Episode 7 - Scott Effinger

In this engaging interview, Scott shares his extensive journey through the fire service, highlighting lessons learned, leadership insights, and the importance of adaptability and mentorship in emergency services.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Scott Effinger
01:13 Turning Point: A Friend's Tragic Accident
02:33 Career Development and EMT Experience
04:10 Transition to Frederick County Fire and Rescue
06:45 Overcoming Adversity: Vision Loss and Support
08:37 Teaching and Mentorship in the Academy
10:59 Moving to South Strabane: New Challenges
12:12 Union Leadership and Opportunities
13:55 Changes in South Strabane Fire Department
15:33 Building Relationships: Volunteers and Career Staff
17:37 Future of Fire Services: Consolidation and Collaboration
18:42 Operational Differences: Small vs. Large Departments
20:10 Decision-Making in High-Pressure Situations
21:33 Balancing Family and Fire Service Life
22:50 Spontaneous Adventures: A Unique Wedding Story
24:47 Traveling the World: Honeymoon and Beyond
25:20 Embracing Uncertainty: Future Aspirations
26:24 Lessons from the Fire Service: Experiences and Growth
30:04 Mentoring in the Fire Service: Sharing Knowledge
33:52 Words of Wisdom: Taking Opportunities and Being Flexible

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

All right, we're recording. Got with me tonight, Mr. Scott Effinger. Saying that right? Yeah, we can go with that. That sounds good. So uh most people have on I have like an outline and uh some history, but I don't know you very well. So uh let's get a little background. Where'd you uh where'd you grow up?

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Perfect. Uh cool. So originally I'm from Crescent, Pennsylvania, about two hours east of here between El Tuna and Johnstown, right? Up on a mountain on uh Route 22 there. Uh starting fire service there uh March 2006 at uh ripe age of 14. Uh grew up there with my uh my parents were in the fire service, uh my grandfather's in the fire service. Um so it was just pretty much a family thing, right? Just like a lot of people. Um so was hot and heavy into the fire service for about two or three years until I discovered, you know, the joys of life of you know, senior year of high school and you know, some drinks and some friends, and there's there's other things to enjoy in life. Um so went to college close to close to home. And where's that? Uh St. Francis University in Loreto, PA, so 10 minutes from Crescent. Um unfortunately had a pretty close friend uh passed away in an accident. Um, and that was my sophomore year college, and uh I was we were the first there with the rescue. Um pretty bad crash, uh close friend, just somebody that everybody loved in town. Um tragically passed away, and it was that moment that clicked that I was like, What am I doing in college? Uh, this isn't what I want to do. I was studying accounting. What what am I doing? Oh no, I want to be a fireman, you know. Uh, but you know, it's just a thing you do, is you you go to college, get a degree, and then go from there. But um Yeah, I got one of those and I don't use it. Right? Yeah, I got a picture on the wall too. Yeah, I can print something out. But uh so after that, um buddy of mine got me to do a ride along at Monroeville 4, started to get me back into the fire service. Uh went to Monroeville 4 for a couple ride alongs, was like, this is pretty cool. Uh started to look at the whole live-in thing. Um, and then I got a phone call. I was also looking at Richland Township, it's just outside of Johnstown.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Yeah, we had uh Chris Myers.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Chris Myers, yep, Chris, great dude. I actually tested LIBO uh with Chris, I actually drove Chris here, so I'd like to take credit for him getting hired. So, Chris, if you ever listen to this, you're welcome. Um, but no, so I got a phone call from Richland Township saying, Hey, you want a room? Uh and I was like, Yeah, man, let's do it. So that was in 2012, and moved in um there. Uh moved my way up through the ranks there. Uh, was lieutenant there, did the board of directors thing, you know, just really got back into the fire service, fallen in love with it, um, got real fortunate, worked some weird jobs, got my EMT, uh, became a deputy corner, uh, weird enough, uh, which was an amazing experience. Uh, did that for just under two years, so not very long, but long enough. You know, it was in uh 2016, 2017 I was in. So that was the height of, you know, we'll call the drug pandemic, maybe in Johnstown. We were running a great deal of overdoses. A lot of things were going on in the office at the time. How's one get into that? Have a black cloud in EMS in Johnstown. You know, it's it's great to build a rapport with everybody working uh EMS, uh, but whenever the corner knows you by your first name, it's kind of, you know, you kind of look up and you're like, oh man, I might really have that cloud that everybody's talking about, you know what I mean? So, you know, the normal route everybody does living in a firehouse, gets their EMT, works at five, six of different EMS services. So I was working in Johnstown at the time. So got to meet the corner a lot, and he's like, hey man, uh you want to give it a shot? And I'm like, what do I got to lose? You know, I'm I think it was 20, 21 at the time, you know, living at a firehouse. Like, I ain't got nothing to lose, let's do it. Uh so man, I'll tell you what, what an amazing experience that was in a very short, condensed time. Um, boy, I really learned a lot about myself and and where I want to be in life. And um not dead. Yeah, right. You know, six feet above, not six feet below. You know, I like my heart to keep going, not to stop. But um, so I did that for just under two years whenever I got hired by Frederick County uh Division of Fire Rescue down there in Maryland. What led you down there? You're applying random places. The norm, yeah, just applying wherever. Um, I was actually finishing up an interview in Virginia Beach uh for the fire department down there. I was coming across General Booth Boulevard and my phone went off, pulled over to the side of the road, and I was like, huh, no shit. Um cool report to Frederick County, Maryland. Uh class, uh recruit class 23. I guess we're in. Um so started that in 2019, December 1st of 2019.

