#34 - Rescue Missions With Fire & Chaos: Breaking Barriers w/Makenzie Gould

Growing up surrounded by the natural beauty of Northern California, Makenzie takes us on a journey through her life experiences, from childhood adventures in Lake County to pursuing dreams in Santa Barbara. Her story is one of exploration and transition, marked by the contrasting lifestyles of her small-town upbringing and the vibrant beach city rhythm. We learn about her aspirations in photography and personal training, as well as her unexpected path into the rigorous world of firefighting. Makenzie's narrative offers a unique perspective on navigating career changes while embracing the opportunities that come with adapting to new environments.

As Makenzie's shares her experiences in firefighting, we gain a deep understanding of the physical and mental challenges faced by women in this demanding field. Her determination to succeed in a male-dominated industry is truly inspiring. From wildland firefighting to helicopter operations, each chapter of her journey reveals the resilience and teamwork required to thrive in such a high-stakes environment. Through Makenzie's anecdotes, we explore the dynamics of firefighting units, the strategic decisions made on the front lines, and the camaraderie that forms amidst the chaos of emergency responses.

This episode also highlights Makenzie's reflections on personal growth and life balance. Her stories about family challenges and community building paint a picture of a woman who is not only a trailblazer in her professional life but also deeply connected to her roots. Whether discussing the joys of chainsaw work or the intricacies of maneuvering the Fourth of July chaos, Makenzie's journey is one of perseverance and passion. Her insights serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of empowering women to pursue careers without limitations, encouraging listeners to break barriers and find their own paths to fulfillment.

Chapters

• 0:09 Exploring Life in Northern California
• 10:29 Exploring Different Career Paths and Lifestyles
• 17:35 Navigating Career Transitions and Family Challenges
• 27:17 Women in the Fire Service
• 38:59 Wildland Firefighting Challenges and Strategies
• 49:34 Helicopter Operations and Firefighting Tactics
• 56:04 Wildland Firefighting Operations and Tactics
• 1:03:24 Navigating Wildland Firefighting Dynamics
• 1:08:17 Wildland Firefighting Operations and Rescues
• 1:14:24 Hypothermia Survival and Rescue Operations
• 1:25:07 Chainsaw Work and Wildland Adventures
• 1:32:17 Piddlebush Allergy and Career Transition
• 1:39:24 Navigating Challenges in the Fire Service
• 1:48:26 Horrors of Hoarder Houses
• 2:00:23 Lateral Firefighter Academy Experience
• 2:06:06 Firefighter Probation and Schedule Details
• 2:17:52 Firefighter Challenges and Camaraderie
• 2:21:39 Firefighter Fourth of July Chaos
• 2:29:41 Firefighter Life and Work Balance
• 2:39:29 Transitioning Out of the Marine Corps
• 2:46:30 Pursuing a Career in Firefighting
• 2:52:43 Celebrating Women in Firefighting

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

All right. Well, welcome to the Wild Chaos Show. Why don't you give us an intro and we're going to dive in? I'm excited for this one because I don't know anything about you. You were recommended through Randy, through Hotshot Brewery.

Speaker 2: 0:23

He's got quite a few things he does.

Speaker 1: 0:24

He's got everything going on, but yeah, let's dive into this and get started, because you are quite an interesting person thank you I appreciate that um yeah, my name is mckenzie and I'm from california, in northern california.

Speaker 2: 0:37

I've been there my whole life real california real california I always tell people the great state of Northern California is where I'm from.

Speaker 1: 0:46

I did some work up in Redding and up in Northern California and it is, it's not. It's a completely different world, completely and like, especially, if you're, what is it Weed County or Weed? What's that town right on the border of Oregon?

Speaker 2: 1:00

Yeah, weed Siskiyou County.

Speaker 1: 1:02

Beautiful, beautiful. Up there I live in shasta county, currently in redding oh okay, I shot an absolute.

Speaker 1: 1:08

I got a pig in the garage. Actually, my very first pig I ever shot was in redding, california. We did not and it was. It was my first guided hunt I've ever done in my life. I was working for this really rich guy at the time and he was like we're doing hunt pigs and I'm like cool, whatever. It was the biggest shit show. We were lit. We were staying in this cabin that it was like a hundred year old cabin so they just every year when they'd paint it, they just painted it over the window, so you couldn't get the windows open.

Speaker 2: 1:32

Just a facelift.

Speaker 1: 1:33

Facelift every year. So it ran off solar, but you had an hour and a half once it went dark. That's how much the battery life would hold. So like you're getting everything ready, and it was so hot because everything would shut off so there's no fans or anything. So at night, when the guides would leave, we would drag all the mattresses outside and put them in the back of the pickup trucks.

Speaker 1: 1:52

And like I slept on a picnic table and we just slept outside every night because it was so hot, but I ended up shooting this giant, giant pig and it was the most beautiful country up there. And I mean, people don't understand like there's two different parts of California, for sure.

Speaker 2: 2:04

Yeah, no, it's a. I'm from Lake County Hence the hat, so yep Um that's where I grew up, born and raised.

Speaker 2: 2:12

It's super small. I don't know if you're familiar with, like Clear Lake. It's really good bass fishing stuff there, um, so that's most of the time If I say Clear Lake, people are like, okay, I know where that is, but yeah, super small town and I, you know, didn't want to stay there after school, didn't want to try to do the local hometown thing, because it's tiny and there's not a lot of opportunity there. There's like one good grocery store there, like used to be a Kmart and that was it. You lost the.

Speaker 1: 2:42

Kmart. Yeah, so now you're down to the. They're like used to be a Kmart, and that was it, the Kmart. Yeah, so now you're down to the.

Speaker 2: 2:45

They lost the Kmart, but it was like a kind of place where, okay, you're going to go school shopping when you're growing up. You're going to drive an hour and a half to Santa Rosa to go get like legit clothes and supplies and stuff like that You're out there. Yeah, and it's just like there's just not a lot there really, which I actually do really appreciate, especially now when I go back and visit because my mom's still there and it's grown quite a bit. It's got a huge winery scene, which I love.

Speaker 1: 3:14

How's that changed the dynamic of the area? Has it still got the feel and everything of NorCal?

Speaker 2: 3:18

Yeah, it does. However, there's been quite the influence, a positive one, in my opinion. Opinion because, like Kelseyville is where I went to high school it's a smaller town than Lakeport and they brought in some new stores. And they brought in like there's like a tap house, brewery, there's tons of little tasting rooms and stores and boutiques and stuff, and like none of that was there when I was growing up.

Speaker 1: 3:44

Go figure after Absolutely nothing After you leave. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 3:46

So it's still small. I think, at the time when I was there, the population is like 3,500, maybe 4,000.

Speaker 1: 3:53

What's it now?

Speaker 2: 3:54

Probably 5,000. Oh, so that's perfect then, yeah, it's not huge. I bounced all over since I graduated high school okay but I've been in Reading technically Anderson, for five years now, and part of the reason why I love it up there as well is because it reminds me of home, but it's got a little bit more to offer. It's a way, you know, obviously I met all new people, new friends, relationships, whatever like since I've been, which is good to have the clear every now and then yes, exactly.

Speaker 2: 4:29

But it's also just like I always tell people kind of what we were talking about like it's a different California, it's like real California very much oh you live in Redding, you know how's that or this, or it's California. I'm like dude this place, like don't come here because it's California. I'm like dude this place, like don't come here Cause it's bad-ass and everyone's going to want to.

Speaker 2: 4:47

You know, come, do all the things, but, um, it's cool Cause it's good hunting, good fishing. There's lots of lakes, there's the rivers like trails. Um, it's one of the best places to mountain bike ride. There's trail systems everywhere and they're like legit taking care of good trails, that's nice yeah, so people come from out of the area just to ride mountain bikes up there that's pretty legit.

Speaker 1: 5:08

Um, so there's a lot. I mean it's funny because your way I was the wife's like how old is she? I was like 1994, right, yeah, and she's like, oh my god, she's a baby and uh, but like when I left town I'm from upstate new york but it it's stuck in time they've, they've brought some nice restaurants. You know, like the that whole scene, cause I'm from literally I grew up in a tourist town right on the St Lawrence river, the Canadian border, and you know, so growing up there was nothing and then there's still nothing, but there's just some nice restaurants on the water. So it's been preserved, preserved. But you hear a lot of times like, oh, I go back home and it's completely different now. I mean even here in boise, since we've been here, not the same how many years have you guys?

Speaker 1: 5:51

been, not eight years here okay.

Speaker 2: 5:53

So I know that a lot of um like development and everything has taken place in what the last five years around the whole top.

Speaker 1: 6:00

none of that was all star farmstead, like there was a huge Halloween thing there, I mean. So that's where we took the wife and I always joke. We're like we'll never live anywhere where there's an in and out. And then when they put, as soon as they were, they were like, okay, it got approved, cause they've. They've been talking about it in and out and I hope for a century and it's time, it's time.

Speaker 1: 6:23

So, our hourglass has been flipped on that. It's time to at least go. You know, a little bit. We're either going back east or we're going to try to get you know up north a little bit, or something.

Speaker 2: 6:34

Northern Idaho.

Speaker 1: 6:35

So I don't want to go full northern because where I grew up it is I hate winters Okay, I despise winters. It's not even the snow. I grew up in the cold and it is the frozen tundra on the St Lawrence River. You get the wind chill. We were fortunate because all the lake effect snow comes off all the Great Lakes and goes 20 miles south of us.

Speaker 1: 6:56

So all the schools, like every morning you'd get up and see if your school was canceled or delayed. Every school would be canceled. It was like 1,000 hours high school two-hour delay due to cold weather, sold it. It was like thousand hours high school two hour delay due to cold weather. And we're like like we. So we would cancel us or delay us due to the cold because kids couldn't stand at bus stops. Yep so, but like I just don't want to deal with that anymore. I and that's why I love it here is because we're in this bowl where you I mean we shovel maybe twice a year, yeah, and so I'm cool with that. But I don't, I just don't want. I want seasons. I don't want to go south because I have to have seasons. I want cool falls. You know I have to have that, but at the same time, like I don't want to deal with humidity, I'm not, it's not a big guy area that's fair yeah, so for me I'm good on that.

Speaker 1: 7:34

So do you know, jen and Arisa with Girls With Guns.

Speaker 2: 7:38

I don't know them personally okay um, I know they're in Redding or they are.

Speaker 1: 7:43

They're local, yeah they're pretty good friends. I've known them. God, it's got to be over a decade now. Oh really, yeah.

Speaker 2: 7:48

I think I'm pretty sure my stepmom is friends with one of them okay um, because she I mean she's into guns and yeah rocks a bunch of their apparel and stuff like that they do a lot in that area.

Speaker 1: 7:58

Yeah, so after high school after high school.

Speaker 2: 8:01

What did I do? I graduated when I was 17 and I had no idea, no, no aspirations of like I want to go to school and do this and I'm gonna get my degree. No, I absolutely not.

Speaker 2: 8:15

And I was rightfully so yeah, and I was a 4.0 student when I graduated, like I did well in school. But I don't know, and I think I went on Facebook at the time and there was like a couple of girls that I played softball against from another school and they're like we're moving to Santa Barbara, we have a two bedroom apartment, there's three of us and we need one more.

Speaker 1: 8:37

Who's in?

Speaker 2: 8:38

I was like I'll go. Really I had never been there or anything, and I was like I'll go. Yeah, so literally like went and met up with them and their parents and everything, and, um, we just like talked about what the situation would be in the apartment and this and that, so it's like four of us girls crammed into a two-bedroom apartment no because it's so expensive down there pause.

Speaker 1: 8:58

As a girl, dad, what were your parents saying I would be this is my fear where my kids are, like I'm out, we're leaving, like this is that's my fear. I want them here forever. So, like I mean, were your parents cool with this? Or?

Speaker 2: 9:10

Yeah, so at the time that was just me and my mom. Okay, my senior year, yeah.

Speaker 1: 9:18

So, I.

Speaker 2: 9:19

She was like yeah, my mom is so cool.

Speaker 2: 9:26

She's always been supportive of whatever I want to do. That helps, or yeah, or just like okay, you know, go ahead, go for it. You know, sometimes she you know we'll get into it later I'm sure about like the things she doesn't like, like I'm doing, okay, like how you know, tonight I'm driving up to whitebird by myself and she's like, please don't camp in a tent on the snowy mountains, blah, blah, blah, because I've been known to do that, like I've done the Frank Church hunt, where you get dropped off in an airplane and you backpack in.

Speaker 2: 9:48

You set up camp and then you almost die.

Speaker 1: 9:50

You're on your own Deer hunting. Yeah, you're on your own.

Speaker 2: 9:53

And so she knows that I do stuff like that, and so she's like please don't do this, please be careful. Blah blah at a truck stop, like just all these things you know.

Speaker 1: 10:02

I mean, that's a mom.

Speaker 2: 10:02

Yeah, it's a mom. So anyways, she was fine with me going to Santa Barbara. She went down with me to check it out and I just was like, yeah, let's go, I'll sign up for the community college, I'll go get a job. Like I got down there and I had a job within two days.

Speaker 1: 10:18

Doing what?

Speaker 2: 10:28

My first job there. I worked at a restaurant. Okay, and they only would let the boys be bussers and I was like I want to bus tables, more money, or uh, it's just more fun than hosting first oh, 100, you know what I mean. Like yeah, not necessarily more fun, but it's like you're working.

Speaker 1: 10:38

Yeah, so you're doing something more than just standing up front and, like I, bus tables when my for one of my first jobs it might, it was the most we would go downstairs and just fuck off the whole entire yeah, and we were eating food off. I looked like you'd get like a whole pizza. They eat like two slices, yes, and you'd be like every day we just, we just gorge ourselves with food exactly, okay, yeah, all right.

Speaker 2: 10:57

So I just was like, but you had to start at the bottom, so I was like, all right, I'll be a hostess first and then I talked to the managers into letting me be a food expo. So you're a food runner. So, you carry the big tray with the food on it and run it out to people.

Speaker 1: 11:10

Do you ever drop it?

Speaker 2: 11:11

No.

Speaker 1: 11:12

Okay.

Speaker 2: 11:12

Thankfully.

Speaker 1: 11:13

Every time I see them, I always want to ask people.

Speaker 2: 11:15

Yeah, it's a. It's interesting learning, like your placement and then how you load the tray, just like small little intricate details that people don't think are a big deal.

Speaker 1: 11:28

Cause, when people try to reach and pull something off, don't do that, yep, that's when you're gonna drop.

Speaker 2: 11:31

that's the cardinal rule don't ever reach, yeah. So, um, yeah, I worked my way up to being a food runner there. I actually really enjoyed that job and then enrolled at santa barbara city college, which is the community college there, and so we lived downtown. We lived Cliff Drive, so for people that are familiar with Santa Barbara, it's like one of the main roads that comes down to the actual downtown strip, and so I got a longboard skateboard for my birthday when I was 16. So I took it with me and I would longboard down to the restaurant to work and that's like the dream yeah, I'm like there's no reason to drive.

Speaker 2: 12:10

You know parking is hard in general in Santa Barbara, but then also you like pay for parking. I'm a broke college student, all these things whatever so where it is would take my skateboard everywhere. My forerunner would sit in the driveway at my apartment and just kind of like cruise around or walk or do whatever yeah um, but yeah was there had like a couple different jobs um community college. I enrolled and I started off doing administration of justice classes okay because, why, I don't know.

Speaker 2: 12:40

There was part of me when I was growing up that I wanted to be a cop.

Speaker 1: 12:44

I think, okay, well, who you are, we're gonna get into. I feel like anybody in that path, in that lifestyle it's, it's in the, it's in the cards.

Speaker 2: 12:53

At some point, Exactly so I'm like, okay, well, I'll just start here. You know, get some classes under my belt, see if I like it. And I did, it was cool. And then I switched over to marketing, which is completely the opposite, and I'm like, oh, I should get you know my marketing degree, because I wanted to be this is and again, how random of a person I am sometimes. I want to be a photographer for Thrasher Skateboard Magazine. That's what I came up with next.

Speaker 1: 13:21

I mean, that would be a badass job, bro.

Speaker 2: 13:23

I know, I know. So I'm like, all right, well, I should have a marketing degree to go with it. You know, get into photography. Because I got into photography like in high school Not very good at it, but I was doing it and I'm like, okay, this could be a really cool job. Network, meet people and I did. I met someone down there that was a photographer for I don't know if it's. You know how they have trans world motocross okay, it was like the skateboarding version of that magazine got it and so I was like, okay, we'll talk to him a little bit.

Speaker 2: 13:53

Got set up with another guy who owns like arbor, which is a big company now arbor skateboards and snowboards and stuff they're based out of there. So, anyways, like that didn't work out, and then I'm like I want to be a personal trainer, so then I did the online and I got a job at 24 hour fitness before that okay, on state street in Santa Barbara really and I didn't do any.

Speaker 2: 14:16

I wasn't a trainer because I didn't have my things done yet your certs and all that yeah, but I just like, I'm like okay, so I started working there.

Speaker 1: 14:24

This is such a college kid like life. Yes, yes 100%.

Speaker 2: 14:29

Went to a lot of parties, met a lot of cool people. What?

Speaker 1: 14:34

was the atmosphere coming from Northern California.

Speaker 2: 14:37

To down there.

Speaker 1: 14:38

To down there and I mean was it were you, did you fit right in or were you just? How did that go?

Speaker 2: 14:44

Yes and no, because where I grew up it was so small and it's a small farm town and I grew up riding dirt bikes and being outside all the time and doing that kind of stuff and then going down there. It was like beach mode which is cool because I love the beach and I love the ocean. But it was definitely different for me being in a city, Cause to me that's a big city.

Speaker 1: 15:06

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:07

And so it was, uh, an adjustment to getting used to like everything is a one-way street. You have to pay for parking here.

Speaker 1: 15:14

You have to drive here, yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:27

Nothing. Drive here, do this, do that Like if I wanted to go to the mountains. It's like a drive to get up there, which I did a couple of. It's cool, but no, I feel like I fit in. Um, I kind of have like a beachy, hippie side to me, a little bit like the way that I am, and so it was fun like going all the like reggae concerts and meeting people and meeting these bands and going to these parties and cruising around with my Rastafarian colors on everything. I swear I still have this bag. It's in my car. I got it when I was 16. It's a leather bag, like a, like a, almost like a. Um, I don't even know what you would call them, but it's like a purse almost, but it's like a big leather one and it's got Rasta colored straps on it. I still use it to this day. So I have like that whole side of me too. And I ended up meeting do you know any of the bands like Iration Pepper.

Speaker 1: 16:14

I probably am familiar because she hates it, but I'm huge into like the reggae music Drives her nuts because when we do all of our hunting road trips like I just that's what you want to listen to. That's all I. I just cruise and vibe to it. So I'm sure, I just put it on Like I'm sure you've heard their songs.

Speaker 2: 16:29

I ended up meeting. I was at a. Which concert was I at? Pepper, sublime with Rome and Cypress Hill.

Speaker 1: 16:37

It was badass.

Speaker 2: 16:39

It was badass and I met at the time there um he was with Pepper, now he's with Iration met their manager okay and then I ended up babysitting his dog for the rest of the tour in in my apartment and then he was like, okay, I'll put you on the list for any of the concerts that you want to get into thanks for watching my dog yeah, thanks for watching my dog, and so I was like hell yeah. So I literally was going and seeing like Iration the Expendables.

Speaker 1: 17:06

So he traded you just dog watching for all the concerts.

Speaker 2: 17:11

Or even after I left, I would text him or he'd be like hey, let me know if you're going to be in the area or whatever. Like he got me in to go see them when they were playing at a big reggae fest in Lake Tahoe, which is like, hey, I'm going to be there. He's like cool, I'll put you on the list, Just for taking care of his baby.

Speaker 1: 17:29

There you go. You know what I mean. I mean, I would.

Speaker 2: 17:31

Yeah right, dogs are kind of important. They're very important, kind of important, I mean mine's, my baby so I get it.

Speaker 1: 17:35

Life, I'm with you, meetings, so you're all over the place, yeah, yeah. Which is, you meet so many different people in life. And then you get the ones that are like you know, like I went to college for four years and I was in a sorority and you know. And then you get this other half of people. They're like I was just peace, I'm out, and they just went with it and they end up being the coolest, like wildest people you've ever hung out with in your life, just a lot of experience.

Speaker 2: 18:05

Did you go? Through a dread stage a little bit, but here's the difference mine was because I started off in wildland fire okay and so and I would just be like fuck it, I'm not brushing my hair. I'm not doing anything I can see that and so same thing.

Speaker 2: 18:23

When I would always go in the ocean and get out, I would just have cool like beachy waves from the salt water and I'm like cool, I'm going to run it and like not wash my hair for seven, eight, nine days, I don't care. And so that was like my version.

Speaker 1: 18:35

I didn't have full blown dreadlocks.

Speaker 2: 18:37

Definitely had some tangles I had to cut out with scissors.

Speaker 1: 18:39

That's our youngest. She is, she is. It's a nightmare with her. It is an absolute nightmare, like people talk about like horrible kids. I'll take her all day long with her hair flaws, like she's just doesn't give a fuck.

Speaker 2: 18:55

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 18:55

Doesn't care, it could just be this giant clump. And she's here we go to dinner and we're like hey honey, like you gotta, you should brush your hair. She's like I'm good, I'm good, I'm good. I'm like no and then you have her older sister. It's like everything's perfect and you know it's just like. It's hilarious, so funny Polar opposites. So you're going to all the concerts.

Speaker 2: 19:14

Doing all the things.

Speaker 1: 19:15

I mean, you're just living life at this point. Yeah, I had a great time a half. Yeah, good for you.

Speaker 2: 19:23

Yeah, thank you. It was crazy, but I left and I went up north for a little bit. I went back up north but I went to Reading Um, cause at the time that's where my dad lived.

Speaker 1: 19:35

Okay.

