Student Of The Game Fire Podcast

Alan Styles- 35 years of combination experience. Fire Chief of Dalton Township Fire Department in Michigan. Cadre member with Build Your Culture LLC. When I asked Alan to come on and talk shop he was hesitant at first. He didn’t understand why I asked him. When you hear Alan talk the mindset he has towards the fire service is what most Firefighters want to hear coming from their respective Chief’s...

38 years of career experience. Retired Battalion Chief with Wichita Fire Department. Sid didn’t grow up wanting to be a Firefighter. He was a college student at the time that needed money and luckily for him had a buddy who was a Firefighter that asked him if he ever thought about joining the fire service. Sid thought about it applied and got on his first attempt. Once he was in as he states “It w...

5 years of career experience. A Firefighter/Paramedic with a department located on the Southwest coast of Florida. Initially Hannah wanted to go into the medical field but after a year in she discovered that the current path she was on wasn’t it. She had some friends within the service who set her up to do a ride along with one of the departments near her. As Hannah states after the 8 hours she fe...

6 years of career experience. A backstep Firefighter on Ladder 42 at a central Florida department who has been through adversity within his life. But with a strong loving support system and his faith he was able to upright his ship into the right direction. This episode is slightly different from the others. Kyle comes on to talk shop about his fire service experience and about a decision he made...

16 years of combination experience. Firefighter 2 on Tower 18 with Charlotte Fire Department. Cadre member with Truck Company Ops. Chad was always aware of the fire service but it wasn’t exactly what he wanted to be. Like many young adults his career aspirations wasn’t narrowed down to one field. It wasn’t until he was in college that the notion started to come alive of the fire service and with t...

20 years of career experience. Fire Chief with the City Of Stockton Fire Department in California. Bryan was actually in the legal field and didn’t have aspirations of becoming a Firefighter but felt like he wanted to do more with his life. His sister was a paramedic and mentioned the fire service. And with that notion Bryan became more curious and began to look into what exactly he needed to do t...

19 years of career experience. Tillerman on Truck 21 with DeKalb County Fire Rescue. Becoming a Firefighter wasn’t on William’s mind. It wasn’t until high school where he began to think more and more of the fire service. When he was sure he obtained his EMT and began applying and testing everywhere he could until DeKalb contacted him for a position. William isn’t perfect and tries every single day...

53 years of combination experience 2nd generation Firefighter. Retired Lieutenant with the FDNY and current Deputy Fire Chief with Christiana Fire Department in Delaware. Bob always knew he wanted to be a Firefighter. He tested everywhere he could to make sure it would come to fruition. He wanted to go big so being a Northerner FDNY was the cream of the crop. Bob was able to obtain so many experie...

19 years of combination experience, 3rd generation Firefighter. Captain on Engine 210 with North Charleston Fire Department. Chad started out as a volunteer with a few friends. Over time that transitioned to seeking out for a career position. Chad tested everywhere he could. It wasn’t until a friend reached out and told him about an opportunity down South where he packed up and went. Although Chad...

35 years of combination experience. Fire Chief of Beaver Lane Fire-Rescue in Marshville NC. Creator, owner & operator of Premier Extrication. Toot didn’t have that instant desire to become a Firefighter. It took him several years to decide to apply with Beaver Lane. But once he got on he did any and everything he could to be the best version of himself. Aspirations of going career was a goal T...

22 years of combination experience 2nd generation Firefighter. Deputy Chief Of Operations with Clarendon Fire Rescue in South Carolina. Lee’s father was a volunteer so naturally he followed in his footsteps. Once he graduated and obtained all his certifications he did any and everything he could to embrace the job and all aspects of it. Lee is not one who likes to just sit around. Although his ran...

30 years of combination experience. A District Chief with Houston Fire Department and Assistant Chief with Spring FD just outside Houston. Growing up without a father figure in his life Robert lived across from a fire station. The men within that station became bigger brothers to Robert at the age of 8. The examples of how they carried themselves as firefighters and men meant a great deal to Rober...

28 years of combination experience. 2nd generation Firefighter. Deputy Chief Of Operations with Lynchburg Fire Department in Virginia. From the young age of 2 Marques spoke the word Firetruck and that’s all he ever wanted to do. He was able to get into the Public safety field but wanted no part of having to do Law enforcement and Firefighting at the same time. The goal was always Fire. Once he was...

