WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.480 --> 00:00:03.720 Disclaimer. We'd like to know before the start of this 2 00:00:03.799 --> 00:00:06.320 interview that the opinions about to be expressed by the 3 00:00:06.440 --> 00:00:09.480 guest of tonight's Getting Salty Experience Podcast are that of 4 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:12.480 the guest and do not directly or necessarily reflect the 5 00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:16.760 views of the host of the Getting Salty Experience Podcast. 6 00:00:31.519 --> 00:00:34.159 You're listening to the Getting Salty Experience podcast. 7 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:49.520 Hella, Hella, my pal Rufie and Rosie their anniversary today, anniversary. 8 00:00:49.719 --> 00:00:53.600 I think it's twenty six years. Twenty six you see 9 00:00:54.520 --> 00:00:59.560 two carriedy eight. Yeah, twenty six years, Bro, amazing. Hope 10 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:01.640 you're having a good time tonight. We got a good filling. 11 00:01:01.960 --> 00:01:05.519 We got the guy, the guy, the guy you might 12 00:01:05.560 --> 00:01:12.319 know him as a hold on, I beat you to 13 00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:12.680 that one. 14 00:01:13.159 --> 00:01:17.319 Yeah, you did, you did. At least it's working now. 15 00:01:17.319 --> 00:01:19.319 That's all the master it is. 16 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:23.599 We got a Florida guy tonight. So Gons thinks that 17 00:01:23.680 --> 00:01:25.719 he's you know, the Cats Pajamas down in Florida, But 18 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:29.719 we found a bigger than him. Bro, my friends in 19 00:01:29.799 --> 00:01:32.680 the Leatherhead Nation. Good to be here. There he is. 20 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:35.959 He felt he couldn't get he couldn't get hello, couldn't 21 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:37.719 make to get here fast enough. He fell and he 22 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:40.239 bunked his head on the corner of the Yeah. 23 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:43.439 Right, he was plugging in the the A O. L. Cord. 24 00:01:45.079 --> 00:01:48.280 You know, they said, uh, freak grub, free grub that 25 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:52.719 at the card shock, you know for the bun the clubhouse, 26 00:01:53.239 --> 00:01:54.560 the clubhouse, free grubb. 27 00:01:54.599 --> 00:01:58.040 He couldn't the assisted living. I slipped in the tub. 28 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:00.560 When the nurses would give me the spongeban, I. 29 00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:00.959 Hit it on. 30 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:08.960 Do you have six with your bathers? Just she's in 31 00:02:09.000 --> 00:02:10.120 the background. I'm sorry, dear. 32 00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:14.919 We had a hell of a show last week. Man, good, 33 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:17.360 good feedback. Right, did you get to see the whole show? 34 00:02:17.439 --> 00:02:22.280 Hike, I did not yet know the hell listen. That 35 00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:25.199 was your job to remind me that Tom van Essen 36 00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:27.960 was going to be on. Oh, speaking of I got mom, 37 00:02:28.039 --> 00:02:30.360 wake up, wake Up, she always puts on the show. 38 00:02:30.439 --> 00:02:34.879 She pulled away. Wake up, Ellie, wake up. 39 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:37.719 She's I started watching your show, and before I knew it, 40 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:38.919 it was morning time. 41 00:02:39.639 --> 00:02:40.439 We want it now. 42 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:45.560 I was supposed to am I doing the public service 43 00:02:45.599 --> 00:02:47.319 announcement about why I got the bandage on. 44 00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:50.080 That's later on in the show. 45 00:02:50.159 --> 00:02:52.479 Fella, Okay, we'll tell you, we'll tell you, We'll see 46 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:53.560 what we got, you. 47 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:55.520 Know, we gotta talk about we gotta talk about get 48 00:02:55.960 --> 00:02:58.120 we gotta get over to the Salty Wall already for 49 00:02:58.199 --> 00:02:59.680 nine to ninety five a month. Give me a little 50 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:01.319 sample what they're gonna get at the Salty Way. 51 00:03:01.759 --> 00:03:02.319 Okay, here we go. 52 00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:05.199 And then he starts climbing up the ladder and he's 53 00:03:05.240 --> 00:03:10.240 waving to people as he's going. Now that picture is 54 00:03:10.360 --> 00:03:13.400 I think of the earlier test, or an artist version 55 00:03:13.439 --> 00:03:15.840 of an earlier test. But that's what that ladder looked like, 56 00:03:15.960 --> 00:03:19.120 assembled and up, and then you would start putting the 57 00:03:19.199 --> 00:03:23.039 guys up. So there's eight men in all, pretty much 58 00:03:23.199 --> 00:03:27.280 like that, stagged along the line of this ladder. And 59 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:30.840 for a couple of minutes, everything's fine. Nash is up 60 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:32.800 in the top wave and the other guys are looking 61 00:03:33.759 --> 00:03:36.680 and then the ladder just starts to cant and tilt 62 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:37.199 a little bit. 63 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:43.319 Oops, whoopsie, And that's it a little tastious enough. We're 64 00:03:43.319 --> 00:03:43.759 gonna leave it. 65 00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:46.639 Look I want to hang on it. Look I'm hanglining. 66 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:50.240 I'm dead. That's what happened to that guy. Brother. That's 67 00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:52.159 the first time that the city was putting on a 68 00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:55.639 little performance for the first aerial ladder. That they had 69 00:03:55.719 --> 00:03:58.680 received with an aerial ladder, and don't you know, they 70 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:00.719 went up on that aerial and I'm not gonna say 71 00:04:00.759 --> 00:04:02.960 what happened, but it wasn't a good thing. So you 72 00:04:03.080 --> 00:04:05.759 get over there, and we have historical pieces like that, 73 00:04:05.960 --> 00:04:08.479 we have the rescue documentaries, We got the how at 74 00:04:08.639 --> 00:04:12.520 nine ninety five month, you're. 75 00:04:12.400 --> 00:04:14.639 Telling that they're telling the listeners out there to getting 76 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:17.079 the backyards, dig up the coffee cans with the communion 77 00:04:17.160 --> 00:04:18.399 money and a bum mis for money, and. 78 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:24.560 Let's go for yes, yes, exact yes, nine month right, 79 00:04:24.600 --> 00:04:26.800 the cans are rushed in the ground in the backyard, 80 00:04:26.839 --> 00:04:28.439 dig up the money and lening out loud. 81 00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:30.160 Nine ninety five months to get all this stuff. You 82 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:35.040 get this FireWire app, you get the SALTI content, look 83 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:37.759 the bills. Okay, we gotta get double D in here. 84 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:38.639 Oh yeah. 85 00:04:40.600 --> 00:04:43.839 Established in nineteen thirty and under the current ownership since 86 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:47.720 nineteen eighty seven, the New Jersey Fire Equipment Company handles 87 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:52.000 a complete line of fire department equipment and supplies. Headquartered 88 00:04:52.040 --> 00:04:55.519 in green Brook, the company operates full three M Scott 89 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:59.879 Service facilities in Richfield Park and Tom's River staff by 90 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:04.040 ten fully authorized Scott's certified technicians with a fleet of 91 00:05:04.199 --> 00:05:08.240 six fully equipped service fans. All New Jersey Fire technicians 92 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:12.600 and sales representatives are active or retired firefighters, officers or 93 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:17.319 chief officers, career and volunteer. They understand the business and 94 00:05:17.480 --> 00:05:21.120 the importance of their work. New Jersey Fire has represented 95 00:05:21.199 --> 00:05:24.480 Scott since Earl Scott entered the SCBA business at the 96 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:28.240 end of World War II. Among other leading manufacturers represented 97 00:05:28.279 --> 00:05:31.720 by New Jersey Fire, Art Globe and fire Deex turnout gear, 98 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:38.279 Mercedes Hose, task Force Tips and Akron Brass, Hygenol, fire hooks, 99 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:44.120 Arctic Impressors, MSA, Carn's Helmets, Keemguard, Foam Alkoholite and duo 100 00:05:44.240 --> 00:05:49.920 safety ladders, BEA Face, shield Protectors, Truckman's Choice saws, Groves, 101 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:56.199 gear racks and washer driders, Supervac Fans, RPI Streamlight, and 102 00:05:56.360 --> 00:06:00.000 many others. A New Jersey incorporated and based company, Sale, 103 00:06:00.040 --> 00:06:02.399 Health and Service are limited to the state of New Jersey. 