Speaker 2: 19:35

And so that was my first experience living in Reading Um, finished the personal training cert and then I got a job at a gym up there and I was only there for a little bit and then I was like peace, bounced back to Mendocino County because it's one county over from where my mom is. Okay, so I went back there and went to EMT school. I was like I want to be an EMT now. Obviously didn't finish college, whatever I just like, left with however many credits I had from three semesters or whatever ended up being. So I'm like I want to be an EMT Cause I grew up going to Supercross. Every year that was, our family vacation was let's go to Oakland Supercross until they moved it to San Francisco or wherever.

Speaker 2: 20:30

So, I was like, yeah, I want to be one of those people on the Asterix medical crew on the side so I can get like all these hot dirt bikers and fix them up when they fall and break their ankle. So stupid this is me at 19 years old. I'm like, yeah, that's going to happen.

Speaker 1: 20:42

At least you're trying to line it up, so okay, I could get it.

Speaker 2: 20:46

So I went to the EMT program and I met a couple of guys in there that were super cool and they worked for Cal Fire at the time. They're like have you ever thought about doing that? And I was like I have no idea. Nobody in my family does fire. I have no. I have no clue of like the first thing that I would do or like what that even means.

Speaker 1: 21:06

They're like get an EMT license.

Speaker 2: 21:07

Yeah. So I'm like, well, I'm here getting my EMT, so I ended up becoming really good friends with a couple of them. And then they're like you should really think about taking the. It's called the Cal Fire Basic Academy. It used to be called the 67 because it was literally only like 67 hours.

Speaker 2: 21:23

And then they bumped it up now I don't, this is 10 years ago, so I don't know how many it is now. But yeah, that was it and so I'm like all right, yeah, actually that sounds kind of fun. You know, like I said, I had no idea what I was doing. So before I do that, I'm like you know what? I'm going to move to South Lake Tahoe. So I moved to South Lake Tahoe after the EMT program's done and I go to that college and I start taking fire science classes. Oh, okay.

Speaker 2: 21:48

And I'm a waitress at Stateline Brewery, so I'm slinging beer and I'm getting some fire courses done.

Speaker 1: 21:55

God, you're such on path. Okay, you were destined for this.

Speaker 2: 22:02

So I get there and I'm doing those classes and I'm working, and it was like the first year that it was like a shitty snow year. Okay, because I grew up snowboarding and, like I, still to this day, I go snowboarding every winter. It's one of my favorite things. Same, and it's like okay, I'm living in Tahoe, there's no snow still, but it's beautiful in the summertime. There's so many things to do. I no snow still, but it's beautiful in the summertime there's so many things to do.

Speaker 1: 22:27

I almost love Tahoe more in the summertime. Tahoe's beautiful, yes, year round there's things to do.

Speaker 2: 22:30

It's nice, it's, it's great.

Speaker 1: 22:31

Perfect weather.

Speaker 2: 22:33

But um, yeah, so then I'm there doing that thing, and then my grandma gets really sick.

Speaker 1: 22:44

So she ended up getting um brain cancer and having a brain tumor oh, damn sorry to hear that.

Speaker 2: 22:46

So she um needed like some help. Like the family was all okay, let's help it's basically it was just like my mom, my stepdad at the time, and then my mom's sisters, and everybody was like helping take care of grandma. And so I'm like, well, I'll fuck it, I move home, I'll drive her to some chemo appointments, you know things like that.

Speaker 1: 23:05

Good for you. How many grandkids Thank you?

Speaker 2: 23:07

Does she?

Speaker 1: 23:09

have Were you the only grandkid, or was she actually getting lost? No, no, no, okay, cool Okay.

Speaker 2: 23:14

I've got a handful of cousins I would say there's like a solid five of us that were there for this like in and out, um. And so I was like, whatever, I'm going to go home and do that. And then I'm like, well, I should probably be doing something else too while I'm going to be here. So I got a job.

Speaker 1: 23:31

Did you finish EMT school or did you dip?

Speaker 2: 23:33

out, I did. Okay, I finished it before I went.

Speaker 1: 23:35

Okay.

Speaker 2: 23:36

So then I go back and I'm like, okay, I'm going to get a job, um, just waiting tables until I get my fire stuff done so. I just worked at a sports bar in town and then flipped a coin.

Speaker 1: 23:50

Am I Literally?

Speaker 2: 23:52

I flipped a coin and I'm like am I going to go to the fire academy or am I going to go get my phlebotomy?

Speaker 1: 23:59

You, flipped a coin on your, on your career or your, your next life choice?

Speaker 2: 24:02

Yeah, literally, yeah, I was like which one and I was like which one and I was like fire academy. I'm like thank God I did not go get my phlebotomy and become a nurse or something Like I would have not done well, yeah.

Speaker 2: 24:14

So I'm like, all right, so I enroll or I apply for the um Cal fire basic academy, get in. I'm like, yes, thank God, so it get in. I'm like, yes, thank god. So it's like, is it pretty competitive? Um, not, not really up there, it's not. It's not that hard. Um the firefighter one academy that I did after those are more competitive, okay. Um, so I went and did. It was friday, saturday, sundays was the um cal fire basic, so I uh waited tables the rest of the time and then I would go on the weekend and I would do the academy until it was done. And it was like four weekends and I had it done.

Speaker 2: 24:55

So graduated, and then I, at the time with Cal Fire. What you did was you put in applications for whatever unit that you wanted to work in. Oh I sling applications to every single unit in the state.

Speaker 1: 25:08

So you're ready to go.

Speaker 2: 25:08

Yeah, I don't care, I just want a job, I just want to get in, I don't care where I go. So I interviewed, I think in like six units and are units kind of broken into counties and sections throughout the state. Okay, yeah, so like, basically, like, where I ended up working was Mendocino unit, which was my favorite. Okay, and so that's where I did my Cal Fire Basic Academy.

Speaker 1: 25:34

Okay.

Speaker 2: 25:34

So the captain that was in charge of my academy is the one that hired me.

Speaker 1: 25:38

That's pretty nice.

Speaker 2: 25:39

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:39

So you already had some relationships there? Yes, had some relationships there.

Speaker 2: 25:42

Yes, okay. So, and the guys that I met in my emt class they all worked in the mendo- that's nice, yeah, okay so ended up getting hired there, I think thankfully, because it was amazing and I loved it and I miss it still really so much um.

Speaker 1: 25:55

What's the academy like? Is this physical or is this just like the intro?

Speaker 2: 25:59

so this one is just the intro this one's like a super fast pace. Let's get them their basic wildland certs. Let's go do hose lays. Let's show them how to cut line like that kind of stuff. It was not hard.

Speaker 1: 26:11

Okay.

Speaker 2: 26:12

So then the firefighter one, academy um, they're all different. And I went and got my firefighter one, probably my third season with Cal fire Cause. At the time when I got hired it was, like you, I didn't even have a real fire Academy. I didn't like I hadn't taken my test to get my EMT license yet.

Speaker 2: 26:32

So I was literally, like they call it, like a first aid, first aid, first responder, whatever the hell it is. It's like very basic. And then my basic wild land and I and I a job. You cannot do that anymore I don't even think in the last five years. I don't think you can do that really no, so I did it, got in, worked a couple seasons, went and got my firefighter one, which is a lot harder. That's where it starts like paramilitary and doing the push-ups whenever somebody fucks up and doing this very military.

Speaker 1: 27:03

This is what you like, what you would imagine, yes, like having your uniform perfect and pressed and your boots shined. You're in the big leagues now, yes, okay.

Speaker 1: 27:11

So doing all that stuff. How is that? Let's break that down. Especially as a woman because we were kind of talking about before it fascinates me. I love talking to women that join the military cops, firefighters. Obviously, I know the person who you like this is. You're just, this is your path. There's no way you could sit in an office. I mean you would. You would die. There's a certain like. I'm one of those, like my wife.

Speaker 1: 27:37

She knows like I could, if somebody gave me all the money in the world to sit, you couldn't do it. Call people, I would. No way, I don't care. There's no money in the world locking me in a cage. So I get it. So you show up. How many other women are there at this? Do you call it a fire academy?

Speaker 2: 27:49

Yeah, fire academy.

Speaker 1: 27:50

So how many women are at this fire academy?

Speaker 2: 27:53

Just me.

Speaker 1: 27:54

You're the only one.

Speaker 2: 27:55

I think we started with one more and she didn't make it. After the first week, I'm pretty sure.

Speaker 1: 28:01

So I mean, is that intimidating?

Speaker 2: 28:05

A little bit, but.

Speaker 1: 28:06

Or are you just like fuck it, I'm here and I know what I'm capable of. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 28:10

I just like I just try to show up and do my best and I'm like this is what I want to do and I chose to be here. So I'm going to do like my thing and I'm going to run it and hopefully I do a good job.

Speaker 1: 28:20

So how many guys, how many, how many students are in this class starting?

Speaker 2: 28:28

I think this was my first academy, so I think we started with like 31 and ended with like 27.

Speaker 1: 28:34

Okay.

Speaker 2: 28:35

It wasn't that bad.

Speaker 1: 28:36

Okay, okay.

Speaker 2: 28:38

And it was definitely challenging. But it was fun because I already had worked in wildland for three seasons, so you have knowledge yes, which helps?

Speaker 1: 28:50

does that help a?

Speaker 2: 28:51

lot. It helps a lot, but it's also like the unit I worked in was very forestry old school like, which is why I loved it, because you're literally only pretty much going to vegetation fires.

Speaker 1: 29:04

No structures, no Okay.

Speaker 2: 29:13

Like the only structure fires I went to with Cal Fire when I was in that unit. They were like it's so rural and you're in the middle of nowhere that it's like burned down by the time you get there.

Speaker 1: 29:18

So, this academy is like firefighter fighter, yes Like structure. You're running on an engine.

Speaker 2: 29:24

Yes.

Speaker 1: 29:24

You're out of a firehouse. Yes, in cal fire is that more seasonal, or I mean? I mean I've worked with cal fire because when we used to run big utility projects they were always there, but I feel like they really ramp everything up, but then you see all the trucks headed here. In the summertime they bring all the cal fire guys here. Is that the difference of the two?

Speaker 2: 29:43

yes it, it just depends on the unit, okay, because, like I said, where I was it was like very, very what we call schedule b, forestry it's like you're only running type 3 engines, wildland rigs, dozers helicopters, uh airplanes, stuff like that, pretty badass stuff it's great okay, I feel like we might have blown over that then so I'll tell you more about that

Speaker 2: 30:04

okay, okay, okay but you can go to another unit, Like if you go to Riverside Cal Fire. It's like Riverside Metro. Like they're running, they've got contracts, they do type ones, they do like regular structure fire that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1: 30:18

Okay.

Speaker 2: 30:18

So it really just depends on where you are.

Speaker 1: 30:19

Okay.

Speaker 2: 30:29

So so yeah, did that first fire academy. It was tough, but I had fun and I definitely I used to have more of a um, I've always been really hard on myself and I've always been like my, my number one, like critic, and if I fuck up, don't worry about yelling at me and making me feel bad for it, because you won't make me feel worse than I make myself feel okay that's fair so, uh, I operated like that for a long time and I've gotten way better about it because it's like one of my personal things I need to work on, especially in my job and career, and whatever so you're your own worst critic yeah, so um had fun, met some cool dudes.

Speaker 2: 31:01

I actually went back and I instructed at that fire academy for like three semesters after I graduated.

Speaker 1: 31:06

No shit.

Speaker 2: 31:06

Yeah, which was really cool.

Speaker 1: 31:09

Are you learning so much more as an instructor? Yes, okay.

Speaker 2: 31:12

And they had no women. So it was like really cool to come back and see.

Speaker 1: 31:17

Were there more women starting to pick up during these classes, or is it like dominantly male?

Speaker 2: 31:22

It's dominantly male, like you'll get a couple that come in here and there, but like my. I mean, when I got hired with Cal Fire and I was working there it was the first. I don't know, there's probably like seven or eight of us women that worked in the entire unit spread out.

Speaker 1: 31:39

Really, yeah, how big's a unit. How would you describe a unit?

Speaker 2: 31:47

yeah, how big's a unit? How would you describe a unit? So mendocino county is very large and we had one of the bigger units just due to acreage, um kind of with the forests that were there but you could go to like humble was like very comparable, I guess.

Speaker 2: 31:57

And then you could go to lnu, which is lake sonoma, napa. So now you're putting those massive units together and they've got hundreds thousands of people that work for that unit. No, okay, and then go to my unit and it's like Napa. So now you're putting those massive units together and they've got hundreds thousands of people that work for that unit.

Speaker 1: 32:07

No kidding. And then go to my unit and it's like however many stations I don't even remember.

Speaker 2: 32:13

There's like 10.

Speaker 1: 32:15

And like most of them are like double engine houses, so however many people on the shifts and that kind of thing. Significantly smaller. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 2: 32:22

So and there was like eight of us whatever and I ended up working for with okay, so we went on the my first experience, my first strike team ever with them what's a strike team? So it's when there's a fire and they're like immediate need strike team, uh, five type threes or whatever.

Speaker 2: 32:40

Whatever they're asking for okay and so we roll out, and it was the summer that it was like the rocky fire and all the fires in lake county, the valley fire, like all the things that were burning down my hometown, my home area, lake county so you're watching your own hometown burn yes, so that first summer I spent most of my time working in that unit okay and then like um, the back side of the unit towards, uh like, backville area. So, anyways, we go on this. How?

Speaker 1: 33:11

long sorry, I don't mean how long from graduation. You did the instructor first or did you go straight?

Speaker 2: 33:18

no, so I did the 67, the basic basic got a job and then worked three seasons before I got laid off because it's seasonal yep and then went and did that fire academy and then was instructing. So this is my very first season with Cal Fire.

Speaker 2: 33:34

Got it and we go on a strike team and they put you up in hotels. So you work 24 hours on, 24 hours off and you get put up in hotels. That's the state contract. So we go and they're like oh, there's two girls on the strike team out of the 30 people, or how many people?

Speaker 1: 33:50

so that's nice.

Speaker 2: 33:51

So you're getting another woman, yeah but everybody's like, oh, how's this gonna go? They're gonna come out with like black eyes because we've got to share a room and they're girls and they might fight whatever, just men being dumb you know what I mean, of course, and so right, they like drama, yeah and so in our defense.

Speaker 2: 34:08

Women can be crazy, I know I know and I'm like this we like to sit back. It's like you know, you sit back just watch the show sometimes yeah, exactly, and I've had like shit roommates on strike teams before, like I know it's real yeah but it was just funny because her and I had never met. Okay, and we go in and we're like we're similar people in some way, but in other ways we're not at all and we became like best friends.

Speaker 1: 34:31

Okay, which is the perfect scenario?

Speaker 2: 34:33

Yeah, and everyone's like, oh my God, they're getting along, like they're hanging out, like she's jumping on my engine to go get food in town Like my crew, because she wants to hang out with us.

Speaker 1: 34:43

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 34:43

Because my crew is like the most fun crew on the strike team.

Speaker 1: 34:46

Okay.

Speaker 2: 34:47

And yeah, to this day, her and I are still like very, very, very good friends.

Speaker 1: 34:53

Cool.

Speaker 2: 34:53

Like I go visit. Neither one of us work for the state anymore, but I go visit her still. I go stay with her. She sends me photos of her baby every day. I get baby pictures.

Speaker 1: 35:05

So this is like a really cool, so it worked out, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2: 35:08

Because that doesn't always happen, hell no. And so I've had. I've had my run in with with other women in the fire service that don't like me for whatever reason, or try to cause issues, cause drama, or just you know they're not friendly. Or oh well, you know I'm here and I should be the only one and I'm like no, that's not how it works.

Speaker 1: 35:28

We have a job. Yeah, let's just do it.

Speaker 2: 35:30

Exactly. I'm like how do you think all these other men operate?

Speaker 1: 35:37

Do you feel, have you run into? I mean, I don't know, obviously, how many women you've worked with over the years, but do you feel the ones that have the problem or the ones that are like I am woman, hear me roar and like they have to, like try, they're all here to do it, yeah, are they the problem ones?

Speaker 1: 35:52

I think, so because I and I ask because my job in the military we had, we were 100 male there was no, but anytime we were ever attached or we had attachments to us, all the problems came from the. The women were the ones that were like I can do this just like you, or, if not better, it's just like we just have a job, let's just get the job done. And and we're nobody's here to prove anything, but it was always the ones that had to prove it. Yeah, always ended up being the most drama, always ended up being the first ones to quit. They never lasted the longest. So is, do you see that? A lot?

Speaker 2: 36:22

I, yes, I would say, I would say like 50, 50.

Speaker 1: 36:26

Okay.

Speaker 2: 36:27

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Um, I think that there's women who can work together and be supportive, and where I currently work now in my current department, there's literally only I think there's 10 of us in the entire department and I only don't get along with one of them.

Speaker 1: 36:47

Really.

Speaker 2: 36:47

Which is like really good statistics.

Speaker 1: 36:49

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 36:49

And so.

Speaker 1: 36:51

To throw 10 women in a job and yeah, yeah, like that's probably unheard of yeah, we get along great and um yeah, but anyways like first call your first, first call, yeah okay, so let's go.

Speaker 2: 37:06

Like first day on the job with cal fire, I'm like I'm showing up an hour early because I don't know what to do and my captain's like good, you're early, you want like an hour of overtime? And I was like yeah. And so he's like, okay, get on the engine. We got to go check this fire in Lagat or whatever You're like.

Speaker 1: 37:23

This is dope. I just got an hour overtime, yeah, so I'm like okay, cool. So get on the engine.

Speaker 2: 37:28

Like I said, like no idea what I was doing, like didn't know. Oh, you should go inside and like grab some food real quick, or like pack a lunch or whatever, make a sandwich. I had no idea.

Speaker 1: 37:37

You just jump on.

Speaker 2: 37:38

I just jumped on, threw my gear on. We go out there, we're hiking around, we're just like mopping up because the fire was done. It was like a hundred acres or something the day before, like, and I'm like, okay, well, I'm learning how to do this. I'm learning, like, what mopping up means. I'm learning what you're supposed to do, what you're supposed to look for all these things.

Speaker 1: 37:55

Is mopping up like going through and looking for hot spots and turning things over and all that good stuff, yep Okay.

Speaker 2: 37:59

That's exactly what it is.

Speaker 1: 38:00

Okay.

Speaker 2: 38:01

And so then it comes time to eat, and I was like, damn, I don't have any food. With an MRE, how was that?

Speaker 1: 38:13

What MRE was it? I don't remember.

Speaker 2: 38:13

I wish I could tell you, but I was like first day on the job and this is.

Speaker 1: 38:17

At least they had an MRE for you.

Speaker 2: 38:18

Yeah, all the engines always do. So I was like I'm not going to die. Yeah, you know, and I probably could have went without eating that day.

Speaker 1: 38:24

Now are you like sitting there, like looking around, like man?

Speaker 2: 38:37

these guys got some good food. Yeah, I'm like damn, they made sandwiches and I'm eating an MRE. But it was like cool to experience that and to have that be my first day, like obviously it was a good enough memory that it stuck with me.

Speaker 1: 38:42

Um were you like okay, I can, I can get behind this after the first day You're like okay, this was fun.

Speaker 2: 38:45

Yeah, okay, definitely.

Speaker 1: 38:46

That's good. Could you imagine going out there and be like I fucked up?

Speaker 2: 38:49

Yeah, because then I would have to quit, which would suck, because I don't like doing that.

Speaker 1: 38:52

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 38:53

So, and then I would have to find something else to do. But, yeah, no, I loved it. I struggled in the beginning. I had a lot to learn, obviously, because I kind of just like got thrown into it and they're like okay, which sometimes is the best. I think so I think it's really good like to be uncomfortable, and it's really good to have challenges and things that you need to work for and like forces you to adapt?

Speaker 1: 39:16

yeah, exactly, and figure it out.

Speaker 2: 39:18

You know and like work through these things, and that's how you gain experience. I truly believe in fire in general. Like you, you only get better with experience. You can train and do everything all day long, which is great too, because training builds um like good habits and things you know for your memory. In certain situations, when it's like you have five seconds to make a decision, yeah, fall back on training for the most part, but I think that you're only gonna get better and have more like slides in your tray the more, the more fires you run.

Speaker 1: 39:53

Because I feel it's correct me if I'm wrong, but like the that, your world, nothing is the same Every single call is different, so dynamic literally, and I we always overuse that word dynamic. But it's true.

Speaker 2: 40:06

Um, every day is something different, and so which makes it probably so much fun it does. Yeah, especially for somebody like me that bounces around a lot and it's always like being a gypsy and doing the things do you get bored easily.

Speaker 1: 40:19

Is that why you feel like you move around a lot?

Speaker 2: 40:21

yeah, I get bored. I hate like sitting down sitting still and I'm like, okay, what's next? I want to learn how to do this, I want to do that so this is the perfect job for you.

Speaker 1: 40:30

Yeah, totally.

Speaker 2: 40:31

Totally so. After that, you know, started going to fires, started getting more experience, having fun. Like, like I said, still still struggling, still having a hard time. Like, okay, um, it's hard, it's hard work, like wildland fire is hard work, it's hard work, but it's like you're carrying everything right, I mean as soon as you get out of that truck, everything you have or need is on you yeah, you.

Speaker 2: 40:57

So you, you make sure your pack's good to go. So your web gear is full like water, food, uh, fuses to start a fire if you need it. Um, what else, like small hose and everything like this, like a mop-up kit, I used to like shove it in the back of my web gear and then you got a fire shelter and you have like all your safety stuff in there too, okay, and you kind of just modify it to what you think you need.

Speaker 2: 41:21

And then honestly like, as time goes on too and you get more experience, that's another thing that changes is your pack.

Speaker 1: 41:26

Oh, I bet, Because you're like I don't need this, does it get a lot lighter. No mine got heavier.

Speaker 2: 41:31

Okay, oh, okay, yeah, mine got heavier because I was like I don't want to not have all these things.

Speaker 1: 41:36

Could you use that last time?

Speaker 2: 41:37

That's literally me with my hunting pack too, oh. I'm the worst Until there's like until I was like I don't need any of this shit. I'm like I could have been fine without it. I brought way too much food. I brought way too many clothes. I didn't even change. I'm staying the same shit, the whole time I'm out here.

Speaker 1: 42:00

Six pairs of socks. I'm like it's too cold to change.

Speaker 2: 42:04

I don't want to do that.

