Life & Safety with Jimmy Rios
Welcome to Life & Safety with Jimmy Rios! Get ready to dive into a world where safety meets storytelling! Drawing from his rich background as a former firefighter, EMT and safety expert, Jimmy brings you straight into the heart of safety and emergency preparedness. Episodes feature easy-to-understand tips, real-life stories, and interviews with experts, all designed to help you protect yourself, your business, and those you care about.
Whether it's advice on navigating everyday safety challenges or insights into the latest in health and safety trends, let this podcast educate and entertain you. Join Jimmy and level-up your safety knowledge with engaging discussions that could one day save a life.
Life & Safety with Jimmy Rios
Pranks, Brotherhood, and the Unwritten Rules of the Firehouse
In the firehouse birthdays aren’t marked with parties or piles of presents. Most of the time you’re lucky if someone grabs you a card... or maybe a balloon from the grocery store. (Hold back your excitement folks!) The real tradition? Pranks and hazing. Sometimes hilarious, sometimes questionable, always memorable.
In this episode, Jimmy's sharing some of the funniest stories from his time in the firehouse. From collapsing beds and Kool-Aid-soaked socks, to uniforms frozen rock-solid... these pranks range from clever to absolutely ridiculous. There were even some unexpected lessons along the way, like how humor can keep a team bonded through long shifts, and how going too far can test the limits of respect and trust.
Because in the firehouse, the hazing wasn’t just about fun, it was also about learning how to live, work, and co-exist together under one roof.
This episode is a glimpse at the lighter side of station life. Where brotherhood is built on long shifts, shared laughter, and the occasional prank gone sideways. Because at the end of the day, it’s not the cake you remember, it’s the chaos.
Life Safety Associates specializes in emergency response training for corporate ERT Teams. We help businesses create competent and confident first responders who are ready to handle unexpected emergencies. For more information you find us @lifesafetyassoc or email@lifesafety.com.
What's happening. It's another life and safety podcast with Jimmy and your girl, megs. Hello, today we're going to talk about firefighter birthdays and some firefighter hazings. We'll talk about some myths and what actually happens and what doesn't happen in the firehouse. We got the inspiration for this one from one of my high school buddies. I grew up with playing football with and hanging out with his family and things like that and my boy, louis. Thank you very much for this suggestion. On Facebook I do read the comments, so to speak, and I read that one and he said on my birthday in June. He said, hey, happy birthday, and I'd love to hear what happened in the firehouse for birthdays. So let's talk about it.
Jimmy :What does happen for birthdays in the firehouse? Nothing, nothing, um. You know, usually when, as we all get older and a lot of us are, think I turned 23, 24 on a big fire, um, that was close. That was the Martis fire in outside of Reno. It was kind of interesting because I was near my childhood home, lake Tahoe. I was, um, going into Reno and going to high schools and stuff like that I played football at. So that was kind of interesting, yeah, since we were out and about the team, the strike team that I was with, they got me a card and a little balloon from the grocery store and like that was a big deal, like everybody's like, holy crap, you know. So for me having a June birthday, it's fire season usually. So when I was in the firehouse and we were on a fire or there's, like maybe half the team was gone on a fire or half of us were just hanging out, mm-hmm, yeah, no, like cake or nothing. You know, if somebody's family brought a cake, you know, kind of like a kid's birthday, that has like an event, like in a karate studio or something like that, they're like, hey, it's little so-and-so's birthday, we brought cupcakes, something like that. Maybe Mm-hmm or somebody's partner would bring a cake, or like after dinner or something like that.
Jimmy :When we got, when we got visitors, um, if anything, the person got hazed a little bit more, you know. So maybe somebody put their you know, put kool-aid in their socks or something like that and dyed their feet. Oh my god. Maybe, um, they took their bed and they short ship. You know she did it where they tag, took all the sheets on the bed and made them really short and tucked them in really tight so the person couldn't get into the bed. That that's so like I feel like that's a I find that to be a funny prank, but like on your birthday, you want good sleep on your birthday.