104 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:07.000 Find us now at www dot nj FE dot com. 105 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:11.240 That's www. Dot nj FE dot com. 106 00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:18.199 Fat Daddy Ray the chat coming in guns a blazing 107 00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:21.879 bro you gotta love it, Yeah, Cling about her fire 108 00:06:21.959 --> 00:06:24.800 with rich like White on Rice. 109 00:06:25.920 --> 00:06:28.680 You can play around all right. Let's hear from uh 110 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:30.720 lose golf buddy. This past couple they. 111 00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:35.800 Want golf together. Now those two like a circle, yea circle, 112 00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:37.000 we go. 113 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:42.560 Armor Tough firehouse flooring was recently installed in Station number seven, 114 00:06:43.120 --> 00:06:47.000 the newest of the Dacab County fire stations in Decatur, Georgia. 115 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:51.920 Meeting Deputy Chief Smith of Support Services, Vince explained that 116 00:06:52.199 --> 00:06:55.680 Armor Tough interlocking flooring is the only floor that is 117 00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:59.439 tough enough to withstand the abuse of fire apparatus along 118 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:04.199 with fire personnel at a very busy station. Chief Smith explained, 119 00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:07.120 the flooring in all of our stations over the years 120 00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:10.240 gave us multiple problems. We need a floor that can 121 00:07:10.360 --> 00:07:12.439 last as long as the walls and the roof. 122 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:13.680 That's why we. 123 00:07:13.839 --> 00:07:17.600 Chose Armor Tough. The installation team came from New Jersey 124 00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:20.720 and in three days they had completed their work without 125 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:24.920 any disruption to our daily operations. We were very impressed 126 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:28.160 with not only the product, but with the workmanship as well. 127 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:32.800 I highly recommend Armour Tough for your station's floor. Call 128 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:36.000 Vince today for a no obligation quote at nine oh 129 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:40.000 eight nine one seven seven six nine seven. 130 00:07:44.279 --> 00:07:50.160 And we do have another commercial coming up for we're 131 00:07:50.199 --> 00:07:52.480 in the midst of I have to voice over the 132 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:56.839 waiting on me. It's my bad. Yeah, so we'll get 133 00:07:56.839 --> 00:08:00.920 it out there, all right, So let's do Oh you 134 00:08:01.000 --> 00:08:03.920 know what you are, right, bro? It's not Paula Agnes 135 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:12.040 and I'm like, hey, when you're right. All right, let's 136 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:13.480 go up Bermuda Bahama. 137 00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:17.720 You could tell that this guy's retired for sure. 138 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:19.519 You can tell you from Florida. Hold on. 139 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:23.399 Ship, I'll be ready. 140 00:08:24.240 --> 00:08:27.399 Here's the outfit coordinator for the Miami Dade fight upontent. 141 00:08:29.839 --> 00:08:32.720 He loves that, laughing his asshole. All right, Well, welcome 142 00:08:32.759 --> 00:08:36.440 to the stage everyone, I mean Dave's own retired fire chief, 143 00:08:37.039 --> 00:08:38.960 Chief double D Dave down. 144 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:48.159 Double D in the house. Hello, Hello, welcome to the 145 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:52.159 show there, Chief double D from Florida. Thanks for having 146 00:08:52.200 --> 00:08:55.279 met Florida style. You got the fire trucks down there, 147 00:08:55.279 --> 00:08:58.879 you got the palm trees. Nice, got it all in 148 00:08:58.919 --> 00:09:05.600 a little Mohito ah, little Jamison and ginger Ah. Before 149 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:07.360 we get off on a silly little way, we gotta 150 00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:09.440 get patriotic, Yes, sir, here we go. 151 00:09:12.639 --> 00:09:16.360 I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States 152 00:09:16.679 --> 00:09:20.879 of America and to the Republic, for which it stands, 153 00:09:21.799 --> 00:09:29.080 One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. 154 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:41.639 Darren p loves the shirt. Look at that shirt when 155 00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:43.360 you you're working your way all the way through the ranks. 156 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:45.159 And the Mammy Date, Mommy Dade Fight Apartment. You get that, 157 00:09:45.200 --> 00:09:46.080 You get a mug. You got. 158 00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:56.080 It's a share of mug. Thanks for making it all 159 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:59.480 the way through the chief an apartment for trying out loud. Right, 160 00:10:00.080 --> 00:10:03.000 that's it all right, before we get the Chief department, 161 00:10:04.159 --> 00:10:06.159 we had to wind it back a little fella. Tell 162 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:11.120 us about where you're from originally or raised in South Florida. 163 00:10:11.320 --> 00:10:16.240 Grew up in little city called Laughter Hill in Broward County, 164 00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:18.879 so just north of Dade County. So was there like 165 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:22.519 about three houses down there when you what was down there? 166 00:10:23.440 --> 00:10:25.639 It was a lot more rural than it is today, 167 00:10:25.720 --> 00:10:26.120 for sure. 168 00:10:26.200 --> 00:10:28.759 A lot of orange groves, a lot of cow pastures, 169 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:32.279 and you know, it's really really grown over the years. 170 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:35.240 But yeah, absolutely, I've seen a lot of change. 171 00:10:35.720 --> 00:10:35.960 Really. 172 00:10:36.480 --> 00:10:38.919 So where were your parents from Florida to a weddy 173 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:43.559 so interesting? My mom is from Canada. In fact, she 174 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:46.320 never became a US citizen. She was a Canadian citizen 175 00:10:46.440 --> 00:10:49.440 throughout came down here in fifty eight, I believe met 176 00:10:49.480 --> 00:10:54.159 my dad. My dad was grew up in Louisiana but 177 00:10:54.240 --> 00:10:56.679 lived in Florida probably since his twenties. 178 00:10:58.039 --> 00:11:13.919 And so that's was a real I knew this would 179 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:16.639 be a hit. I love it's like a lightning rod, 180 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:17.080 this beauty. 