Speaker 1: 42:05

Yeah, why do I have three pants?

Speaker 2: 42:14

sets of pants. Yeah, exactly, I've been there, so it's like the same type of situation, um, and then you know, you got your pack on and then you have a hose pack on which has three, three sticks to inch and a half, which is the standard for wildland how heavy is this?

Speaker 2: 42:24

I think one pack of wildland. I think it's 50 pounds. So then it's like 50 pounds plus your pack, which when I was on the helicopter my pack was 30, 40 pounds, and so I imagine before that it was probably like 30 so you're pushing 80 pounds ish plus a hand tool, or I've done, I used to do, I was dumb. I used to put a hose pack on the front and the back you had 100 pounds of hose on you.

Speaker 1: 42:51

Yeah, why?

Speaker 2: 42:53

because I was like I can carry this up the hill, I don't want to go back and get another one. I was like I'll just put it in four low and go up this hill right now like, damn, yeah, I, I, miserable, I mean okay with that, though how far are you carrying these things? It just depends, depends.

Speaker 1: 43:11

I mean, are you going miles?

Speaker 2: 43:13

I've done long, I've done. 10,000-foot hose lees. 12,000-foot hose lees.

Speaker 1: 43:17

What.

Speaker 2: 43:17

Yeah, so it depends on what you're doing. If it's live and you're putting hose on the ground for active fire and you're actively fighting fire with it, it's literally you're just trying to wrap the fire with hose, and so you're dropping hose as you go and you're going back to the truck and getting more.

Speaker 1: 43:37

How does that work? Or other engines are bringing it up and you're just hooking and there's daisy chaining in a way. Right is what I guess I would.

Speaker 2: 43:40

Yeah, you just hook the couplings up and you keep going.

Speaker 1: 43:42

And if it's a, if it's like I said, a thousand feet of hose, yeah it out and strung through the mountains.

Speaker 2: 43:48

Yeah, so typically, if you're doing something like that, it's because they're like either you need it as contingency or, hey, we need to wrap the fire.

Speaker 1: 43:58

What's wrap the fire?

Speaker 2: 43:59

Means, get line and hose all the way around it, because then it can be not necessarily contained, because containment goes up as you mop up and do all those things.

Speaker 1: 44:11

Okay.

Speaker 2: 44:12

But yes, you can say like fires contained.

Speaker 1: 44:15

How the fuck are you guys? I mean, some of these fires are.

Speaker 2: 44:18

Massive, so that doesn't always happen because they are so big yeah.

Speaker 1: 44:22

How much? How often does the hose get just completely eaten up by the fire?

Speaker 2: 44:28

It happens.

Speaker 1: 44:28

Okay.

Speaker 2: 44:29

Yeah, if it's like, if it's not good line, not good wet line that's put in or not good hand line, or kind of just like sneaks through. It could be little things too that carry it, like grass or just like pine needles or something like that. You know it can get through and then it'll start like skunking around the fire. It'll burn the hose, it'll make another little spot. Whatever Like it does happen, it'll make another little spot. Whatever Like it does happen. It's not like they're all perfect.

Speaker 1: 44:55

I can't fathom this, like they're stringing that much.

Speaker 2: 44:58

I remember the last one that I did was on the Dixie fire, and that was what three years ago I think.

Speaker 1: 45:06

Dixie was massive, right, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2: 45:09

That one, yeah, I think it was three years ago. I remember one of the last shifts we had on the fire which it was like out in the area we were in, but again they're like we need hose on this on the ground so the reason for the hose I mean, are they actively fighting the fire with, or is this?

Speaker 1: 45:26

they're coming in and then there's like a stump on fire and they're spraying it out and they're rolling over shit, and is that what they're cleaning up with, yes, or are they out there actually, like ahead of it, trying to get shit?

Speaker 2: 45:35

so it just depends. It just depends on what part of the fire where it's burning. Yeah, it's burning I put hose on the ground like dry around black. It's not burning, but that that's what they want you to do, so you do it and it's part of the contingency and all that that's how. That's how the state operates with their fires. Is everything has to have hand line hose around it? Does that?

Speaker 1: 45:57

make sense.

Speaker 2: 45:58

Uh, not all the time in my opinion like there are now seeing what I see now and experiencing what I experienced now and how things are different in my current department, like we don't put we don't put a hand line around our vegetation fires all the time Okay, um, if it needs it they will, but if it's like a small, you're like, oh, I caught it with a hundred feet or 200 feet or whatever it is Like, it's a small spot. It's like a 50 by 50 spot. I'm not going to put hose around it.

Speaker 2: 46:27

You're just going to make sure it's out, and then, you're going to leave. So it's like very situation dependent, Um, but to answer your question, uh yeah, if you're out, if you're like actively putting in wetline and you're actively fighting fire and they're just extending it, people come behind you and you can hook up in the couplings. So they're all supposed to have teas in the middle. So you hook up and then you can have your mop up kit, your smaller hoses and everything that can string straight into it.

Speaker 2: 46:51

Yes, okay, and then you can go out however many feet you need to Because they'll give you a plan at base camp in the morning and be like we want mop up 300 feet in so. Then you go and you're like, hey, I got 300 feet in so edge of fire.

Speaker 1: 47:04

They want 300 feet in. So you're coming in behind and going 300 feet in. Yep, and how often I mean that's all part of the the morning brief. So, like every thousand feet, we want 300 feet in kind of deal. Is that how they would break it down?

Speaker 2: 47:17

yep, and sometimes it's very vague. They're just like we want you to go to um this part of the fire and do this, you know? Hey, just mop up, whatever okay, and then it's kind of up to like our strike team leader or whoever to be like okay, this is our plan, and then you just bounce around and do that all day and that's mostly what you do on those fires. If you're on a type 3 engine, you just mop up and on the scale of shit to like awesome job.

Speaker 1: 47:45

How do these like? How does this rate when you're doing mop, would you rather be actively fighting it or do you rather be mop up? I would rather be actively fighting it, or do you rather be mop up? I would rather be actively, why it's more fun, okay.

Speaker 2: 47:55

And it feels like you're doing something more useful.

Speaker 1: 47:58

Okay.

Speaker 2: 47:58

But it's all. It all needs to be done anyway. So it's kind of just part of the job Like it's just mopping up is not fun, but if you have a good crew and you have fun people that you're working with and we're like it makes a difference.

Speaker 1: 48:11

It makes a difference for everything.

Speaker 2: 48:12

So you can be out there and you're like cool, we're having fun, we're hiking around, and that was one of my favorite things about wildland fire is you're hiking and seeing all these amazing places that no one else goes you get to scout for hunting?

Speaker 1: 48:24

yeah, yes, yeah, and sheds. I was just gonna ask. I have buddies here. They're like hey, dude, you should put in for this unit. We just got out of a fire. There's giant bulls in here.

Speaker 2: 48:32

There's a unit.

Speaker 1: 48:34

Don't mention units.

Speaker 2: 48:34

I'm not going to. It's not here, it's back home.

Speaker 1: 48:37

It's in Colorado.

Speaker 2: 48:39

I was on a fire out there and we saw huge mule deer, massive, some of the biggest bucks I've ever seen in my life in person like for California, definitely biggest bucks I've ever seen in my life in person. Like for for California, definitely by far, and my crew we. It was a grass fire and so it was out.

Speaker 2: 48:58

So I'm like let's you know, let's go hike, let's go PT hike, let's go do all these things because, like I don't, there's some people who are like we're just gonna sit at the engine all day and eat and do nothing I'm like, no, no. So we go and we hike up the hills and do all the things and we start finding sheds.

Speaker 1: 49:13

Cause it burns. And they, just, they, just, they're just there, right.

Speaker 2: 49:15

They're just there.

Speaker 1: 49:16

So I have buddies that burn ranches and they shed, hunt their properties religiously, but then they'll burn it, do a control, burn and there's, they'll find twice as many. Yeah, and they're out there all year. They just, they just disappear.

Speaker 2: 49:33

You just. They just disappear, yeah, so you're just cleaning house. Yeah, I got a really cool picture of my crew from that fire, all of us holding like 20, 25 sheds that we all found. We like, laid them all out and we're all holding them and we took a picture of us. And then I again, I was like well, I'm going to start putting in for this unit because for sure this is bad-ass, but that's how I found you know that spot and so that was cool, but you talked about helicopter.

Speaker 1: 49:54

Yes, how much helicopter work have you? I mean?

Speaker 2: 49:56

I spent two years on hell attack.

Speaker 1: 49:58

How? Is okay, you just breezed right by that so hell attack, you call it.

Speaker 2: 50:04

Yeah, so so it's with Cal fire. So I did my first three on the engine and then my third one. I was going to try out to be an alternate for them.

Speaker 1: 50:12

Okay.

Speaker 2: 50:13

But the day I got laid off I went and did the fire academy and then the day I graduated I came back the next day to work and so I missed. They call it BHAS and air rescue basic helicopter operations and safety and then air rescue. It's two weeks, it's one of each basic helicopter operations and safety and then air rescue.

Speaker 2: 50:34

It's two weeks, it's one of each and, um, I couldn't do it because I was in the Academy. So I had talked to the captains while I was there and I'm like I you know, obviously I want to be an alternate, this is my goal, whatever. But it couldn't happen. So they're like there's always next year. So continue training with them, continue PTing with them, like when they do their air rescue, you can just go up there and be a victim.

Speaker 1: 50:53

So this is a once a year class and if you miss it, that's it.

Speaker 2: 51:03

Yes, exactly. So I just continued to politic with them, as we called it, and just remain like friends and try to be a part of like hey, we're going to go PT or let's do this, or whatever. So I ended up getting a spot the next season. So it was my first season up there and it's hard. It's um, you know, the PT is like we're going to go do this five or six mile run in town or we're going to go run up Black Bart, which is like that.

Speaker 2: 51:26

Um oh, we're going to go do this hike. We're going to do that, but we're going to go fly out, get dropped off First. We're going to go do this hike we're going to do that, but we're going to go fly out, get dropped off First. We're going to go do a workout in the gym, and then we're going to fly out and get dropped off in the woods and we're going to cut line for like four hours. So that's what you do.

Speaker 1: 51:39

And cutting line is you're just building little trenches, correct yeah?

Speaker 2: 51:44

There's so many different ways you can do it. Mini fire breaks, yeah, yeah, and so, since you're on when you're on a helitack crew and you're on a hand crew, like that, it's smaller and so it's not like a hotshot crew where they have you know 19, 20,. However, many people um. Theirs is what we call finish line, and then ours is like scratch line. For the most part.

Speaker 1: 52:05

And you're kind of directing and pointing where.

Speaker 2: 52:07

then they come in and widen it and it just depends on you know if it needs it or not this is fascinating how all this works it's crazy and, um, there's a lot that goes into it too. But yeah, hell, attack is like a scratch line pretty much for the most part, or firing, lots of firing what's firing?

Speaker 1: 52:25

um so, like you know what like backfiring operations are like a backburn, like you're coming causing starting the fires behind yep, are you drip like doing the?

Speaker 2: 52:33

torches. My favorite move is to take the mcleod, which looks like a rake okay and to go grab a chunk of fire or just light it and then grass and drag, and that's how that's my, that's my favorite move of firing. But drip torches are fun too. But um, you can do that, you can do flare guns.

Speaker 1: 52:54

They're well, they're like flare guns so you're just flying and you're just shooting flares out of it, or do you land and get out and land and you use the guns? Okay, they're like very pistols is what they call them, but um out of the helicopter.

Speaker 2: 53:07

I have done the. We call them like the ping pong balls have. Have you ever seen those?

Speaker 1: 53:12

No.

Speaker 2: 53:13

Yeah, they're injected and then we drop them out of the helicopter and they set it on fire, so like if there's a big area or somewhere that's like super steep and shitty and no one can get to it, or they're like we just want this burned. We don't care how you do it, we'll go, hook that machine up and there's only like two of us that get to be in there, but I've gotten to do it and they basically we um, take the doors off or pull the doors back, and then I get put in a harness and then the seats are up and you basically just make sure that the machine is doing what it's supposed to do and it's just dropping, dropping little ping pong balls lighting the forest on fire can I ask you like a question?

Speaker 1: 53:51

yeah is. Do you think the government uses that type of shit to start these fires that are all over the place? I wouldn't be surprised I'm a hardcore conspiracy theory so am I, but like you see, like these maps of these fires, all like through canada, like how to, how the fuck did like 10 fires just ignite and like, within a day or two of each other, all over? Yeah do you think they could?

Speaker 2: 54:11

just if they really wanted to do you ever thought that I mean?

Speaker 1: 54:15

is that an option? You look at oregon a couple years ago when, like, I guarantee it was like antif and shit, starting all the fire, but like, or do you think the government gets on and helps with? I'm one of those. Like, they're pushing this climate control, or you know yeah global warming shit and I feel like. But I've always wondered, always wondered like how would they do it?

Speaker 2: 54:31

And I didn't know. I think they've made fires worse and I think that they've caused fires to run longer and get bigger.

Speaker 1: 54:38

Really.

Speaker 2: 54:39

Yeah, I do, that's one of my theories, really yeah.

Speaker 1: 54:43

Cause I could. It's just I have so many questions like conspiracy wise, anyways. Anyways. Okay, we're lighting the forest on fire, well, because my thing is, you have these fires, you got Cal Fire. We see a lot of you up here in the summertime because you guys are obviously supporting all of us. One of my biggest questions that I would love to get answered one day is why the fuck aren't we training our National Guard and why isn't every pilot on shifts and maybe they might be, but I feel like we have this whole entire national guard that are here to like support everything.

Speaker 2: 55:17

that's, yeah, going on they go, they go out do they?

Speaker 1: 55:21

I've worked with but like you hear about, like these guys are, like we're so undermanned, we don't have enough plant, we don't have enough birds in the sky. We need more birds, we need more. And it's like then you could drive by mountain and it's the whole fields are full why aren't we putting bags under them and we just have blackhawk pilots just rotating.

Speaker 1: 55:36

I mean they're doing it overseas and I feel at the same time it's great training as well, it's keeping our pilots fresh. They got, I mean, I can see the I mean birds go down planes. I saw a video of a plane coming and I don't, I don't think it was here in the us, and they dumped and they like hit the edge of this, like mountainside, and this whole plane just and just goes down and just it was done, you know, and so like I don't think it was here in the us because the guys sound foreign in the video. But I get there's a danger aspect and we're just putting more out there but like these fires will burn till snowfall here. I mean, there's, there's fires.

Speaker 1: 56:13

We caught one coming back from stanley and my a guy that I do, he was on it and we stopped. We stopped. We were going up to lunch just to have. We went, drove up just to do a drive by one of the little scenic lookouts and there's a fire and we come, we're at stanley, eating in the whole sky. You just see the clouds just rolling the mountain. I'm like holy shit, it's really picking up and we're coming through and like, yeah, we're going to, we're probably going to close it down.

Speaker 1: 56:35

And one of the guys the one of the firefighters there followed me on Instagram and he's like if this thing shifts in any direction, we're shutting all this down. By the time we got back to the service, like we pulled the whole plug. You guys made it through, you were one, come through. We're like holy shit. But it's like why aren't they pulling every pilot? And I mean I know it's way above you political wise and all that stuff, but it always blows my mind we have all of this, these resources, and we just let these fires just burn. They just like can kind of try to control them in a way. That's always, that's always like been a question of mine it's yeah, obviously way above me and I know politics.

Speaker 2: 57:09

Yes, politics and um money resources. I and I also know that it's different in california too, because of cal fire, the state department and then we, obviously we have forest service and blm, and everything too which is the majority out here, I believe is forest service and blm. Um, and they, they just play by different rules as well. Okay, so that is part of it, but so back.

Speaker 1: 57:35

Sorry I'll get on all kinds of conspiracy and tangents and shit on that stuff. But so the fire Caribbean that's gotta be. Are they dropping you guys off ahead of fires or you just like preventive maintenance?

Speaker 2: 57:45

so how does?

Speaker 1: 57:46

that work okay.

Speaker 2: 57:48

So here's a little scenario. I'll give you like two sides of that, that style of firefighting. So there's a grass fire that starts in our unit like right, load up, you know, you get dispatched and then we run. We I don't work there anymore, but run a certain tool compliment.

Speaker 1: 58:11

Okay.

Speaker 2: 58:11

So your hand tools and then chainsaws, and then, based on the area and the terrain and everything you know, like your captain or I can't even remember what they call them, but it's just a firefighter for the day who's basically like a second supervisor. Okay, they make the call on the tools.

Speaker 1: 58:31

Oh, okay, okay, they make the call on the tools.

Speaker 2: 58:32

And so when you land they'll say like I don't know three chinks, two McLeods, one saw one pump and that's your that's per person, or that's what you need to bring total.

Speaker 1: 58:41

That's what you need, total, okay.

Speaker 2: 58:43

And so then you'll land and they'll throw it out, they'll take off, we'll all go get our shit and then get ready to go.

Speaker 1: 58:54

Same with the packs too, so I worked on um a bell huey.

Speaker 2: 58:56

Okay, 205, yep, so a military surplus helicopter, and so basically they ripped everything out except the seats, and so our tools and our packs would go in the gunwale it's like the old vietnam helicopters, yeah exactly, um, so that's what they had when I started now. Now they all have Blackhawks.

Speaker 1: 59:10

Which is nice.

Speaker 2: 59:11

I never got to work on one, but I love the Hueys. They were so fun, so simple, really fun to fly in.

Speaker 1: 59:18

It's just a workhorse.

Speaker 2: 59:19

Yeah, they're cool, very simple and yeah. So like if you land, get out, have your tool, compliment and then On you or they go ahead and drop it off ahead of time. No on us. Okay, we all get out at the same time with everything Got it. And then, if you're on the bucket crew, you crawl under, you go to the other side, you get the bucket out, you crawl underneath you hook it up.

Speaker 1: 59:40

What's a bucket?

Speaker 2: 59:41

The bucket for water.

Speaker 1: 59:43

Oh, bucket crew. Oh, okay, so then they hook it up. So you're the ones that are setting that up as they leave. So they drop you off, you guys hook up the bucket and then now they're just running. Yep, got it. Yeah, so, depending on what?

Speaker 2: 59:55

seat and what tool, because every seat is a designated. Where you sit is what tool you're on for the day.

Speaker 1: 1:00:01

Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:00:02

So if you're on the bucket crew, you're like, from what I remember, like the last two, so you're like second saw and mcleod or whatever.

Speaker 2: 1:00:14

So you get out and your job while everyone else is unloading the tools is hooking the bucket up, got it, so you drag it, hook it up, do your tests with the pilot, so you're in front of the helicopter just making sure that the uh, the hook's working and everything on the belly. So then you go and you grab your stuff and we're like all right, here's our plan, and you go get as close to the fire as possible which probably isn't always the case, not always doable.

Speaker 1: 1:00:35

What's your longest drop off? Oh man I mean they drop enough miles away I've done.

Speaker 2: 1:00:43

Yeah, if there's, especially if it's like lightning fires in the forest and they're hard to get to, it's just like oh well, you just gotta hike from wherever we can find oh shit.

Speaker 1: 1:00:52

And obviously they don't know they're, so they're just looking and trying to find. So they locate the fire and then what do they just start circling out?

Speaker 2: 1:00:58

yep, trying to find, trying to find a good, uh landing zone. So, um, and we did this thing called hover steps too. So if it was uh too steep or the angle wasn't good or whatever it was, but they're like, okay, okay, we can get you in right here, but you're going to have to hover step, so it's like a five to 10 foot drop, and so you're just chucking everybody's shit out and then you get on the skid and then you fucking very carefully yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:01:22

You just pray to God. You're not rolling your ankle when you hit the ground.

Speaker 2: 1:01:24

Pretty much it's. It's like you practice it a lot and you practice being like very good, so that you're not like pushing off the skid. You know what I mean. Okay, you're stepping off. Yeah, because there is a science to it. Yeah, I'm sure it's just a lot of practice of being like as graceful.

Speaker 1: 1:01:39

That's gnarly, and if you're jumping off, clearly it's not like flat. So you're, are you landing like tuck into rolling a little bit, or?

Speaker 2: 1:01:45

um, it's never really been that bad that I can remember. I do do know that we've lost like a pack down the hill before. We've lost a flight helmet down the hill, no shit.

Speaker 1: 1:01:55

A little roll down the hill, it just starts. Yeah, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2: 1:01:59

So like that kind of stuff has happened.

Speaker 1: 1:02:01

That would suck, just watching your pack just 100 miles an hour down into the ravine.

Speaker 2: 1:02:05

You're like now I got to go get it. Oh, no shit, I can't leave it there. Yeah, um, we'll see it a little bit buddy, yep, so yeah, so that was awesome. So like small fire scenario or whatever it may be you're like, okay, we're getting as close as possible, we're gonna go cut hotline right now and like try to put the fire out this way, and then if you have a back pump too and it's a grass fire, that's actually a really fun job.

Speaker 1: 1:02:29

But what's a back pump?

Speaker 2: 1:02:30

so it's a backpack full.

Speaker 1: 1:02:31

Sorry, I have so many is this like that?

Speaker 2: 1:02:33

thing. Backpack full of water I have a crazy story about one of those, but go ahead, go ahead if you're on a hand crew and you're using one of these, or even if not, if you're just, you have one and you're on a grass fire and you're using it. It's actually hella fun. But before, when I was on an engine, they're like, hey, put the back pump on and go hike you know a thousand feet interior and put out the smoke. You're like this sucks, it's got to be what?

Speaker 1: 1:02:57

20 gallons.

Speaker 2: 1:02:59

No, they make five-gallon ones and seven-gallon ones, I believe. Oh, okay, we have the bigger ones.

Speaker 1: 1:03:07

Yeah, I guess you're right. It's been a long time since I've seen one. Yeah, I guess you're right.

Speaker 2: 1:03:14

It's been a long time since. I've seen one, but okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, so that's, do you have like the brass little handles on? Okay, I have the wildest story about one of these, but go ahead.

Speaker 1: 1:03:17

Yeah, I've got to tell you this You'll get a kick out of it, since you've carried one around.

