Student Of The Game Fire Podcast

33 years of career experience. 2nd generation Firefighter. Creator and owner of CFT County Fire Tactics & recently retired Battalion Chief with Escambia County Fire/Rescue in Florida. If you don’t know anything about Curt I implore you to listen to the Weekly Scrap Episodes he’s been on where you can find more information on his knowledge on tactics and the fire service as a whole. The intervi...

23 years of combination experience. A driver on Truck 7 with Portland Fire & Rescue, Brothers In Battle cadre member. Growing up Anthony was attracted to public service and was thinking law enforcement but in high school sports kind of pushed some of those notions to the side. Right before Anthony was set to go into the education field he had a friend ask him about the fire service which reall...

33 years of combination experience 2nd generation Firefighter. A Captain on Rescue 1 with Durham Fire Department. From a very young age Carl knew what he wanted to be and where he wanted to work. He wasn’t able to get hired on his first attempt, but got it on the second. Once he did he knew the type of Firefighter he wanted to be. When you’re hired at a young age we sometimes believe that we know...

19 years of combination experience. A Engine Lieutenant recently moved over to Operations Lieutenant with Newport News Fire Department. Creator and owner of Mind Of Fire where they specialize in providing individuals to enhance their cognitive abilities to make informed decision making & Author of Mind Of Fire: The Science and Art Of Decision Making. Kiel never had sights of being in the fire...

21 years of career experience. A retired Deputy Chief from the Southern California area who is now the Training Coordinator For New Mexico State, Training Captain with Santa Fe County Fire & owner and creator of From The Ashes LLC. Upon completion of serving in the armed forces Justin knew the fire service was where he wanted to be. A friend’s introduction was able to get him through the door...

11 years of combination experience. Fire chief for Bonduel Area Fire Department in Wisconsin. Kevin got his foot into the fire service via the EMS Side where he started out as medic with Ski patrol. From there a position came open on the fire department Kevin applied and got his start. Although becoming Fire Chief wasn’t on his radar since being appointed Kevin made sure he took full of advantage...

17 years of career experience with several generations of Firefighters within his family. A Firefighter/Paramedic in the Kansas City Metro Area & creator and owner of Carry The Flag. Chris grandfather is a retired Deputy Chief with Kansas City Kansas Fire serving for 32 years. When you listen to Chris talk about his background and family history the writings were on the wall of the line of wor...

34 years of combination experience. Captain with City Of Spartanburg on Truck 62. Jared always wanted to be a Firefighter from a very young age. He was able to get his start with Hawthorne Volunteer Fire Department in New Jersey where he rose through the ranks to Assistant Fire Chief before moving to South Carolina to pursue a career position. Jared found the career route a little later on in life...

20 years of career experience. A Retired Fire Chief in the Ontario Canada region. Once he retired became a TI Specialist for Bullard setting to retire with them as well after 20 years. My discussion with Manfred may not be as alluring or sexy with Firefighters but there is no denying how Thermal Imaging Technology is probably one of the most under trained areas within the fire service. A lack of p...

11 years of combination experience. A Captain For Matthews Fire & EMS North Carolina who is assigned to station 1 also known as the Special Ops house. Kyle always wanted to be in public service and had his eyes set on becoming a State Trooper. But sometimes things we want in life just don’t line up and we need to adapt. And that’s what Kyle did. I truly loved hearing how the experience he rece...

28 years of career experience 2nd generation Firefighter. A Captain on Squad 1 with Dearborn Fire Department in Michigan. Mark knew he wanted to be apart of the same profession his Dad was in. It took him nearly 7 years to get on but Dearborn was the first to call. Once in Mark gravitated towards the Senior men who had the knowledge and skills he wanted to possess. One of Mark’s biggest takeaway a...

26 years of career experience. Captain on Squad 18 with The Colony Fire Department in Texas. Adjunct instructor for the North Central Texas College fire academy, cadre member with Citizens First, Build Your Culture & Forge Fire & Company. Georgia Smoke Diver and assistant with Oklahoma Smoke Diver. From a young age Justyn knew he wanted to be in the service. Even though the fire service wa...