Jimmy :Yeah yeah, the last station I worked at they have these really old twin beds and if you rigged the bottom wooden slots, just right, it would hold the mattress but it wouldn't hold the person, oh my God. So when you got messed with one of the most common things they do is mess with the person's bed, so he pushed on it or you sat on it, it just fell through out of the frame. Oh my gosh. He pushed on it or you sat on it, it just fell through out of the frame, oh my gosh. So I actually took for my birthday that time because I'd seen a couple other guys pull that frame and I knew that that might come, and I actually took all of the bed slats out, except for the one at the very top of the head and the one where the foot was, and I hid them in my locker and I locked it so they couldn't mess with my bed and come to find out we were gone in another cover station so another fire engine came to cover our station and they laid in it station. So another fire, cover our station. And they laid in it and think of it like a taco, like a V, so the person's late in it. They got a big piece. I'm praying, somebody else locked into the bed. It was kind of apparently was really funny. I didn't get to see it. I would have loved to have seen it, but not for me.
Jimmy :One of the things that you see in TV shows and things like that, where they do really extreme pranks, where they throw fireworks at each other and stuff like that, that doesn't really happen. You know, like you gotta be prepared. You know, and if you burn somebody or you set a place on fire or something like that, that's obviously not good for public relations. Well, yeah, I imagine that would be really problematic. Yeah, right, and then, like, when they mess with like your gear, mm-hmm, you got to be emergency ready, so then nobody's going to mess with, like your helmet or your jacket or maybe your boots or something like that, right, well, the boot thing gets messed with a little bit.
Jimmy :Mm-hmm, I kind of almost lied on that. Like, unlace their boots, maybe. Unlace their boots that's a good one, by the way. No, the thing is you might put water in the bottom of their structure boots so you stick your foot in this big rubber boot and your foot just swashes around in the water the whole time. If you actually get to theashes around in the water the whole time, yeah, and if you actually get to the fire usually the fire the water will pour out into your pants because you're crawling. Oh no, it's a little dry because you're in the fire, so it's okay, unless it turns to steam, and I didn't see this. So this is bro knowledge. So it's a secondhand, first kind of a thing. Like you know, like a bro telling another bro, kind of a thing, and then somebody got steam burned for that. Oh no, yeah, that was, you know, pretty gnarly, I'm sure. So that would be pretty bad. Trying to think One time. I mean it. Definitely.
Jimmy :If you got hazed in the fire department, it's usually because you either hazed somebody else or it's because you deserve it. You deserve it. We'll say that I was like you're a jerk or you're not, or maybe you made somebody mad because you said something at dinner or who knows what. Yeah, right, okay, one of the worst things I did. There was a guy who was an engineer who drove the fire engine. So he outranked me at the time.
Jimmy :I was just a regular firefighter and he had a mouth, I'll say that. And he liked to, you know, bully people verbally and just kind of pick on people. And he was actually a decent enough guy for the most part, but he was bullied and he would really flex his weight and he was a larger guy so he kind of intimidated people. Well, if you ever hung out with me or met me, I just don't do that, I'm not that guy. So he did that and he said something and then he'd like's, be here, I just don't do that, I'm not that guy. So he did that and he sent something and then he drove away and we ended up having to cover his firehouse, and again just to cover, like if somebody, like if a fire station's out on a fire and they pull away and they're gone for a little while, they'll move the fire station up to that station, so their area is covered, hence covering firehouse or covering station, so we're covering the station.
Jimmy :And he had, like I said, he'd given the business to everybody a little bit. So his locker was open, like actually just left open Rough. So I took his keys and I threw him in his laundry detergent and his powder laundry detergent that he had that special. And then I shook it and buried his keys. That was laundry detergent. Come to find out.
Jimmy :It took him two hours to find his keys and he called our firehouse going hey, did you guys see my keys? And I was off duty and this was before cell phones. So when I came back they were like, hey, did you hide the keys? And I said nope, but I heard they were in the detergent and they were like, oh, so he calls back over and they told him and he looked and I said, well, how did you get home if you didn't have the keys? And he's like I had to call my roommate. He had to drive like 45 minutes to where I was at to bring my other keys and this and that Rough.
Jimmy :He also ended up having to remake his apartment key. He had to get a bunch of his keys that made, I would say about four or five months later somebody told on me or they just figured it out that it was me. The guy was like, you know, really mad at me and then I was like, well, at least you have an extra set of keys. You know, like, why are you so mad? Yeah, I mean, if that was his only set, yeah, you know so, and I really came back down to was if you can dish it, you've got to be able to take it too. You've got to be able to take it too. Yeah, um, and that's a pretty good lesson in life, I think, yeah, yeah, I got, um, they took.