Speaker 2: 1:03:22

Yeah, so that's a fun part too. And you're just cutting line. You're trying to um actively put it out using hand line and the little bit of water we have or our bucket drops or whatever, because how successful is this?

Speaker 1: 1:03:49

I mean pretty successful depends on the wind and the size and the fuel and all that. I get all that, but I mean it works really well so these little crews are actually preventing quite a bit.

Speaker 2: 1:04:01

Yeah, okay, yeah, it works really well. It's cool Like yeah, there's certain fires with certain weather and stuff that it's going to blow past it. Yep there's certain fires with certain weather and stuff that it's going to blow past it, or it's not going to work that well, or you're going to have to, like, re-evaluate and go around and do something else.

Speaker 2: 1:04:17

But, like, for the most part it's a pretty successful way to put out fire which some people don't know or you know I little insert from a grass fire I had this year earlier this year. A grass fire I had this year earlier this year and I I work with I'm what's called a rover. Now I don't have a home, so I go to a different station every shift and I work, so I work with a bunch of different people now um and we, we had a small grass fire and I was like fuck it.

Speaker 2: 1:04:48

I just grabbed the hand tool because I think they were waiting on more water or something yeah because I I used all the water that we had to just like put out the interior and I was like fuck it, I just grabbed the hand tool Cause I think they were waiting on more water or something, cause I used all the water that we had to just like put out the interior and I was like fuck it, and I grabbed them, a cloud, and I just put scratch line around the ends and it was like done, it was a small, it was like a 20 by 20 spot or something. And my engineer comes over like at the end and he was like yeah, next time, you know, just like wait for more water, because like you're not going to put out a fire like that.

Speaker 2: 1:05:15

And I'm like I just did I was like well, that's what I used to do, like for a living oh, he didn't realize this. No, because I don't, I don't talk, I don't tell people I don't talk about it like he, him and I.

Speaker 1: 1:05:27

That was like our first time ever working together oh, so he just thought you were out there just winging it being dumb.

Speaker 2: 1:05:32

He's like oh, she's fucking new here, she's dumb, she doesn't know what she's doing, whatever. And I was like like bruh this is. It actually works really well, yeah, but I can't say, I'm not gonna say something like that.

Speaker 1: 1:05:42

I was just like, okay, that's my thing, okay roger that, roger that idiot cool, I know more than you yeah, so it was just so funny.

Speaker 2: 1:05:53

Um, and I had one guy last summer uh, we were doing a hose lay and we, they like threw a ladder because it was like behind these storage units, threw a ladder, jumped up on top of the storage unit and then threw all the hose packs up there and I just like yarded them over this fence yeah and I have a thing for jumping fences, so I jump fences a lot at work.

Speaker 1: 1:06:13

Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:06:13

While somebody's like, oh, I'm going to cut it, and I'm like, no, and I'll just jump over it, and I'm like, throw me the hose pack, and so, like I did that on the spire.

Speaker 1: 1:06:20

That quick.

Speaker 2: 1:06:21

And then started doing the hose lay. We got to it and then we I was doing like live fighting fire with with the wildland hose and this guy I have no idea who he is, he works in my apartment, but he was just being nice and helpful but he comes up behind me and he's like backing me up on it and I was like I don't need that Number one. And then he was like okay, like your nozzle pattern and do this and do that. And I was like in my head I was like bro, I've been doing this for like nine years at this point, but I'm not going to again, I'm not going to say anything, no, no, I was just like, oh, thank you. And then he like said something else and I was like I don't need your help.

Speaker 1: 1:07:08

That's all I said. Got it, bro, I got it. I got it, bro, I got it, I got it around.

Speaker 1: 1:07:10

I was like, if there's something, I think what I said to him was, if there's something more important that you need to be doing, you can go do it oh my god because I just like get to I mean, are you guys equal, or is this a like yeah, he was a firefighter, oh yeah, but I would never say that to a captain or somebody, but I, I was just like, I just don't need you I got it it was so funny and oh, and my engineer was like with me and him and I used to both work for the state and we were actually friends and he knows me and he knows my background, he looks at me and he was like who the fuck was that guy?

Speaker 1: 1:07:48

oh, so neither one of you do?

Speaker 2: 1:07:50

no, I don't know, like I said, he worked in our department, got it, but I didn't know who he was and nate was like what the fuck well, it probably doesn't help either that you're not like at a house or a station where your crew truly gets to nail you I mean you're a rover was the term you used, correct.

Speaker 1: 1:08:06

So I mean you're just showing up, I mean yeah, and then there's I don't know how many different shifts or teams per station. So could you go somewhere several times and you're meeting new people every single time.

Speaker 2: 1:08:17

Yes, because my current department that I work for um wild. Yeah, I work we have currently. We're taking on, we're like absorbing more small departments. Now we're massive and there's like I don't know what the correct number, but there's like four or 500 of us we're taking on. We're like absorbing more small departments. Now we're massive. And there's like I don't know what the correct number, but there's like four or 500 of us that work there and there's 34 stations currently.

Speaker 1: 1:08:41

So you're constantly meeting. Yeah, do you prefer that?

Speaker 2: 1:08:45

Or is that like? Would you rather be?

Speaker 1: 1:08:46

stationary. I mean, obviously you're a very nomadic person and I feel your whole entire life yeah, obviously you're a very nomadic person and I feel your whole entire life is wild chaos. This is why I wanted you on the show and it's perfect for it. But do you like that? Or would you like to have a crew that everybody knows you? Everybody's got everybody's respect, because obviously guys you're going to run into oh, she's a chick, she needs my backup and help. It's got to get irritating after a little bit.

Speaker 2: 1:09:07

Yes, okay, but right now, now I don't mind it, okay, um, because I am new, or to this department. Okay, I've only been with this department for a year and a half got it so um, do you want to name drop? You don't have to, but I wasn't sure I was thinking about that maybe not yeah I can name drop my old ones that way we can talk shit yeah, no, my new. We'll get into that.

Speaker 1: 1:09:29

My new department is badass okay, I love it, okay, I am so glad I went there.

Speaker 2: 1:09:34

Um, but yeah, so did the helicopter for two years and then why all this thing that happened on the helicopter?

Speaker 1: 1:09:41

any close calls or anything?

Speaker 2: 1:09:43

um, I was on so doing hoist, doing air rescue. I was on a runaway cable one time, which means that they lost like the control and it was it just like lowers by itself while I was hanging off of it in there.

Speaker 1: 1:09:57

Did you start lowering or is this like you're?

Speaker 2: 1:09:58

falling, it was not fast.

Speaker 1: 1:10:00

Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:10:01

But I, I like heard the radio traffic and it wasn't fast enough to know. But I heard the radio traffic and I was like oh, oh I might break my legs.

Speaker 1: 1:10:09

You're getting hoisted out of areas.

Speaker 2: 1:10:15

Uh, so we doubled as an air rescue ship, so you take all the firefighting tools out and put in like a stretcher hoist which mounts above the door in the the doorway of the helicopter.

Speaker 1: 1:10:25

How is that?

Speaker 2: 1:10:26

badass, so fun, I don't even know where to.

Speaker 1: 1:10:29

I had all these bullet points and I was like reading him and I'm like I, there's, there's, there wasn't like a direction to go with you. So I was like, fuck it, we're just going to wing this one. So you're rescuing people, or is what? Yes, yeah, how Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:10:41

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:10:42

Unless you want to finish the the light and shit on fire. Real quick question.

Speaker 2: 1:10:47

Yes.

Speaker 1: 1:10:47

On these small teams, do you? How quick are you realizing like we're not going to be able to contain this we need? We like this isn't. This is bigger than us.

Speaker 2: 1:10:56

I feel like pretty quickly, especially with air support.

Speaker 1: 1:11:03

So you guys are like a little recon team in a way, where you're going in, they're dropping you guys off and you're like assessing it's moving way faster than we can move. That's all coming from these, you guys coming out, getting dropped off way faster than we can move on.

Speaker 2: 1:11:12

All that's all coming from these you guys coming out, getting dropped off sometimes, yeah, especially for the first boots on the ground okay, we're the ones who are like, okay, and then, especially, one captain stays. Well, this is how it was when I was there one captain stays in the helicopter with the pilot and they're above you. I mean, obviously they're doing bucket runs, if that's a thing, but they're able to see, and then especially once air attack gets on scene and everything like that, so he's helping make that call.

Speaker 1: 1:11:31

Yeah, and so he's. Hey, we need backup more crew, whatever it is.

Speaker 2: 1:11:35

Yep, interesting, yep so that's kind of like everybody plays a little part and so at that point you can just bounce around. They can come pick us back up and they're like, hey, you're gonna be more useful over here, so then they'll drop us off.

Speaker 1: 1:11:46

Or hey, this, hey that like have you ever hiked your ass off to get somewhere? They're like, yeah, we don't need you here. Then you have to hike all the way back to get picked back up yeah, for sure oh yeah, but but you're getting in a helicopter.

Speaker 2: 1:11:57

Yes, the only thing that sucks about that is that you're like we wasted time okay and we could have been doing something useful got it that's literally the only like frustration I've ever had with that kind of situation okay because I hate feeling like I'm wasting I hate, feeling like, oh, what we just did was stupid, pointless. But at the time sometimes you don't know that until you're done and you're like well, I wish I knew.

Speaker 1: 1:12:21

Well, didn't get it. If I knew during it, then morale's down and you're like fuck this, but I guess I feel like I'd rather know afterward.

Speaker 2: 1:12:29

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:12:30

Rescuing people. Yeah, so I feel that's got to be fun.

Speaker 2: 1:12:34

Yeah, super fun.

Speaker 1: 1:12:36

What type of people are you rescuing?

Speaker 2: 1:12:38

It's mainly going to be because I worked by the ocean. My unit was that's nice.

Speaker 1: 1:12:45

There was coastal stations Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:12:46

The northern coast Water rescues and like a hiker that's way out in the woods that it's going to be easier for us to go get them, or someone's like on a trail and they broke their ankle or they wrecked their mountain bike stuff like that how expensive is it to get picked up by?

Speaker 1: 1:13:06

no idea I couldn't even imagine.

Speaker 2: 1:13:08

there's like I'm lost and I think if it's us that picks them up, or Cal Fire that picks them up. I believe it's like it's a state resource. It's kind of the same if we come like put out a fire at your house or something I never knew, or got into, like the money side I have no idea.

Speaker 2: 1:13:26

Because I've always told myself, like, unless, like there is bone sticking out of my leg, I'm not getting rescued oh, totally I am crawling, I'm crawling there's a lot of people still that I I mean I I could like go on about calls I go to. Then I'm like I would never call and I don't let's.

Speaker 1: 1:13:42

I want to hear these. I guess we can get into that, but I okay some of those, though, too. I'm just like where you show up and you're just like the fuck are we here?

Speaker 2: 1:13:50

what's wrong with you? Really yeah, I'm like why are we here? I've legit been like okay, so what are we here for?

Speaker 1: 1:13:58

and what's their, what's their reason?

Speaker 2: 1:14:00

well, you know I this, or I like I. You know, my three days ago my back hurt and now I want to go to the hospital or I need more medication. I need some drugs.

Speaker 1: 1:14:13

They just call cal, they just call 9-1-1 and you guys get dispatched to go and yeah, well, that's like more.

Speaker 2: 1:14:19

So my job now is what that happens all the time, or you're like okay, we're gonna get into that.

Speaker 1: 1:14:24

Your nose is bleeding.

Speaker 2: 1:14:25

I'm like, bro, I get nosebleeds, I get chronic nose all the time. So whenever I get a nosebleed call, I'm so. Whenever I get a nosebleed call, I'm like this fucking bitch.

Speaker 1: 1:14:31

You get nosebleed, call yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:14:34

Sometimes they're legit but sometimes they're not. But I've literally shown up to it. You want to know a funny one that just popped into my head. Yes, this was not that long ago. It was dispatched as a nosebleed. This dude wrecked his truck and hit his face on his steering wheel. I'm like no shit. His nose is bleeding.

Speaker 1: 1:14:56

Oh, they didn't call it like a wreck.

Speaker 2: 1:14:57

No, we got dispatched as a nosebleed a medical.

Speaker 1: 1:14:59

I was like so you guys show up like this idiot, and then you're like oh, he's actually Okay. Yeah, was it even still bleeding by that point, or?

Speaker 2: 1:15:14

Not really by that point, or not really. It was definitely broken. But I was like, damn, this is not what I thought we were going to and that that does happen.

Speaker 1: 1:15:18

I cannot wait to hear these calls yeah, so rescue, when you rescue somebody, I mean, are they? There's a guy he follows me on instagram. I roasted him years ago on this and I'm surprised he still follows me, but he cut his hand. He fell and cut his hand on a rock.

Speaker 2: 1:15:35

Okay.

Speaker 1: 1:15:36

And he got dizzy and he got life flighted and he's like this big hunting influencer but it was this huge thing, so people were just roasting him for a long time over it. I've always wanted to ask him like was it worth? Was it worth it?

Speaker 2: 1:15:56

I feel like I would literally be going into shock.

Speaker 1: 1:15:57

Yeah, before I hit my before I hit my in reach button yeah, just myself. I know you don't want to get to that point. Yes, but for me, who I, who I like my pride, I'm gonna be like like my body's gonna be shutting down and'm going to hit the button.

Speaker 2: 1:16:11

And then they're going to get there too late 100%, 100%.

Speaker 1: 1:16:15

Yeah, I've accepted it. My wife's accepted it. I'm not going to be like I think I'm going Like there's no, I think Like I'm making it until the point. I'm not yes, Like that. And I feel like when you hear these stories about he call that would be me that's why a hundred percent like that dude.

Speaker 1: 1:16:32

That dude in his mind was going to make it until his body just shut down, yeah. And you're not coherent enough and you don't have movement in your fingers to get your in, reach out, yeah and make that. That's how that's the type of person I feel. Like that I am and I've been in situations where it's like this is it? I almost I thought the worst, one of the closest calls I've ever thought I was going to come to hypothermia and like legitimately like this is it? I almost I thought it was the worst, one of the closest calls I've ever thought I was going to come to the hypothermia and like legitimately like this is it was in California.

Speaker 2: 1:16:55

Really.

Speaker 1: 1:16:55

On a turkey hunt with my wife. Oh shit, it was. It was like I looked up the weather.

Speaker 2: 1:16:59

Where were you, do you remember?

Speaker 1: 1:17:04

I'll text it to you. We were in the middle of nowhere on this ranch giant. I'm talking hundreds of thousand acre ranch right like massive three, four hours, like on a two track to get like going through fence after fence after fence and we end up on this old homestead most beautiful ranch I've been.

Speaker 1: 1:17:25

There's tule elk running around, hogs pit. It's a dream, right. And my buddy had connected. He's just like just go out, look up the weather. It's beautiful. I was actually trying to get my turkey slam. I need my rio. I think was in california. Anyways, we're like hours from this camp on an atv and this snowstorm rolls in it's spring, late spring it's beautiful.

Speaker 1: 1:17:45

It's 70 degrees. I swear. These snowflakes were like size of like silver dollars and I give my gear to my wife because I wasn't prepared for it so I had like a light jacket and I give her everything. I'm drenched and this cabin that we're staying in literally no power, no heat, nothing. We just brought like sleeping bags where they had like these old couches we're gonna crash on. We were waking up, there's rat poison we're laying in and shit it was. It was wild, but I got so chilled and soaking wet and there was no way for me to dry anything. Like I just got in my sleep and big butt, ass naked she had and I shivered and just shook all night and I literally it was so pitch black in this cabin you couldn't see your hand, afraid you, when we're done with this at she'll tell you this story.

Speaker 1: 1:18:30

But that was the one of those moments where I was like I'm going to die of hypothermia. Here there was no cell phone service, like she doesn't know how to get us out of there, like we're. There's so many roads and trails and you're just going through fence and I got drenched and it took us hours to get back to camp. It is like I'm talking, talking, we come over the peak of this mountain, it's like this black wall, and I'm like, oh fuck, like this isn't good. I like I didn't prepare for this. It just catches us immediately in the whole ride back. I'm just literally in a snowstorm and it was like 70 degrees an hour before that.

Speaker 2: 1:19:01

That sucks it was wild in a cottage california weather yeah, 100, but yeah, it was.

Speaker 1: 1:19:05

So. People always laugh and they joke and after that I bring a puffy with me everywhere I go. I got a a little compressed from. I have like a born primitive one. I don't care if it says it's going to be 80 degrees, it's in the bottom of my pack, it's coming with you. It's one of those things that I never leave anywhere without, like a down puffy jacket, just in case. Yeah, just in case for that moment right there.

Speaker 2: 1:19:24

Learn, early Learn.

Speaker 1: 1:19:33

I was like I'll never trust again, ever, ever.

Speaker 2: 1:19:34

But yeah, so when you rescue these people.

Speaker 1: 1:19:34

If you hoist, are you going down to them? Yeah, are you lowering, like a buck, a basket or a cage?

Speaker 2: 1:19:36

whatever, it is always at least one rescuer on the ground. So you get on the hoist, you go down and then depending on if you're going to use like a screamer suit or a cinch collar or screamer suit screamer suit actually sounds not that fun, but it's the most comfortable one in my opinion.

Speaker 1: 1:19:52

I've been in all of them. There's multiple ways to get lowered down.

Speaker 2: 1:19:57

So these are the victim harnesses.

Speaker 1: 1:20:01

Oh, because we all train on each other. Because there's one that goes under your armpits.

Speaker 2: 1:20:05

That's the cinch collar, the little ring.

Speaker 1: 1:20:07

I feel like that's so uncomfortable.

Speaker 2: 1:20:08

Yes, it is, Because you're just it's ring. I feel like that's so uncomfortable. Yes, it is Cause you're it's uncomfortable. You look like the kid from the Christmas story. You're just very uncomfortable, okay.

Speaker 1: 1:20:15

Cause all your body weight's pulling everything, right, okay?

Speaker 2: 1:20:18

Yeah. So you've got that one, and then you've got the screamer suit, which is more of like a it's more of a harness it comes like around your arms through and then um like clips in.

Speaker 1: 1:20:28

Okay, and so the crotch around the legs, or is it just yeah, okay?

Speaker 2: 1:20:31

Yep, so there's that one, and then, and and both of those ones there, you attach them to yourself, to your harness. You have all your carabiners and everything set up on your own harness and you attach them. And then to the cable. Okay, and so to the hook, and there's um, the stokes basket which is the famous video yes, the famous video of the woman, just that. I would die if that ever happened to me done.

Speaker 1: 1:21:01

I do like two loops out of swing and I'm like let me die out there uh, that one.

Speaker 2: 1:21:08

You go down and then you need another rescuer to come down with you, package the patient up and then it goes up by itself and you have a tagline to make sure that that doesn't happen.

Speaker 1: 1:21:22

Because that one didn't or they let go of it.

Speaker 2: 1:21:25

I don't know what happened there.

Speaker 1: 1:21:26

Okay, all right.

Speaker 2: 1:21:26

But you have a tagline and I don't even know if that was like rotor wash for them too of why that started happening, but yeah, tagline. And then and I don't even know if that was like rotor wash for them too of why that started happening, but, um, yeah, tagline to control that one. Um, and yeah, it's cool, it's like you, I. So I, when I was on the helicopter, did not have a live rescue. They don't happen as often as you think they do in that area for us, because there is the sheriff helicopter.

Speaker 1: 1:21:54

Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:21:55

Henry one and they're like a cowboy as shit and they're really cool, but they'll come in and they will just snipe rescues all the time. Yeah, and that's what they do.

Speaker 1: 1:22:03

You know what I mean? We got it, yeah, okay.

Speaker 2: 1:22:06

They're good and uh, but yeah, it's like a couple of the guys I work with have gotten rescues out there, but they're like very few and far between. So we train a lot on it and like I've, I've hoisted plenty of people um that I worked with or whatever, and it's just fun Cause I'll be like how does it feel You're a man?

Speaker 1: 1:22:26

and I'm rescuing you.

Speaker 2: 1:22:29

I like to talk shit when I'm doing it, but um, yeah, it's, it's so cool, it is so much fun. That entire job is so much fun, as I'm sure it sounds.

Speaker 1: 1:22:40

I feel like anything in a helicopter, like nothing anything in a helicopter is fun. It doesn't suck.

Speaker 2: 1:22:44

Yeah, it's just going and flying around for the day. We're like let's go fly over the coast and like do this, or let's go fly over the valley and look for the cinnamon bear that lives in there and like bomb the canyon because my pilots, for the most part, were all like ex-military older guys that flew so that makes it fun experience, yeah. So then they come over there and they're like cool, let's, let's drop down, let's, let's scare you a little bit, and stuff like that oh shit yeah it's.

Speaker 1: 1:23:09

And how? I mean how? Is that just luck of the draw, or is that a? Is that a pretty hard gig to get into?

Speaker 2: 1:23:16

At the time it was a hard gig to get, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:23:20

I bet you there's not a lot of women on there doing that.

Speaker 2: 1:23:22

No, I like for on the crew.

Speaker 1: 1:23:25

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:23:25

I was the only one, um, and I believe I was their first one in like 10 years when.

Speaker 1: 1:23:29

I got there Really good for you. Thank you, Good for you Um.

Speaker 2: 1:23:31

I had to fight hard. It was not easy. It was a struggle for me. I was at the time, um, you know, workhorse. Like I said, I was like four low, I could put two hose packs on and go for a hike and be, fine, but I was not fast. I was like a steady worker and, um, I was powerlifting at the time and so I was a little bit heavier. I was a lot of muscle mass.

Speaker 1: 1:23:52

Got it.

Speaker 2: 1:23:53

And you can't really be like that and do that job and do well, because it's like we're running six miles for PT and then we might get a fire later and cut line.

Speaker 2: 1:24:02

Oh, my God, and you have to be able to do that and you have to be able to hike your ass off with your chainsaw and your saw pack and stuff like that, and like there's no telling you know what your day is going to be like. So I struggled during the first season. Um, I had a great time, but I struggled for sure. And one of my shift partners the first season was like not very cool to me, um, and I remember telling him I was like hey man, like I know I'm having a hard time and I'm learning, but we've all been new at something. At one point and I said and I'm sure some of you don't want me to be here, but I got here because I earned it, so I don't really care and it's going to turn around.

