!Please Remain Calm!

We talk about some of the firefighter line of duty deaths in the LAFD that have hit home for Danny in his career. We explain the fire department traditions surrounding firefighter deaths, whether it be on duty, off duty, or in retirement. Danny remembers some of the Firefighter funerals he has attended, & explains the different levels of funerals that the fire department gives its members. He talks about reading about firefighters who died at stations he worked at, & the mini existential crisis when the dangers of the job really hit home. A lot of tradition and respect covered in this episode.

We're joined by LAFD Inspector Roger Sackaroff. A former sports reporter and native New Yorker, Roger was inspired to join the fire service after 9/11 and wound up in LA. Roger tells us the incredible tale of a mystery illness that sent his 7 year old son into liver failure and put him on the transplant list. After multiple extended stays in Children's Hospital. Roger was finally told that his son had aplastic anemia, a rare blood disoder that affects only 100 Americans per year. Rogers' son needed a bone marrow transplant. There was only ONE exact match in the entire world. The fate of Rogers' son was in the bone marrow of a random stranger in Germany ! This is an amazing story of courage, perserverance, and love. The fire family came together to support Rogers' family and to get as many people as possible registered to "Be The Match" and donate bone marrow if needed. Plus a random stranger across the ocean stepped up to save a life he never knew. Everything had to come together perfectly to save Rogers' son.

Danny describes his first big fire as a young firefighter in the Skid Row district of LA. The LA Produce Market is at least 2 full city blocks of all of the produce LA County can handle on a given day. On this given day, all it produced was a huge fire. Danny describes every detail, from seeing the loom up while on another call, to feeling poisoned by literal habanero chili pepper smoke. This is a crazy story of one of the most unique major fires, including a river of avocadoes & watermelons, rats, the LA Times pics of Danny, 50 gallon water tanks, & more. We also go over some of our favorite old episodes that seem to have been missed by the audience.

We go back in time again to discuss the craziest part of Paramedic school; internship. Where the student who crammed a year of medical school into 60 classroom days & a month in the ER gets to be a real paramedic running 911 calls with the FD. We remember our time as interns and talk about our preceptors, their personalities, & how much that comes into play. We talk about all of the real elements you have to face out there for the first time in many cases, and for the first time as the person "in charge". We talk about sudden death & sorrow, drills, reading, sleeping thru calls, waking up your preceptor, overtime guys, first shift, last shift, zero shift, good shift, bad shift, swapping districts, & more. We give you more tips on how to pass this hard part & we also discuss the National Registry exam.

We're joined by LAFD Drill Tower instructor and CAPS program director, Captain John Marasco. He tells us everything it takes to pass the drill tower at the LAFD training academy. He explains the culture shock and huge adjustment to entering the LAFD from any other job & the physical and mental demands. We talk about how the workforce and hiring pool has changed, & why the Drill Tower can be such a shock to their system. He tells us how this change led to the creation of the Candidate Advancement Program (CAP) which is an amazing opportunity for anyone who wants to join the LAFD. Captain Marasco explains how CAPs was developed, and how much goes into to transforming a prospective candidate into an LAFD firefighter who will pass the Drill Tower. We talk about crossfit, strength, beach muscles, fireground skills, the marines, how to get hired, & a LOT of physical fitness stuff.

We take a trip down memory lane and tell you all about the ordeal of our paramedic school days from 20 years ago (that can't be right), as Danny begins precepting a new paramedic intern on his rescue. We break down the paramedic training landscape in LA, & tell you how we wound up at the toughest school of them all. We explain the academic insanity that is paramedic school (a year of medical school crammed into about 60 school days) & what it takes to prepare and survive it. You learn how to advance from the classroom and learn from the RN's in the ER, including how Danny almost saved the legendary Chick Hearn. Then we get into the craziest part, internship. We talk zero shift, freezing up, no doz, 5 am - 12 am school days, study groups, crazy instructors, IM's in the butt, failing, passing, drilling, BLS skills, & reading reading reading, & more reading. God we had to read so much. You get a bunch of tips on how to get thru medic school. Plus Danny gives a touching tribute to a mentor Firefighter.

LAFD Public Information Officer & Captain Erik Scott joins us to talk about what a PIO is and does. We learn what it's like to be responsible for the messaging and social media brand of one of the most recognized Fire Departments in the world. We talk about special duty, all of the jobs you can do besides firefighting in the LAFD & Captain Scott shares his own injury story surviving a roof collapse in a structure fire that landed him on special duty assignments. He tells us how the Public Information section is broken down depending on the incident or issues, which incidents warrant an alert vs a press release, who decides what to post on the official social media accounts, & who monitors all of the content generated by fire department members? We hear about the challenges of this job, being sent to major incidents from home, being a contact point for the news media, & how that plays into responding to tragic events. We also cover the lighter side of FD social media, "selling soap", First Amendment auditors, hashtag watchers, & more. Plus we make our mom happy by not cursing at all in this episode.

Our 1st episode of 2022 finds us reflecting on life & death on the job (mostly death). We talk about how often you witness sudden death, the aftermath of it & the toll that takes on your psyche. We talk about declaring people dead on scene in the field & Danny describes a gruesome stabbing incident where he recently had to declare someone dead. We talk about the LA County Firefighter who recently died in a structure fire, as well as the tragic apartment fire in the Bronx that claimed 19 lives. We also discuss 2 recent tragedies involving the LAPD. Omicron gets some airtime as well, as we discuss the current surge and its effect on the LA ems system. We offer tips on how to process all the death and tragic events you witness as a paramedic and firefighter.

We talk about what it's like to have one of the only jobs where you HAVE to work on Christmas some years & how the holiday staffing situation has changed recently. Danny shares his least favorite South Central LA Christmas tradition, & also gives you a bunch of Holiday safety tips. We talk about how many ways things can go wrong for you with all of these new holiday hazards, including mass casualty incidents over the holiday season. Then Ben tries to explain a little more about the LA County Medical Alert Center & goes into a mini recruitment pitch for one of the most unique jobs in EMS. We also plug the Spark of Love toy drive so you can do something good this year