Nick Ledin is a firefighter paramedic with the O Claire Fire Department in Wisconsin, currently assigned to Engine 2. Nick has been a student of the job for over 16 years. He is a major contributor to ‘Firefighter Rescue Survey’, was the former president of the Northland FOOLS, and is an affiliate member of FireNuggets. Nick is a technical committee member for NFPA 1700, he was a former technical panel member for UL FSRI’s PPA and PPV Study as well as a part of UL FSRI’s Public Education Advisory Group. On top of this Nick is a co-host of the FireNuggets Podcast and GRABS Podcast. Nick Ledin is a deep thinker and an incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable fireman. This conversation was thought provoking and certainly one of my favorite podcasts to date. In this episode we discussed search, the powerful 2 in 2 out position paper Nick was a part of publishing earlier this year, risk vs reward and of course the infamous attempted heist of the class name “church of search”. 

https://data-not-drama.com/2024/05/18/removing-two-in-two-out-a-modern-data-supported-defense-of-our-core-mission/

https://www.firefighterrescuesurvey.com

https://www.firenuggets.com

https://hortonsandhunt.com/

Mickey is a Lieutenant in the New York City Fire Department. He is a third-generation firefighter with 29 years of experience, the last 23 years being with the FDNY. Mickey has been instructor at the New York City Fire Academy, as well as a speaker and instructor at conferences all over the country. He is the founder and author of Top Floor Tactics, and the host of A View From the Top Floor Podcast. When Mickey speaks about the fire service he does so in a poetic manner that invokes passion for this profession. His views are unapologetic, derived from experience, and profound. This was certainly one of my favorite conversations to date. Like all of our podcast I learned a great deal and was left with lots to think about. 

https://hortonsandhunt.com/

In this episode we got the chance to sit down with Justin McWilliams. Justin is a veteran on the fire service and currently serves the citizens of Clackamas Fire in Oregon as the Captain of Heavy Rescue 5. 

Anyone who has followed Justin knows he has a unique unapologetic personality. This is exactly what the fire service needs and exactly why I was so stoked to finally have this conversation. 

Justin is extremely passionate and knowledgeable about search. He has a no nonsense, practical approach to this cornerstone skill of our profession and that’s what we dive deep into during this episode. 

Justin is the creator of the search culture page on Instagram and if you are not following do so immediately. This page isn’t about looking salty, getting likes, it’s about spreading fact based information and knowledge about search. 

We hope you enjoy this episode!

https://hortonsandhunt.com/

Kyle Romagus is a 21-year veteran with East Montgomery County Fire Department in Texas. 

He oversees the training division as a Battalion Chief, and in his words, is in love with engine work. 

Kyle is the owner of smoothbore cartel and founder of Engine Company Resurrection. Kyle teaches engine operations for several well-known fire service instructor groups such as:

• FD tactics

• Brothers in Battle

• Oathkeepers 

Kyle’s primary objective is to share knowledge about the value of Engine work with his fellow firefighters.

Kyle travels the country providing lectures and hands on training on engine company skills and provides one of the most compelling lectures on fire attack in the industry.

On top of that his organization provides sponsorship opportunities for firefighters to attend conferences around the country. His efforts are well known, respected, and his instructional methodology is second to none.

https://smoothborecartel.com/

https://hortonsandhunt.com/

 Today on the podcast, we got a chance to sit down with Logan Broberg. 

Logan is first and foremost, a proud husband, and a devoted father, however he is also a firefighter with ten years on the job. Currently serving as a Squad Chauffeur in Kissimmee FL. 

Logan is the Founder of Rogue Firemanship Training, dedicated to honing skills and improving performance. 

On top of that, you guessed it Logan is A proud Georgia Smoke Diver, #1158 and Georgia Flames graduate, #312. 

He is a student of the craft, who is clearly passionate about continuous learning of the trade of firemanship. This was an excellent conversation with a hard charger. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.

https://roguefiremanship.com/ 

https://hortonsandhunt.com/

Sometimes in the fire service, those of us who are engaged, find ourselves involved in anything and everything we can get our hands on . I feel like this is a learned behavior and I think we may have learned it from Chief David Rhodes. 

Chief is a 37 year veteran fire service. He retired as a battalion chief with the Atlanta fire department. Along the way has been published in more periodicals than I would be able to list in this bio, and has instructed both lecture and hands-on classes and conferences from coast to coast. 

Chief Rhodes is now the editor and chief of fire engineering magazine, the president of FDIC , one of the chief Elders of the Georgia smoke diver program, and advisory member on the UL-FSRI board just a name a few things he’s involved in. 