181 00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:19.159 He's from Canada too, So you know, you guys got. 182 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:23.000 There, you go, there, you go Canada. Yeah. Uh so 183 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:26.399 was your data finding or what would you know? Nothing? 184 00:11:26.480 --> 00:11:29.399 I had no firefighting in my family. Uh never even 185 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:33.399 thought about it. Uh never. I didn't really know what 186 00:11:33.480 --> 00:11:36.960 I was gonna do. And uh I was in high school. 187 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:40.159 Uh I guess Yeah, buddy of mine saw something in 188 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:43.000 the paper or whatever about this fire explorer program in 189 00:11:43.080 --> 00:11:46.519 the town we lived in, later Hill, and uh, let's 190 00:11:46.600 --> 00:11:50.399 check it out. And uh literally, like the first day, 191 00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:51.960 I mean, I was just hooked. 192 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:52.480 You know. 193 00:11:52.559 --> 00:11:55.120 I was always in sports growing up, and it just 194 00:11:55.639 --> 00:11:58.080 seemed like it was just like sports. You know, there's 195 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:00.879 a locker room, the guys are all breaking each other's balls, 196 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:03.919 You're depending on each other. And I was like, this 197 00:12:04.080 --> 00:12:05.720 is what I gotta do, Like this is for me 198 00:12:06.039 --> 00:12:09.600 right here that's good. My decision had been made and 199 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:11.480 it just grew from there. 200 00:12:12.240 --> 00:12:13.399 So what year we talking here? 201 00:12:15.480 --> 00:12:18.600 When with the Explorers? Probably the late seventies, seventy eight 202 00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:20.120 or so, seventy seven seventy eight. 203 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:23.840 The pre shows Hank and Chief Double D told him like, hey, 204 00:12:23.879 --> 00:12:28.480 you know back of the eighties, Hank was putting the 205 00:12:28.840 --> 00:12:33.480 rut of the table book on in seventy nine. Yeah, yeah, 206 00:12:34.080 --> 00:12:36.960 falling out their pockets. Did you have any So did 207 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:38.360 you and your buddy do it? Did he wind up 208 00:12:38.360 --> 00:12:44.480 being a fireman? Dude? So he never became a fire nah? 209 00:12:44.679 --> 00:12:47.159 I mean he he he went for a little while, 210 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:49.440 but no, he never he never became a fireman. And 211 00:12:50.200 --> 00:12:55.000 I was hooked, and uh, you know, fast forwarding, yeah, 212 00:12:55.039 --> 00:12:56.960 but not fast forwarding. But I remember when I was 213 00:12:57.000 --> 00:12:59.720 promoted a captain. Somebody asked my dad if he was proud, 214 00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:03.360 And Dad's proud. I'm relieved that this firefighters thing worked 215 00:13:03.399 --> 00:13:04.600 out because you had we'll plan B. 216 00:13:07.320 --> 00:13:09.519 You know some people have that they have no plan 217 00:13:09.639 --> 00:13:10.320 A B C. 218 00:13:11.000 --> 00:13:16.240 Chief that I teach my kids plan A plan B execute. 219 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:18.759 That's that if you would ask them some up, your dad, 220 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:20.720 I'd be plan A plan B execute. I tell him 221 00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:23.879 that until I'm nauseous. There you go. So far it 222 00:13:23.919 --> 00:13:28.320 hasn't worked. He's doing. Think about it though, how many 223 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.279 I told you it's to get in the fucking show? 224 00:13:33.320 --> 00:13:38.000 Who's fucking into that it's gonna go down? Yeah? What's 225 00:13:38.039 --> 00:13:41.320 that is funny? Is it? Is it down now? Or 226 00:13:41.799 --> 00:13:43.440 go go get it in quick? 227 00:13:43.519 --> 00:13:46.919 How many guys have had the same story as the 228 00:13:47.000 --> 00:13:49.960 Chief where they really didn't have a plan and someone 229 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:52.639 said just take this test or or or it was. 230 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:53.840 An explorer program. 231 00:13:53.879 --> 00:13:56.399 The thing with the Fire Service is if you give 232 00:13:56.440 --> 00:14:00.679 it a shot, of the people give it a shot, 233 00:14:00.919 --> 00:14:05.600 love it and and and end up excelling at you 234 00:14:05.679 --> 00:14:08.159 know what, at the profession they've chosen. 235 00:14:08.879 --> 00:14:10.679 And that's the same with the Chief. 236 00:14:10.720 --> 00:14:12.360 And like a lot of guys have been and they've 237 00:14:12.399 --> 00:14:15.120 hit the chief shrank and they've had great careers, and 238 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:17.919 back when they were eighteen nineteen, they didn't know what 239 00:14:18.039 --> 00:14:18.639 they were going to do. 240 00:14:19.159 --> 00:14:20.799 And we had a lot of the old timers come 241 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:22.639 on and say we asked them that question, you know, 242 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:23.759 how did you do a job? Oh? You know, I 243 00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:25.600 was sitting on a stupid day and my neighbor from 244 00:14:25.639 --> 00:14:28.519 a Coross street came over and just end this application 245 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:32.720 to take this test. I can't tell you how many 246 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:33.720 times people do that. 247 00:14:34.000 --> 00:14:36.240 They say that on the shot countless times on the show. 248 00:14:36.360 --> 00:14:40.440 Yeah, yeah, out, all right, So what's the next step? 249 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.639 Is it a volley? Is it paid down there? Yeah? 250 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:46.720 So, you know, I when I got out of high school, 251 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:48.480 you know, down here, you've got to be a good 252 00:14:48.919 --> 00:14:51.080 fire school before you get hired by a fire department, 253 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:53.559 a lot of fire departments. So I went to fire school. 254 00:14:53.559 --> 00:14:56.840 I mean back then it was only six weeks and 255 00:14:58.600 --> 00:15:01.720 I've been an explorer at Latter Hill, but I moved 256 00:15:01.759 --> 00:15:04.759 over to Sunrise, which was a neighboring community, and uh, 257 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:07.080 because they had a training program and a lot of 258 00:15:07.120 --> 00:15:11.000 stuff going on. So once I became a certified firefighter, 259 00:15:11.000 --> 00:15:13.320 I applied for a couple of fire departments in the area, 260 00:15:13.639 --> 00:15:15.919 and uh, Sunrise picked me up. 261 00:15:16.320 --> 00:15:16.480 You know. 262 00:15:16.559 --> 00:15:19.840 And back then they needed two firefighters and they tested 263 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:21.840 two of us. You know, now they need two firefighters. 264 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:25.480 They test five thousand. But so I got on right away. 265 00:15:26.519 --> 00:15:30.600 Wow, so they needed to they tested to you, bet, bro, 266 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:33.639 only you two guys in that tick. Yep, that's it. 267 00:15:33.879 --> 00:15:35.240 That's it. So who are these guys that you had 268 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:40.600 mentioned three guys, Marc Celetti, Dave Casey, and Chris. 