Jimmy :So I have a large head, um, and I kept leaving my scva, my mask, on the fire engine when I left duty, because it was like in this weird compartment and you know, it was just forgetful, easy to forget. And the guys got mad at me because then put their mask where my mask was and they were just like oh, we'll be, you know, we'll just give Jimmy a hard time. So they took it, they hung it in the rockers of our fire engine garage and I was like all right, point taken, I'll remember that. And, hey, sometimes pranks are helpful because they help you not make mistakes anymore. A girl, one of the females in my firehouse, one of the firehouses I worked in, um, we still don't know why she did it. I think the rumor was that she was dating the firefighter that she messed with, or we don't know, and it's. I probably shouldn't speculate, or you know, you know like that. I don't think any one of these shouldn't speculate. Or you know like that. I don't think any one of these people are going to listen to this podcast. It would be cool if they did. If you do, let us know, say hi, yeah, say hey, leave a comment, like and subscribe.
Jimmy :So she took all of his uniform t-shirts that were in his locker at the station and tied them in a knot Each shirt in a knot and then stuck them in water and froze them. Oh, so not only did he have to defrost all of the shirts, but then he had to untie a wet cotton t-shirt and it was really interesting. The best part about it was when he pulled them out, all of the center t-shirt part was creased and wet and messed up and they were stretched out. Oh no, so he had to like, I think he ended up having to buy a couple t-shirts. A couple t-shirts got salvaged because another um, this happened to be another female engineer, another firefighter in the house. We had two, uh, we had three females in the house and the engineer was like, if you throw that in the dryer, it'll probably help. And he ended up I think like two or three shirts have knots and I'm still gonna dig after they were. You know, you just put them in the dryer after he defrosted them and I think they did. It be okay, if I remember right. But they're salvaged.
Jimmy :Interesting, I never would have thought that it would have messed up the shirt to the point of needing to get a new one. Yeah, it was just stretched out and weird looking. It was really interesting. I was like that's a good one. Hey, and if I'm ever mad at somebody now, I know yeah, freeze their shirts. Yeah, he retaliated by doing all of her uniforms her pant, her underwear that she had left at the station, her t-shirt, like it was bad. I think he like tied them in knots and froze those. Yes, and yeah, like it was bad. I think he like tied them in knots and froze those, yes, and yeah, like it was really bad. Yeah, I'm trying to remember like, how it ended. Like I want to say like one of them or both of them got like in big trouble. I would imagine.
Jimmy :Yeah, were there any instances where people were fired because of like pranks or hazing that they did. I'm actually trying to think that one. I think somebody actually got fired because of that. I know somebody got suspended for putting a sex toy in somebody else's laundry bag, and it was not me. I was gonna say it was not me. I definitely watched it happen. It definitely was not me.
Jimmy :Though there was a guy in our firehouse who married young for religious reasons and you know that was his belief and he was just that's what he wanted to do, and who married young for religious reasons, and that was his belief, and he was just that's what he wanted to do, and he was a really nice guy. And somebody thought it'd be funny to actually bring the sex toy to the station and stick that in somebody else's bed and actually put it in a pillow, and it was funny. And whatever guys were guys and they were being stupid about it and it was whatever. So the the guy that the joke I played it was kind of common knowledge that his wife would do his clothes for him, wash his laundry for him and him being the only married guy firefighter we all like. Tease him about it. Yeah, because that's what dummies do. We tease people about stuff like that Because you're jealous. Nobody was doing your laundry Exactly, and you know we would do laundry at the firehouse, or if we had some stuff we'd take home and wash it, but for the most part we didn't ever wash at the house, or if you didn't have laundry at the care department or wherever it was, depending on the circumstances.
Jimmy :So he teased somebody, he said something to the wrong person. That person took the sex toy and buried it into the laundry Rough and the wife washed it with his clothes and then heard a dunk thunk in the dryer and she's like what's going on with my dryer? And pulled it out and the sex toy was there We'll say it was erect Sticking at her, looking at her. Oh no, and she was not happy. I'm sure she was not. She, yeah.