19 years of combination experience. Lieutenant with Effingham County Fire/Rescue in Georgia on Engine 9. Jennifer never grew up dreaming of becoming a Firefighter. She was a Medical assistant in the Oncology research department. One day while hanging with a friend she ran a call involving a child. After the call was over one of the Captain’s who responded asked her if she ever thought about joinin...

52 years of combination experience. Deputy Fire Chief with Loveland-Symmes FD in Ohio. Best Seller Published Author, Creator of The Secret List, Firefighter Close Calls & 40 plus fire. Involved with International Association of Fire Chief’s Safety, Health & Survival, Sept 11 Families, National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, NIOSH & so many others. I can go on and on but there is no do...

Blake Cartee- 20 years of combination experience 3rd generation Firefighter. Captain on Truck 7 with Columbia-Richland Fire Services. Blake’s father wanted his brother and Blake to pursue a career in the medical field but from a very young age watching their father run calls & ride the rigs both of them wanted to get into the emergency services field. After having a friend of theirs mention to...

Mark Combs- 30 years of combination experience. Battalion Chief in the 9th Battalion on B-Shift with Dallas Fire/Rescue. Kevin Jordan- 15 years of career experience. A Command Tech also with Dallas Fire Rescue who works right along side Mark Combs. A strong relationship can be bonded through the integration of work and faith by approaching your work and interactions with others from a biblical per...

32 years of combination experience. 1st Firefighter in his family to go career. Retired from Fairfax Fire/Rescue with 20 years as a Firefighter from Bailey’s Crossroads station 10. Firefighter, former Fire Chief and life member with Kentland Volunteer Fire Department, former Ops Chief with Clearwater Fire Department in Florida & currently Fire Apparatus Manager/ Assistant Chief with Prince Geo...

17 years of combination experience 2nd generation Firefighter. A Captain on Engine 18 with Caldwell Fire Department in Idaho, President with Treasure Valley Fools & creator of March Mayhem Fire Conference. Gino got his start as a reserve FF for Sacramento City with the dream goal of becoming a Firefighter with Cal Fire. Once he was eligible Gino began applying anywhere he could to get a full-t...

22 years of combination experience. A retired Division Chief Of Training with Winter Park FD. Creator, founder & OG of Vent Enter Search, connoisseur of anything related to truck work. Growing up Jimm wanted to become a pilot in the armed forces but in life not everything is guaranteed to play out the way we would like. Jimm found the next thing best thing and for him it was the fire service....

30 years of combination experience. A Battalion Chief in the 1st Battalion for Anne Arundel County Fire on B-Shift. Brandon was attending college for an engineering degree when his living situation on campus wasn’t desirable. He turned to the local county Fire Department live-in program which allowed him to attend classes but also ended up being the best decision he made for his career. It was not...

39 years of combination experience. A Battalion Chief on B shift with the Indianapolis Fire Department. Doctorate of management in organizational leadership. I wanted Candice to come on and share her story of how and why she got into the fire service but also wanted her to preach on Organizational leadership challenges and issues within departments across the nation and she did not disappoint. Oft...

19 years of combination experience. A Captain with Buckhannon Fire-Rescue in West Virginia. Cadre member with Insight Fire Training and adjunct instructor for West Virginia University extension. Like many others I’ve been fortunate to interview Firefighting wasn’t on Joey’s radar. While in college and being apart of a community service group the fire service came into the picture and Joey went for...

35 years of career experience. Recently retired in May as Deputy Chief of Operations for Oklahoma City fire department. Growing up Mike didn’t have aspirations of being a Firefighter. It wasn’t until a friend of Mike began describing and explaining what the job entailed which got his friend into the profession with Mike following suit. Once he was in it was game over. Mike was fortunate to get a c...

Dr. Dave Mather- A retired Commander with 38 years of law enforcement experience 22 of those active. Owner and operator of What’s-a-Mather consulting where he goes around the world teaching organizations on deliberate leadership, culture change & public safety consulting. Dave has worked with more than 400 agencies around the world supporting public safety and the communities they serve. Yes y...

Josh Watt- 6 years of combination experience. A Engineer with Converse Fire Department in Texas on Ladder 172. Josh never wanted to be a Firefighter. He was approached by a few who asked him a couple questions which he responded no to but as they kept prying they found one that intrigued him and got Josh to say yes to. The definition of Opportunity is a set of circumstances that makes it possible...