269 00:15:42.759 --> 00:15:44.879 Yeah, so you know those were the you know, everybody 270 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:48.000 has those those mentors right away, right. So Mark Ciletti 271 00:15:48.120 --> 00:15:50.639 was kind of the advisor to the Explorers in Later 272 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:53.360 Hill who went on to become the chief of Department 273 00:15:53.399 --> 00:15:57.320 in Latter Hill. Uh, Dave Casey and Chris Nebling were 274 00:15:57.360 --> 00:16:01.480 at Sunrise and have become lifelong friends and uh, and 275 00:16:01.559 --> 00:16:03.600 they were the advisors. They were the ones that really 276 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:04.759 set the tone. 277 00:16:04.879 --> 00:16:05.000 You know. 278 00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:07.480 They're the ones that you know, taught me how to 279 00:16:07.519 --> 00:16:10.879 embrace the fire service and love the tradition and and uh, 280 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:13.519 you know everything about it, you know, and I tried 281 00:16:13.559 --> 00:16:14.799 to carry that with me the whole time. 282 00:16:16.360 --> 00:16:16.559 Yeah. 283 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:20.799 Yeah, so, uh, you know you've got in the on 284 00:16:20.960 --> 00:16:23.320 my left hand side is Dave Casey, on my right 285 00:16:23.480 --> 00:16:25.679 is Mark Siletti, and on the outside is Chris Neve. 286 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:29.759 So these are really the guys that set my course, 287 00:16:30.000 --> 00:16:34.240 uh and helped me, you know established you know, I 288 00:16:34.320 --> 00:16:36.080 look back now and things even I did its chief 289 00:16:36.120 --> 00:16:37.600 of the Department, and a lot of it came from 290 00:16:37.759 --> 00:16:39.440 just stuff I picked up from these guys. 291 00:16:40.279 --> 00:16:44.639 And so there's always that one guy right, it was influential. Yeah, 292 00:16:44.919 --> 00:16:49.759 carea you know what I'm saying. Yeah, well, when I 293 00:16:49.879 --> 00:16:52.279 was that one guy you gravitate too and he sets 294 00:16:52.279 --> 00:16:54.279 you off in a certain direction. I don't want to 295 00:16:54.360 --> 00:16:58.240 mention any names here, but you know, in my career 296 00:16:58.279 --> 00:16:59.000 there were many more. 297 00:16:59.080 --> 00:17:01.720 Right when I made chief Department, I had twenty five 298 00:17:02.080 --> 00:17:05.079 coins made, challenge coins numbered, and I made it a 299 00:17:05.160 --> 00:17:07.559 point to give them out to those people that you know, 300 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:09.920 were the reason why I was where I was was today. 301 00:17:10.039 --> 00:17:12.359 You know that that I didn't do anything by myself. 302 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:14.880 And did I tell you that I collect challenge coins? 303 00:17:14.960 --> 00:17:16.839 I don't. Yeah, well I might have something for you, 304 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:23.640 maybe maybe when I come down in your free house 305 00:17:23.720 --> 00:17:26.079 that you offered to me. There you go, buddy, you 306 00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.960 can leave a challenge point on the bed. But I 307 00:17:29.759 --> 00:17:35.519 like a chocolate you know, yeah pillow. My wife would 308 00:17:35.519 --> 00:17:38.680 be like, what the fuck is that? When I give 309 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:38.920 it to you. 310 00:17:39.000 --> 00:17:41.279 You got to look at real closely though, because before 311 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:44.680 I retired, I had four hundred coins made. And uh, 312 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:47.839 I mean it's like a week before my retirement and 313 00:17:47.960 --> 00:17:49.839 I sent a picture to a buddy shows it to 314 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:52.559 his wife and she goes, they spelled rescue wrong. R 315 00:17:52.599 --> 00:17:55.359 E s q U E in the challenge on this way. 316 00:17:55.880 --> 00:17:59.039 I'm like, that's cana. 317 00:18:01.079 --> 00:18:03.559 So I've got I've got a whole box of those 318 00:18:03.640 --> 00:18:05.480 that I give to you know, the foreign visitors. 319 00:18:05.559 --> 00:18:09.920 And then I said something, bro, yeah it would be 320 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:13.039 like design like one of those coins that have to 321 00:18:13.160 --> 00:18:20.920 get printeds q A. Yeah. How big was the what 322 00:18:21.000 --> 00:18:23.400 your sunrise? How big was Sunrise fight apartment? You got there? 323 00:18:23.559 --> 00:18:25.640 You know back then it was it was a small department, 324 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:30.680 three stations, probably about seventy guys total. You know, everything 325 00:18:30.799 --> 00:18:33.759 most everything down here, like we're gonzo is this fire rescue? 326 00:18:33.799 --> 00:18:36.720 So it's both fire you know, firefighters and paramedics you 327 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:38.279 do every all the jobs together. 328 00:18:39.079 --> 00:18:39.200 Uh. 329 00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:42.440 So it wasn't a huge department, and you know it 330 00:18:42.759 --> 00:18:44.480 was great. It was a lot of young people. I 331 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:47.079 mean you hung out on your days off together and 332 00:18:47.279 --> 00:18:49.400 and you know we're all kind of around the same age. 333 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:52.680 And uh you know it was mostly uh mostly a 334 00:18:53.039 --> 00:18:56.519 retirement community. Uh and and kind of a residential community, 335 00:18:57.240 --> 00:19:00.400 so a lot of em oh yeah, a lot of ms, 336 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:03.799 A lot of retirees you know that come down from 337 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:06.680 your neck out of woods and so but you know, 338 00:19:06.920 --> 00:19:09.319 just working with different individuals. You know, it was a 339 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:11.079 good it was a good learning experience. 340 00:19:11.599 --> 00:19:12.519 You know, we look back. 341 00:19:12.599 --> 00:19:15.519 I was actually just talking to Dave Casey and there's 342 00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:19.240 ten fire chiefs that came out of Sunrise, that little department. 343 00:19:19.680 --> 00:19:23.079 Ten fire chiefs have really included myself across the state. 344 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:25.559 So I don't know what they did, but it was 345 00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:26.440 a pretty cool place. 346 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:30.319 Well, yeah, so you had seventy guys. How many firehouses 347 00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:33.880 in Sunrise? There were three three stations, right, and so 348 00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:36.599 you had you know, you had an engine each station, 349 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:39.799 a rescue for us, a rescue is an EMS unit 350 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:44.200 and one truck and they ran three on an engine. 351 00:19:44.359 --> 00:19:46.960 So I rode the tailboard backstep. You know, there was 352 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:50.000 no jump seats or anything, so you rode the backstep 353 00:19:50.039 --> 00:19:53.359 by yourself. And the rescues had two people, you know, 354 00:19:53.480 --> 00:19:57.720 two firefighters that were paramedics, and I think the truck, 355 00:19:58.319 --> 00:20:01.039 I think the truck only had two people, two guys. 356 00:20:02.160 --> 00:20:07.640 A lot with less high rolling like so when you 357 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:09.960 got a hang, you were riding the tailboard in two 358 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:13.400 eighty right for a short time. Yeah, at least you 359 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:17.000 had somebody to talk to about there. This guy's my 360 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:21.519 himself back there. Yeah, I remember got ja. I don't 361 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:24.240 know if he smoke up there, we might have something. 362 00:20:25.119 --> 00:20:28.200 I remember one of the one station. The station was 363 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:30.599 a drive through, and so the engine pulled out the back. 364 00:20:30.680 --> 00:20:32.839 The truck was there, and the rescue was there, and 365 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:36.480 uh so we were we were uh the station was 366 00:20:36.559 --> 00:20:38.559 open for voting. It was a voting day, right, so 367 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:41.160 the truck stalls are open, the voting is taking place. 368 00:20:41.240 --> 00:20:43.559 We get a call, fire call. So I go out 369 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:45.519 to the back of the engine. I'm putting my pants 370 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:47.440 on and put my coat on. You I purposely want 371 00:20:47.480 --> 00:20:49.160 to get everything on before I jump on the truck. 