Speaker 2: 1:24:44

So good for you yeah, I was just like and and it did and it was great and like he changed the way that we interacted and everything. So I was like I'm going to show you that I can be here and that I can do this with you guys Like I deserve to be here is what it? Was. So after my first season I was like I'm going to change the way. I'm going to change my style of lifting, I'm going to change my style of exercise in general.

Speaker 1: 1:25:07

So you changed your whole lifestyle.

Speaker 2: 1:25:08

Everything. You changed your whole lifestyle, everything. Hardcore diet I lost 18 pounds.

Speaker 1: 1:25:13

Really.

Speaker 2: 1:25:13

And was extremely lean. I was running five days a week. I got my mile times down, went back I was running in the middle of the pack with everybody Was doing like four or five mile runs at like a 7.45 average pace.

Speaker 1: 1:25:23

Oh shit, Good for you.

Speaker 2: 1:25:24

Thank you. That was like the standard and a lot of the guys I worked with were running like seven minute miles or like some crazy shit like that, yeah, so I was like I don't want to be at the end, I don't want to deal with this anymore. You know, I want to be better around, like that. I did. I did. That's cool, thank you. I. I uh remember coming back and they're like holy shit. And one of the captains I worked with. He was like I was going to make you a plate of food, but I know you like eat completely different now and I didn't want to fuck it up.

Speaker 1: 1:25:52

Yeah, right.

Speaker 2: 1:25:53

And so, um yeah, so I just did that and went back and had a kick ass second season. They even put me on first saw.

Speaker 1: 1:25:59

What's first saw.

Speaker 2: 1:26:00

Means, you're the one cutting.

Speaker 1: 1:26:02

Is that, like the, the position, everybody's kind of jockeying for it's fun? What? What makes it so much fun?

Speaker 2: 1:26:08

I just love running a chainsaw.

Speaker 1: 1:26:09

Oh yeah, I think my dad put me on a blade when I was God. We moved to New York when I was nine. I had to have been seven or eight when my dad put me on a first chainsaw and I just remember running.

Speaker 2: 1:26:23

It's fun.

Speaker 1: 1:26:23

I could do it for days. We had an ice storm when we were kids in upstate New York. I mean the ice storm in 98. It New York, and I mean the ice storm in 98.

Speaker 2: 1:26:34

It was wild and I ran a chainsaw for months straight, just going to people's homes and just tree work and tree work, just because everything was collapsed, all the ice brought everything down.

Speaker 1: 1:26:39

There's all summer homes and cottages. We hunted a lot of people we had that would let us use their shore fronts, you know. So you always want to get in with. You know homeowners, landowners and all that. So my dad just dropped me off. He's like, he's like, start working on this house and I, just little kid, just stacking wood all day He'd come home or come back and pick me up and he'd leave me a little file, some oil, a little thing of oil and some gas and I'd just mix it and that's all I would do all day. He'd just drop me off, that's all.

Speaker 2: 1:27:06

What a good experience.

Speaker 1: 1:27:07

I look back and I'm like what the fuck were you thinking, dad? Seven, eight years old, with a full full blade too? Yeah, Not some little trimmer. I mean, I'm out there just.

Speaker 2: 1:27:17

Getting after it.

Speaker 1: 1:27:17

He still has that chainsaw to this day. I want to inherit that. That's badass. I told him. I was like if you ever get rid of this chainsaw, we're fighting.

Speaker 2: 1:27:23

Yes, good for you. That's cool, it's a steel too.

Speaker 1: 1:27:28

I mean, that's a generational blade, you know. So I was like you need to submit this. What are we Cause it's? I mean, you think? I think he said he bought it when my sister was like four years before I. He had that thing before I was born.

Speaker 2: 1:27:40

He still has it to this day, so that's awesome.

Speaker 1: 1:27:41

Yeah, it's fun running a blade.

Speaker 2: 1:27:43

Yeah, super fun, it's a there's a science to it. Yeah, there is, and it's it's. You know, I've done some pretty big trees and still um do sometimes, but it's, it's scary, it's intimidating. Yeah, and it is, and it's like I have a lot of friends that are like legit fallers and loggers and stuff like that, and so I love getting to watch them and like and it's like seeing them on fires and stuff. Yeah, they're so good at it.

Speaker 1: 1:28:24

One handed, just cut the knot and then it's like they're just, like it's nothing. It's like an art and like you're just like it's nothing.

Speaker 2: 1:28:28

It's like an art and like you're either good at it or you're not.

Speaker 1: 1:28:31

I watched a dude on I think it was TikTok, just like last week. He falls a tree and there's a giant wasp nest in it, oh yeah, so it's sticking straight up Like the whole pine tree comes down. But the one branch has this giant and he he's like I'm going to take it out and cuts down another tree and just puts it.

Speaker 1: 1:28:48

I mean right on top of it I'm like good for that dude yeah I was working in angelus crest, just north of la okay and angelus crest for us on the pacific crest trail okay and it burned through there and they have a big firefighter memorial up there because one it was.

Speaker 1: 1:29:04

I think it was like 10 years before we even took that project in that whole entire area over. Um a fire, this. It shifted in the uh, the last crew was coming off the mountain and the fire was moving so that they drove off the road and went down in the ravine and they all ended up dying. There was a bunch of firefighters who did that?

Speaker 1: 1:29:18

yep well, we I was running security up there because we had, we were building helicopter pads, we were flying, we were pulling wire and all that. But these tweakers were coming up there and tearing everything out of the old fire station.

Speaker 2: 1:29:28

They're pulling all the copper oh yeah, they love their copper everything and so.

Speaker 1: 1:29:33

But we would get bored and I had because so that fight, yeah. So at that time that fire was 10 years prior. So all that old deadfall, every time the storm would roll through it was dropping giant pines, those ponderosas and shit were just falling through the road. So I had I had security through all the mountains. So they'd call me at three in the morning like boss, we're stuck up here. So I was constantly up there, just, you know, cutting those all these giant trees out of the road. So we get bored and I'd find these giant, old giant burnt up trees and there's nobody around and I'm like fuck it you just be falling.

Speaker 1: 1:30:06

I'm talking huge and they were scary. It was like and there'd be like I'd have buddies watching, I'd like try to act like I wasn't, but I'm like oh my god, this thing is. And then when they start to go, you better get out of the way yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean it's intimidating. I was probably not even close to being qualified to be doing that, but good god, it was fun. I mean we're just up there just chopping giant trees down like yeah, for fun, for fun.

Speaker 1: 1:30:30

I mean they're falling over anyways, right. So we were just dropping them and I was like, whatever, I'm gonna shit and we're running security and I know that we'd go up on a weekend and we have the keys. We get all the cal fire keys at all the gates.

Speaker 1: 1:30:41

So nobody was up there, no one, except for some hikers and hippies that we and they're not gonna say anything. No, but those people are. Yeah, we're up there trying to stop tweakers from stealing everything. And I mean they would be in those old fire stations. We would pull out all the old they had bed frames that were all burned up and we'd pull them out for the tweakers to watch and we would like sit back and hide and they'd come back.

Speaker 1: 1:31:02

You can always tell no-transcript our job sites, oh yeah, so I'd go up in the mornings and we would check trail cams. And you know, in the, the ford, the angeles crest, I mean it's, it gets really cold up there, I mean it freezes at night, and we'd pull trail cams in the morning because you'd see like little barefoot tracks in the dirt and shit. And we'd be like, oh man, I wondered you'd see some guy or some woman in like a flannel cut off in shorts, barefoot, and it's like 27 degrees up there. So we were like, oh, this is like an hour ago. So we'd go try to find.

Speaker 1: 1:31:47

We'd find them like laying on side of road, all hypothermic, shivering, shitivering, shit. We call cal fire all the time and cal fire, come rescue these tweakers. And I mean, it was like we got another one and so we drop them a pin and they'd know exactly where they were. And I was like, do we need a bird or do we need a truck? Come up, he could drive to him, because they'd always be right there right, that was crazy working up there, but yeah, that's where we were.

Speaker 1: 1:32:09

We. We dealt a lot with cow fire just because of all these meth heads in that area it freezed. They're freezing up there all the time and we're like we had to save these people. You know it's our job, but yes and then the hippies.

Speaker 1: 1:32:19

I mean you'd see these, I don't. I don't know what. I'm cool like hiking is not my thing. Like I hate even hiking when I'm hunting. Like I'm out here to kill shit, like end of story. Like I'm, I love the scenery, it's beautiful, whatever. No, I'm not doing this for fun, like I have a mission, like I'm here for we would be up there in our vehicles and our trucks and and we'd be on a job site and literally the angeles crest trail went. I mean, we, we strung line through this the whole. Or the pacific crest trail, we're stringing a lot of line across it. So these people are walking from Canada to, like, baja and back, or whatever.

Speaker 2: 1:32:55

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:32:56

It's like the Appalachian Trail for the West Coast.

Speaker 2: 1:33:00

Yeah, the PCT.

Speaker 1: 1:33:03

Yeah, and so you'd see these hikers and they're like zombies. And I'm like, hey, you guys need anything. They're like could you take some trash? They'd pull out like a cliff bar wrapper and I'm like you guys need water, you guys want anything. I mean, they look so miserable Not one of them that we talked to every time we'd see them, we're like this is great Doing great yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:33:27

Everyone looked like they wanted to die and I was like you're doing this for fun? Huh, and they're like, yeah, that's when I discovered a plant that was literally birthed from Satan's asshole, and it's called Pittlebush. Are you familiar with it?

Speaker 2: 1:33:39

No, I don't think so.

Speaker 1: 1:33:43

I had no idea this plant existed. A tree comes across the road and my guys call and I'm up there and it's pitch black. I've got the head. We used to. We had all these work trucks and they're all decked out full light light bars, pods, everything because these hikers would, wherever they just get tired, they would lay down and just sleep in, and when they're on these trails up there they just sleep in the road. Yeah, so we're like three o'clock in the morning mobbing because we got trail camps going off and we almost ran over like our pack of these hikers one night. So I ended up equipping all of our trucks huge liability because they're like a brown sleeping bag laying in a road or a two-track. Can't see them, no, so we're almost running over these hikers and stuff.

Speaker 1: 1:34:23

But, um, we go up there and I'm cutting this giant like ponderosa that came down and or pine whatever. And across the road there's this plant called the piddle bush and it's. It's just this long plant. It almost looks like a weed plant, but without all the different yeah, you know flat, you know all the different stems coming off and everything. So it's, it's just tall and it grows this really beautiful, like bluish, purple flower. It's, it's beautiful, it is like poison ivy on steroids.

Speaker 1: 1:34:52

Oh no, and I'm so I'm cutting through because the tree fell in the brunt and I'm just doing my thing. I got to get my employees off the mountains because their shift changed like six hours ago and they've been stuck up there. Yeah well, it was like gale force winds. That's why all these trees are coming down. So as I'm doing, all the sawdust is like going down my back and then like apparently my butt crack and I have no idea and so I, everything's cool and I go home and I get. I do work all day, that day, into the night, cause trees are just constantly falling. So I'm on the job site for almost a full like 24 hours and I get home and I start showering and my whole body breaks out. Like I'm talking, I'm only allergic to poison oak in Oregon for some reason, like if I just drive to the coast of Oregon full blown.

Speaker 1: 1:35:38

I have to come back. I have to go to urgent care. I have to get like steroids. Never in my life, but when I go and hunt with my buddy it's.

Speaker 2: 1:35:44

Different breed.

Speaker 1: 1:35:45

A hundred percent. I'm talking where you're in the shower and you're just, you're almost bleeding from scratching. And then it went from my butt crack to like my butthole, to like my balls, and I'm in the shower. You could ask the wife and I'm like I'm scrubbing just what. I had no idea what it was and I we end up doing this research and I believe it's called piddle bush. Okay, it Okay. It's a beautiful flower and it is completely full of shit.

Speaker 2: 1:36:12

I'm going to Google it later and these people are walking Please.

Speaker 1: 1:36:15

So I know I'll send you it and it is hell and it's the whole mountains, all the mountains, the mountains. At least we're like north of LA, like the Angeles Crest, like Palmdale area and all that's all it was. So once I discovered what cause, then I call one of the medics that's my buddy on this job site and I'm like dude, I got into something. I don't know what he's like. Oh, he's laughing, he's like it's piddle, it's piddle bush, that's he's it's piddle bush. And that's when we ended up searching it and the plant pops up. I'm like that's the one, that's the one, that's what I've been chopping. It was the sawdust and the wind blowing, so it's like fiberglass. And then, as in the hot water, and the more you scratch it, the more oil it releases. So it is just this vicious cycle and it was a learning lesson.

Speaker 2: 1:36:58

That sounds miserable.

Speaker 1: 1:36:59

It's horrible.

Speaker 2: 1:37:00

No, thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:37:00

Absolutely horrible. Okay, so you're on your helicopter crew.

Speaker 2: 1:37:06

Okay.

Speaker 1: 1:37:06

You finish that up.

Speaker 2: 1:37:07

Finish that up, I go take a job why? Why did I leave yeah?

Speaker 1: 1:37:12

If you enjoyed it so much, yeah, I asked myself that question. Really One of those.

Speaker 2: 1:37:16

Yeah, one of those where you're like fuck, I didn't know if I thought I was staying with Cal Fire for life. I thought I'm going to be here for my career. This is going to be here for my career. This is going to be my career, I'm going to do all these cool things. Enjoying it that much. Yes, a lot of people don't do that. A lot of people leave and go to a structure department or move on.

Speaker 1: 1:37:35

Structure department. You're a basic fire department, correct? Yep, Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:37:43

Just like Boise Fire or whatever, got it Right. So my boyfriend at the time, I think.

Speaker 1: 1:37:49

Is he a firefighter?

Speaker 2: 1:37:50

He is, and I will never date one again. He was on a hot shot crew.

Speaker 1: 1:37:57

You're listening, kid. You're listening.

Speaker 2: 1:38:00

Okay, check it Put it on the do not date list. Don't date firemen or cops.

Speaker 1: 1:38:03

Oh, cops or Marines? Yeah, that's the wife.

Speaker 2: 1:38:08

God. So he was on a hotshot crew. He was their squad boss when we met and funny story, actually he we were dating. He was on the hotshot crew on the opposite side of the forest on the Mendo.

Speaker 1: 1:38:25

And you wanted to be closer, no.

Speaker 2: 1:38:28

Okay, I was on the crew, I was on Hell Attack the other side of the forest from him. Okay, we're dating, we get dispatched to a fire in the forest and I'm like, oh, how funny would it be if we ran into each other. So we land and we're cutting line and I like we fly over and I see the buggies and I was like no way, like I'm gonna get to see him on this fire.

Speaker 1: 1:38:49

That's so funny, like that which you've never done before.

Speaker 2: 1:38:51

No, that'll never happen, yeah like and so we cut line, and they're cutting line and we literally like came, like we met, like hey, okay, line's good, and I'm like that's my boyfriend, because I saw his crew, because I know his crew yeah so I was seeing like his captain, I'm like, hey, jimmy, what's up?

Speaker 2: 1:39:09

and then he's like, yeah, he's right over there. And I was like sweet, and he came up and like gave me a hug in front of the crew and everything and they're like, oh, we should take a picture of you. Blah, blah could be on your, your fucking wedding invite or whatever, which wrong yeah, obviously didn't happen, but it was a cool moment it was okay, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:39:24

So anyways, we were together. I thought, for sure you're gonna be like, and he was there with some chick oh god, no, no.

Speaker 2: 1:39:29

So we um, he owned a house in reading because he worked on the helicopter out of that forest, okay, before I met him. So we're like, okay, let's try to get back. We lived together at the time in lake county and we're like, let's try to get back to reading. Um, I'll look for a job up there. Because at the time I was like do I want to try going to a structured apartment? Do I want to do this? I don't know. And so I was kind of all over the place and then I'm like, well, I could try to get in with Redding Fire. So I went and visited those guys and did some station visits and stuff.

Speaker 2: 1:40:01

I was like yeah, it seems like a fun place to work. Like I threw my application in. I'm like great, I'm gonna start the hiring process again. Like I'm going to, you know, do my station visits, put my application in study. You know I got an interview, so went and interviewed and took their test. Or I took their test first, passed, had a good score, got an interview, did well in my interview and then I got a job offer and I was like damn, I need to now. This is like serious. It was serious the whole time, but it was like it didn't hit me.

Speaker 1: 1:40:30

Now it's really happening.

Speaker 2: 1:40:31

Yeah, it didn't hit me until then. So then he's like, okay, well, I need to do however many more years with the crew because of whatever his dumb ass reason was, and then I held up my part of the deal.

Speaker 1: 1:40:45

And he bailed.

Speaker 2: 1:40:46

And I went up there and I took this job with writing, which I do not regret doing, but I lived in our house and took care of the house and everything. And he stayed down and he was with the crew. And then he's like, all right, I'm going to get up there Whatever. A year goes by, still nothing. And I was like, all right, you know, this is this either needs to work or not. We've been together three years. I'm up here by by myself, I'm taking care of the house, I'm doing all these things, and then so we ended up breaking up whatever.

Speaker 2: 1:41:14

and uh, like a month after we break up, he moves up he transfers and gets a captain job on one of the crews up there and I was like, are you fucking serious dude? So, anyways, that happened. So then I'm up there and I'm all bitter because I'm like, rightfully, so fucking guy, whatever. But it ended up being like okay, because I love living there, obviously I still live there. Um, so, yeah, I went to work for Redding fire.

Speaker 1: 1:41:38

Do you work for him now or work together? No.

Speaker 2: 1:41:41

Okay, no, he's, he's a battalion chief, like way down in the central state now.

Speaker 1: 1:41:47

Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:41:48

So I don't run into him. So, uh, yeah, um. So, anyways, I worked for redding fire. Um, that was hard. Only woman in that entire department um they were not that cool. Well, I shouldn't say they. There was some people when I got there that like did not want to work with me, did not want to have a woman in their station, didn't want to have one on their strike team, like whatever.

Speaker 1: 1:42:13

I feel like everything you said so far, like you've proved yourself and have built a name yeah on everything you've done and you're still getting backlash on these crews, yeah, or these stations yeah, sometimes it just happens it's just if they don't know you or?

Speaker 2: 1:42:25

whatever. But thankfully I've had like a really good reputation and I've I've worked really hard to make sure that I do, and I you know I don't want to do anything to mess that up and I just I try to continue being like the way that I've been and the person that I am and things like that. So, yeah, it was. It was a rough start and their academy was only four weeks long. So every time you go, when you get hired with a city, municipal department, they, they all have their own academies I was gonna ask that because I feel like you've gone through so many different academies I've gone through at this point four so every time you change a station or, yeah, a department, you have to go through their academy.

Speaker 1: 1:43:05

Yep, are you just like fuck, here we go yeah, is there a? Test and academy. Yes, really yes, yes, so just because you're in, you have to re-qualify every single time.

Speaker 2: 1:43:17

Technically I guess, yeah, if you change departments you do.

Speaker 1: 1:43:20

Interesting.

Speaker 2: 1:43:20

Yeah, so theirs wasn't that hard. They didn't PT. We didn't PT in that academy, which is not normal for most academies okay but it was because reading is a small fire department. They didn't have the personnel, like the time they're trying to get us through and be like because the whole point of an academy when you go to a new department is this is how we do things, this is how we throw ladders, this is how our engines are set up. This is how our truck works okay.

Speaker 1: 1:43:45

So you're just, they're crash coursing you to learn that department. Yes, okay, and then.

Speaker 2: 1:43:50

Then they want to see like okay, we're going to throw ladders for the entire day. We want to see people's techniques. We want to see-.

Speaker 1: 1:43:56

What is throwing ladder?

Speaker 2: 1:43:57

So it's basically I don't know what that's what we say, but when you put up the ladders on the buildings, the ground ladders or the aerial on the truck or whatever.

Speaker 1: 1:44:08

I figured that but I wasn't sure if there was okay.

Speaker 2: 1:44:10

Um, so they want to see how you do all that stuff.

Speaker 1: 1:44:14

Got it.

Speaker 2: 1:44:14

So then we get through that Academy, get online and, um, I had a super fun time there and I had a shit ton of experience that department burns. It's very fun, it's very busy. Um, they have a lot of downfalls, unfortunately, which is why I don't work there anymore, but I what do you mean? Like a lot of um. It's starting to get better.

Speaker 2: 1:44:38

I still keep in touch with a lot of them and I live there, of course so I get to visit and whatever, but um just not very well taken care of by the city um the fire chief at the time was not very um supportive downfalls is like rotate people rotating out.

Speaker 1: 1:44:53

Is that what you mean?

Speaker 2: 1:44:54

well, because since I've left, there's been like 15 of us that have bounced from that department oh shit like there was a couple before me and then after me there's been more um, just because they like it's just poorly managed it's poorly managed. You don't get paid well at all.

Speaker 1: 1:45:10

Okay At all, so funding is a big part of it.

Speaker 2: 1:45:12

Funding is a big part, and it's just like the time that I was there, it was like the contract for us was, you know, going. We were about to be going through a new contract and trying to get a new one, and then we were an impasse because everybody couldn't, you know, get the things that we wanted. And and then we were an impasse because everybody couldn't, you know, get the things that we wanted and they wanted to offer us less, they wanted to take away things from us, they didn't want to pay us more, like all these things were happening, and then everybody was in a shit mood. So I'd go to work and it's just like the super. I hate using the word toxic, but it was a very toxic environment.

Speaker 1: 1:45:42

That's a. Thing.

Speaker 2: 1:45:42

It was very hard to be around a lot of people there and like I could feel myself. I was like damn, now I'm in a shitty mood because of this and that and whatever. And the type of place it was too is like you can't trust like half the people you work with, because the moment you walk out of the door, someone's going to say something about you.

Speaker 1: 1:46:02

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:46:03

Because very.

Speaker 1: 1:46:05

Morale is down. Morale is down. This cancer starts spreading inside.

