Firefighter Podcast

“Speak softly and carry a big stick” is more than Jared Vermeulen’s favourite quote it reflects the way he thinks about leadership, responsibility, and the modern fire officer. Born and raised in the blue-collar fishing town of Jupiter, Florida, Jared grew up around construction and was originally working towards a career in industrial design engineering before the fire service found him.  After c...

In this special High Rise Masterclass miniseries, The Firefighters Podcast brings you live recordings direct from the International Tall Buildings Conference and specialist high rise firefighting masterclass held in London in May 2026 . Across this series, internationally respected high rise firefighting instructor Brent Brooks shares decades of operational experience, command insight and research...

Today’s episode is with Randy James from Fire Department Coffee. Randy is a career firefighter and paramedic from Rockford, Illinois, serving since April 2000. His journey took him to Ladder 5, working alongside Fire Department Coffee founder Luke Schneider, before becoming Director of Brand Relations and playing a major role in the Fire Department Coffee Charitable Foundation and the Rescue One p...

Today is about what happens when the job we love meets a diagnosis that can change everything. I am joined by Dawn Harding, a retired Chief Fire Officer, alongside Steve Norman, former Deputy Assistant Commissioner with London Fire Brigade and now working with the National Fire Chiefs Council, and David Little, a former MOD firefighter and on call Watch Manager. Together, they are part of the Fire...

Jag, better known to many online as Mr Honest has absolutely exploded across Instagram and TikTok over the last year and has become one of the most recognisable firefighter voices on social media, not just here in the UK, but across the wider fire service community internationally.  What makes Jag stand out is that he is not just creating content from the sidelines. He is a serving firefighter wit...

Millie Margetts is a firefighter with Humberside Fire and Rescue Service, a coach, athlete, Gladiators semi finalist, and someone who embodies the power of persistence. In this episode, we explore her journey into the fire service after years of setbacks, the challenges and opportunities that came with appearing on one of the UK's biggest television shows, and the mindset required to keep mov...

CLICK HERE JOIN ME AT BLUE LIGHT SHOW | LONDON | JULY 2026 My guest today is Justin Fitzwater, firefighter with the Kansas City Fire Department and founder of Fitzwater Leather, a company renowned throughout the American fire service for creating some of the most stunning custom helmet fronts and leatherwork you'll ever see. Fitzwater Leather INSTAGRAM Fitzwater Leather WEBSITE Please support...

CLICK HERE JOIN ME AT BLUE LIGHT SHOW | LONDON | JULY 2026 In this episode I sit down with Martin Brown , Chartered Engineer and Improvement Consultant at HORIBA MIRA, and one of the world's leading experts on the safety of new energy vehicles. With nearly three decades of experience designing and testing electric, hydrogen, hybrid and cryogenic vehicles, Martin brings a level of operational...

CLICK HERE JOIN ME AT BLUE LIGHT SHOW | LONDON | JULY 2026 On the 6th of January 1995, at five in the morning, a man discovered his sofa was on fire in apartment 509 of a thirty-storey residential block in North York, Toronto. He tried to put it out, failed, and ran leaving his apartment door wide open behind him. That single decision set off a chain of events that killed six people, all of them f...

In this episode of our AFOA 2026 Conference Live mini-series, you are going to hear a presentation from Peter Critchell and Craig Rayner exploring the development of the all-hazard leader within aviation fire and rescue. Drawing on experience from across the UK fire and rescue sector, the session examines how organisations can move beyond simple compliance to develop truly competent, confident and...

In this episode, I speak with Kresse Wesling CBE , co-founder of Elvis & Kresse , about how decommissioned fire hose once destined for landfill became the foundation of a sustainable luxury brand built on three pillars: rescue, transform and donate. Kresse shares the origin story behind discovering London Fire Brigade hose, the journey from handmade belts to globally recognised products, and w...

In this special High Rise Masterclass miniseries, The Firefighters Podcast brings you live recordings direct from the International Tall Buildings Conference and specialist high rise firefighting masterclass held in London in May 2026 . Across this series, internationally respected high rise firefighting instructor Brent Brooks shares decades of operational experience, command insight and research...