To accomplish any one of these singular tasks would be a career benchmark for any firefighter. The fact that chief Rhodes has had the ambition the time and the skill set to accomplish all of this is legendary. In this episode, we will talk with Chief Rhodes about these accomplishments and more, we hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.

https://hortonsandhunt.com/

Anthony Kastros is a 33-year veteran of the fire service he retired as a Battalion Chief with the SAC Metro Fire Department and is the founder of Trainfirefighters.com. He is the author of several Fire Engineering books and video series, including Mastering the Fire Service Assessment Center, and Mastering Fireground Command – Calm the Chaos! Co- authored with Chief Brian Brush. Chief Kastros is an FDIC and Firehouse World instructor, and was the Keynote Speaker at FDIC 2013. Chief was also the recipient of the 2019 George D. Post Instructor of the Year Award from the International Society of Fire Service Instructors and Fire Engineering. Anthony hosts, The Command Show, a monthly blog radio show through Fire Engineering, he has taught assessment centers, leadership and team building as well as command strategy, and tactics to firefighters throughout the United States, and internationally. Our conversation was amazing it was like chatting with an old friend. Chief Kastros is a brilliant tactician and natural leader. His easy going fun attitude made this one of our most enjoyable podcasts to date. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did. Now let’s get after it. 

Trainfirefighters.com

https://hortonsandhunt.com/

On this episode, we sat down with Jarrod Sergi. At the time of this recording Jarrod was a Captain with Norfolk Fire Rescue in Norfolk VA. And was just about to get promoted to Battalion Chief. 

Jarrod is a State Instructor for both the Virginia Department of Fire Programs and the National Fire Academy focusing on MAYDAY and Strategy/Tactics. 

He is a graduate of the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer Program and has a Masters in Executive Leadership from Liberty University in Virginia. 

He has been featured in several fire service publications. Jarrod is the founder of Trial by Fire, whose mission is to advance the Fire Service through strong leadership, accountability, and training. 

We had an excellent conversation with Jarrod related to the company officer, Leadership at the company level, how to build cohesion, navigating morale issues, setting expectations, building good relationships with your bosses, and preparing for the role of the officer. As well as his book No nonsense leadership. Edition 2 is now available link below.  

We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did. 

No-Nonsense Leadership: A Realistic Approach for the Company Officer https://a.co/d/j8DbzYU 

https://hortonsandhunt.com/

On this episode of the podcast, we’re joined by Captain Clark Glass of the Atlanta fire department. Clark joined the fire service in 1997 at a small 2 station fire department department. In 2005 Clark had the itch for something more and made the switch to the Atlanta Fire Department. He began his career with Atlanta serving at companies on the Southwest side of the City until when he was assigned to Squad 4 Heavy Rescue. In 2017 he promoted to Lt. and stayed on Squad until November of 2022 when he was promoted to Captain. Clark currently serves on Truck 14. 

Humble fireman is the best way to describe Clark. When I asked him for his topics and what he’d like to talk about he simply replied “The things that occupy my thoughts and actions are going to fires, the  Georgia Smoke Diver program, and functional fitness.” We talked about all of this and more in this episode. 

Due to an ongoing staffing crisis back at the home department my co-hosts Micah and Bryon were unable to join us on this episode so I went to the bullpen. But no worries because I rounded up none other than THE BOYERMAN himself. Chris Boyer joins me as cohost in this episode.

https://hortonsandhunt.com/

Brian Brush is the training chief for the Midwest City (OK) Fire Department. With more than 25 years of fire experience, his background spans several states from rural volunteer to metro-sized departments. He holds a masters degree in fire and emergency management, and an EFO as well.  He has recently published a new book co-authored with Chief Anthony Kastros titled Mastering Fireground Command that is a must read. I’ll leave a link in the show notes to fire engineering books so you can purchase your copy. I will also leave a link to the Elkhart brass tacks and hard facts website where you can review Chief Brushe’s, informational training videos.

In this episode we dive deep into everything from Chief Brush’s incredible 2023 FDIC keynote speech “an unquenchable faith”, his insight on the tide change in the American fire service towards rescue right now, building a fire ground from the task level up, fireground objectives, vs tactics, and several other topics that were absolutely outstanding. 

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t impressed by the entire conversation. Chief Brush hits an an absolute homerun in this episode with his thought-provoking topics, tactical viewpoints, and humble delivery.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did.

https://fireengineeringbooks.com/books/mastering-fireground-command-calm-the-chaos/

https://www.brasstackshardfacts.com/author/bbrush/

https://hortonsandhunt.com/