372 00:20:49.279 --> 00:20:51.920 Truck starts up and all of a sudden it just 373 00:20:51.960 --> 00:20:54.440 pulls away and I'm standing there. So now I'm running 374 00:20:54.480 --> 00:20:56.680 through the truck stall, you know, with my gear by 375 00:20:56.759 --> 00:20:58.680 all these voters trying to catch the truck as it 376 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:00.960 comes around the front of around here. 377 00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:01.559 You forgot me. 378 00:21:02.039 --> 00:21:04.960 Sounds like a scene in the back drafty. 379 00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:10.079 Yeah, yeah, he was doing it. Dave was doing it. 380 00:21:10.559 --> 00:21:10.880 Doing it. 381 00:21:11.400 --> 00:21:13.880 So what did you catch any work there? At least 382 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:17.680 when you now, you know, a couple couple of apartment fires. 383 00:21:17.759 --> 00:21:20.960 I can remember nothing of any significance. You know, the 384 00:21:21.039 --> 00:21:25.359 construction here all you know, concrete block and cements of 385 00:21:25.400 --> 00:21:32.079 apartmental lives, terra cotta roofs. Yeah, some residential Yeah, yeah, 386 00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:32.480 that's it. 387 00:21:32.680 --> 00:21:34.759 And you know a lot of fire alarms things like that, 388 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:38.920 but a lot of ems, A lot, yeah, a lot 389 00:21:38.960 --> 00:21:40.839 of ms. And you remember what you were making back 390 00:21:40.880 --> 00:21:43.799 in eighty two. I do. I do. When I was 391 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:46.079 going through my files, my first year, I made nine 392 00:21:46.519 --> 00:21:51.039 four hundred. Don't spend that all one place. Yeah? What 393 00:21:51.160 --> 00:21:53.000 about you, Hank? Do you remember you made your first 394 00:21:53.079 --> 00:21:56.160 year in seventy nine? Look, you know I did. 395 00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:58.240 It was on my when you get the print out 396 00:21:58.279 --> 00:22:03.799 from you know, Social Security. Uh huh, I want to say, 397 00:22:03.839 --> 00:22:07.839 it was like, I don't know, fourteen to fifteen grand. 398 00:22:08.079 --> 00:22:11.279 Right, I just thought, well his, his, Uh what did 399 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:13.519 you say? It was seven thousand or nine thousand, nine thousand. 400 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:15.720 Well that went a lot further down of Florida than 401 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:17.480 it does up in New York, that's for sure. Right. 402 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:20.119 I remember we had lost a lot of guys to 403 00:22:20.200 --> 00:22:23.000 some other departments because we were so underpaid, and the 404 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:26.640 city actually brought in some auditing firm and they actually 405 00:22:26.640 --> 00:22:29.599 said you got to pay your firefighters for and so 406 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:32.839 the city came forward with a three year contract of 407 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:38.240 ten percent raised per year ten. So you know, it's 408 00:22:38.279 --> 00:22:39.200 amazing how you're life. 409 00:22:39.279 --> 00:22:42.000 Here's the apartment that wasn't Miami at that point, right, No, no, no, 410 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:44.799 Sunrise was just a department, right, you know what I'm saying. 411 00:22:45.039 --> 00:22:46.599 I would think the bigger city, you know, I don't 412 00:22:46.599 --> 00:22:46.720 know what. 413 00:22:47.000 --> 00:22:49.720 Yeah, they might have been making more than that to start. 414 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:52.680 Oh yeah, not that it was any big number, believe me. No, no, no, 415 00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:54.640 I took a pay cut when I left pan Am 416 00:22:54.839 --> 00:22:58.440 to become flireman. But you know, no regrets. But yeah, 417 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:01.119 it was you know, civil service. Listen, we all did 418 00:23:01.160 --> 00:23:04.200 it because we learned to love it later. But at 419 00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:07.400 the time it was a pension and health benefits. 420 00:23:07.799 --> 00:23:08.480 Yeah you know. 421 00:23:08.599 --> 00:23:10.880 But yeah, when they offered the ten, ten and ten, 422 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:13.000 I'll never forget being at a union meeting. And it's 423 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:15.000 amazing how your life changes over the years. 424 00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:15.200 Right. 425 00:23:15.240 --> 00:23:17.400 I'm the young guy a bunch of young guys, and 426 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:20.920 I remember this older guy on the department saying, look, man, 427 00:23:20.960 --> 00:23:22.960 instead of taking the full ten, why don't we put 428 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:26.240 more towards our retirement our insurance, because we're paying into 429 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:31.759 the retirement young guys, you know, And of course when 430 00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:33.359 we got when we got the raised and I went 431 00:23:33.359 --> 00:23:36.640 out and bottom Mustang GT and you. 432 00:23:36.680 --> 00:23:38.920 Know, alastic rookie mistake. Yeah. 433 00:23:40.079 --> 00:23:42.240 And then and then you know, it's funny because my 434 00:23:42.400 --> 00:23:45.279 last time as fire chief at Miami Dade, you know, 435 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:48.519 negotiating the last contract I was working on, we were 436 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:50.119 trying to work through some things, and I said, why 437 00:23:50.119 --> 00:23:52.519 don't we put some towards insurance retirement? 438 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:53.720 Like that's bullshit? 439 00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:56.279 And I'm like, you know, my life has come full circle. 440 00:23:58.599 --> 00:24:00.519 I think a little different now on the back end. 441 00:24:00.839 --> 00:24:04.640 Yeah, yeah, you had the young guys say, hey, Jeef, 442 00:24:04.640 --> 00:24:07.960 shut the funk up, man. Yeah, that's for sure. 443 00:24:08.839 --> 00:24:10.559 We're going We're still going through that with that d 444 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:12.480 n Y right now. Right there's still you know, there's 445 00:24:12.480 --> 00:24:16.960 a big court case going on. Yeah yeah, medical insurance 446 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:18.920 trying to change it. So yeah, it's a big deal. 447 00:24:19.519 --> 00:24:22.799 Yeah. I heard the negotiating on the internet to give 448 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:34.039 the retired guys some good internet. You know, man, I 449 00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:34.519 got you. 450 00:24:34.720 --> 00:24:41.079 Then, you know what, right, maybe maybe you'll send me 451 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:43.279 an envelope with a few shekels so I can upgrade 452 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:43.839 my WiFi. 453 00:24:43.920 --> 00:24:45.440 I've been saying that for three years. 454 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:46.599 I'm still waiting. 455 00:24:48.160 --> 00:24:51.720 What's tomorrow. She's not She's not it tomorrow Tuesday. I'm 456 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:53.799 sending an envelope out to you, bro, you're getting there. 457 00:24:54.839 --> 00:24:56.599 You can't use that just for the fact that I 458 00:24:56.759 --> 00:25:01.240 take that one away from you. Man. H So you 459 00:25:01.359 --> 00:25:05.119 go from eighty eight there ninety when you get promoted, Uh, 460 00:25:05.839 --> 00:25:09.000 hold on it, yeah, eleven in Cattle City now Miami Gardens. 