Jimmy :So she actually came to the firehouse like his next day, like after dinner, and she was. She actually brought I want to say she brought pies and you know it's kind of like a peace offering, if you will, but she actually asked everybody, like all the firefighters, for like five minutes of our time that night and actually was like hey, I'm really disappointed in you guys. This was not funny. Don't make fun of our. You know our sanctum, our house. She was like I don't appreciate that. Like she really kind of gave us a good telling off and out of respect for her we were definitely like sorry about that, you know, and we're cool about it.
Jimmy :The poor guy though, the next day just gone, just grief, I'm sure the rest of the shift, um, yeah, like, and the guy like he had the problem with that and instigated it, was actually asking him like we got on the fire engine like to go to a fire, and he was like hey, did your mom I mean your wife sign the permissions to go and stuff like that? Oh, no, so mean to each other. So mean to each other, bruh, yeah, we were painting one time the firehouse, the station, because we wanted to save money. So we were actually doing our own painting at the fire station. Mind you, we're state employees, so if you think somebody would have done that for us, I would think we were painting the station. And one of the younger guys goes hey, how much money would you give me if I painted my tongue? And a couple of the guys were like and I think the money got up to like 25 bucks or something like that, and he painted his tongue with latex paint.
Jimmy :The captain at the time that's a couple of things Crazy. With that Number one, painting your tongue is crazy, but for only 25? Mm-hmm, I feel like I not that I would paint my tongue, but I would need more money than that. Yeah, with exterior house paint, yeah, yeah, yeah. So come to find out that, like, over a long exposure time, you can actually die if your tongue's painted. That's really exciting. Yeah, the captain made everybody that was on shift that day because nobody would mess up to like whose idea it was kind of a thing Mm-hmm Would do yeah, basically told them. So we all had to like write a research paper and turn it in or we all had to get suspended and like lose money. So we would have to write research papers on why it was bad to pay for telling. So come to find out you could actually die from it. Yeah, that kid at the end of his tongue, he thought I played a joke on him. We were actually on a strike team.
Jimmy :We're out on a big fire up in. I want to say it was like above Chico, in the Butte area, the forest up there, and he was complaining on how chafed he was and I was like man, you just got bamboo ass, that's just. It is what it is. When you hike a lot and you're wet from sweating stuff, you get chafed. You got bamboo ass, you're just red ass. And the best thing to do about it is take some really good medicated powder and just powder yourself. So I wore that to the hotel room and I gave him my gold bond and I was like dude, just go in the bathroom and just splash some of this powder on yourself, don't worry about it.
Jimmy :He's like okay, he came back out. He's like it tingles. I'm like, yeah, it's a medicated gold bond, like that's what it's supposed to do. And he starts laying down and he's like oh my God, it hurts. What did you put in it? I'm like it's just medicated dude, it's just drying you out, it's absorbing the things that he yells. It felt like 10,000 ninjas stabbing my balls oh no, it was dying. I feel like the ninjas are stabbing me. It's marching towards my butthole oh my God, that's marching towards my butthole. Oh my god, that's very crass. I'm so distracted. It's so random that it was ninjas stabbing you. Oh my lord. He's like what did you put in that powder? And he was like, why would you tease me? I'm like, dude, it wasn't a joke, it's medicated gold bond. It's a tingle that's without a feeling. Why does it hurt? I go, maybe you're more sensitive than everybody else, I don't know. Oh my, oh God, oh God, okay, back to the paint story. Yeah, obviously he didn't die. No, he didn't die. I feel like I remember you telling me this story.
Jimmy :Did the paint get stuck on his tongue? So, yeah, so he ran into the bathroom and started like rinsing his mouth out immediately, and we ended up taking the paint mixers for the galloping things and scraping his tongue with it to get it off. Oh my Lord, oh, poor kid. And then we he's having a rough go of it, but I fear that's just like hand soap because it was taking it off our skin. So we're like let's just use soap on your tongue. Oh my gosh. Um, this guy definitely brought it upon himself, though, yeah, I'm gonna say he sounds like I mean, it was his idea to do it. Yeah, he was bored. So you know, you know the saying you fuck around and you find out. Yeah, I fear living example of that F-A-F-O. Alright, tim. So, boy, I started to lie down to you, entertain you a little bit. Thanks for joining us today, peace.