SPEAKER_01 4:46

How big about recruit class for that?

SPEAKER_00 4:48

There was, I believe, 32 of us in there. Um, so it was a man, I'll tell you what, I needed that slice of humble pie. Um, you know, being a live-in, being a lieutenant, been there a couple years in Richland. I was really riding a high of you know, I was getting a ego, I'm sure a lot of people would say. Uh, I went down there to Frederick County, man, to a 28-week uh paramilitary academy, and I needed that in the worst way. I'll tell you what, to to swallow my pride, I'll say that. Um that was uh that was a lot. Uh, you know, you you you get the excitement of taking a job, you know, you go to family night, you know, the first day, and it's just it's a shock of you know, you're you're nobody, you're back to square one, you're the same as somebody coming off the street that has no experience. So, you know, I I thought I was in okay shape. I hired a personal trainer, you know, a couple months before the academy, and it wasn't long enough. Um, so you know, grinded that 28 weeks out, became very close with uh my recruit class, uh, a lot of great instructors, man, a lot of amazing people down here in Frederick County, and boy do I miss those folks down there. Um, but yeah, went through the academy there, uh, came out, uh, got my first assignment. Uh, was in Urbana down 23. It's on the Montgomery-Fredder County line. Um, and then I was in Frederick County for just under five years. Um, towards the end, um, whenever I got with uh my now wife, um, I was doing the commute back and forth in the middle of all that. Um, I decided to get laser eye surgery because I was tired of wearing glasses and ended up having a slight complication uh from that surgery. Uh, ended up losing vision in my left eye. And so a whole thing went on, and I was off work for about a year and a half. Um, and I'll tell you what, man, you want to talk about people say that the brotherhood's dead and it's not, man. Yeah. Um, those guys worked for me so I could keep a paycheck.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Um, and man, to this day, those people are very near and dear to my heart, and I was never able to repay everybody. And I'll give a quick shout out to everybody that helped me through that time, man. That was I I can't say thank you enough for guys that stepped up and worked for me. Guys I didn't know there were officers working down for me uh from their position just to help me out, so just I keep a paycheck while I went through that. Um, you know. So got through that, went back to work uh light duty, and I got assigned to the academy. Uh was where my light duty went to, or my light duty assignment, I guess we should say. Um, and that's where I got to meet a lot of amazing people, man, and a lot of great opportunities that uh I don't think I normally would have had it been afforded. Um just, you know, life works in mysterious ways, and you know, people believe in a lot of different things, and you know, there's a reason for things happening. You know, you you you curse, you know, why did this this thing happen to me? And you know, there's there's a good in it for you know, you gotta deep dive. You know, it everybody looks on the surface of well, it happened to me. Well, shit, this is a bad scenario. You know, don't be a victim. Take a step back, don't victimize yourself. There's there's a good in everything, you know, regardless of the scenario or what you're in, you know. There's a reason that you're in it. Um and and take that step back and and get that that you know that three 30,000 foot view of you know what's really going on, take the lesson from it. Um and I had a hard time seeing that lesson until I got into the academy and uh I was able to get my instructor and all that and and start teaching. Um and man, boy, that just really hit lit the fire again, you know. You know, going to the academy, humble pie, um, graduated, and you know, you're riding high. And the cool thing is, uh, when I graduated, um, that was the day that my brother also graduated from Hagerstown's Academy.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

So man, what a what an amazing experience. Um, walked across that stage, my brother pinned me. And yeah, my brother's six years older than I am, but that was him and I's first career jobs, and dude, I'll never forget it. He pinned me uh on the stage, put that badge on my on my chest, and uh, you know, he's he's like, dude, we did it. And and man, I'll tell you what, boy, what a man, he said that, and I was like, Man, you dick, you're gonna make me you know, I'm you know, I pulled a nose hair out, you know, it wasn't a tear or nothing, but um, you know, yeah, he was a yep, yeah, Cresson. He was a volunteer, and then uh he lived outside of Johnstown, was a volunteer uh in some smaller departments outside of there. And and so he's still on a job uh down at Hagerstown now. He's a lieutenant.

