Fire Engineering Podcast Network

Marc Aloan joins Doug Cline to get back to realism on the fireground for this episode of Fire and Training. They discuss why classroom time is only one component of preparedness and why company officers—not compliance checklists—own most daily training. The two also share the importance of learning practical guidance on training, having structured feedback after drills and incidents, and prudent u...

Retired chief Scott Thompson joins Larry Conley to cut through buzzwords and show how culture, defined as "how things get done," directly affects safety, trust, recruitment, and daily performance in the fire service. Learn why the company officer role is the tightrope between administration and the crew, why roll call and mentoring matter, and how a deliberate 18-to-36-month program including visi...

Hosts David Polikoff and Sam Villani have an in-depth discussion about tactics on this episode of Talking Tactics. They cover outside-in fires, disciplined company assignments, and decisive engine work to darken the C side before committing to interior crews. They also break down building challenges and high-rise issues like failed self-closing doors and hallway smoke travel. Throughout the discus...

Hosts Jim Silvernail and Jason Hoevelmann welcome Rick Barron and Steve Olswanger to Tactical Impact. The panel discusses a high-stakes residential rescue. They break down a challenging fire in an old, 100-year-old balloon-frame home that was converted into a multifamily dwelling. At this fire, heavy fire was venting from the first floor, where an elderly man was trapped. Barron and Olswanger desc...

In this episode of Hooks & Hoses, host Eric Dreiman breaks down the ways stress and tunnel vision degrade situational awareness on the fireground and at all emergency scenes. He shares the three-step situational awareness model—perception, comprehension, projection—and practical signs that improve size‑up and prediction. Dreiman explains common failures: task fixation, auditory exclusion, poor...

Host Christopher Naum wraps up his Fireground Blueprint series with a focused, practical analysis of building predictability, habitability, and size-up for modern structural firefighting. Naum reviews the five building domains—anatomy/era, occupancy risk, collapse/compromise, methods/materials, and fire dynamics. He critiques prescriptive SOPs and stresses adaptive, multilayered incident planning,...

Latosha Clemons, chief of Forest Park (GA) Fire and Emergency Services, joins Lisa Baker, Women in Fire's Southwest Trustee, to share a look back at Clemons's 30-year career for this episode of Women in Fire. Clemons details her personal journey from probationary firefighter to battalion chief, deputy, and now chief. They discuss staffing, line-of-duty death response, mental health, and why mentor...

Want to learn how to close the generational gap in the fire service? In this week's Humpday Hangout, the panel welcomes Creston Ludlow to unpack the hidden curriculum in the fire service. They detail how unspoken expectations, traditions, and communication styles often leave new firefighters confused and create generational fiction. The panel offers advice on how to have honest conversations, appo...

In this episode of Two Vollies and a Guest, hosts Jerry Knapp and Tim Pillsworth welcome veteran firefighter Jeff Shupe to discuss the importance of "senior man." They explore how experienced firefighters preserve departmental knowledge, enforce the chain of command, and mentor younger crew members. They cover practical culture-building steps: story time on drill night, after-action reviews, stand...

For this episode of The Backstep Boys, hosts Ron Kanterman and Tom Aurnhammer welcome fire service veterans Doug Cline and Stephen Shaw. Together they assess a troubling trend: healthy, capable captains and chiefs retiring after just 20 years. While many blame the younger generation, they argue that the real culprits are administrative fatigue, shifting community politics, and the relentless menta...

Hosts Todd Edwards and Anthony Rowett welcome Candace Ashby to this episode of Generation Engine. Ashby discusses her 36-year career, breaking down how standard certifications fail to train actual officers, and arguing that the push for agreeable leadership undermines necessary accountability. They discuss confronting administrative disconnects to ditching formal paperwork for honest, face-to-face...

For this episode of Fire Service Court, John K. Murphy breaks down critical legal issues facing the fire service:    1. Discrimination in hiring and promotion. 2. Wage compliance. 3. Disability. 4. Medical fitness drug policy. 5. First Amendment limits on free speech. 6. Off-duty conduct.    He provides practical steps and encourages taking a proactive approach in matters of legal protection.

