The Firehouse Podcast

Chief Jacob Johnson and Jake Barnes sit down with one another to discuss leadership, department moves, social media, ego and more. The two talk about leadership from top to the bottom, including a practical prank or two. 

Peter Matthews talked with J.P. Moore, deputy director of the Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI), about their leadership development programs that place an emphasis on human performance for leaders during fireground operations and in-station situations.  

Moore details some of IFSI’s programs that look at train future and current leaders on dealing with incident command, personnel management and conflict resolution and how physical health is part of successful outcomes. IFSI connects students to telemetry that measures their vital signs other body systems data to help each one understand when their stress levels rise and offers techniques to help them keep calm.  

Incident command is a lot more that understanding fire behavior and personnel tracking, Moore says, adding that mental and human performance play key roles and are rarely taught to students. Moore explains how constant stress on officers can overwhelm them and what techniques they can use to limit exertion on the brain and body. 

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For the last few years, electric vehicle (EV) fires have made national news headlines because of the unique and unknown challenges they present to firefighters, leading UL Research Institute’s Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) to launch a research effort to understand the mitigation and safety concerns. 

Adam Barowy, a principal research engineer with FSRI, details the three-year effort to document EV fires and help fire departments develop operating guidelines as well as raise awareness to firefighter health and safety concerns. He explains the steps that FSRI took to conduct test burns, what stakeholders were involved and the processes in which they conducted test burns. 

Barowy and Peter Matthews discuss the tactics needed, along with research findings on EV fire blankets, plus concerns for life safety when vehicles are burning inside occupied structures. The two discuss the impacts of the smoke on firefighter health and what impacts the smoke has on PPE. 

While completing the report, FSRI developed an EV Fire Tactical Decision Aid that provides responding firefighters with a look at tactics and guides decisions during EV fire emergencies.  

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Peter Matthews talks with Capt. II Andy Ruiz, who oversees the In-Service Training Unit for the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD). He explains how LAFD is rooted in training with recruits beginning their training at the site where a firefighter was killed in the line-of-duty during a fire at the now-LAFD academy. He shares how the department manages in-service training across 468 square miles at four sites, plus the Frank Hotchkins fire academy. 

Ruiz explains how the department has responded to several recent close call incidents that resulted in several firefighters being seriously injured, including implementing fire behavior studies from UL’s Fire Safety Research Institute and the International Association of Fire Fighters. The department launched local training to ensure all firefighters are trained on the latest threats in the field and shares examples where properly trained firefighters have escaped critical injuries.  

As he wraps up, Ruiz shares what he predicts to be the biggest challenges in the fire service, locally and globally.  

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Peter Matthews talks with Jared Vermeulen, who authored a new book, “The Modern Fire Officer: Building Legacy That Endures,” that is designed to help guide today’s fire officers through the many situations they encounter each day. 

Vermeulen says that today’s fire officers often wear dozens of hats compared to a few hats for previous generations because of the all-hazards role that fire departments play in their community while ensuring today’s firefighters are confident in their duties. He said officers can find themselves trying to bridge multiple generational gaps in understanding, technology and know-how at the same time.  

They discuss the challenges of some chiefs who take the helm as fire chief to fix a 20-year-old problem, blocking progress in their organization and possibly pushing it backward. Vermeulen says the fire service, in some ways, is the U.S. Post Office in it’s antiquated ways.  

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Chief Jacob Johnson sits down with long time friend, West Columbia, SC, Fire Department Battalion Chief Marc Aloan. They discuss all things leadership and dive into some deep questions. It’s fun, packed full of knowledge and provides important insight for all to hear and learn. 

Peter Matthews talks with Eric Valliere, CEO of the Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA), about increasing the organization’s efforts in the awareness of firefighter safety and health.  

For years, FDSOA has offered incident safety officers (ISO) and health and safety officers (HSO) education and today they fcus on bridging the gap between research, science and new operational efforts and the members on the streets. Listeners will learn how they can take part in FDSOA’s outreach efforts and why Valliere says smart and educated firefighters can see the importance of safety and health programs. 

Valliere highlights the challenges and success ISOs and HSOs are seeing in the fire service and how their roles continue to evolve beyond emergency incident scenes. He also talks about FDSOA’s annual conference in January and the various award programs they offer. 

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Chief Jacob Johnson interviews his lifelong friend Capt. Rusty Ryan, of the Pearland, TX, Fire Department, as they discuss general firehouse leadership and how that translate to leadership through disaster as Capt. Ryan lead search and rescue teams through the central Texas floods on July 4, 2025.

Peter Matthews talks with Fire Chief Doug Myers, from the Berrien Springs-Oronoko, MI, Fire Department, about commanding today’s fireground incidents. Myers led the development of the Scene Watcher App to help incident commanders track tasks and firefighters on scenes when command staff is limited. 

Myers discusses the NIOSH 5, the five recurring factors that have been mentioned in the NIOSH LODD reports. Myers talks about the NIOSH 5 from the perspective of the incident commander and how they must manage the fireground with all five factors playing a part in their decision making. 

In his region, with multiple fire departments assigned to fire incidents, Myers developed Scene Watcher to help the incident commanders manage assignments, track personnel and provide an overview of the incident from benchmarks and accountability.  

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