SPEAKER_01 9:18

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Um, so big shout out to my brother, man. That's following his footsteps, um, you know, always chasing him. You know, that that dude set an example for me. Like, you know, that's that's the guy I want to be, you know. That's awesome. Um, so that that moment we got to share on that stage and and Frederick was, man, I'll never forget it. That was a cool experience. But um, but yeah, back to the uh academy life. Um got to finish off all my instructor stuff. Uh ultimately got to teach a uh Firefighter One uh class to a uh group of recruits, which was uh a really cool experience, man. You know, you get 30-some students, and I'm one of the first faces you see when you come to Frederick County, and it's like uh should I be here right now? Like I'm just a little boy from central Pennsylvania, like what the hell do I know? You know, so man, what a cool experience. I had a lot of great people that back me up. Uh Captain Mike Webb, uh BC Malta, uh shootout, uh shout out to my buddy uh Hank uh Henline uh and a lot of other amazing people down there. But um those guys I really relied on. They really helped me get me through that time and get me back to full duty.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Yeah, your eye looks good now.

SPEAKER_00 10:26

Yeah, you can't even tell, right? You know, not twitching or nothing. Get to wear a uh cool piece of plastic on my eyeball every day. It's real cool. You should try it out if you ever get bored, you know. Um, but then uh yeah, went back to full duty, and three and a half hours one way is is a lot for me. And um it was too much. I wanted to spend time with my wife, and you know, it it was a lot, and South Strabane had an opening, and let's do it, you know, ten minutes down the road versus three and a half hours. And I I miss my folks in Frederick, but I love my wife, and that's who I spend my my life with and and my pups. So that was uh that was an easy decision, man. You know, South Strabane, here I come, uh Western Pennsylvania. I didn't know the difference between uh North Strabane and a South Strabane when I got up here. I didn't know anything, I didn't know anybody. Uh so it was another kind of slice of humble pie of hey, uh, you're brand new, nobody knows me. They just know I was a Hallman down in Maryland. Uh now I'm here. What am I doing here? You know. So came up here, got on a job, got a part-time job at uh Peterstownship as well. Um just kind of just getting the lay of the land, and then uh ultimately I'm taking a uh promotion to captain, you know, and that's where uh that's where we're at today. And then uh took the position as president of the union as well, so why not? I was bored. Yeah, you get bored, whatever. You know, if I look at it, you know, there's a lot of a lot of opportunities in life, and a lot of people I think, you know, they they don't take it for out of fear or whatever, you know, they want to say, but you know, Western Pennsylvania, it's very small departments, and you know, you got you and your driver, and there's opportunities that are afforded to you, and you gotta take them. Don't be scared to do it. Um, you know, I I'm 34 years old and I should still be riding back step, but we don't have that luxury out here along in many other places across the country as well. Um, but you know, these opportunities, if if you're the right person for the job, you gotta take it. Um, you know, you unfortunately you don't you don't get to take the time to spend five, ten years as backstep or just driving or whatever it may be. If there's an opportunity that you need to take, you need to take it what's best for your department if you're the mission, and and if you're a mission first kind of person, then then you know what you need to do.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Yeah, absolutely. So uh about South Germain, I I have only learned as much as I've either talked to you or talked to Scott. Um you've been there how many years now? Four years.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

So you've seen the kind of transition, right? Like uh huge transition, man. We got a new fire chief in a couple years ago, and um before then there was uh it was different. You know, I I was I was accustomed to a lifestyle of, you know, when I hear a box alarm come in in Maryland, you know, five engines, two trucks, a rescue, battalion chief, safety officer, ambulance, you know, everybody's coming. Uh and I'll never forget my first shift, uh, city of Washington, dropped a box alarm, and I just go running because I that's what I'm accustomed to, and I didn't know that's a fire alarm up here. So that was like, man, I got a I got a lot to learn. Um, but yeah, so things were a little different. Um, got a new fire chief in. Uh they've come leaps and bounds, man, uh, from where we were. A lot of progression. Uh, we got two new fire trucks, uh, we got the rescue engine that's running now. Got the new ladder truck that's about to go in service, 107-foot Pierce Ascendant, man. We are so excited about it. Um, had a really good truck committee, got a lot of good equipment that's gonna go onto that truck.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

The graphics are kind of yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

That guy, Scott Bullen. Uh, if anybody ever, you know, needs graphics on a fire truck, you know. Scott, I don't know if I'd be the first one. I'd love to talk shit.

