The Weekly Scrap, Firefighter Podcast

Joined by the exceptional Chief Richard Kelley to talk about his journey through the ranks and lessons learned along the way. We discussed his philosophy on leading up, culture, training, overcoming adversity and Chief Kelley absolutely crushed anything and everything the audience threw at him!  Was an amazing Scrap!

Joined on this episode by none other than the one and only Paul Combs. The de-facto cartoonist of the fire service!  We discussed motivation, inspiration, leadership and how to make an impact in your organizations culture. This might be the episode that hit me hardest in the gut.

Joined on this episode by Jaime Reyes, who is passionate about improving the job! We are going to talk about fireground communications, how they can be improved, common problems and obstacles, from the technical to the common sense... then we will shift to leadership and culture... it was an awesome conversation with tons of questions from the live audience!

Joined on this episode by one of my favorite people on the planet, Nick Ledin! We talked about Firefighter Rescue Survey and the data that it is providing, Search... mission, metrics and mindset... plus whatever the audience throws our way! This was a great conversation!

Joined by Chief Ben Hoeppner to talk all about setting our young people up for success in their fire service careers. We will talk about handlines, firefighter challenges, and the progression of fire culture. It was an awesome conversation with tons of questions from the audience, and a lot of rabbit holes to go down.

Ray is coming on to talk about live fire training and the challenges the modern fire service is facing!!! On April 9th, 2022 Ray McCormack posted "The Fire service needs to bring live fire training up a notch by working on replicating today's fires for today's firefighters." The post went viral, and sparked hundreds of comments and questions. Ray is coming on the Scrap to discu...

Joined on this episode by Mickey Farrell, We talk about the importance of turning mindset into skillset, gaining position on the fire, understanding and developing flowstate, and that does not even include everything the audience threw our way! Was an amazing scrap, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

The audience was amazing and the live Scrap was outstanding! Good questions were submitted and there was not a single inflated ego on the panel.  Just solid firefighters sharing their passion. Dennis Legear, Todd Edwards, Kyle Romagus, Clyde Gordon, Mo Davis, Howard Rhinewalt, Jacob Johnson... so much knowledge in one place! it was an epic evening!

The second Mega Scrap is amazing! Rob Ramirez, Bassel Ibrahim and Jim McCormack absolutely crushed the topic of MAYDAY and RIT. It was an unbelievable conversation as they deep dove into everything RIT operations and MAYDAY from three of the best in the business! The audience absolutely drove the conversation and it was one of the best Scraps to date!

Joined on this episode by Chief David Rhodes, the Smoke Daddy himself. We discuss too many topics to list them all, but including...  Smoke Divers, Decision Making, Training Under Stress, Experiential Training, Search, Search Size Up, UL Research, Post Traumatic Boss Syndrome vs PTSD, Leadership, FDIC H.O.T.,... not to mention everything the audience threw our way.  The entire episode is on fire,...

Joined on this episode by Rob Fisher, and it was an awesome conversation. Trying to make this one happen for quite a while, and the stars finally aligned. We talked motivation. leadership, culture, training, quints, plus everything the audience threw our way!

Joined on this episode by Mike Gagliano, one of my favorite people in the fire service. We discussed his philosophy on developing a great firehouse, house pride, trust, teamwork... then switched gears to talk about decision making on the fireground! You do not want to miss this one, the audience threw a lot at us, and Mike absolutely destroyed the next five questions!

Awesome conversation with Steve Stawecki. Was able to pick his brain on on training, fighting back from injury mentally and physically... the challenges of being a training officer, especially in the long haul...  as well as what motivates and inspires each of us. And of course as always, whatever the audience threw our way. He gave his suggested books, and then crushed the Next Five Questions!

Joined by Nick Esposito of Truck Tactics Training on this 128th episode of the Scrap! Topics included taking the training past the 'what' and 'how', results oriented performance, NIOSH reports, learning from them not judging them... plus everything the audience threw our way! Was an amazing Scrap!

Joined on this episode by Chad Daily of the Kansas City Missouri FD. Was an amazing discussion around his passion for instruction, as well as all the lessons he has learned over the last three decades. The audience interaction was amazing and we barely got to scratch the surface in what he had to offer!

Joined on this episode by OJ Kolodziej and excited to talk about truck duties, ladder tactics especially when it comes to being unconventional. He tells the story of the journey to bring the scaling ladder to the US, and his love of all things ladders!  As always the audience . Going to be an awesome conversation!

Joined by Bobby Eckert of Eckert Fire Tactics. Looks to be an awesome evening with some great topics. We discuss realistic fire training, wearing go pros, tradition, FF hate and even some building construction. All of that plus what the audience threw in!

Closed out January 2022 in style with none other than Clyde Gordon! Was an awesome time deep diving into leadership, responsibility, ownership, systemic failures, and whatever rabbit holes Clyde wanted to explore... not to mention what the audience threw our way! Then he crushed the next five questions.  Was a great episode!

Joined this week by Timothy Gleason from down in the South of Florida. We talk about rescue topics and tactics as well as the price of the job. Timmy takes the time to share his personal journey into and out of darkness, a story that many need to hear.  Was a powerful conversation and the audience brought their questions and comments as well.

Joined by Brian Bastinelli of the Art of Firemanship, it was an awesome evening as we discuss company level training, and task level skill sets. Firefighter education vs. training... vulnerability, honesty, humility, gratitude and generosity... he expresses some of the most valuable information on vulnerability and mental health.  Strong Scrap!

Joined by Isaac Frazier and excited to talk about being "Into the Job". Topics included tactical extrication, his journey in the fire service, how Into the Job Firman's Symposium came about, and of course everything the audience brought to the table! Enjoy the Scrap!

Joined by none other than the legendary Ray McCormack to kick off the new year in style. It was an awesome conversation as he talked about his history in the fire service... then transitioned to the culture of extinguishment, live fire training, the importance of patience and poise.... and that does not even include the questions at him from the audience. He finished off by crushing the first ever...

Excited to have as my guest on episode 119 non other than Dennis LeGear. The man knows his hydraulics, his hose, his pumps... he basically is a fire attack genius. If you are a water/fire nerd at all you do not want to miss this scrap. I could not even get to half of the audience questions!  Dennis absolutely crushed it.  Enjoy!

The first ever Mega Scrap -- MEGA SCRAP ALPHA: featuring Scott Thompson, Walt Lewis and Mike Walker. The game plan was to deep dive into one topic: Creating a culture of Mentorship in the modern fire service. I have no idea how it was going to go, but it turned out amazing and I am super excited for the future of MEGA SCRAPS!

Joined by Chris Kessinger of Citizens First Fire Training. We lead off with talking about the military mindset and fire service then have discussion and questions focused on search, putting the citizens first, aggressive mindset, firemanship, mediocrity... not to mention what the Audience threw at us! Was an amazing evening!