The Cool Fireman Podcast

🚒 FIREHOUSE TALK WITHOUT HR! 🔥 What happens when you get three firefighters together, throw out some controversial questions, and tell them to leave the HR department out of it? You get Episode 184 of The Cool Fireman Podcast! Support Robert: https://www.theyardfoundation.org/mayday/abraham This week, Matt, Brian, and Adam (America's Favorite Unkie) are playing TRUE OR FALSE , and absolutel...

Ever wonder what it's like working for FDNY's Special Operations Command while running a firefighter-owned business with thousands of subscribers? On Episode 183 of The Cool Fireman Podcast, Matt, Brian, and Adam welcome back one of our biggest supporters, longtime sponsor, and good friend Thomas, the founder of Burn Box and FD Collector's Club! Thomas joins us for a conversation ab...

Learning From Loss: A Firefighter's Legacy & Lessons From a LODD | Episode 182 What happens when a line-of-duty death hits close to home? And more importantly, how do we make sure the lessons learned aren't forgotten? This week on The Cool Fireman Podcast, Brian, Doug, and Adam welcome special guest Mikey Hillman , a 19-year fire service veteran, to share the story of his close frien...

Are firefighters promoting too quickly? Does time on the job really determine whether someone is ready to lead? On Episode 181 of The Cool Fireman Podcast, Matt and Doug welcome back Greg Rudiger as a guest co-host to tackle a topic suggested by Patreon subscriber Jacob Samu: Are fire departments pushing people to promote before they're ready? With experienced firefighters retiring, departmen...

Who are you when you take off the uniform? This week on The Cool Fireman Podcast, Adam and Doug take a different approach. Instead of talking tactics, leadership, and firehouse culture, they're diving into something every firefighter eventually has to face: life outside the firehouse. After more than 20 years in the fire service, the job becomes a huge part of your identity. But what happens...

“I’m not mad.” “I’ve got a question.” “We have enough people.” “We’ve got a truck available.” If you've spent any time in the firehouse, you already know those statements can have a whole different meaning depending on which side of the bugles you're standing on. This week, Brian and Adam introduce the Firehouse Translation Guide . Brian gives us the chief officer version, while Adam tra...

Why do we love being firefighters? For all the conversations about staffing, schedules, leadership, cancer prevention, mental health, and everything the fire service could do better, sometimes it's worth remembering why we chose this job in the first place. Matt, Doug, and Adam sit down for a positive conversation about what still makes the fire service the greatest job in the world. From hel...

Does the fire service have an ego problem? Matt, Brian, and Adam get into the difference between confidence and ego and what happens when rank, experience, reputation, and pride start getting in the way of good leadership. Matt shares a story about reconnecting with a chief who knew him years ago when Matt was a young volunteer—and the first thing the chief did was apologize for how he treated you...

Train Clean, Fight Dirty | Ryan Conley of Carna Bunker Gear Visit: Carna Bunker Gear https://www.carnabunkergear.com/ This week, we’re joined by Ryan Conley from Carna Bunker Gear for a conversation about firefighter training, cancer prevention, fitness, and why we may need to rethink how often we train in our frontline turnout gear. Ryan shares how his background as a firefighter, strength athlet...

Fire departments across the country are trying to figure out how to recruit the next generation of firefighters—but what if recruitment isn't the biggest problem? What if we need to get better at keeping the people we already have? This week, the guys get into recruitment vs. retention and what actually makes firefighters want to stay at—or leave—a department. Is it money? Benefits? Leadershi...

If you could design the perfect fire station from scratch, what would it look like? This week on The Cool Fireman Podcast , Matt, Brian, and Adam are designing their dream firehouse—and quickly realize there’s a lot more to fire station design than apparatus bays and a kitchen table. Should administrative offices be separated from firefighter living quarters? Should every shift have its own refrig...

If you could go back to the night before your very first day in the fire service and sit down with your younger self… what would you tell them? Buckle up. This week, Matt, Doug, and Unkie are going back in time and looking at their careers through the eyes of the firefighters they used to be. Would we still become firefighters knowing everything we know now? What would our rookie selves think of t...

What Would You Buy With an Unlimited Fire Department Budget? 🚒💰 The Cool Fireman Podcast is LIVE from Raleigh, North Carolina at the South Atlantic Fire Rescue Expo (SAFRE)! For the first time, the guys are all together at the booth, surrounded by fire apparatus, equipment, technology, and just about every possible way a fire department could spend money. So we asked the obvious question: If you...