16 years of career experience. Apparatus Operator on Squad 18 with The Colony Fire Department in Texas. Growing up Bryce was involved in sports and had aspirations of possibly going professional until an injury sidelined that career track. Luckily for Bryce his quarterback had a father who was a Fire Chief and asked him if he wanted to attend fire school with him. Bryce figured why not and went. O...

19 years of combination experience. Captain on Engine 35 A shift with the Town Of Apex Fire department. Aaron was also selected to speak at this past SAFRE conference in North Carolina where he presented a class on Prioritizing the Search. Aaron wasn’t thinking about the fire service when he was growing up. He had a friend who he met in his band class that told him he was going to join the local v...

8 years of career experience, 3rd generation Firefighter. A Engineer on Rescue 1 for Savannah Fire Department In Georgia. Tyler never had the career notions of becoming a Firefighter. She was always around sports and in college played D2 Basketball, transitioned to coaching and along the way obtained her masters degree in sports medicine. But Tyler felt like she wanted to do more. Her father menti...

26 years of combination experience 3rd generation Firefighter. Captain on Engine 60 with Houston Fire Department, Logistics Tech with Spring Fire Department & Instructor with Fire Academy Online. From the moment John ran his first structure fire he was hooked and knew right then and there he wanted to go career. Hell if he even said to his partner on scene. Houston was always the goal and thro...

26 years of career experience. A retired Firefighter with Oakland Fire Department. Firefighting was far from Jason’s mind. He dropped out of high school early and didn’t really have a grasp of what was next for him. One day he watched Firefighters put out a dumpster fire and the Captain on scene asked him if he ever thought about the fire service. One thing led to another and Jason found his way s...

25 years of combination experience. A Lieutenant with San Antonio Fire Department on Engine 4. Rich always had the notion he wanted to be a Firefighter. Pre backdraft the long coat, hip boots and jeans were always etched in his mind. When the time came for Rich to apply he had to go up against thousands. But with hard work and studying Rich’s dreams came true. I absolutely loved the conversation b...

37 years of combination experience. A Retired Deputy Chief Of Operations with Thornton Fire Department in 2019. Previously retired Battalion Chief with South King Fire & Rescue who climbed through the ranks. Owner and founder of Redline Leadership LLC. Upon graduating high school Kevin didn’t really know his next move. His mother simply asked the question “Now what are you going to do?” And me...

21 years of combination experience. A Lieutenant/Medic with Montgomery County Fire-Rescue. At a young age Aaron joined his local volunteer fire department for community service hours towards graduation. What turned into just needing hours transformed into a love for the job due to the amount of work Aaron was able to establish under his belt. Law enforcement was the plan but that quickly went out...

34 years of career experience. 32 of those were with Phoenix Fire Department where he rose through the ranks and retired as Deputy Chief. Currently Deputy Chief of Rio Verde Fire District in Arizona. Lead Instructor with Blue Card Firefighting Incident Command Training. Chris had no intentions of becoming a Firefighter. But unbeknownst to him his father had a relationship with a guy named Alan Bru...

17 years of career experience. Captain on Truck 2 with Wichita Fire Department. Stephen was in the armed forces and just before completing his career wasn’t quite sure what was next for him. Fortunately he had some friends that mentioned getting into the fire service. As a native from Wichita Stephen figured it was only right to work where he was from. Once he got on as Stephen states in the inter...

Jonah Smith- 22 years of combination experience. Battalion Chief 9 with Charlotte Fire Department on B-Shift, creator and owner of Hornet Fire Training. Jonah never had aspirations of becoming a Firefighter. Law enforcement intrigued Jonah but it’s all about timing when it comes to life. His mother was able to get him in contact with a local fire chief in the area and from then on Jonah’s journey...

26 years of career experience 2nd generation Firefighter. Deputy Chief of Special operations for Dallas Fire Department. At the age of 10 Cameron was doing ride alongs with his father who retired as Captain with 42 years of service. Cameron knew his calling from the jump and where he wanted to be. He also felt the pressure of having to live up to your last name when your father created a standard....