461 00:25:09.559 --> 00:25:12.119 Well yeah, backup. So I was at Sunrise. I left 462 00:25:12.160 --> 00:25:14.319 there and oh I did cut that. You go to 463 00:25:14.400 --> 00:25:17.880 Metro Date now Miami Date. Yep, Now, how does that work? 464 00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:20.240 You just go there and take your application, go over 465 00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:21.640 there and try to get Holli there. Now. 466 00:25:22.319 --> 00:25:24.640 So they there was a point of time that they 467 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:29.279 needed firefighter paramedics, and so they off they gave preference 468 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:32.559 to firefighter paramedics, which was unheard of for Miami Dade 469 00:25:32.559 --> 00:25:34.720 because usually they just open it up and it's you know, 470 00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:38.000 thousands of people apply. And so there was a couple 471 00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:40.480 of guys at Sunrise that were familiar. I didn't really 472 00:25:40.559 --> 00:25:42.240 know anything about Miami Dade. I knew it was a 473 00:25:42.240 --> 00:25:44.519 bigger city, and I knew I was kind of bored 474 00:25:44.519 --> 00:25:47.039 at Sunrise. I wanted more action. I wanted to you 475 00:25:47.079 --> 00:25:50.200 know have more, so uh you know, I said, okay, well, 476 00:25:50.279 --> 00:25:52.279 well you know, I'll give it a try and put 477 00:25:52.319 --> 00:25:56.079 my application in and uh. The funny thing is the 478 00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:59.240 same time that they were did the test, the same 479 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:01.359 time they were doing the physical ability was the week 480 00:26:01.400 --> 00:26:03.759 of my wedding. So I always told my wife I 481 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:05.960 lost a year seniority because I had to go into 482 00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:09.640 the next class. Yeah, and I did for you, honey, Yeah, 483 00:26:10.160 --> 00:26:11.519 I lost the whole year seniority. 484 00:26:11.920 --> 00:26:14.359 Oh wait, we missed the pot. Wait a minute, we 485 00:26:14.400 --> 00:26:16.279 can't go back. We got to go back. That's where 486 00:26:16.279 --> 00:26:20.079 you met your wife, right, yeah, five in two she was, 487 00:26:20.440 --> 00:26:22.440 she was she had a year seniority on me. So 488 00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:24.279 she was saying, I hope she told you to get 489 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:29.079 your ass in that stake, you John Bop. And then 490 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:31.200 she said that she still says that today, get your 491 00:26:31.240 --> 00:26:34.960 ass in that sack. That's right, you met her. She 492 00:26:35.079 --> 00:26:38.000 was in the same fireounce as you. We were partners. Yeah. 493 00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:48.440 Oh yeah. But what's the signal that you put an 494 00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:49.720 upside down pineapple on the. 495 00:26:49.720 --> 00:26:53.000 Ring, that's only for the boat, that's only. 496 00:26:54.720 --> 00:26:56.799 You put a halligan on the other side of the ring, 497 00:26:56.920 --> 00:26:57.960 that that's the signal. 498 00:26:59.160 --> 00:27:01.279 No, I mean, like I told you, a lot of 499 00:27:01.400 --> 00:27:03.079 us used to hang out on our days off. And 500 00:27:03.160 --> 00:27:05.119 it's funny because we'd go to bars and I'd be 501 00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:07.200 picking out guys for her and she'd be picking out 502 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:09.200 gals for me, and you know, it just this went 503 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:11.119 on for a while and then I don't know, we 504 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:13.920 were the last two left, so we said, let's get married. No, 505 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:17.359 we just we started dating. So which was you know, 506 00:27:17.400 --> 00:27:20.519 that was pretty challenging because it was a small place, right, yes, 507 00:27:20.599 --> 00:27:24.119 same bunk. You know, we actually had bunk. 508 00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:24.799 Beds there, but. 509 00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:28.480 Yeah, and it was a communal bunk with a. 510 00:27:28.519 --> 00:27:30.359 Big open door. Yeah, no, no, it wasn't. 511 00:27:31.079 --> 00:27:34.039 But yeah, so but you know, we were scared to 512 00:27:34.119 --> 00:27:36.000 death right because we didn't know what the city was 513 00:27:36.079 --> 00:27:37.759 going to do. They'd never had that before. 514 00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:37.960 You know. 515 00:27:38.000 --> 00:27:40.640 It was funny because my wife was the first female, 516 00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:42.000 so they didn't know what to do with a woman. 517 00:27:42.079 --> 00:27:42.559 When she came. 518 00:27:42.680 --> 00:27:44.440 We had to put doors in the bathroom and. 519 00:27:44.759 --> 00:27:46.039 You know what to do with it, right. 520 00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:50.240 Yeah, So then we were going to get married, we 521 00:27:50.279 --> 00:27:53.160 had to go see the mayor again because they never 522 00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:55.279 had two firefighters married and. 523 00:27:56.440 --> 00:28:02.799 Actually Chuck and Lowry. But then yeah, so that's where 524 00:28:02.799 --> 00:28:10.000 I too hot betting. Joel says, Hey, Joel, so she 525 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:11.720 fell for you like a ton of breaks. That's what 526 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:13.519 we're gonna say. We're gonna go Yeah, that's that must 527 00:28:13.559 --> 00:28:16.200 be it, right, So you're do anything. And she's like, 528 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:18.920 you gotta have it, man, don't let him fool you. 529 00:28:19.079 --> 00:28:21.720 She she being a very big wig down here too. 530 00:28:21.880 --> 00:28:22.000 Man. 531 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:27.279 She really thank you for that. She ended. She just 532 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:31.720 retired as a fire chief in the family. 533 00:28:32.519 --> 00:28:33.920 The double pension forget that. 534 00:28:34.039 --> 00:28:39.519 Yeah everywhere, that's what double pension. Man, get my wife 535 00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:42.759 in the fire service. That's that's my famous Freddie laf 536 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:46.519 Amina story that I was. I was a chief. 537 00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:48.119 I don't think I was chief of the apartment yet. 538 00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:50.079 And uh she was a chief. 539 00:28:50.160 --> 00:28:52.039 Neither one was chief of the apartment where she was at. 540 00:28:52.319 --> 00:28:54.960 And Freddie would come down here during the wintertime and 541 00:28:55.160 --> 00:28:58.680 and uh, we're at the dinner house. Yeah, not my house. 542 00:29:00.359 --> 00:29:03.119 So we're out to dinner one night, and uh, he goes, bro, 543 00:29:03.400 --> 00:29:05.319 I don't want to hurt your ego or anything, but 544 00:29:05.759 --> 00:29:07.319 you know, I was at the beach today. I saw 545 00:29:07.319 --> 00:29:09.480 a couple of brothers and I said, hey, you know, 546 00:29:09.640 --> 00:29:13.680 chief downy, And they said Yeah, she's awesome. I didn't 547 00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:18.440 even know who you were, so I said, yeah, she's 548 00:29:18.480 --> 00:29:22.200 the real chief Downy. So that that happened like today, 549 00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:24.759 that's what we say. She's the real chief Downy. She's 550 00:29:24.839 --> 00:29:25.519 the real chief. 551 00:29:25.640 --> 00:29:27.079 Did did the guys in the fire house know you 552 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:30.039 guys are dating? Not for a while, not for a while. 