SPEAKER_01 13:56

But uh if it wasn't for Scott, I wouldn't have uh any podcast artwork either. So uh shout out to Scott. Oh, a huge shout out to him. What a great guy, man.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Great guy. Uh talk about a outstanding dude, man. Took uh the fire service, you know, head on and just you know, you kind of envy those folks that that come into it later in life or just start all or just starting from square one later in life, and it's like, man, I don't know if I could do that.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Yeah, you know we run that we run that Shake Hog program out of our fire station, and uh I mean the number of guys you see in there in the 30s and 40s, I mean, when I went through essentials, it was still I did it in two weeks. Right. I mean the hours were there, it was full time, you know, Monday through Friday for two weeks. But if you were to tell me right now at 39 that I had to go to all those classes at night and all the Saturdays, I give those guys credit.

SPEAKER_00 14:46

That's a lot. 100%, man. Yeah, it's 200 some hours of you know, giving up family time, professional life, and everything. I I just I love the job, but that's that's a lot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

So when you started there too, uh, from what I know from Scott, the the volunteers and the career personnel did not get along very well.

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Yeah, there was a lot of work that needed done. Um, and you know, at the end of the day, it's the same job, regardless if I'm fortunate enough to get a paycheck or not. So it ended up being breaking those barriers of like, hey man, my roots are volunteer and they always will be. Uh you know, um, it's no different. We need to work together. There's a mission here, and the mission's first. Um, so you know, it was it was took some time, but uh, you know, we broke the barrier, and now there's I would say is a great relationship. Um, we're able to call on each other, the friendships are there. So, yeah, we've we've come a long way, man. I'll tell you what, a long way. A lot of hard work, countless, a lot of sleepless nights, as as you you know how it goes. Um, but yeah, yeah, doing a lot better. Uh a lot of a lot of progress to still to come. But what was the schedule like in Maryland project? 2448. Okay. And then when I came to South Strabane, we were doing uh what was it? Tens and fourteens? No, it was an eight and eight and two, what was it, sixteens, I think. It was if you worked Monday daylight, you worked Tuesday and Thursday 7, 8, 11p. If you worked Monday 3 to 11, then you worked Wednesday, Friday, 7, 8, 11 P adjustment. Yeah. Um, you know, I always screwed up the schedule. I was texting people I was working with, I was like, hey, do we work today? I just couldn't, I couldn't grasp it. Uh and then we went, uh, you know, we had that tragic um fire in uh 23, uh Thomas Campbell high rise. Um, and then we got the 24 hour staffing. So we went to two tens, two fourteens, uh, and then ultimately uh we went to the 2448 with Kelly.

SPEAKER_01 16:48

Before the fire chief that's there now, who organized the department? Was there a volunteer chief or was it one team? Yeah, there was a career chief. Oh, there was okay.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Yeah, there was a career chief, and then uh there was also a fire chief of the volunteers as well. Okay, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:03

I think you'll see a lot of that more around here in the next you know five, ten years or something.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

