Firefighter Podcast

Are We Training Firefighters Wrong? | Chris Gott & Justin Brunner Are we genuinely developing better firefighters, or are we simply getting better at ticking boxes, completing assessments and documenting competence? In this episode of The Firefighters Podcast, I sit down with Chris Gott and Justin Brunner for a fascinating conversation about the future of firefighter training, operational comp...

Why does meaningful change remain so difficult when decades of research, inspections and cultural reviews have already identified so many of the problems? In this episode, Im joined by Janette Morris , former senior fire and rescue leader and HMICFRS inspector; Dave Baigent , former firefighter and long-standing researcher of firefighter culture; and Leanne Allen , operational firefighter and rese...

Recorded at the World Fire Congress 2026 in London , I sat down with Dr Lori Moore-Merrell , former US Fire Administrator and founding Chair of the World Fire Congress, and Phil Garrigan , Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), to explore some of the biggest challenges facing fire and rescue services around the world. We discuss the growing threats of wildfire, extreme weather, operatio...

Lithium-ion batteries are now embedded in almost every part of modern life, from mobile phones and power tools to electric vehicles, public transport and large-scale energy storage systems. But as this technology becomes more widespread, are fire and rescue services keeping pace with the risks? Recorded live at the World Fire Congress 2026 in London , this episode of The Firefighters Podcast featu...

Recorded at the 2026 World Fire Congress in Westminster, I sat down with London Fire Commissioner Jonathan Smith for a conversation about some of the biggest challenges facing the modern Fire and Rescue Service. We talk about what London learned after being caught out by the 2022 wildfires, how training and capability have changed since then, the need for greater national consistency and a future...

Recorded at the 2026 World Fire Congress in Westminster, I caught up with my friend Professor Rowena Hill from Nottingham Trent University, who also chairs the NFCC Academic Collaboration, Evaluation and Research Board. In this conversation, we explore firefighter health and wellbeing through a much wider lens than physical fitness alone, looking at psychological and social health, resilience, mor...

This conversation with Katherine Lamb, founder of Effective Command, explores what effective incident command really looks like beyond simply following procedure. We discuss professional judgement, risk-based decision-making, command competence, behavioural assessment and the difference between being qualified to command and being genuinely capable of making decisions under pressure.  Katherine al...

In this episode, I travelled to Northern Ireland to sit down with Simon Hunter and Chris Colgan with the team at Hunter Apparel Solutions for a wide-ranging conversation about the future of firefighter PPE, innovation, leadership and firefighter protection. We explore how modern fire kit is designed and developed, the growing understanding around contamination and decontamination, the responsibili...

Dan Stephens returns to The Firefighters Podcast to explore the next evolution of tactical firefighting in the UK. We discuss the work underway with the NFCC to turn decades of fire dynamics research and operational learning into clear, evidence-based tactical techniques and practical micro-teaches for firefighters. From BE-SAHF, exterior and interior fire attack, flow rates, hose management and a...

Professor Anna Stec is one of the leading voices in fire chemistry, toxicity and firefighter occupational health and in this episode we explore what the science is now telling us about the hidden health cost of firefighting. From her landmark UK firefighter contamination research and work with the Fire Brigades Union, to the Cancer and Disease Registry, firefighter health monitoring and internatio...

On 8 September 2025, DeKalb County Fire Rescue crews responded to a commercial warehouse fire in Georgia and quickly discovered that the building was not what it first appeared to be. Inside the 14,000-square-foot Type II-B warehouse was an unpermitted film studio made up of temporary rooms, props, furniture, plastics and foam materials, creating a complex internal maze and a very different risk p...

On 30 August 2025, firefighters responded to a large two-storey residential fire in Texas after an occupant reported a fire in the master bedroom and confirmed everyone was out. Crews committed to an interior attack, but multiple firefighters ended up operating on the second floor in zero visibility while the fire was actually located on the first floor. As crews struggled to locate the fire, air...