I sit down with Helmut Zepf , Managing Director of the PPE Division at PBI, and Bill Lawson , President of PBI, to explore what is really protecting firefighters inside their PPE. As The Firefighters Podcast begins its partnership with PBI ahead of INTERSCHUTZ 2026 , this episode looks beyond the badge on the kit and into the science, history, and real-world performance behind high-performance pro...

In this episode of The Firefighters Podcast, I sit down with Jack Goodwin for a powerful conversation exploring resilience, trauma, identity, and the psychology of high performance. A Great Britain international athlete with personal bests of 13:35 for 5,000 metres, 29:16 for 10,000 metres, and a 61:05 HYROX time, Jack shares lessons learned from years competing at an elite level and how those exp...

In this special High Rise Masterclass miniseries, The Firefighters Podcast brings you live recordings direct from the International Tall Buildings Conference and specialist high rise firefighting masterclass held in London in May 2026 . Across this series, internationally respected high rise firefighting instructor Brent Brooks shares decades of operational experience, command insight and research...

In Episode 3 of our AFOA 2026 Conference Live mini-series, Principal Aerodrome Inspector Neil Gray from the UK Civil Aviation Authority provides a comprehensive industry update covering key developments affecting aviation fire and rescue services. Topics include terminal safety, the importance of Safety Management Systems, risk mitigation and maintaining operational focus within complex aviation e...

In this episode I sit down with Mike Maybin from IRRTC to explore how rapidly evolving vehicle technology is reshaping the fireground. From electric vehicles and lithium-ion batteries to hydrogen systems and heavy goods vehicles, Mike explains the hazards firefighters are increasingly likely to encounter and why many of our legacy tactics, training packages and assumptions are struggling to keep p...

 Welcome to Episode 2 of our special mini-series recorded at the Airport Fire Officers Association (AFOA) Conference 2026, where we are sharing some of the most powerful presentations and conversations from across the aviation fire and rescue sector. In this episode, I sit down with Matt Bourner from Manchester Airport Fire Service to hear an extraordinary story of resilience after trauma. Followi...

Welcome to Episode 1 of our special mini-series recorded at the Airport Fire Officers Association (AFOA) Conference 2026, where we are bringing you some of the most valuable presentations and conversations from across the aviation fire and rescue sector. We begin with a powerful operational debrief from Justin Nicolson, who draws on more than 30 years of experience in airport fire and rescue and a...

In this episode of The Firefighters Podcast, we explore incident command, cognition and the art of decision making on the fireground. This is not just a conversation for commanders. It is for every firefighter, because every person on the incident ground is making decisions that shape outcomes. From situational awareness and recognition primed decision making to THINCS, decision controls, stress,...

In this episode I sit down with Peter Younes, host of Project Command, to explore one of the biggest hidden gaps in the modern fire service: our ability to turn good ideas into finished, effective change. We talk about why firefighters are often brilliant at delivering under pressure on the fireground but far less prepared for the complex world of projects, planning, implementation, stakeholder ma...

This episode with Ben Selby from the Fire Brigades Union takes a clear and honest look at the pressures facing the UK fire and rescue service, from funding cuts and the loss of around 12,000 firefighters since 2010 to the real-world impact seen in places like Oxfordshire and Dorset and Wiltshire. We explore the strain on on-call systems, the need for national standards and how workforce changes, d...

Me & Rhiain Akin of London Fire Brigade explore the reality of domestic violence within the fire service and why it must be recognised as a workplace issue, not just something that happens behind closed doors.  Drawing on her own experience as a victim survivor and her work leading the Phoenix support network, Rhiain breaks down the many forms domestic abuse can take, from coercive control and...

How much attention do you actually pay to the uniform you wear every day? The trousers that don’t fit right. The seams that go. The fabric that fades. In this episode, im chatting with Claire Wilford, Head of European Sales at First Tactical to unpack a question most of us have never really asked: What does good uniform actually look like? Because across the UK alone, hundreds of millions are bein...

Recorded in collaboration with the Blue Light Show, London’s leading emergency services conference and expo, this episode explores what Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models actually mean for first responders, beyond the noise, hype and fear.  Sitting down with Jurga Zilinskiene, founder of Guildhawk and a leader in ethical AI and language technology, the conversation digs into communi...