It has to happen, man. Consolidation, that's that's the key, that's the future. Um, you know, things financially things got to get figured out. But I mean, when you come down to our small corridor of Route 19, everybody's sharing employees. Yeah. Um, you know, I I look at everybody's resumes and I I can circle two names that are the same, and it's like what what's the future look like for us? Yeah, you know, what do we need to duplicate all the resources and services that we have? Um, you know, how can we do this that it's the best for you know, person having their worst day? What what what do our citizens need the most from us and and how can we benefit them the most? And is consolidation the future? Uh absolutely, uh I think it is. Um, but obviously it's got to be done right, and there's a lot of things that that got to get worked out, you know, above us, you know, as the the boots on the ground. Um, so I think the the future is is bright, uh, but just like everything else, there's gonna be bumps in the road. Yeah. Operationally big changes from being down there to coming up here? Yeah, man. I'll tell you what, uh, you know, you get out of the academy and uh you know they build you up and and you know you're gonna be the best firefighter you can be. And and then day one, you go out and they're like, uh, here's your aid bag and there's your ambulance, and uh don't even worry about a fire truck for a minimum of six months. And it's like, cool, man, like you know, you you gotta earn it, you know, like that that badge on your chest means something. That patch, that patch means something. Um, and and it's real easy to lose sight of, man. You know, you know how it is. You know, you get you get into that slump of, you know, whether you're that three to five year guy, that was always my big concern, you know, in in a bigger department, you know, you start to lose those people in the numbers of, you know, you're off probation and now you're just kind of vibing it out. Um, but uh no, yeah, pretty big change of you know, coming from you're mopping the floors, you're the first to eat, uh, but you're the first one done, get everything clean, mop the floors, you're not watching TV, you're studying your proby book, you know, all that good stuff, to you're making operational decisions uh day one. Yeah, maybe a little bit of everything. You don't get to hide, and that's what I love about it the most, man. I'll tell you what, we cover 24 square miles down there, and we have an awesome first do. And that is what one of the biggest things, man, is you know, we got the interstates, the infrastructure, and you know, the high hazards that we have down there. We, you know, we never know what we're gonna get, and it's awesome. But also, you know, there's only you and your driver, so it's go time, yeah. And that's where a lot of people see it. And and when I tell them about it, and they're like, man, I don't know if it's for me. Um, but I'm like, dude, listen, um, you get to grow so much as a firefighter in these small departments that you wouldn't get to do in bigger departments just because now you're in the seat. You know, you there's there's nowhere for you to hide. Yeah, somebody has to drive, and and somebody's riding a seat. Um, so you know, even just because you're the driver doesn't mean you're not gonna run command. You know, there's numerous times that I will punt command to my driver. It's just the way of the world. I mean, you know, we're out in a rural setting, or you know, I get somewhere that doesn't have uh real good radio uh reception for whatever reason, big building, whatever it is. Um, you know, I I gotta punt that over to my driver. Um, so you know, training's a little different in a small department. You know, it's it's hard when it's you and your drivers, you know, that's it on your crew, but you know, you got to break the barriers, break that awkwardness, and your training is yeah, you're you're training at you know, battalion chief levels. You're making decisions, you know, in that first couple minutes that you know BCs make that took 20 years to get to, you know, to get that to get to that comfort level. You know, we had a fire a couple months ago. We pull in it's my driver and I, and I I got three trailers off, and multiple people are telling us that you know there's no entrapment. And then I get out of the truck and all of a sudden there's entrapment in one of the trailers, and it's like it's me and my driver, EMS crew, and a guy that is a 9-1 dispatcher now works uh part-time with us, and it's like I got 30 seconds to figure this out. You know, you gotta put the fire out, you gotta get the victim out, you gotta establish a water supply, make sure 9-1-1 knows what's going on, make sure I got all these resources coming, you know, and that that's what I I thrive on. I love that the most with that with our area down there is like you gotta make decisions, man. You you ain't got time to second guess yourself. You come back and hot wash and figure it out and move on. Hold on one second.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

I have children in the house that apparently have an emergency that we need to be too intense here or now we're back. Uh apparently the emergency was if someone's name is a sentence or not. So I had to answer that question. Sorry about that. Don't worry, dad did a great job. Yeah. Yeah, mom's not home, so we're in charge of two kids and two dogs as we speak. So uh cool man. Um, what do you do out? What's fun for Scott? Uh wife and I travel a lot. Um, you mentioned you got a lope. That's that's some travel.

SPEAKER_00 22:07

Yeah. Um, so screw this place.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

We're gonna get somewhere else.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