Hosts Rick Lasky and John Salka talk search on this episode of The Command Post. The hosts debate and weigh the risks, arguing that while fires have dropped, civilian home-fire deaths have risen. They dismantle safety as an excuse, telling others to search. And they remind chiefs to balance risk with the mission. Lasky and Salka explore tactics such as crawl low, check smoke, close doors, expect v...

Host Tom Merrill welcomes Rob Reardon to lay out practical social media strategies every fire department needs on this episode of Professional Volunteer Fire Department. Reardon, a former TV reporter turned fire chief, explains how departments use social platforms to build trust, recruit personnel, defend budgets, and control the narrative during incidents. They give concrete advice about how to e...

Host Anthony Kastros welcomes members of the Redwood City (CA) Fire Department to walk through a complex, heavily involved apartment fire on Memorial Day. They detail arriving on scene of a three-story occupancy with fire extended over the roofline, establishing a transitional attack off a hydrant located within 100 feet, coordinating interior searches, and completing multiple rescues.    Guests i...

In this episode of In the Books, David Rhodes sits down with retired Fire Chief Jerry Streich to talk about a critical but often overlooked challenge in the fire service: managing difficult people. Drawing from decades of leadership—and a powerful personal experience that shaped his perspective—Streich shares insights on toxic behavior, workplace culture, and the people skills every firefighter an...

Paul Watlington, assistant chief of the Burlington (NC) Fire Department, joins hosts Anthony Avillo and Jim Duffy on this episode of Fireground Strategies to break down the pump operator’s job. They discuss topics including getting the rig to the scene safely, placement, water supply, and advanced pump troubleshooting. Listeners will gain an understanding of the pump operator's responsibilities in...

In this episode of Perspectives on Leadership, Chief Mike Nugent of Broward County (FL) Fire Rescue sits down with Stephen Shaw to outline his 45-year career in fire and special operations. Nugent shares the story of a childhood moment in Brighton that sparked this lifelong calling. He discusses technical rescue teams, building regional hazmat and urban search and rescue capabilities, and training...

Firefighter location tracking is emerging as the next major leap in firefighter survival, following SCBA adoption and thermal imaging. In this episode of Fire Service Data and Tech Talk, Eddie Buchanan welcomes Peter Burke and Mike Cox to discuss the next wave in firefighter survival: location, indoor mapping, and connected telemetry. The panel highlights the promise of this new technology and the...

Dave McGlynn sits down with Mike Nasti to explore the layers of safety culture in the fire service on this episode of The Training Officer. They cover why competent training creates real protection, how social media and inexperience skew safety messaging, and why ownership and humility matter when things go wrong. Nasti shares lessons from 19 years in operations and the realities of working in the...

On this episode of The Larry Conley Show, host Larry Conley welcomes Dave Conley to discuss turning the digital frustration of spam into a clear, practical framework for personal leadership. They share some laughs as they define "personal spam" as anything that demands access but delivers negative value. The two stress the use of proactive language, taking time to recharge, and the importance of d...

On this episode of the Women in Fire podcast, host Lisa Baker sits down with Reda Bigler and Brian Mike Saylor of the Phoenix (AZ) Fire Department. They tackle the misconceptions surrounding organizations like the Valley Women's Firefighter Society and FireVet, emphasizing that these groups don't alter standards, they provide the essential mentorship, structure, and insight candidates need to navi...

Captain Ryan Harris, a Marine veteran with more than 20 years in the fire service, joins this week's Humpday Hangout to explain Fireground Analytics. He built the cloud-based tool to make fireground events measurable and teachable. Designed to keep departments in control of their data, support national reporting workflows, and drive consistent, objective after‑action reviews, the system targets re...

Hosts Ron Kanterman and Tom Aurnhammer discuss why communications repeatedly appear as contributing factors in line-of-duty deaths (LODDs) on this episode of The Backstep Boys. They take a look at national LODD reports and field stories, showing where command often fails, along with ways to fix it. 

Host Eric Dreiman reflects on FDIC, survivability profiling, and practical victim-centered search tactics on this episode of Hooks & Hoses. Drieman discusses recent research and explains why first responders must favor targeted, split searches, saturating structures to prioritize bedrooms, and avoid premature survivability judgments. He details practical, experience-based guidance for company...