553 00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:31.640 Did you have to listen to them at all? You 554 00:29:31.759 --> 00:29:34.839 have to listen to Well, I got another funny story 555 00:29:34.920 --> 00:29:41.000 how we got discovered. Uh, oh, we were living together 556 00:29:41.079 --> 00:29:44.160 and nobody knew. So down in Key West, they have 557 00:29:44.279 --> 00:29:47.039 the same fantasy fest right right around Halloween. It's a 558 00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:51.079 craziness crazy. So we decided to get We decided to 559 00:29:51.119 --> 00:29:54.200 go down there. And this is whatever, early mid eighties, right, 560 00:29:54.680 --> 00:29:57.119 And we decided to go down there, and uh, you know, 561 00:29:57.200 --> 00:29:59.920 you're partying all night and it was like a toe 562 00:30:00.079 --> 00:30:01.960 a party. We'd taken the bed sheets off from the 563 00:30:02.039 --> 00:30:04.640 hotel and put leaves in our head and all that, 564 00:30:05.319 --> 00:30:07.759 and uh, and we're out all night. In fact, that 565 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:11.079 Sloppy Joe's were hanging out there. We're right out front 566 00:30:11.079 --> 00:30:12.880 and I'm like, man, that sounds like Jimmy Buffett. And 567 00:30:12.960 --> 00:30:15.240 we walk in and it's Jimmy Buffett, he's like playing 568 00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:17.319 in it. You know he used to live down there. Okay, 569 00:30:17.559 --> 00:30:22.519 uh yeah, but he he Uh So, I guess in 570 00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:24.880 the middle of the night, CNN's there doing the story 571 00:30:24.960 --> 00:30:27.480 and stuff, right, and back in the day in the 572 00:30:27.519 --> 00:30:29.480 fire you know, when you got up in the fire station, 573 00:30:29.559 --> 00:30:32.119 you flipped on CNN and uh so. 574 00:30:32.200 --> 00:30:36.559 They interviewed us, and here we are sucking Dave and Julie, 575 00:30:36.680 --> 00:30:41.759 like are they two together? Let's go what cat's out 576 00:30:41.799 --> 00:30:43.400 of the bag? Out out of the bag? 577 00:30:43.599 --> 00:30:43.680 Bro. 578 00:30:47.720 --> 00:30:48.039 I don't know. 579 00:30:49.079 --> 00:30:50.559 I don't know if I told this story, it's it's 580 00:30:50.640 --> 00:30:52.720 kind of similar, but not. I don't know. So I 581 00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:54.559 met my wife in the fire house. So she was 582 00:30:54.680 --> 00:30:58.400 selling double Imagy cameras and meat is to sock. She 583 00:30:58.519 --> 00:31:00.640 worked for a company's work say, and then she worked 584 00:31:00.640 --> 00:31:02.480 for Honeywell. She worked for a whole bunch of companies. 585 00:31:02.799 --> 00:31:05.240 So I literally ran into her and the fight. I 586 00:31:05.279 --> 00:31:07.079 was coming up, coming down for a run and she 587 00:31:07.240 --> 00:31:10.559 was visiting Hasmat and I knocked the rover right. So 588 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:14.559 we become friends. We start dating, right, but we don't say. 589 00:31:14.599 --> 00:31:16.119 She don't want me to say anything because she don't 590 00:31:16.160 --> 00:31:18.839 want to think that she's getting any special treatment or whatever. 591 00:31:19.359 --> 00:31:21.359 I can't tell you when she comes to the firehouse. 592 00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:23.160 How I have to listen to these assholes, all the 593 00:31:23.279 --> 00:31:25.200 meeting girls coming, I'm gonna take the meet and go 594 00:31:25.400 --> 00:31:27.319 in the back room out. 595 00:31:28.960 --> 00:31:29.279 I can't. 596 00:31:29.799 --> 00:31:32.079 After like six months, I'm like, I can't. Well, can 597 00:31:32.160 --> 00:31:35.640 I please tell guys I didn't thank you? I have 598 00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:40.839 to listen to these assholes. I think Hank was nom kidding, 599 00:31:41.920 --> 00:31:45.839 getting kidding, all right, So good thing I didn't missed 600 00:31:45.880 --> 00:31:48.400 that spot right over there. So let's go back to 601 00:31:48.480 --> 00:31:50.920 Miami Day now. Yeah. 602 00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:54.119 So I went there and started in January of eighty eight. 603 00:31:54.359 --> 00:31:57.759 So my class was all firefighter paramedics. We all came 604 00:31:57.759 --> 00:32:00.319 from other fire departments and uh, you know great glass 605 00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:05.279 and and you know, did our moving around our first 606 00:32:05.319 --> 00:32:07.519 probation year. And then right out of probation, I got 607 00:32:07.599 --> 00:32:10.759 a signed to Station eleven in Carroll City. It's called 608 00:32:10.799 --> 00:32:13.720 Miami Gardens now, it's where Dolphin Stadium is in the 609 00:32:13.839 --> 00:32:16.279 Dolphin training camp. Real busy area. 610 00:32:17.680 --> 00:32:22.000 Ten thousand runs a year. Yeah, yeah, so its bus 611 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:23.799 How many units in that state? 612 00:32:23.920 --> 00:32:26.960 That's a rescue again, that's an EMS unit, a rescue, 613 00:32:27.240 --> 00:32:28.519 an aeriel and a chief. 614 00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:31.920 I missed it. How many a rescue, an aerial and 615 00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:35.319 a chief, So three trucks, So you were on the 616 00:32:35.400 --> 00:32:38.200 aerial or the rescue rescue? I was. I was on 617 00:32:38.279 --> 00:32:42.839 the rescue, yep, and spent my whole time. Ten thousand 618 00:32:42.920 --> 00:32:45.160 runs was between all the companies correct correct? 619 00:32:45.240 --> 00:32:48.640 Yeah, yeah, yeah, the rescue did about sixty five hundred 620 00:32:48.640 --> 00:32:53.079 of them. It stayed busy, Yeah, which was a shock 621 00:32:53.160 --> 00:32:55.000 to me because I left Sunrise and they were running 622 00:32:55.000 --> 00:32:57.039 about three thousand calls a year the whole city. 623 00:32:58.240 --> 00:32:58.920 The whole city. 624 00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:02.759 Yeah, my tructure running twice that. At what point we're like, hmm, 625 00:33:02.839 --> 00:33:05.720 maybe this wasn't a great idea. As soon as I 626 00:33:05.799 --> 00:33:06.680 got there, I loved it. 627 00:33:06.799 --> 00:33:06.960 You know. 628 00:33:07.920 --> 00:33:10.039 The only thing that hit me hard was there was 629 00:33:10.160 --> 00:33:13.079 it was definitely older firefighters. So it wasn't that young. 630 00:33:13.160 --> 00:33:15.720 Everybody's the same age, and so that was kind of 631 00:33:15.759 --> 00:33:20.039 a weird feeling, but it was it was I definitely 632 00:33:20.319 --> 00:33:21.559 said I made the right choice. 633 00:33:22.720 --> 00:33:25.000 Somebody that wants to know, was Miami burning back then, 634 00:33:25.240 --> 00:33:26.839 like in the eighties, like it was up here. 635 00:33:27.119 --> 00:33:30.319 Just turn the riots, but you know, we would have 636 00:33:30.440 --> 00:33:32.599 our we would have fires. But I don't think it's 637 00:33:32.599 --> 00:33:34.680 the volume that you guys, and we didn't have that 638 00:33:34.839 --> 00:33:36.480 period that you had in the seventies. 639 00:33:37.160 --> 00:33:39.880 Yeah, Chief, let me ask you a question. 640 00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:43.000 It could be a ten part question, but maybe somebody 641 00:33:43.079 --> 00:33:45.240 go go in your chief department. But you said you 642 00:33:45.319 --> 00:33:48.039 got hired as a member of another department. 643 00:33:48.519 --> 00:33:48.720 YEP. 644 00:33:49.119 --> 00:33:52.240 Did the majority of the hiring back then into into 645 00:33:52.359 --> 00:33:55.640 Miami or the Dade County was the guys from other 646 00:33:55.720 --> 00:33:57.319 departments putting applications in. 647 00:33:58.039 --> 00:34:01.160 They have their own hiring process like a civil service 648 00:34:01.240 --> 00:34:03.000 exam that they made a list or was it both, 649 00:34:03.559 --> 00:34:07.400 So they make a list, they hire both. 650 00:34:07.480 --> 00:34:09.960 I even to this day they hire both. So they'll 651 00:34:10.039 --> 00:34:13.760 hire certified firefighters and then they'll also hire classes they 652 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:17.159 call non certified that have nothing just a driver's license, 653 00:34:17.239 --> 00:34:19.119 and then they put them through all the training. So 654 00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:21.719 I know, like when I was chief of department, even 655 00:34:21.760 --> 00:34:23.599 when I was chief of training, we would probably do 656 00:34:23.719 --> 00:34:27.199 about two classes of certified and one class of non certified, 657 00:34:27.639 --> 00:34:30.159 just because it takes so long to make a non 658 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:33.840 certified get them out on the floor. For the certified 659 00:34:33.880 --> 00:34:37.199 firefighters it's twelve weeks. For the non certified it's nine months. 660 00:34:38.199 --> 00:34:40.159 So it's a lot easier to get them out on 661 00:34:40.199 --> 00:34:40.559 the floor. 662 00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:44.840 How big was Miami Dade now compared how you go? 663 00:34:45.360 --> 00:34:45.599 A lot? 664 00:34:46.079 --> 00:34:50.159 So yeah, So when I left, we had seventy one stations, 665 00:34:51.960 --> 00:34:56.800 twenty two hundred firefighters, about three thousand employees I had, 666 00:34:57.920 --> 00:35:02.440 and twenty nine So it's a county department. So it 667 00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:05.320 covers twenty nine cities in the county and then the 668 00:35:05.440 --> 00:35:08.760 unincorporated areas. So there's five cities that have their own department. 