It was a decision we made laying on the couch. Uh we were watching TV and our pups were laying with us, and uh, we were already going to to Vale, Colorado for a trip. And um I don't know who who said it first. Uh I will give all the credit to my wife because I'm not the smart one, and she's like, I think we should take advantage of it and get married. And I was like, Yeah, I think we should. And uh so two weeks. Uh well, we decided that night and we're like, oh shit, we're getting married in two weeks. Um cool. Uh let's let's figure this out. Um, so went to hometown Joeler from where she's from. She's uh from Berlin, PA, so just south of Johnstown, uh a little bit. Do you guys meet out that way? You were working in Maryland or no, we met through a mutual friend when I was younger. She's she's a couple years older than me, but uh I was the annoying little brother of the group, and then and then I grew up. And we'll leave it at that, yeah. So I don't get hit. But um, but no, man. Yeah, so two weeks we went to Joel her back home. She got her dress, I figured out an outfit. We met with uh a couple different photographers on Zoom and picked the the Whitney. Shout out to her, she's she's amazing, dude. What a what a cool, cool chick. Um, she hooked us up with this spot called uh Piney Lake, uh up above Vale, up in the mountains, and uh yeah, we're like, cool, we're doing this. So out there in out in Colorado, dogs can witness uh your marriage license. So there you go. So after we eloped, we signed our uh marriage license up here at Piney Lake, and then uh we used the dog stamps to uh witness, and then that went on the record. So that's pretty cool. Yeah, so my wife and uh her business partner was up here with us and then eloped, went back down in the veil, parted it up, and yeah. Family get pissed. Uh everybody knew nobody was surprised because of the way Ella and Scott live their lives. I mean, we'll, you know, my mom will text me and be like, Oh, where are you going today? And be like, uh, we just landed on Turks and Caicos. How you doing? You know, so nobody was surprised. Yeah, uh, everybody was so excited for us, man. Yeah, we we got back down in the Vale, back into to the area where there's service, and we started calling people, and everybody's like, We knew it, we knew it. So it was cool, man. It was perfect for us. That that's who her and I are, man. We we love to get out and travel, that's what we do. Um, and yeah, so traveling, we went to Europe for our honeymoon. Well, technically any trip after uh you know you get married, we call it a honeymoon, you know, get the perks, whatever. I don't care. It's not below me. And uh, we went to Europe for uh 20-something days. Nice. We're in Italy and in Switzerland and Amsterdam and London and uh went to a Taylor Swift concert in Italy. It's pretty awesome. Yeah, it's pretty cool. I suggest it. I was a big fan. Nice, nice. But yeah, we travel all over. Um also we have a camper down at uh her family's property down outside of Grantsville, Maryland. Okay, so we take the pups down there, spend a lot of time down there, try and get out, skiing as much as I can, go out fishing. Um, and then yeah, that's about it. What's on the future for you? Anything like where you're at? No, man. I I love uh you know, when I tested LIBO, I tested with Dan Morris, I test with Chris Myers, right? And um, I'll never forget it. So we tested, went down to what is that, LIBO subs, had lunch, came back, finished it off, went home, and um it was a couple weeks the results came out. And uh Dan Morris, I know he'll listen to this, and uh he texted me, he's like, Man, I I don't remember the exact words, but he said something along the lines of in this text message, man, I feel bad for this guy. I don't know who this idiot is. I was like, son of a bitch, I was the cut. Damn. You know what I mean? So, you know, it wasn't meant to be at the time. But uh yeah, I don't know what my future holds, man. I I just know it's gonna be with my wife and and the pups, um, and and wherever this crazy world takes us, it takes us. But uh, you know, it's a it's an amazing journey. I've been very blessed so far, and I'm just holding on tight, man. Where wherever it takes me, it takes me. Um just just happy to be wherever I can be and wherever I can make a positive impact, I can, and and that's where it's at. Cool, man.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Uh the best experience you've had so far in the fire service, whether it was a good job or training or anything good.

SPEAKER_00 26:36

A lot of experiences. I'm just looking at another beer. Man, I've had a lot of experiences so far. I've been very blessed. I'm very young, but I've had a lot of cool experiences. Um I mean, we can go back to that accident in uh you know 2011, 2012, um, you know, when that when that taught me that, you know, there's more important things in life, and you know following your passion is is where it's at. Um, you know, I could go to you get a degree and and work that, you know, that job that, you know, I don't love. Um, or I can, you know, take a leap. I'm gonna drop out of college and I'm gonna move into a fire station and we're just gonna figure out where life takes me, you know. And boy, I'm so happy I made that decision. And I'm really happy that you know I took that leap and and moved into Richland. I lived with some awesome dudes. Uh, a couple guys are on well, everybody I've lived with is on the job. You name it, they're all over Harrisburg, Frederick, uh, Howard County, Montgomery County.

SPEAKER_01 27:42

Yeah, I didn't really know much about there until Chris came here. Yeah, the three house. Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's going, he's back there now. Um, they've got some paid staffing, and uh he seems to be steering the ship in the right direction.

SPEAKER_00 27:55

Oh yeah, man. Chris is a great dude, great head on his shoulders, and and they'll get that head ship to where it needs to be. But yeah, man, I moved in. There was I don't know, eight to twelve live-ins at a time, I think, something like that. Maybe it dropped a six, but um yeah, what an amazing experience. Uh, anybody that wants a career into fire service, go be a live-in. Ugh, man, what a it just it teaches you a lot about yourself. Um, you get to run calls days and nights.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Um you get EMS there? No, no, no, no, but they were pretty busy.

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Oh, yeah. Yeah, we were, I think it was somewhere around I don't know, 1600 to 2,000 calls a year, something like that. Uh rang a lot of fires. Um, just man, what a lot of great experiences. Uh, got to meet a lot of great people. Um, you know, uh being a live-in officer was a great experience, you know, trying to be in in charge of, you know, anybody from 18 to I don't know, 25, 30 years old, you know, how how the heck do you corral those guys in? Yeah. Um, so what a it was a great experience for me as well to to grow and learn, you know. Um, but yeah, boy, I can't speak enough on Richland. That's a place, that's a very special place in my heart. Um yeah, shout out to Todd Schaefer and Bob Heffelfinger, Lester Blau, Wes Myers. You know, there's a lot of guys I'd love to give a lot of shout-outs to, but um, Jim Habricorn's another one. Uh, a lot of a lot of great guys, a lot of mentors I've had uh throughout my time that I can still call to this day. Um, you know, you're just having a down and out day. Um you're like, man, is this am I making the right decision? Am I, you know, I'm 34 years old, I'm a captain. What the hell am I doing? I should be doing this for God's sake. I should be in the backseat or I should be driving. Um, you know, and these guys give you a little confidence boost, like get your head out of your ass. Like, you're good, man. You're making the right decisions. It's just a bad day. It's a bump. It's cool. You're gonna have many, many bigger bumps in the road that are gonna cause maybe way more anxiety and stress than this little incident you're having now. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:55