STAND YOUR GROUND: Firehouse Morale, Leadership & Elite Training This week, Brian brings a new game to the table: Stand Your Ground. We give our answer, defend it, and see where the conversation takes us. Would you rather be the chief of a department with unlimited funding but terrible morale—or lead a department everyone loves that's constantly short staffed? Would you rather have the be...

What started as a discussion about the best firefighter work schedule quickly turned into a deep dive into recruitment, retention, staffing, and the future of the fire service. Visit: TheCoolFireman.com UnkiesSeasonings.com TheBurnBox.com Matt, Brian, and Adam compare some of the most common shift schedules, including 48/96, 24/72, 24/48, and other regional variations, while sharing firsthand expe...

Why do so many firefighters criticize the NFPA and IAFF? Is it really about unnecessary regulations, or is there more to the story? In Episode 169 of The Cool Fireman Podcast, Matt, Brian, and Adam dive into one of the most debated topics in the fire service. Sparked by hundreds of comments on social media, they discuss firefighter safety standards, turnout gear, apparatus requirements, union invo...

What makes someone the firefighter everyone wants to work with? In this episode, Matt and Doug play "Finish the Sentence" and let the conversation take over. From firehouse culture and leadership to rookie mistakes, truck company operations, cooking at the station, and even dream jobs outside the fire service, this episode is packed with laughs and real conversations from two firefighter...

Is it equipment? Training? EMS supplies? Something else entirely? In this episode of The Cool Fireman Podcast , Matt and Brian tackle a topic every firefighter has an opinion on: where does the fire service waste the most money—and where should we actually be investing it? From bottled water and disposable supplies to expired medications, conference budgets, uniforms, and station culture, they div...

What should firefighters do when they're off duty? This week, the guys tackle a listener question from Squawk , a brand-new firefighter getting ready to start his career. They discuss why every firefighter needs hobbies outside the fire service, how to balance them with family life, and which hobbies can actually become unhealthy. The conversation covers everything from golf, fishing, smoking...

This week on The Cool Fireman Podcast , the crew tackles one of the biggest challenges firefighters face—and it has nothing to do with fighting fires. What starts as a listener question about rank and responsibility quickly turns into a powerful conversation about leadership, sacrifice, family, and the pressure that comes with serving others. From firefighters on the engine to chief officers answe...

This week on The Cool Fireman Podcast , Matt, Brian, and Adam tackle one of the most controversial topics in the fire service: 🚒 When does sharing become oversharing? The conversation dives into firefighter social media use, taking photos at incidents, off-duty conduct, and whether firefighters should be held accountable for what they post online. What starts as a discussion about a recent fire s...

🚒 Would You Rather: White Shirt Edition Returns! 🚒 The boys are back with another round of firefighter debates, hot takes, and leadership conversations that hit a little deeper than usual. This episode starts with some housekeeping, sponsor updates, Patreon shoutouts, and a heartfelt tribute to fallen firefighter Chief Harold Osborne before diving headfirst into a series of thought-provoking &qu...

Hot Take Meter: Are We Setting the Internet on Fire? This week, the entire crew is back together—Matt, Doug, Brian, and Unkie—for a brand-new game called Hot Take Meter . Every statement gets ranked as a Cold Take, Warm Take, Hot Take, or Nuclear Take , and the guys aren't holding back. From rookie cell phone policies and firehouse traditions to chiefs riding rigs and the ever-controversial to...

🔥 WOULD YOU RATHER: FIREHOUSE EDITION 🔥 This week Matt and Doug bring back one of the podcast’s favorite formats with another hilarious and brutally honest game of “Would You Rather?” — firehouse style 👊 The guys debate everything from lazy firefighters vs know-it-alls, strict policy vs complete chaos, old salty captains vs overly motivated new captains, and whether respect from your crew matte...

This week on The Cool Fireman Podcast, the crew sits down with Megan from Finergy Fuel Energy Drink to talk about building a firefighter family business, balancing marriage and kids while chasing big goals, and creating a healthier energy drink option for first responders and people constantly on the go. Megan shares the real behind-the-scenes struggles of starting a business from scratch while ra...