Speaker 2: 1:46:08

Yes, and that's why it was happening. It's because of that and it's like just I didn't want to be around it and it got like really, and it sucked too because, like I said, I really enjoyed working there. I got to go on strike teams on our wildland engines every summer and do that still and then run these badass structure fires and I ended up getting on to the ladder truck the last year and a half I was there. I had enough seniority, I went downtown, worked on the ladder truck.

Speaker 1: 1:46:31

This is the first time you've been on a ladder truck first time went down.

Speaker 2: 1:46:35

That's pretty cool it's so cool I get to. I cut like eight vent holes on roofs on houses that were on fire. In my first year, six months, my first six months on the truck really that's a lot compared to, like a normal department or a slow department or whatever really yeah, and it it's, so it sucks. I know it's someone's house on fire and so when firefighters talk about like, oh, the structure fire was this, or I had fun on the hose line or this, or that it's like you know, it's I mean it's just like our job, it's your job.

Speaker 1: 1:47:04

Yeah, I mean, obviously you're not like yay, we get to go to somebody that's losing everything, but at the same time you're like I got to cut a giant fucking hole in this roof today. Yeah, I get it 100, because that's truck work, is ladders and um so you're fully kitted out on this roof with a chainsaw, or are you doing it with an axe? Because I've seen, I've seen both done right where these guys can just chop it in.

Speaker 2: 1:47:23

Yeah, no, I'm chainsaw.

Speaker 1: 1:47:25

Yeah, gear ba chainsaw um do you ever have any close calls of falling through Um? Have you ever seen anybody go through?

Speaker 2: 1:47:33

I've seen. I've seen that I've had my foot go through inside of a house. Uh, through the cause, the floor was burned through.

Speaker 1: 1:47:40

Really.

Speaker 2: 1:47:41

Yeah, but I was fine, like I've had little stuff like that, um, but I've never. I've been on some sketchy roofs, but no.

Speaker 1: 1:47:50

What's the leading cause of fires that you're going to in that area? Why are houses catching on fire?

Speaker 2: 1:47:56

there's a lot of hoarder houses that's exactly where my mind was, yeah still, even currently, a lot of the fires we go on or like I've had like um a couple space heaters and garages. I've've had candles in houses or little like scentsy things or whatever in like a closet. I've had lots of electrical fires, yeah, and especially if it's a hoarder house or if it's like a tweaker that's going in there and sometimes they light them on fire, sometimes they're just dumb.

Speaker 1: 1:48:26

How bad are the hoarder houses that you've gone in.

Speaker 2: 1:48:28

Pretty bad.

Speaker 1: 1:48:29

Really.

Speaker 2: 1:48:29

Yeah, like walking around, even opening the door is like almost impossible. Moving around, doing anything is hard. And then, when it's all said and done, you got to shovel it all out of the house because it's all on fire. That's how I hurt my back, like bad bad on a fire was picking up everything and shoveling it for like two hours after the fire's out inside of a hoarder house Because it's all been burned. Yeah, so you have to move it, otherwise you're just that's your guys' job yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:49:00

So you're in this hoarder's house that just got caught on fire for whatever reason, and then you have to shovel all of their shit out.

Speaker 2: 1:49:09

Into the front. Lawn out the back door their shit out into the front. Lawn out the back door. Yeah, out of the window, out of the door. If it was on fire and if it's gonna be a problem, yeah, you got to move it how bad does that smell?

Speaker 1: 1:49:19

pretty bad have you ever been in ones that were like just just shit everywhere like?

Speaker 2: 1:49:22

yeah, oh yeah really oh yeah that like shit please continue. Yeah, I want to hear these like dead body, dead animal, dead, everything in the house you've gone into like dead bodied rotten in hoarder houses oh yeah, I've.

Speaker 1: 1:49:40

I've had my fair share of dead bodies on medicals, fires, whatever have you ever seen it where their animals or their pets eat them once really? One time I've had a a woman on. She was a cop and we got into that. I want. What was it like?

Speaker 2: 1:49:55

it's just weird what type of dog uh this one was cats cats yeah, this one was cats, and I don't like cats no, I'm 100 I was like I don't trust you guys but they say like all dogs do it too.

Speaker 2: 1:50:10

I've heard yeah, I've heard of dogs doing it too, and I. It's weird, it's super weird. I think part of it is this is my owner. Why aren't they moving? Why, like what's going on? What happened to them? And then part of it's like I'm hungry. You haven't fed me in eight days. I think it's weird, it's just weird. I don't know.

Speaker 1: 1:50:36

I've it's 100, weird yeah I.

Speaker 2: 1:50:38

It doesn't make me feel anything other than like you're not supposed to see that I mean human nature.

Speaker 1: 1:50:45

You know just used to like, yeah, his nose is gone from his labradoodle.

Speaker 2: 1:50:50

Yeah, it's, it's. Yeah, I don't know Cause. Like I'm very thankful I have a very I have like a stomach of steel.

Speaker 1: 1:50:58

Okay.

Speaker 2: 1:51:00

And my smells and nose and everything Like I've gone into some gnarly calls like medical fire, whatever it is Like does not seem to bother me at all. Like there's been some ones where I'm like oh my god, I might. I feel like I'm gonna throw up what makes you cringe?

Speaker 1: 1:51:18

what are the houses you walk into? You're like actually this.

Speaker 2: 1:51:23

This one frustrated me to no end. It was a man that had been living in his van for a long time, and he was in the front seat and he was so septic and he, oh god, he was pushing 300, 350 pounds probably septic as in like a sore or an infection on him yeah and no pants on. Didn't take care of himself. Just shit all over the front seat like he. Just he would just shit right there and then not clean it up and like isn't it sad, though like there's people.

Speaker 1: 1:51:47

That's why it's so frustrating like the fact that, like this dude is so, he's just shitting himself in his front seat of his van. Like how, how do we, how are we here as americans?

Speaker 2: 1:51:55

and like it's frustrating because I feel bad for those people and I'm also like I could never imagine there's so many calls. I go on. I'm like I could never imagine letting myself get to that state ever yeah and some of it's like what what turned for him. I'm sure, at some point in his life he was normal I would, oh my god, I would never.

Speaker 2: 1:52:16

And then there they are, totally and there's a lot of things that go on that like it could be a number of whatever for all these people. I know that and I'm like very I am not judgmental and I treat people the same when I run calls like yeah, you have to I don't, yeah, I don't go in like prejudgment or whatever, and yeah, that one was bad because he Was he dead or was he still alive?

Speaker 1: 1:52:38

No, he was alive.

Speaker 2: 1:52:39

He just he was so septic that he was so out of it. So I was trying to get him to like can you at least shift this way towards me?

Speaker 2: 1:52:55

Like, we have to get you out of the van type of deal and he wouldn't let go of the steering wheel. So I legit found it. You know, I had my turnout bottoms on thank god that's your pants with the like yeah, like, yeah, my fire, okay, yeah, my fire, my structure bottoms and I like found a towel and I just got in there because no one else was going to get in there and I was like I'm just getting in here and I fucking stuck my foot in the frame of the van and I found a towel and I put it under his arms and I started yarding on him to get out and cause there, there wasn't like an injury or anything like that to him. That was, I wasn't going to make it worse, you know.

Speaker 1: 1:53:18

And at that point, what other option do you have besides cutting open the whole side of the van?

Speaker 2: 1:53:22

And so he and he wouldn't let go of the steering wheel and I was getting frustrated because he, he just didn't understand, because he was just so out of it.

Speaker 2: 1:53:29

He was so out of it, he just wouldn't let go and so I'm like yarding on him to get out and it was like at one point I turn around and there's, like you know, the ambulance crew, my crew, the gurney and everything, and I was like one of you motherfuckers needs to get in here and help me because this is not happening. So finally I grab his leg, take it out of the van covered in shit, obviously Me, my, turnip on him.

Speaker 1: 1:53:54

When you say covered in shit, how much shit are we talking? A?

Speaker 2: 1:53:57

lot Like at least a couple days, really.

Speaker 1: 1:54:00

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:54:00

And piss and everything God bless you. I've been in that plenty of times, like in people's houses, picking them up off the floor, like that or whatever or if they don't take care of themselves or something like that. So this is not a new thing. That one in particular was just so gnarly, and the combination of trying to rip him out of this van and finally got him and put him on the gurney how'd you get his hands to release? I had to like like manually pry his fingers off the steering wheel.

Speaker 2: 1:54:34

And then at one point I got him to actually like, look at me. And I was like you need to take your other hand off the steering wheel right now, like now, because I'm getting you out of this van. And then we got him and it was. It took a long time and I was so frustrated and I was just like how do you hose me?

Speaker 1: 1:54:52

off I mean, that's all. It's your only option at that point?

Speaker 2: 1:54:57

yeah, I'm just spray. Uh what's it called like cleaner? I keep a bottle of spray cleaner in the door where all the medical shit is oh my god yeah, because you don't want to get back in the truck like that. No, I just took my.

Speaker 1: 1:55:11

I think I took my turnout bottoms off oh my god, have you ever dealt with any like huge people? Because I've seen like, do you ever like cut anybody out of a house or anything like uh, yes, yeah, there was a, it was the same weekend these are the stories. All right, the same weekend.

Speaker 2: 1:55:31

That that call was that. I just said it was like that night we got a rescue fire, that, and there was two victims inside and um, the one that was in the bathroom. She was, she was like 2 250 probably and uh ended up cutting from the outside. One of the crews grabbed the chainsaw and they came around and they cut. They basically made the window into a door in the bathroom because there it was a hoarder house. She was big. There was no way we were getting her out through the front door because that's what I mean.

Speaker 1: 1:56:02

That's where my mind was like if you have this through two, three hundred pound plus person, how do you get them through the, the debris? I mean you see some of these like on that show hoarders. I mean I was a fan of that show for the longest time. My mom was obsessed with it.

Speaker 2: 1:56:16

But like some of these, I mean they have paths yeah, that's what they, that's what they do every house you go into like that, it's like it's a path and that's just their path, that they leave for themselves to walk or whatever so you have to go out the closest hole, yeah, so basically, that crew that made the call to do that amazing, absolutely amazing work turning the window into a door.

Speaker 2: 1:56:40

I've done that myself on a hoarder fire just to be able to get everything out of the room because I didn't want to take it out and put it in the yard Like I've legit cut a window frame down and moved it so that we could just push everything out onto the ground.

Speaker 2: 1:57:00

But they did it for a rescue because she was heavy, which is like it makes so much sense, and it's so cool that you work with people that are that good and that smart that they're like this is our plan. This is what we're doing.

Speaker 1: 1:57:13

That is, how often does that happen? I mean, is this a? I feel like, as our country just gets more and more unhealthy, that these calls become more and more of a thing.

Speaker 2: 1:57:21

Yeah it. It's hard to say because I think like you know what percentage of people use the 911 system? I don't know, and a lot of them it's the same person calling over and over again.

Speaker 1: 1:57:34

Really.

Speaker 2: 1:57:35

You go pick up the same person.

Speaker 1: 1:57:36

Yeah, so you have frequent flyers.

Speaker 2: 1:57:38

Yes, for sure, yeah, everybody does. It's like you, don't you know you just don't buy their voice.

Speaker 1: 1:57:44

You're like, oh, here we go again. Yeah or their address yeah, their address, their address, Because dispatch is calling up them Like oh time to go pick her up off floor again, and it's harmless.

Speaker 2: 1:57:51

Sometimes it's like they just need to get back up and put in bed. That's it.

Speaker 1: 1:57:57

It's just an old, elderly person.

Speaker 2: 1:57:59

Yeah, or whoever.

Speaker 1: 1:58:00

Or a big person, or a big person.

Speaker 2: 1:58:04

A lot of the time it's big people that need help and they fall just that big and incapable of handling themselves at that point. And sometimes they have caretakers and stuff too, and like the caretaker can't even do it or they won't, and so they'll just call and then we'll go do it.

Speaker 1: 1:58:17

So is that a non-emergency call? Yeah, okay, yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:58:21

It's a non-emergency, Come on.

Speaker 1: 1:58:22

Jill Like we got you.

Speaker 2: 1:58:23

Yeah, those.

Speaker 1: 1:58:26

Really.

Speaker 2: 1:58:26

Yes, very common. And going to like old folks' homes and stuff like that and helping them or picking them up or whatever very common, I feel bad for old people. Me too.

Speaker 1: 1:58:35

Especially in old folks' homes Like that's. I think one of my biggest motivations of being so tight with our kids is that I never end up in an old folks' home.

Speaker 2: 1:58:42

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:58:42

That's that to me is hell.

Speaker 2: 1:58:45

My dad and I just had this conversation the other day. I was like I will never put you in a home my sister and I had it.

Speaker 1: 1:58:49

She's getting my mom because my mom, I love my mom, I love my mom. She's coming to my sister's you can have her, yeah and my dad's coming here. Yep, we've already. We have it all planned out. I'm cool. My dad is like we even forget he's here half the time he'll just come out like jesus dad. Like you know, he just he's cool all right, but I no.

Speaker 2: 1:59:09

that's cool, he'll just come out and like Jesus, dad, you know.

Speaker 1: 1:59:10

So he just he's cool, all right, but I couldn't do it to my parents.

Speaker 2: 1:59:13

Yeah, unless they got to the point where I couldn't physically take care of them If they needed to go somewhere that had the level of care supervision that I can't provide.

Speaker 1: 1:59:20

Yes, cool, but no, no, absolutely not hoarders. So when I was in high school, my first experience with hoarders we had an internship and I might have told it on this podcast where I we did an intern high school when I wanted to be a cop. You know we all go through the people. I guess people just our personalities, like I want to be a cop. Yep, I did a ride along and one of the first houses we went into was a hoarder house and they had cats and there was stacks of box, it was just paths and there was cat shit and the smell and I'm like in my Letterman jacket and I walk and I'm like like 17 years old, like I got home and I was like, don't want to be a cop.

Speaker 2: 2:00:07

Yeah, you're like, I don't ever want to do that.

Speaker 1: 2:00:09

This is what you have to deal with. He, I got home and I was like don't want to be a cop. Yeah, you're like, I don't ever want to do that. This is what you have to deal with. He's like just another day and I'm like absolutely, I'm joining the military and I'm putting my life on the line, I'm going to go to war. I'm not dealing with this shit, absolutely not. And this is, I mean, how okay, craziest. What's one of the calls that sticks out to you, like you showed up and you were like holy fuck, have you ever had one of those?

Speaker 2: 2:00:30

I have. Yeah, I definitely have. It's just hard Cause I always think about that, Cause a lot of people ask like what's the gnarliest call you've had, or this or that, and I'm like man, when I get asked that, I'm like I don't know.

Speaker 1: 2:00:42

There's that many. Yeah, I've had some. You have the perfect job for you.

Speaker 2: 2:00:45

Yeah, I do. I feel like I found, like I'm so thankful that I ended up in this line of work. It's definitely where I belong, so you're at a station.

Speaker 1: 2:00:57

Now I think we might've breezed over this Cause we just. I'm so fascinated by just calls I could talk calls with you, so we're in it, we're in it, so I left Reading because of all the stuff that was happening.

Speaker 2: 2:01:11

And I was like I'm not happy here anymore. I need to make a change. I want to be somewhere that's more supportive. I want to be somewhere that you know maybe like a little bit more opportunity. I need to take care of myself and do what I need to do for myself.

Speaker 1: 2:01:24

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:01:32

I left, went to a new department as a lateral lateral, which is cool, because what that means is you basically apply as a lateral. I have this many years of service. This is where I worked.

Speaker 1: 2:01:36

This is what I did do you still have the test?

Speaker 2: 2:01:38

you still have to test, okay but I had the interview, did really well, got the job offer, um, and then you have your academy. So as a lateral it's an eight-week, seven or eight-week academy. Instead of Instead of 20 weeks Jeez 22.

Speaker 1: 2:01:55

So you're just learning how that station works. You don't have to go through all the basic shit again.

Speaker 2: 2:01:59

No, they pick and choose what they have for you to do, and then, yes, it's a crash course.

Speaker 1: 2:02:05

Got it.

Speaker 2: 2:02:05

But they PT you in this one, which I was so down for because I love the PT and working out and obviously exercising and all that shit. This by far was the hardest academy.

Speaker 1: 2:02:18

Why.

Speaker 2: 2:02:19

They just run you into the ground. It's a very good academy.

Speaker 1: 2:02:23

And where are you?

Speaker 2: 2:02:24

Now.

Speaker 1: 2:02:25

Like for this academy. Where is this academy taking place?

Speaker 2: 2:02:28

In the East Bay area.

Speaker 1: 2:02:30

Okay.

Speaker 2: 2:02:31

In Concord.

Speaker 1: 2:02:32

Really.

Speaker 2: 2:02:33

Yeah, and it's at the training grounds, with the training tower, all the equipment, everything.

Speaker 1: 2:02:37

Everything. So this is it.

Speaker 2: 2:02:42

And it was very hard. It was physically challenging and mentally challenging because I'm like I did not have to leave what I just did.

Speaker 1: 2:02:53

I had it.

Speaker 2: 2:02:54

I had it. I had it on the helicopter didn't realize it.

Speaker 1: 2:02:58

I had it on the ladder truck so you're like realizing you're a glutton for just punishment.

Speaker 2: 2:03:02

Yeah, at this point and also I was just like I just gotta do, I just gotta figure out. Like this isn't working. You know, I'm very grateful for my time with my last department and the one before and.

Speaker 2: 2:03:13

I learned so much, I got so much experience, everything. But I made a choice to leave and start over again, which was really really, really hard. I left my house, I put all my shit in storage. Um didn't even have a house up there anymore. I was like I don't know what I'm gonna do, where I'm gonna go, got an airbnb in concord and my mom watched my dog and I went down there and I just did this academy and didn't know. I knew two people that worked at this department, two firefighters, that's it. I didn't know anybody else, didn't know anybody that I was getting hired with um and yeah, they just like run your shit into the ground.

Speaker 2: 2:03:50

And it's very strict and they fuck with you as they should.

Speaker 1: 2:03:54

Very militaristic in a way.

Speaker 2: 2:03:55

Yeah, okay, and the drilling and everything it was great.

Speaker 1: 2:04:00

How many women?

Speaker 2: 2:04:02

I was the only one in mine.

Speaker 1: 2:04:04

Really In my academy Okay.

Speaker 2: 2:04:05

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:04:07

So is the fallout rate a lot higher at these because there's so much tougher, I think it's higher in the entry level one. Okay.

Speaker 2: 2:04:14

Not the lateral one.

Speaker 1: 2:04:15

Okay, okay.

Speaker 2: 2:04:16

So we only lost.

Speaker 1: 2:04:17

So is everybody that you're going through with are all lateral people. Okay, yep, so you're not going in with newbies, and okay.

Speaker 2: 2:04:23

Nope, they separate you.

Speaker 1: 2:04:24

Got it.

Speaker 2: 2:04:25

We only lost one person, so that's pretty good you all been in it for a while. Yeah, okay um, I think at that point, if you're gonna bail out, it's a mental thing, um. Or if you're just like you know, you always hear it like oh, they lied on the resume, or whatever and they show up and you're like what the fuck, like how how is he here?

Speaker 2: 2:04:45

yeah, got it so there's that type of thing too. But um no, and I, like I said, I've been here a year and a half and I'm so glad I went through phases In the academy. I was like, what am I doing?

Speaker 1: 2:04:56

I can imagine.

Speaker 2: 2:04:57

What am I doing? What did I just? Do you start reflecting, like well I?

Speaker 1: 2:04:59

could be hanging out of a helicopter right now fucking off.

Speaker 2: 2:05:02

Yeah, I'm like I cannot believe I'm here, got through it, had a rough start and then, um, it was like earlier this year I had like this change Cause. I was like running, I was like going to my head, I was like, oh my God, I'm not happy here. What did I do, like you know, and what it had been like. Seven or eight months had gone by that I've been working there and I'm like I don't know if this is for me.

Speaker 1: 2:05:24

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:05:24

And uh, and then I had like a. Thankfully I had like a switch and, uh, I absolutely love it there, I love going to work, so you just had to get in a groove. Yeah, that's all it was, and I had a solid crew. Um, so when you're on probation, when you graduate the Academy, they put you with a crew at a station for your first five months and then they put you with a different crew at a different station for your second five months and I had solid crews at both spots. Okay, and I am so thankful for that, because you can get shitty assignments or you can get really good assignments, and I got really good assignments both times.

Speaker 1: 2:05:59

What makes a good assignment versus shitty assignment?

Speaker 2: 2:06:01

Good people, people that want to train all the time, people that want to help you do your cause. When you get on probation, you have a task book. You have to do all these things. Um, all these skills go out and like pull this hose and take this hose here and throw this ladder here and do this and do that, and like it's all types of shit and training that you have to go do.

Speaker 1: 2:06:19

Okay, and so can you knock out like a bunch in a day, yes, okay.

Speaker 2: 2:06:22

Yeah, you can. Um, so you just got to get through that and like do your book work side of it and take your tests and stuff like that. And then at the end of it you go take a big test. Your whole academy group comes together and everybody goes and there's like eight stations they set up and you go take the test and if you I mean you got to pass all of them and then you pass probation.

Speaker 1: 2:06:40

No shit. And so once you pass probation, I mean you're a full-blown firefighter.

Speaker 2: 2:06:44

at this point You're doing the same, you, you're the same thing. Nothing changes. But now you have the yes, now you get to take your green shield off your helmet, you get to. You don't have to wear your class b uniform every single day, you don't have to. You know. For me, though, like, oh, little things too on probation that are traditional, like you don't sit in a recliner, you don't watch tv, you at the house.

Speaker 2: 2:07:05

Yeah, you don't like you beat everyone to doing everything. You are the first one up making the coffee, doing the things, putting the dishes away, so you're a greenhorn. Mm-hmm, so that's what you're doing.

Speaker 1: 2:07:14

So you, even though you because we call it lap moving in the Marine Corps, when you change jobs, it's you know you're a lap mover, you still start at the bottom.

Speaker 2: 2:07:25

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:07:26

There's no like hey, you've been in this like eight years and Cal Fire and doing all the helicopters Like you show up and they don't care.

Speaker 2: 2:07:33

Yeah, because I'm a new guy there, you know.

Speaker 1: 2:07:35

That's wild.