Cool. I'm trying to think of other shit to talk about. Um like I said, everybody else who kind of had an agenda. Yeah, I knew Scott was coming. We're just gonna kind of shoot the shit. Dude, I'm all about it. Yeah, I'll shoot shit all day long.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

What uh I did a little teaching for the IFC. Uh traveled around the country teaching about mentoring. Yeah, it was a cool experience. Uh I got to got to meet a lot of cool people. Um a lot of different perspectives in life, you know, teaching in Maine versus Florida versus Kansas City versus Dallas, Texas, you know, you that boy, that really helped me a lot. Uh open my eyes up to, you know, there's there's more ways to look at this. And there, you know, there's you you try to be successful in this career, and you know, you always feel like you're failing. And you get to get excuse me, uh, different perspectives of it, and you bring that home, and just like everything else, you take a couple other ideas and morph them into yours. And and man, I I learned a lot on the road, uh, getting to teach that, um, teaching about mentoring programs. You know, everybody does it, everybody does mentoring. It's more of an informal setting, right? You know, not a lot of people put the name mentor program on is the title, you know, it may be standoffish or for whatever it may be, but you know, just getting to travel around just to see everybody's perspectives and how people are doing things, you know, in a small rural town in Maine, uh, the way that, you know, they're getting recruitment, you know, they're a they're a summer town and you know, a lot, not a lot of people there. So how do they make things go? And and how do you mentor somebody that you've known since they were born versus you know a bigger department that's you know, maybe in Hawaii and they're trying to do a mentoring program to bring the career and volunteer departments together, um, you know, totally different perspectives, but you can take those ideas and morph them into yours and and and be successful that way. So that was a really, really cool experience um that I got to do uh for it was a little over a year. I got to teach a couple of different classes, but yeah, mentoring is uh is pretty pretty near and dear to my heart, man. I mean, nobody would be where they're at without mentors, you know. It's it's informal and you may not know people are mentors, but they're your mentors. Yeah. Um, you know, and that's trying to to always respect that and and pay homage to those guys that came before you to get you to where you're at. Um, you know, they're they're always your biggest cheerleaders and you just don't know it. They you know, they may be on the surface, they're you know, they're hardcore and they might tell you you suck, but really they're they're building you up and they're pushing you to get better, and they they see the potential in you and they really push you to get better, and that's you know, you know, it it's just hard to you don't want to lose sight of that. And a lot of people lose sight of that, they're like, you know, you know, this mentor got me through this one tough time. They they might be able to get you through a lot more, or maybe, you know, maybe that one instance was it. But um, but yeah, that uh trying to teach the next generation, you know, you gotta remember what your mentors taught you and and hold that near and dear to your heart to pass on to the next generation. You know, you don't want to be the old guy at 80 years old, being, uh damn kids, they don't know anything that we went through, you know. You don't want to be that guy. So you just want to leave it better than you found it, just like everybody else, man. So do any teaching around here nowadays? No, man. My uh state of Pennsylvania instructor, my cousin jumps in me all the time, Joe Adams from Crescent. He's still a teacher. Um he's like, you know, one thing I ask you to do before I die is get your PA suppression instructor or be a suppression instructor. I said, Hey, I got mine in Maryland. Uh I was a Miffery instructor, so that counts. But uh reciprocity. Yeah, no reciprocity. Not yet, but uh, you know, one day I will. Um, just with everything going on with uh, you know, current state of affairs, with union, life, travel. You know, I'm ha I love doing the in-house thing. If anybody around the area wants to, you know, hit me up for help.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

All right. So my son is stuck in the neighbor's yard. Oh no. Yeah, we'll get him out. Deploy the Shake Cog team. Yeah, we'll immediately out here. All right, tell them I'll be up in a minute, all right? Okay, that's the beauty of the East Side Fireman's chat here. Constantly interrupted.

SPEAKER_00 33:56

We gotta be flexible.

SPEAKER_01 33:57

Yeah, absolutely. Uh any words of wisdom, closing statements, regards, uh advice for the future, anything good?

