to explore what is really protecting firefighters inside their PPE.

As The Firefighters Podcast begins its partnership with PBI ahead of INTERSCHUTZ 2026, this episode looks beyond the badge on the kit and into the science, history, and real-world performance behind high-performance protective fabrics.

From PBI’s origins in high-temperature polymer science and NASA, through to flame resistance, break-open protection, durability, comfort, field testing, procurement, and the changing nature of modern fires, this conversation asks a simple but important question:

How much do firefighters truly know about the gear they trust with their lives?

In this episode, we discuss:

• PBI’s origins and connection to NASA
• Why heat transfer matters as much as flame
• Break-open protection and decomposition temperatures
• Why heavier PPE does not always mean safer PPE
• Comfort, movement, fatigue, and firefighter performance
• Durability after real-world operational use
• Procurement decisions and what fire services should be asking
• Why modern fires demand modern protection

This episode marks the start of our partnership with PBI and a wider conversation about firefighter safety, education, innovation, and understanding the PPE that helps bring crews home.

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