Speaker 2: 2:07:36

Yeah, so that's another thing too. Is you're like I'm starting over?

Speaker 1: 2:07:39

Fresh.

Speaker 2: 2:07:40

I have people who have. You fucked up, dude.

Speaker 1: 2:07:44

How hard was it when you were like, I'm sure there was that phase where you're like, fuck, like, why did I do this?

Speaker 2: 2:07:49

There was that phase for sure, Um, but then you get people like my first captain on probation badass, and we are close and I'm very thankful for that. Um, he was just like I know you fucking been doing this. I don't give a shit about you wearing a dumb shirt, Like all these things.

Speaker 2: 2:08:08

He's like we're going gonna go out and we're gonna train a lot and I know you know what to do and let's you know like get the job done, he's like I know, you know the program and whatever, like I was doing all the things that you're supposed to do as a probie, but he's just like he didn't treat me like a probie no, he didn't you weren't some kid that just like, oh, I'm gonna be a firefighter and this is their, he they're trying to work up, I mean he.

Speaker 1: 2:08:29

so you had that little bit of respect.

Speaker 2: 2:08:32

Yes.

Speaker 1: 2:08:33

Okay, well, that's good.

Speaker 2: 2:08:34

Yeah, and it's, it's nice and it was also a cool thing to working for people going to work for new people all the time and we'll like run a fire together or we'll do this or we'll do that, and they're like oh, like, you're fine.

Speaker 1: 2:08:46

So what are your, what's your, what's your schedule?

Speaker 2: 2:08:48

So right now we do Because this is completely different from Cal Fire.

Speaker 1: 2:08:53

Yes, I mean, that's a whole different world compared to being you call it a station or a house, both house firehouse, because this is a whole new world. Yes, in the firefighting world is this like the cherry on the top.

Speaker 2: 2:09:08

This is what everybody strives to be, strives for.

Speaker 1: 2:09:12

Okay. So when you see all those cal fire guys are all wishing that they were real firefighters, most of them. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding to hold that against me. So you know. So now you made it, I mean that's got to feel really good, this is, and so it's paying off. You're in it, so what's the schedule like?

Speaker 2: 2:09:25

we work a two by four, uh 48, 96, so you're on 48 on 96 off yep, that's what our schedule is, and fuck out of here, that's yeah, that's my. That's where what we do now you work.

Speaker 2: 2:09:40

That is an incredible schedule and then you can work overtime, you can do trades, you can do whatever you want, like right now to be here. For the amount of time I've been in Idaho I did I think I used vacation for one shift and trade for my other shift, and so I will just owe somebody two days of work, and so I do that a lot, and so I'll work a 96 and then I'll have whatever that gives me two days off. So it'll be backwards. I'll work a 96, have two days off, go back to work I feel like that's a schedule I would take yeah just rake it in.

Speaker 1: 2:10:14

Yeah, so if you're a single dude or chick, you could just hey, I'll take anybody that wants to like, and you could just just rake it in yeah and then you're.

Speaker 2: 2:10:28

It's a different, you're doing something different every day yes, yeah, like when I go back to work, damn good for you, thank you.

Speaker 1: 2:10:34

I mean, this is this seems like a dream job it is, it's.

Speaker 2: 2:10:37

It's amazing, it's. I love being there, I love our schedule. I'm. I love that I have the opportunity to make this schedule into. Okay, I'm gonna'm going to work, I'm going to stack these days, but guess what, I get two weeks off to go hunting in Idaho. Like that's amazing. And because of the way our schedule is, that means I'm only taking two shifts off. It doesn't mean I had to take-.

Speaker 1: 2:11:03

Two weeks off.

Speaker 2: 2:11:03

Yes, however many hours of vacation or whatever it would be for a normal job, it's like-.

Speaker 1: 2:11:08

Or you can trade with somebody.

Speaker 2: 2:11:11

Yeah, or I trade, I do a lot of trades, because then it's like all we're doing is owing each other days, that's it, and so.

Speaker 1: 2:11:16

Damn. Now I see why it's so tough those academies like, especially if you were a new kid, because once you're set, I mean you're set. That's pretty, yeah, okay, so scariest part of your job, you guys are doing stuff on highways, right? Yeah, how is that?

Speaker 2: 2:11:34

I always feel like that is one of the. That's one of the probably most dangerous parts of our job. I would say really well, because like people don't care that you have sirens on a big red fire engine or whatever and yeah, people take videos that there's an accident. People I drive. I've seen so many people drive by taking videos of the crime scene or the crime scene Jesus. The accident scene and I'm like you're going to cause another one. What are you doing? Have you never seen this before? Like, keep driving.

Speaker 1: 2:12:06

That's the most frustrating, or when it's on the other side of the freeway and you're sitting in traffic for 30 minutes and it's not even on your side For anything.

Speaker 2: 2:12:13

For nothing. Yeah, no, we've had a couple One of our trucks got tagged like twice.

Speaker 1: 2:12:20

Really.

Speaker 2: 2:12:21

Like once last year I think, and then, like right before I got there, we've had engines get hit. Yeah people like another. Yeah people like another, like the truck will be like if it's a tiller it'll be like crab tiller tillers are badass. I got to work on two actually, since I've been here, so it's a ladder truck okay but it's like a tractor trailer where it's got the guy that sits, the tillerman he sits in the back, yeah, and steers it.

Speaker 1: 2:12:44

Well, you see them, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's a tiller, got it?

Speaker 2: 2:12:47

I didn't ever the term for it, so so if you sit in the back, you're a tillerman, and um, that's what I'm trying to get signed off for by next year I feel like that as a firefighter.

Speaker 1: 2:12:57

That's the like pinnacle, like you're in the back just steering this thing. Hell yeah, so cool I mean, that's what you think of when you see, when you hear a firefighter so much cooler than cops it's oh, yeah, yeah I think is there a cop firefighter. I mean, how deep does that go?

Speaker 2: 2:13:15

yeah, and you know what's funny is like most of my really good friends from back home, they're all cops okay and so we just talk shit to each other all the time.

Speaker 1: 2:13:22

But no, it's like all the military branches.

Speaker 2: 2:13:24

Yeah, exactly it's very similar and, um, yeah, we have like good relationships for the most part, depending on where you're working at, and then, like even when I was up north working in redding- we had really good relationships with the cops like I'm friends with a handful of them now, just after like running calls with them and stuff um, and they got your back.

Speaker 2: 2:13:44

Like I've been on fires up there where a cop will come out, because if we're the first ones on scene on a fire and there's nobody there, they legit will like help you get the hydrant, they'll help you do shit, that's cool yeah, I've had cops like help carry fire hose or whatever.

Speaker 1: 2:13:57

Like they are super cool if you have a good relationship that's cool yeah, it's badass so as far as fires, yes any close calls, sketchy situations. I mean are you crawling in houses full blaze?

Speaker 2: 2:14:09

I mean I've never really had. I've had one that was a little sketch, like it was fully involved. It was, uh, ceiling and walls like coming down with a captain.

Speaker 2: 2:14:24

so we rolled up and it was. The captain was inside doing a search because there was two victims and the engineer was at the door getting the hose and I jumped off my crew, ran up to the engineer so I could help him, and then my engineer was getting water and my captain took over IC outside doing a 360 of the fire. So I went with them, I bailed, for my crew went, went with this crew and then the parts of the hallway came down where the captain was in the other side, and so the engineer I was with was like a little worried, like oh shit, you know, not realizing. Well, he was fine because those two rooms were unaffected, those two rooms were just smoke, but that's where the victims were both of them.

Speaker 2: 2:15:10

There was Grandma and Grandpa in bed and so, uh, we pushed in and it was like at that point the water wasn't doing like shit, because does it just get to a certain point where you just pretty much sometimes that happens like we don't like let it burn, but it's just like you feel you're like fuck, this whole entire living room's on the garage is on like this and that, and you're like at this point I'm gonna try to the important part of that fire was rescue, like we're in rescue mode. We need to have water on the fire where it's going to count for us right now and not worry about a section that maybe we could write off if, if we're not going to do anything or save anything, like the garage for example yeah I don't give a fuck about the garage during that scenario.

Speaker 2: 2:15:55

they are our priority. We have to get them and then making sure that we don't make it like keep the fire and check where you're at, essentially, um, so that we're not making it worse, it's not getting into the hallway, it's not rolling down the hallway, it's not affecting it, making it worse, whatever in that situation. So yeah, just I'm sitting there like on the nozzle, um, trying to, you know, just hitting it in the, the living room, trying to do the best I can with the situation, I guess, and it was where it was working, like keeping out of the hallway and everything. But there was like shit coming down everywhere and then the truck crew had came in from the back because I was on the engine at this time. They came in from the back, which I didn't know at the time, and they found one victim, got them out. I ditched the hose line, went down the hallway and got another victim from the captain that had been back there.

Speaker 2: 2:16:48

Like we just pushed the shit out of the way that fell into the hallway and then grabbed that victim Me and the engineer I was working with. We took her out through the front door and then after that it was like there was a crew there that took because that's the thing too is like you take someone out, there's got to be a crew there immediately on medical for them.

Speaker 1: 2:17:06

and you're going back in, correct? You're just.

Speaker 2: 2:17:07

You're just dumping and turning yeah, as long as there's somebody there yeah otherwise I would have stayed yep and taken medical, because at that point that's my priority.

Speaker 1: 2:17:16

How often I feel like you know. Obviously your world is completely different, but how often are you guys getting called to like house fires?

Speaker 2: 2:17:27

Very frequently.

Speaker 1: 2:17:29

Really, Because like you, look like a subdivision. We've been here for a long time. Yeah, I couldn't tell you if a house was ever caught on fire.

Speaker 2: 2:17:35

and I feel like Probably not, so it's like If like not, so it's like if it does, it's like a complete accident.

Speaker 1: 2:17:39

You know what I mean and out of the house calls that you guys are getting called to. How, when you guys roll up, how many of them are like fully, like holy shit or is it? Are the majority of them like, okay, we can. It's not like a super rush, because I see some videos.

Speaker 2: 2:17:52

It looks like firefighters are like getting their shit together I think, another reason I'm very proud of where I work now. Everybody is like on top of their shit. They're quick, they're prepared. People are just like really, they're really good at their jobs.

Speaker 1: 2:18:07

Got it.

Speaker 2: 2:18:07

Everything is like fast, Get out, get hose, uh hose line to the door, get water on the fire.

Speaker 1: 2:18:12

Yep.

Speaker 2: 2:18:13

You know, if you got to force the door. It's like we're all working together too, because where I work now there's so many fucking people that it's like you don't have to do everything by yourself. I don't have to force the door and pull the hose. Take it there.

Speaker 1: 2:18:24

Everybody's got a role.

Speaker 2: 2:18:26

Everybody's got a role and it's like you can still have those scenarios. But for the most part I've had it like okay, I got the hose line, I'm going to the door, I got my halogen with me or whatever. But my engineer because all he has to do at that point, if he already got his water supply or if he doesn't need to right away, he just gets me water in my hose line. He can run up and he can force the door or take the fucking Cirx on.

Speaker 1: 2:18:52

This is a whole different world than you're used to.

Speaker 2: 2:18:54

Yeah, and it's, it's rad and I think that we do a really really good job as a department of these things and I think we are known for being a very busy department. Like we definitely burn a lot, which is really cool.

Speaker 2: 2:19:11

That is a big reason why you really have that in stagnant and sitting in a house, because I could have left and went anywhere and been like I want to make 200 grand and run like five medical aides and maybe go to a house fire once a year. There's so many people that do that. Really and that's fine If that's the kind of life you want. If that's you're doing it for like. Whatever your reasons are like, do it, go for it.

Speaker 1: 2:19:34

But you're how many? I mean how often in a week span is your department getting called out?

Speaker 2: 2:19:39

For a house fire.

Speaker 1: 2:19:39

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:19:42

Every week, every day.

Speaker 1: 2:19:46

Every other day. So when you go into work you know.

Speaker 2: 2:19:49

If I don't get a fire. Someone else in the district got a fire. Every time I go to work.

Speaker 1: 2:19:56

That is wild.

Speaker 2: 2:19:57

Yeah, and what's caught? I just we're everything the the thing about us, though I say that and there's probably people who are like, oh, fucking bullshit. It's like no, it's true, we span so wide, okay, the county is so big and we've taken over so many different cities, that that's why, because we have so much area with so many places it seems insane and you guys aren't getting hurt Sometimes.

Speaker 1: 2:20:26

Is it more like debris? I feel like firefighters. Actually being burned is not as common.

Speaker 2: 2:20:31

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's more like debris fucking up backs and necks and stuff falling on you, you're probably sure, falling through things, or lifting up a 300 pound person off the floor and now your back goes out. Literally that's what. That's what most injuries are backs. Or rolling your ankle on a wildland fire or you know whatever, whatever it is like there's it's not like being burned no, I know people that have been burned. I've been burned, not bad, but how, like, how.

Speaker 1: 2:21:04

What is that like? Is it just the heat, or is it actual burn, burned?

Speaker 2: 2:21:09

both. I've burned through my turnout bottom and my uh fucking boot one time really like.

Speaker 1: 2:21:15

I'm not this isn't weird but like girl, dad, right. So I'm yeah, so I always. I wash my wife's hair, I comb their hair. I'm engulfed in fucking full heads of hair. There's hair everywhere. And I'm looking at your hair. I'm like you got beautiful hair.

Speaker 2: 2:21:27

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 2:21:28

How is this not just fried and singed going into fires? I put this shit in a bun or a braid and I stuff it in my helmet or otherwise it'd be gone.

Speaker 2: 2:21:41

Yeah, or you have to have because it's, I feel like it's long. Yeah, it is, it is very long I. We also wear hoods. We wear flash hoods have you seen it?

Speaker 1: 2:21:45

so you tuck all that in?

Speaker 2: 2:21:46

yes, so like it'll go up over my mask okay and then nothing, because if, if anything is in the way, you'll have a bad seal and so seals are probably that's why they can't have beers same with them, like a gas mask, everything has to come on yeah, so I

Speaker 2: 2:22:03

most talking all of that in all of it goes in a bun wrap wrapped up, or in a braid, because the braid will just go down my back, behind my okay, so that's probably the easiest I like the braid so when you go to shift, you're all.

Speaker 1: 2:22:16

You just rock a braid the whole entire time.

Speaker 2: 2:22:17

I wear my hair down sometimes or just throw it up in a bun or whatever, and then if we get a fire, I literally like I always have hair ties on me and I'm just like in the engine I'll just fucking throw it up real quick or whatever.

Speaker 1: 2:22:28

Yeah, cause, that's like when you started talking fires, I'm like how in the hell?

Speaker 2: 2:22:41

but I like to put it in a bun and then I'll take the back of my helmet and I'll just like lift my bun up and I'll put on my cap, and then it looks like I don't have hair.

Speaker 1: 2:22:46

But I don't give a shit what I look like, so oh, yeah, no, save the hair I get it like if anything happened to my wife's hair, like that's her biggest fear in the world is not having. This is her full head of hair like, so that's why I was wondering about that fourth of july insane, no matter where you are craziest. Is this the craziest day of your guys's?

Speaker 2: 2:23:06

like, like I mean yeah is it all?

Speaker 1: 2:23:08

hand on, hands on deck I? Mean other and so you guys are just ready for war.

Speaker 2: 2:23:12

Yeah, so I've worked the last, probably five fourth of julys, but in this new department I worked, I worked this one and last one and it's like the same. It's like clockwork, it's the same no matter where you're working.

Speaker 1: 2:23:26

There's just a switch gets flipped and you're just getting calls. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:23:28

Cause we have some gnarly like ghetto ass places where I work.

Speaker 1: 2:23:31

Okay.

Speaker 2: 2:23:32

And so and it's not even just there, but most of the time that's where you end up. People are doing, people are shooting off fireworks and shit. There's like side shows in the middle of the road, people spinning around doing shit, lighting shit on fire. People are fighting. There's fucking stabbings or shootings, like like all the fireworks are catching people's houses on fire. This field's on fire, that's on fire like blowing their hands off with mortars everything.

Speaker 2: 2:23:58

And so we do this thing where once a it's like what time is it at night, it's like 5 o'clock at night or like 7 pm or something we switch to only going to like emergent calls and fires. We won't go to the code to like lift, assist or anything like that, because we are so busy and then they'll start only sending because we have this much shit going on. You'll go to I've been to a grass fire and we are the only ones there and I'm doing this hose lay by myself, and then someone another engine will show up and it's just us and we'll wrap it and we won't even like fully mop it up, we'll just make sure it's out.

Speaker 1: 2:24:35

And then you're already on, and then we gotta go gotta go to another one.

Speaker 2: 2:24:37

And then this palm tree is on fire in front of this house, so now it's catching the fence on fire.

Speaker 1: 2:24:41

It's only us, it's my engine, that's it and how many guys are on this three, so there's only three to an engine.

Speaker 2: 2:24:47

Yeah, really and then four on the trucks and four on the rescues no shit, yeah. So it's just like you're bouncing around all these calls and then there's someone that has you go to this park and it's on fire because, guess what, it's the box of fireworks that they lit off, and then they just leave it there and they leave it in like um, like roundabouts in the middle of the fucking road, and you're like what the fuck?

Speaker 1: 2:25:12

how's it not just a camera crew's following? I know following everybody around the firefighters they should on.

Speaker 2: 2:25:17

The fourth of july're just rolling up like dudes getting stabbed yeah. I mean why?

Speaker 1: 2:25:21

are people, why I?

Speaker 2: 2:25:22

don't know.

Speaker 1: 2:25:24

Shootings Just another day. Do you guys have to wait for cops to show up? I mean, have you ever showed up to like a shooting and you're the first ones there, or is it usually all clear?

Speaker 2: 2:25:43

Do you have stage as hard as other departments do or other people? But it's also it's like captain's discretion. What do you mean stage Like wait for them and then go in? I know I've definitely been on calls. I remember my very first call with this department was um, it was a gunshot wound to the head. Well, I really yeah, I go up to the guy he's laying. You can see you pull up.

Speaker 2: 2:25:56

He's laying in the front yard on the in a neighborhood laying in the front yard he shot himself in the head and I roll up and I was like, oh, and I look down and the pistol is sitting right there but that was your first call. That was my very first call with this department you walked up to a suicide yeah, yep that's wild yep, and then how?

Speaker 1: 2:26:14

does that deal with? Like your mental stage dealing with? Just, I mean, I feel like that stuff. Personally, none of that bothers me. It would be the children, shit. That's where.

Speaker 2: 2:26:25

I had a bad kid call not that long ago actually.

Speaker 1: 2:26:27

You want to talk about it or no?

Speaker 2: 2:26:28

I don't care If you want to hear about it. Yeah, I want to hear it.

Speaker 1: 2:26:31

I just don't like seeing like me personally, like overseeing the shit, like that's the only stuff that ever really affected me was kids stuff, but like how I mean, and you have kids, I don't.

Speaker 2: 2:26:40

Yeah, it's way different.

Speaker 1: 2:26:41

See, it didn't.

Speaker 2: 2:26:42

It bothered me then, but now I'm, I couldn't, I probably couldn't handle it now, because I didn't have kids then, but even still, I just had that like this is fucked, that's what I always say too, too, because I don't have kids or anything and like it's still, it bothers me no matter what for sure but I see that and I fuck. They're so helpless, Like they didn't put themselves in this situation. You know, what I mean, not that everybody does, but yeah, he just. We got a call, it was a busy night and we get there and there's two laying in the street, two kids.

Speaker 2: 2:27:14

There's a little kid and his dad laying in the street and dad's like this close to probably not making it okay at the time, little kids crying, freaking out. Obviously I think he was like six they hit by a car or something yeah. So they were on the sidewalk because he had a helmet on and I was confused. I was like what the hell's going on? So they were on the sidewalk riding scooters together, dad and little kid this the most okay. Gnarly frustrating, crazy. Here's your crazy call.

Speaker 1: 2:27:46

All in one.

Speaker 2: 2:27:47

Someone's driving, another car is driving. They're frustrated. Mind you, this is a town in it's just a street in the town. It's not like a freeway, it's not anything. It's like downtown Person's driving, frustrated with how slow the person in front of them is going, decides to drive on the sidewalk and plow over three people to get around this car Because they're going too slow. Literally decides to drive on the sidewalk, plow over these people and then wreck their car or whatever, that should be instant death penalty. I agree.

Speaker 1: 2:28:26

Instant death Like you're done.

Speaker 2: 2:28:28

These kids were like fucking 20 years old or whatever. The ones that were driving.

Speaker 1: 2:28:32

So they got them.

Speaker 2: 2:28:33

Yeah, they found them, but Did the dad make it? I don't know. We flew both of them out. So I was in charge of the. My patient was a kid, that was mine, so I was trying my best. He was a little, he could speak a little bit of English, but Spanish was his main and I can understand and speak a little bit, but, um, he was freaking out.

Speaker 2: 2:28:56

He kept asking me if he was going to die and at first I couldn't understand why. And so as I started doing my assessment, you know obviously he was freaking out about his dad and I thought that he was asking because of that. He had a massive visceration with his, his insides hanging out, just completely cut open his oblique with this shit hanging out how old is this kid?

Speaker 2: 2:29:22

six oh my god and then he had a little bit of a. Like I said, he was wearing a helmet when this happened thank god and from what I, I remember cleaning up like he had some other things going on, but that was definitely the worst one. So I just got my um, I did like sterile dressing, wrapped him up, made sure to tell them like are you pushing it back in and wrapping, or are you letting it hang and no?

Speaker 2: 2:29:50

I just made sure it was like all there and then just wrapped over it just to keep it in place and clean. That's my, that was my main thing was I wanted to be clean and I wanted him to stop looking at it. He kept looking at it rightfully so so I would tell him I was like little kids.

Speaker 1: 2:30:02

I mean, as soon as they see they don't know, they start freaking out.

Speaker 2: 2:30:05

Yeah, even worse and so I just was talking to him the whole time. I'm like, hey, like look at me, look at me, it's okay, don't look at that, don't look at dad, look at me. And then I would start talking to him about things like trying to distract him. And then I wrapped it up and I was like see, like it's okay and because I mean, in the realm of injuries, guts hanging out isn't bad. No.