SPEAKER_00 34:07

Yeah, man, take those opportunities. I mean, it's okay to be scared and cautiously optimistic, but take those opportunities. You know, there's somebody puts you in that position for a reason. Um and a lot of great things can happen for you. The road's always gonna be bumpy, it's never gonna be clear, the shun's sun's not always gonna be shining, but um, take that leap, man, take that opportunity um because the the mission needs people like you, you know what I mean? Yeah, so that's uh that would be my best tidbit for everybody. I like that. It's my TED talk. So take the opportunities, man. Take that leap of faith. It's yeah, it's gonna be rocky, it's gonna be bumpy, it's not gonna feel great. But um, man, at the end of the day, uh when when you put those final retirement papers in, or you know, you're you're done with the fire service, you know, you can look back and smile and say, you know what, I did have a positive impact. And I took those those those opportunities that were afforded to me because I was the right person for the job. You know, again, you know, you go to a small department, promotion time comes. I don't want to be promoted. I just want to be a I love driving. That's my thing. I love driving, I love rural water movement, I love doing that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

Um I think that's something that's often overlooked. I mean, you kind of talked about it earlier, like these smaller departments, like you get to do a little bit of everything. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

And uh so I love it at 24 square miles, man, South Strabane. You know, I'm I we're first do truck into the city, Washington, you know, and then I sneeze, and we're out in rural country where I have no hydrants. Yeah. And now where's our water coming from? Who's my relay pumper? We nurse tanker operations, all this good stuff, and everybody's like, ooh, ooh, what's uh what's jet siphoning? And it's like, hmm, I got you. Come with me, come with me, I got you. You know what I mean? So yeah, that's that's why I love it so much, man. Like you just you you're in it, you don't have a choice to not be in it. Yeah, you you know, you you signed up for the job, you tested here. I didn't I didn't force you to be here. I may have encouraged you a lot to come test, but you know, at the end of the day, you're you're the you're the adult making a decision, and people take these jobs and they're like, man, this this really sucks. I gotta do a lot. And it's like, well, well, yeah, I surprise. I don't I don't know. Did you expect this to be a four-person engine company or truck company? It's just not it's not the cards. I mean, it's just you can't do it financially. It's too expensive. Um, so you just at the end of the day, adaptability. How do you adapt and overcome? You know, we work very close with our mutual aid departments. Um, you know, we're always training uh with the guys from City of Washington, North Strabane, Chartiers, you know, uh North Franklin, Amwell, uh Canton Township. Um, you know, you have to rely on everybody. You you don't the days of I'm taking care of my town and that's it, those are long gone. I'm sorry, but you know, to be efficient and be successful, you have to rely on your your mutual aid. Um, yeah, you know, you got to get out of, you know, take that, take that step. It's gonna be an uncomfortable step, but you know, we start working towards consolidation or you know, those J OGs or something to that nature. Um, you know, again, mission first. Um, how can we best serve our citizens? Um, you know, do we need to, you know, duplicate all the equipment that we have, or can we use what you know somebody else has?

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Because mutual aid-wise pretty squared away down there. Is there any outliers that are like, nope, not helping you?

SPEAKER_00 37:23

Uh no, man, we're all good. Yeah, we'll we'll go. I I'm not getting this is not a bad term, but I got a group of degenerates that just want to go to fires and and and do firemen stuff, you know what I mean? So that's they'll go anywhere, anytime, no matter what, you know, whether it's tanker ops in the middle of the night, whether it's, you know, we have the South Junction to fly over, it's a hundred and a hundred and twenty-nine feet. You know, I got a tractor trailer hanging off of that. It's it's go time. Yeah, it's you and your driver, and maybe you have a third, maybe. Um, but saddle up partner, you're up, you're making the decisions, and you know, and that's that was a big push why we were able to get the uh ladder truck. Chief did a hell of a job of you know marketing for it. You know, we have a 70-foot suffin and we got multiple buildings that that thing won't reach. So um this truck's gonna be huge for our area and a lot of our mutual aid partners, uh, especially when it comes to the rope rescue. We got the life poly system on it. So we uh we invested a lot of money into the our rope cash, if you will. Um, so um, yeah, man, just looking forward to the future. We got a lot of a lot of great people down there, um, you know, a lot of great departments down there, people in the right position, just you know, just getting us to where we need to be. Best service citizens, mission first, and don't don't be scared to to take those opportunities just because you don't think you're the right person for the job. You probably are the right person for the job. You know, don't be scared. Cool, man. Well, hey, I appreciate you coming down. Yeah, brother. I appreciate the invite. Uh, this was awesome.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

Thank you very much. Anytime we're gonna go drink like five more beers, get my son out of my neighbor's yard.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

So stand by TRT teams.