Recorded live at INTERSCHUTZ , this episode puts the spotlight on PBI and the people behind the protection firefighters rely on every day. I sit down with Dan Melia , a 35-year FDNY veteran, former Safety Chief and long-time firefighter PPE advocate, whose career has taken him from operational firefighting and FDNY Research & Development into NFPA PPE standards work and, more recently, his rol...

In the fourth and final instalment of the High Rise Masterclass, Toronto Fire Captain Brent Brooks brings the series firmly back to practical fireground application. Brent explores big-water tactics, 65 mm hose deployment, nozzle reaction, progressive hose stretches, extending lines when crews come up short, improvised standpipes and the use of specialist nozzles and rotor distributors to create m...

As we prepare to head to Atlanta for the 25th anniversary of 9/11, I wanted to understand the meaning behind the trip and the people at the heart of it. I sat down with Laurel Clonts Malcolm from the Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund to talk about Terry Farrell, an FDNY firefighter killed on 9/11, the legacy carried forward in his name, and the incredible work the Fund continues to do for first resp...

The UK’s 2026 wildfire season has pushed Fire and Rescue Services into unprecedented operational territory. In this episode, we look at the numbers behind more than a thousand significant wildfires, some of the largest and most resource-intensive incidents of the year, the impact on firefighters, appliances and national resilience, and how the UK’s wildfire capability has developed over time.  We...

 In this episode I sit down with Portuguese firefighter and world champion firefighter athlete Duarte Mendes to discover the man behind the medals.  We talk about growing up in the small Portuguese town of Avis, the values and work ethic his family gave him, his four years serving in the Portuguese Marines, lifeguarding and the journey that eventually led him into a career with the Lisbon Fire Bri...

In this episode I sit down with Natalie Wilson, Founder and Managing Director of Workwear Solutions International, to explore one of the most important but often underdeveloped areas in the fire sector: how we specify, procure, assess and ultimately trust the PPE and workwear we rely on every day.  Natalie brings more than 20 years of experience across the supply chain, procurement, technical asse...

In this one-off episode I step away from our usual focus on trained emergency responders to explore what happens when ordinary people find themselves inside somebody else’s worst moment and choose to act.  Through documented stories involving burning buildings, aircraft crashes, freezing water, terrorist attacks, wartime rescue networks and mass evacuations, I examine courage, initiative, sacrific...

Recorded in the appliance bays during our March 2026 visit to Atlanta, this episode offers a quick insight into Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services and one small part of the wider American fire service. We discuss their specialist command and rescue capabilities, emergency medical provision, recruitment, training and personnel accountability. The conversation also tackles some challenging oper...

In this short solo episode, Im doing something a little different as one of the most common emails i get is about personal development tools - so here is one i think might be useful. In this episode im going to revisit & explore Patrick Lencioni’s book The Ideal Team Player and its simple but powerful framework of being humble, hungry and smart.  I look at how these three qualities can support...

In this episode, im joined by Chief Jason Caughey , a fire service leader with more than 30 years of experience and the Fire Chief of Laramie County Fire Authority in Wyoming, to explore the difference between simply training firefighters to complete tasks and genuinely developing people who can think, adapt, take ownership and act with confidence.  Together, we examine high-agency leadership, mea...

In this incident debrief, we examine the Boyd Street fire in Downtown Los Angeles, where what first appeared to be a routine commercial building fire rapidly escalated into a catastrophic fireball that injured 12 Los Angeles firefighters. We break down the building, the hidden hazards inside, the timeline of the response, the tactical decisions around entry and ventilation, the fire behaviour that...

 In this episode, we explore one of the fire service’s most persistent challenges: how we recruit, retain and properly support on-call and volunteer firefighters in a world that has changed faster than the systems designed to sustain them. Joined by Brittany Hollerbach, Emelie Lantz and Dr Steve Sadler, we look beyond the usual “people don’t want to volunteer anymore” narrative and ask whether the...

 In this incident debrief, we examine the two devastating fires at the Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh Building in 2014 and 2018, unpacking how heritage construction, hidden ventilation ducts, timber voids, compromised fire protection during restoration, delayed detection, and an unfinished water mist system combined to create one of the most painful fire safety lessons in modern UK firefightin...