Speaker 1: 2:30:26

Well, at least in Toronto, like you're not going to die. I mean infections, probably your biggest fear at that. Right, I mean you and I know that, but like this kid kid, I mean obviously, if you see your guts hanging out all hell you're gonna lose your shit totally but and fucking six years old like I get it 100. But like you, being that calm, like you know he's, I mean there's a good chance, unless he's got internal bleeding or anything else you're not seeing at the moment, you don't know 100, so um yeah, so I had him.

Speaker 2: 2:30:54

I uh put him, we loaded him up in the ambulance, I rode to the landing spot and then we put him on the gurney that the helicopter had and then we carried him, put, loaded him up in the back of the helicopter and they took off, and then is there any way for you to like follow up with these people? Yes.

Speaker 1: 2:31:13

Um, are you just such a high tempo?

Speaker 2: 2:31:15

You're just onto the next one it's every once in a while, so like we are really good, I have really good chiefs and captains that are on top of following up with um if we have rescue fires, those victims and their outcomes that seems to be where most people follow up okay I could ask and could try to say like, hey, can you try to? You know, can you stay on top of this and see? Or sometimes people will just tell me, or I'll get an email or something.

Speaker 1: 2:31:43

Oh cool.

Speaker 2: 2:31:43

But it doesn't happen as often as you think it would. And it's, yeah, it's more, so like okay, move on to the next.

Speaker 1: 2:31:47

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:31:48

And so yeah, but I'm sure he was fine. I don't know about dad, because he wasn't my patient. What?

Speaker 1: 2:31:55

about the. You said there was three people.

Speaker 2: 2:31:56

Yeah, the other one wasn't as bad off. I didn't even. I didn't even see him.

Speaker 1: 2:32:01

What's the dumbest shit? You see where you're, just like what the fuck?

Speaker 2: 2:32:05

Like when you roll up there's so many of that.

Speaker 1: 2:32:09

I know these are loaded questions.

Speaker 2: 2:32:11

I'm trying, I was like.

Speaker 1: 2:32:12

Driving here too, I was thinking I was like and I need to try to remember some dumb I've seen, god, I've seen some dumb shit, oh man I know, for, like somebody with your like profession, it's not like, oh, once a year and you remember this traumatic thing I mean, this is, I mean on an average day, are you going out once, two, three times, I mean, or?

Speaker 2: 2:32:35

you just calls, depends on where you work, depends on which station I get put in the holiday of the day yeah is it true that people just get crazier on full moons?

Speaker 1: 2:32:45

I have cop buddies that are like I think it's like, it's a thing, I think it's a coincidence.

Speaker 2: 2:32:49

Yeah, I definitely, I, yeah, I think. So I think those times fourth of july, like you said, fourth of july has got to be the the busiest I've ever been, probably um I.

Speaker 1: 2:33:04

What about new year's? Uh, new year's I. I feel like new year's probably more drunk drivers really.

Speaker 2: 2:33:09

Yeah, christmas is really quiet. Um, thanksgiving seems to be like normal okay, I normally for no influx and anything not really, but yeah, it depends like I have been getting lucky with good taps where they've been putting me every week so could be like I could go to a station and run four calls for the shift and that's it is that a lot? No, no, no really that's like slow as fuck.

Speaker 1: 2:33:39

In a day or your two days of working.

Speaker 2: 2:33:42

In your two days of working you could only run like four calls.

Speaker 1: 2:33:44

And you're bored.

Speaker 2: 2:33:45

Yeah, but then it's up to you at that point, like I'm doing my PT, I'm throwing a ladder, pulling a hose, like we're going out, we're doing training, we're going out, we, we're going out, we're doing training, we're going out, we're doing this, we're cooking, we're, you know, doing a workout in the gym together, or whatever. Like there's plenty of things to do.

Speaker 1: 2:34:08

You just have to do it. So, like a day like the 4th of July, where you know all hell's breaking loose, do you guys?

Speaker 2: 2:34:10

try to get everything done super early in the morning and then you're just on standby, yeah, and like, hey, if you want to chill at lunchtime, like fucking chill, and then and there is people like you can go, like you don't have to do all those things, you can just fucking kick it, make sure your rig check's done, do whatever. Like sometimes I do do that, like I I feel lazy when I do it, but sometimes I I'm like beat or especially if you run all night and you don't get any sleep, you're like fucking I don't want to do because there's no downtime when you're on your shift.

Speaker 1: 2:34:37

it it's, would you say, 48 hours. Yeah, it's 48 hours of constant, so you could come back of being on a call all night.

Speaker 2: 2:34:45

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:34:46

You're rolling back four or five in the morning dropping your shit and you can get another call and you're right back out the door.

Speaker 2: 2:34:51

Yes, or you could leave and run like three or four calls and not even see the station for like five hours.

Speaker 1: 2:34:58

Really that does happen sometimes too.

Speaker 2: 2:35:00

But then there's other days where it's like, if I get put at a slow station, you maybe run one call, and then you're like all right, I'm going to go work out, I'm going to cook lunch, I'm going to do some training.

Speaker 1: 2:35:10

So you get to learn the stations in there, yep.

Speaker 2: 2:35:21

You know, after working there for a little bit, you know where you go, work. Their call volume and like shit can always change. But there could be a place you go and you're like all right, I know this is probably going to be a long shift because it's going to be slow and whatever, like what am I going to do? I'm going to come up with a plan, or maybe there's training on the calendar, so we're going to be gone for a couple hours doing something, or maybe we have an event or whatever.

Speaker 1: 2:35:36

This seems like the life.

Speaker 2: 2:35:38

It's really cool. Definitely leaves you very sleep deprived and a lot of people have drinking problems. What's the downfall of being a firefighter? You develop unhealthy habits for the most part Sleep deprivation is real. I think you have to work really hard to find a work life balance and I just did that, like last year. I pretty much it was the first time ever that I was like wow, I'm making changes, I'm not picking up overtime all the time, I'm not gone constantly, I'm not doing this, doing that, like I can have a life.

Speaker 2: 2:36:19

Yeah, I have a life now. I have a life now. I like my life outside of work. I, you know, work a healthy amount, and then I take time off when I want to do things like this and then, like I didn't do that before. I just worked all the time, all the time.

Speaker 1: 2:36:35

It's part of maturing too, you know.

Speaker 2: 2:36:36

Yeah it is, yeah, it is. And, like you know, when I got hired, with the state too, it's like I don't have anything, I don't care. I have a dog who I know is very well taken care of by my mom, thank God, while I'm gone, but that's it. So I'm like, of course, I'm going to stack cash, I'm going to work, I'm working with all my friends.

Speaker 1: 2:36:53

You're the young ones.

Speaker 2: 2:36:54

Yeah, so but now, yeah, I definitely think that's a downfall and I think I think what I observe a lot which is through it's pretty across the board for fire police, military, to my understanding, and I've seen it a lot and I'm around it a lot and I hear a lot of things and I listen to a lot of people talk and watch what they go through and stuff like that.

Speaker 1: 2:37:17

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:37:17

Obviously affects home life marriage kids, everything Like fire, I believe, has like the highest divorce rate.

Speaker 1: 2:37:24

Over cops.

Speaker 2: 2:37:25

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:37:26

Really.

Speaker 2: 2:37:27

I'm pretty sure. So I think that that's a downfall, but I think at the same time, for the most part, depending on where you work, you can be in control of how much you work or don't work for sure um, some places, yeah, to survive to, to make enough money, you do have to work a lot, which is like what I was doing before.

Speaker 2: 2:37:51

but there does come a point where it's like you can learn how to live a different way. You know, or you like, I made my lifestyle this way and I chose to provide for my family. So I have to work X amount of days a month because I'm supporting three people at home, but then you get like an unhappy wife or whatever. That's like we wish you were home more this, this and that, but it's like you're out here trying to support.

Speaker 1: 2:38:20

And so it's a, it's a give and take, take. Yeah. And it's like at the same time, like you know, you see a lot of guys in the military like I wish your homework's, like honey, you signed that dotted line. Yeah, I, we met in the military. You know that was a big reason I got out. She was getting older and I wanted like I looked at all of my seniors and everybody that was above me and I was like these guys, they hate their, what their wives hate them or their kids hate them. They had no relationship with their families. They're miserable. I'm like you're 20 years in and you hate your life. Like why? And they were all like that? Yeah, and that's when I started processing it, like this is my, and if you just stop and look who's in charge and how their life is, and they're all the same, like that's, there's your path. And so I was at least smart enough to be like no, it's not for me.

Speaker 2: 2:39:02

Yeah, You're like I'm not doing that.

Speaker 1: 2:39:03

I want to. I want to start a family and I don't know what I'm. I didn't know what I was going to do at that time, like, and it was scary but I'm like goal was to career it I don't miss the military one bit.

Speaker 1: 2:39:21

We don't miss my buddies. Okay, you missed that part of it. Oh, that's, and that is it. Like I get asked all the time like, dude, you missed the core? Fuck, no, yeah, I had so much animosity, I hated it. I, when I, when it was time for me to go, I hated all of it. I hated putting on the uniform, I hated the smell it.

Speaker 1: 2:39:38

Where I worked on the beach, like literally seagulls would drop clams in our lot, like our we call it a ramp, where all of our vehicles were because I mean the beach was right there and then you, just like clam, would come slapping up, they would drop them and then crack them. That's how they'd eat them. So, like I literally worked on the beach, you'd hear everybody on the beach and smell the barbecue like I have. If you, if you're going to be in the Marine Corps, besides being like a grunt or an infantry or recon, even though our job was one of the worst, it doesn't even exist anymore. They actually phased it out, but we were stationed on the beach and it's the greatest place You're in Southern California, right, fucking hated it. I hated going to work. I hated everything about it, except for the guys on my team.

Speaker 1: 2:40:18

Yeah, that was it People make or break a lot of things 100% and I've always been one of those guys. I thought I was super fair, like all my guys loved me. I made it so much fun. I always took the ass-chewings for them. So I tried to make our environment so much fun and we'd always fuck around and like I'd always let him do stupid shit, but it was just like. Then you have that one guy. It's like why are we sitting here on a friday? It's it's five o'clock on a friday and I look busy like.

Speaker 2: 2:40:49

Why? For what? For what like?

Speaker 1: 2:40:52

all these dudes on my team have all done multiple deployments. We've all. We're all instructors like this is why we're here. It's kind of our and they're making us work. We're busting rust on a Friday.

Speaker 2: 2:41:01

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:41:01

Well, you've got to clean your weapons, which our weapons aren't just a normal AR-50. We're cleaning .50 cal machine guns that have pins and parts and little crap.

Speaker 2: 2:41:12

And you're telling me this at 2 o'clock on a Friday.

Speaker 1: 2:41:15

We've been sitting here all fucking week doing nothing. And now you tell me on a Friday, we've been sitting here all fucking week doing nothing. And now you tell me on a Friday, we have to have weapons cleaned before we go home. No, like you know. And so I started like processing that. And you know my last job in the Marine Corps? I was an instructor for heavy machine guns and it could have been the greatest thing in the world and it was miserable and I came home the while. I was like I'm out.

Speaker 2: 2:41:36

I'm done.

Speaker 1: 2:41:37

She's like what are you gonna do? I was like I will flip.

Speaker 2: 2:41:39

You'll figure it out.

Speaker 1: 2:41:39

I was like I will flip burgers in and out if I have to. I'm not doing this anymore and I had actually just turned in my reenlistment package. I was going to do another four. I just turned it in like two weeks prior and my team I think he knew about it. I should actually ask him. I haven't talked to him in years.

Speaker 1: 2:42:04

I had two dudes on my team that were running. It's been a statute of limitations by then, so I can talk about it. So I had two of my sergeants. They came to me one day and they're like, hey, we've got to approach. This guy wants us, he's going to buy us plane tickets to New York, to JFK. We just got to drive a car back for him. I was like I don't even want to know, I don't even want to know, go, do your thing. And these dudes would drive to New York or they'd fly to New York. They'd get a flight, they would land. As soon as they land they'd get a text message of the parking spot in the parking garage where it was level, all that shit. They'd get in it, the keys would be in it, they'd have cash in there and they would drive it from New York all the way to Oceanside.

Speaker 2: 2:42:48

Damn.

Speaker 1: 2:42:49

And they would park it in a used car parking lot and they would leave the keys in it and they would go and they would have a stack of cash. And I let these dudes do this all the time and my gunny knew, like we all knew about it, like I don't want to ask questions because if they got when it went down, but they, they did it the whole time. They're on the team with me. So, like I was like that guy's like I don't give a fuck, I don't know what's going on, like do your thing. Guys like I was a couple times, like you know, cut me in, like right, what's going on? But it was everything else besides that like was so the environment was just cancer and everything was just it sucked. And I was like God, I'm going to do this the rest of my life. And so that's when I realized like okay, I'm done. And I went in and I pulled my reenlistment package and I shredded it and I turned and then I turned.

Speaker 1: 2:43:36

I told my guy I was like, hey, I'm out. He's. He's like bam, if I were to do it again I would have got out of eight years. He's like it sucks. He's like I'm just writing out my time. And I was like when he said that I was like that's a sign you don't want to end up like that no.

Speaker 1: 2:43:47

And then all of the good and there was to be an entrepreneur, want to spend more time with their family, wanted to better their life. All of them were getting out. All the guys that I looked up to were getting out. All the good leaders. So then you're stuck with these fucking idiots that that's their. That's all they'll ever be yeah is a marine, right, yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:44:14

And then they're miserable because they're, they have everything else that piles on over the years of them being away from their family and children and all that shit. And I was like this isn't for me. And so, yeah, I, I pulled my package, I shredded it and I told her I was like we're done and she's like we'll figure it out. I mean, I ended up going straight to Afghan on a private side on the contract, but that was it and I made that decision and I looked back and I, I, it took me years that until I didn't hate the marine corps, yeah. And then I got the pride and the response. Like I was, I loved it.

Speaker 1: 2:44:43

But to me, like the last three years, especially the three years, I left my uniform at work, like I drove home in civilian clothes, like on my motorcycle. I was big and the you know a bunch, you know my with my bike and everything. Then I never rode home in a uniform. I never took, took my uniform home, cause it was a job to me and it was a nine to five. I went in. I wasn't, I was non-deployable and we were instructors, so I wasn't deploying, I wasn't in a combat unit or something we're going to be training. So I I didn't have to worry about it all that time. It already passed and I left everything at work and I came home, that was it, and so that helped me transition then.

Speaker 1: 2:45:17

So when I left I had guys, buddies, dude, where are you, I haven't seen you forever. I'm like, I'm out. They're like you, you're out, you're done. I didn't tell anybody, nobody knew. They usually do like a big going away, like ceremony, and you get a placard, nothing, nobody, even I was. That was it and I I peaced out cool, started my new life, never looked back and I was just. I was so ready by that point and then I ended up going through my emt. I really wanted to get on with with um pachanga, because my buddy at the time, his, his dad, was like the chief of pachanga down in temecula like by the on the res, yeah and uh.

Speaker 1: 2:45:55

So my buddy he lived with my tattoo dude at that time and that's when I was looking at he's like bro, he's like come meet my dad, he'll bring you on right now. Like he's like I've known you for a while. So I was like that was like my in and then that cause that was all I thought I was going to be able to do. And then, obviously, I got a job offer to go to Afghan. I was like Like it just your work environment makes all the difference in the world. Yeah, and so I feel like every fire department like you know, obviously the guys have your internal shit, but it's like I have buddies that are firefighters and, man, they all love it.

Speaker 1: 2:46:30

I feel like it is an incredible career. How would you recommend? So anybody listening, especially young ladies that are looking to start a career in this world, ladies that are looking to start a career in this world I mean, I know there's not a ton of them, but it's an obviously it's an incredible career path to take and to look into. If you were to recommend and we'll wrap it up with this, I know you probably got to get going and you're come off the mountain for this. What would you recommend? How would you recommend even even just a young person trying to want to make a career path, that going into being a firefighter?

Speaker 2: 2:46:57

How would you?

Speaker 1: 2:46:57

recommend doing it. What's the best way or the smartest way to be able to do it?

Speaker 2: 2:47:02

The smartest way to do it would probably. I think a huge part of being successful in this job is gaining experience where you can. I know that I have been very fortunate because I did not have to get my paramedic license, or even after I got my EMT, I didn't have to go work on an ambulance for a long time. That is what a lot of people do.

Speaker 1: 2:47:30

That's my path.

Speaker 2: 2:47:32

And that's great because you get the experience, because most of the calls you're going to be running are medical or trauma related or something anyway. So that's a really good path to go because at least you have experience. People love seeing that you have experience of some sort. But I always like when I was instructing in the fire academy, I told a lot of people I'm like, don't think that you just have to jump to applying for all these city departments Like Cal Fire great. Forest Service great. Go out there, get a job, get experience. It's much easier to get hired with those two departments.

Speaker 1: 2:48:07

So just get your foot in the door.

Speaker 2: 2:48:08

Yeah, because here's another thing you will probably love it and even if you don't, you're going to appreciate your other job you get in the future just by having to do that work before.

Speaker 1: 2:48:21

Because you hear, these people are like I didn't get accepted into the academy or I didn't make it, you know there's, or they only took a certain slot because I'm sure California is so competitive at this place, yeah, and you hear these things like that's one of the things when I was really pursuing. There's like you've got to find a department and you've got to get it, get even, get approved to get an application or whatever.

Speaker 2: 2:48:38

Yes, so, even if you that door shuts, try it again with cal, fire, blm, state anything, just get the experience I would say and and for me personally, I didn't plan on leaving my first structure department, so to me it wasn't a stepping stone department, because I think people do that. They look at the smaller one and it's fine. If it's like, say, it's like your local hometown, it's super small, there's one station, you're like I want to go be a volunteer and get some experience.

Speaker 2: 2:49:07

Or I want to go be a paid on call, go get some experience, like that's way better than doing nothing. And I think for me, like I just, like I said, I just went wild land because that, because that was the what I, that's all I knew to do just after talking to some people in a class, you know, yeah, and that was just the door.

Speaker 2: 2:49:27

That it was just the door that opened for me and I'm so glad that I did that because even though I didn't have a lot of structure experience, I had. I had fire experience. I ran medicals there and I got to, you know, learn a lot of other things. And so when I went to a new department, it's like, oh yeah, I have this whole skillset. I still used it. Now I get to learn a new thing and a new side. But, like I said, people love seeing if you have experience of some sort, and there are some people out there who you're going to go to an interview and I always try to tell people for interview prep and people that are new and don't have any fire experience or whatever. I'm like talk about what you do have experience in, like trade work or, you know, like construction.

Speaker 1: 2:50:16

Just want to see you're a hard worker.

Speaker 2: 2:50:17

Yeah, I did this trade, or I played professional baseball. There's a lot of athletes that I work with, literally pros, and they did that before. And then there's people who you know I went over here and built houses for six months out of the year or I did this. I did that Like you have to. We all want to work with someone who. You're gonna have to be with this person, yeah, for days they really want to know who you live together.

Speaker 2: 2:50:45

Yeah, we want to know who you are, that you have life skills that you don't just like, you've never had to, like, do your own laundry or wash your own dishes or do anything like that that's gonna change real quick yes, exactly, if you don't have fire experience, flaunt everything else that you do have.

Speaker 1: 2:51:04

Got it.

Speaker 2: 2:51:05

And make your like, sell yourself and for this path, that seems to be a really good way to get in, even as an entry-level person. They're going to look at your resume. They're going to talk to you in your interview. They'll be like, okay, this person has life experience, They've done things like they would be a good fit. You can teach anyone. You put someone in a fire academy and as long as they are yeah, they can learn, as long as they're strong, they don't give up.

Speaker 2: 2:51:28

And you know, that's pretty much it. You can teach someone how to throw a ladder you can teach someone how to pull a hose, whatever, be a, be a firefighter, but you can't teach work ethic and you know life experience and stuff like that. So definitely to people that are trying to get in don't give up, but also don't be so narrow-minded with your choices or your options and don't have to get on with this fire department like, say, boise fire department.

Speaker 2: 2:51:56

You're like, that's my goal yeah okay, well, even if it doesn't work out the first time, it's your goal it's still your goal yeah go get a job on a hand crew or on a wildland engine or somewhere else and then in a couple years come back and try again and let them know that be like hey, didn't work out, that's okay, thank you, and I'm gonna keep trying, because they also like hearing like that. You're gonna keep trying, because they also like hearing like that.

Speaker 2: 2:52:19

You're gonna keep trying yeah they're like oh, this person wants to be here, they want to work with us.

Speaker 1: 2:52:23

So when they see you again they'll be like oh he is back, yeah, got it.

Speaker 2: 2:52:26

Yeah, I work with guys now currently that have had to apply like two or three times to get the job no shit, that's what they want to see yeah, yeah, good to know yeah, and definitely just have fun I'm sure you guys have plenty of fun.

Speaker 1: 2:52:42

It sounds like it. Thank you so much. I know you just came off the mountain and you're on your way through and you're off to the next adventure, but I appreciate your time. Thank you for having me I'm so glad we finally got to connect and get you on and hear some crazy stories, and it's awesome to be able to see the path that you've taken. Thank you, where you started to where you are now, yeah.

Speaker 1: 2:53:00

I mean that was a hell of a journey and good for you, it's wild. It's pretty awesome, especially, I mean, being probably the only woman in a lot of these situations. So I'm team girl, dad and all about the women you know doing some crazy shit. So it's weird family, not like a male chauvinistic fit, but true, very traditional, my mom, was home did that and, obviously, having girls and you know, I pushed them to be able to do anything, whatever they want to do, and it's pretty awesome. So that's why it's.

Speaker 1: 2:53:25

that's amazing, it's cool, especially now that she gets to sit here and listen to women that have busted their ass and be able to accomplish some pretty dominate. So thank you, thank you very much absolutely, yeah, we love having you, so if you're ever back through, let us know and have you back on all right, thank you.

Speaker 2: 2:53:41

Yeah, thank you. That was a long time, huh was it?

Speaker 1: 2:53:46

yeah, was it. I have no idea. My eye patched it off, so three hours.