669 00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:12.920 City of Miami, Miami Beach, High leocorral Gables, and Kiva 670 00:35:12.960 --> 00:35:15.559 Skiing and the rest of the cities are covered by 671 00:35:15.880 --> 00:35:21.000 Miami Dae County. We cover all the airports, so Miami International, 672 00:35:21.239 --> 00:35:23.800 OPA LACA which is on the north, and Miami Executive 673 00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:28.800 on the south, the Port of Miami, the seaport, so 674 00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:31.719 pretty much everything from the Everglades to the ocean. 675 00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:33.880 Chief. Do you remember the square mileage because I can't 676 00:35:33.880 --> 00:35:34.880 remember what the square mileage is. 677 00:35:34.960 --> 00:35:38.880 Yeah, so it's just about two thousand square miles. So 678 00:35:39.639 --> 00:35:42.119 two thousand square miles. Yeah, it's a big it's a 679 00:35:42.119 --> 00:35:43.800 big place. It's it's a big place. 680 00:35:43.920 --> 00:35:47.239 So here's Hank's question. Did you guys have a rescue? Well, 681 00:35:47.280 --> 00:35:50.199 all rescues did you have a heavy rescue, you did, 682 00:35:50.320 --> 00:35:50.760 so we did. 683 00:35:50.840 --> 00:35:52.880 We had we called it a squad, but we had 684 00:35:52.920 --> 00:35:58.760 a one heavy rank you and we had three what 685 00:35:58.920 --> 00:36:01.239 you would call a squad. We would have three what 686 00:36:01.320 --> 00:36:04.719 we would call suppression unit, that's tech rescue. So we 687 00:36:04.880 --> 00:36:07.960 had three of those and then the heavy squad, and 688 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:11.119 then we had a HASMAT one has MATT unit, and 689 00:36:11.199 --> 00:36:14.320 then five support units. You know a lot of the 690 00:36:14.360 --> 00:36:16.960 hasmack calls you can take care with speedy dry and 691 00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:19.559 a couple and some putty in a meter, right, so 692 00:36:20.480 --> 00:36:23.599 we would be able to put the units across the county. 693 00:36:24.239 --> 00:36:26.800 How long was there has mat in service? Fall? Like, 694 00:36:26.840 --> 00:36:27.800 when did they talk? Is? 695 00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:32.519 Has hasmat for us started before before the heavy rescues. 696 00:36:32.679 --> 00:36:35.079 Has MATT was in about the mid eighties, is when 697 00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:36.559 hazmat started happening here. 698 00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:40.639 And that happened with fdo Y too, Hank, right, what 699 00:36:40.800 --> 00:36:44.559 it was at eighty what? Oh? Look at that. That's 700 00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:48.320 the that's the squad. That's the heavy rescue. That's the squad. 701 00:36:48.599 --> 00:36:53.079 Thank you. That's a mighty big rig. Hey, that's a 702 00:36:53.159 --> 00:36:56.159 long rig, right, yeah, I mean that's what that's what 703 00:36:56.280 --> 00:36:59.639 the five rescue in New York City. Yeah, I think 704 00:36:59.679 --> 00:37:03.360 it's a similar chats. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it. 705 00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:04.199 Looks much longer. 706 00:37:04.760 --> 00:37:06.280 It does look longer to me. I don't know why. 707 00:37:06.280 --> 00:37:08.719 It reminds me of that ones that they had right 708 00:37:08.760 --> 00:37:11.639 when we became a squad with that whistling terrible that 709 00:37:11.639 --> 00:37:13.760 you couldn't even sit in the four sea stay it 710 00:37:13.840 --> 00:37:17.119 was so loud, have that rate. I never wrote in 711 00:37:17.199 --> 00:37:19.559 that one. I was I was out at them, but yeah, 712 00:37:19.559 --> 00:37:23.599 I know they weren't that well liked. No, but that's 713 00:37:23.679 --> 00:37:25.559 what it looks like. I mean, they have one of those, 714 00:37:25.639 --> 00:37:27.599 and they have what other smaller squads. 715 00:37:27.960 --> 00:37:30.920 So then we and then we have three uh engine 716 00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:35.480 companies that are like the squads rescue, So they're they're 717 00:37:35.519 --> 00:37:38.280 equipped with for the tech rescue and they have four 718 00:37:38.360 --> 00:37:40.320 technicians on there each of their units. 719 00:37:40.440 --> 00:37:42.599 And what do they roll on all working fires? How 720 00:37:42.639 --> 00:37:43.800 do they how does it work for them? 721 00:37:44.039 --> 00:37:46.840 They have their they have their response area that they're 722 00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:50.199 responsible for, and then they then they have a geographic 723 00:37:50.320 --> 00:37:52.400 area that they'd run on any of the tech rescues. 724 00:37:52.920 --> 00:37:53.239 We don't. 725 00:37:53.239 --> 00:37:55.079 We don't send them like you do on a on 726 00:37:55.159 --> 00:37:59.079 a working fire as much we're we're structured a little 727 00:37:59.079 --> 00:38:01.920 different like we don't have. I always said we have 728 00:38:02.079 --> 00:38:05.159 multiple personalities. You know, we have twenty four trucks, but 729 00:38:05.239 --> 00:38:07.719 they don't work like your trucks. In other words, a 730 00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:11.039 lot of our trucks are in stations by themselves, and 731 00:38:11.679 --> 00:38:13.639 it kind of depends on when you arrive in the 732 00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:16.840 assignment what your job is, if that makes sense, if 733 00:38:16.920 --> 00:38:18.719 if you know, like where I worked for a long 734 00:38:18.760 --> 00:38:21.559 time at Station seven, I wrote an engine, but the 735 00:38:21.679 --> 00:38:24.920 neighboring unit was an aerial. So the fire was in 736 00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:27.519 my territory, I'd be doing the engine work, and he'd 737 00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:30.239 support me with either the second engine or truck work. 738 00:38:31.199 --> 00:38:33.400 If the fire was in his territory, he'd act as 739 00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:37.519 an engine, you know, so because all of our areas 740 00:38:37.559 --> 00:38:39.880 had pumps, hose, everything else. 741 00:38:39.800 --> 00:38:43.599 So so he could act as an engine or a truck. Correct. Yeah, 742 00:38:43.639 --> 00:38:44.679 we don't, Yeah, we don't have. 743 00:38:45.679 --> 00:38:48.679 We have, we have we have responsibilities on the fire, 744 00:38:48.800 --> 00:38:51.800 but not assigned to the company, if that makes sense, 745 00:38:51.840 --> 00:38:54.480 and our rescues, we also use to do a lot 746 00:38:54.519 --> 00:38:56.360 of the truck work. In other words, they carry saw 747 00:38:56.440 --> 00:38:57.639 as hooks, and. 748 00:38:58.119 --> 00:39:04.480 So guys on the ambulance, well what they're doing then. 749 00:39:03.840 --> 00:39:06.679 They're all they're all firefighters. One of them is an officers. 750 00:39:06.719 --> 00:39:08.760 They have an officer and two firefighters. They have all 751 00:39:08.800 --> 00:39:12.800 their gear, s c b as and equipment. So they 752 00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:17.760 do they do primarily the search, the forcevill entry outside 753 00:39:17.840 --> 00:39:19.199 vent stuff like that. 754 00:39:20.599 --> 00:39:22.960 What is it? What is the manning now in Miami 755 00:39:23.119 --> 00:39:23.960 Dade for an engine? 756 00:39:24.000 --> 00:39:27.360 So every every engine, every truck has four personnel, so 757 00:39:27.400 --> 00:39:30.719 that'd be an officer and three firefighters, and every rescue 758 00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:33.840 has three personnel, an officer and two firefighters. 759 00:39:34.239 --> 00:39:37.480 And what about the squads? The squads have an officer 760 00:39:37.840 --> 00:39:39.519 and three firefighters. 761 00:39:40.719 --> 00:39:41.519 And what does this carry? 762 00:39:44.039 --> 00:39:47.760 That ahead? 763 00:39:48.239 --> 00:39:52.239 That that is that is an example of the most clanned, 764 00:39:52.280 --> 00:39:57.880 destined thing I ever did as a fire chief. That vehicle, Uh, 765 00:39:58.360 --> 00:40:02.360 nobody knew what we were buying. So the history behind it. 766 00:40:03.719 --> 00:40:06.679 You know, in Miami Dade, we're not smart enough to 767 00:40:06.760 --> 00:40:08.800 call a wrecker if we need it for a rescue. 768 00:40:09.079 --> 00:40:11.440 We have to wait for a police department police officer 769 00:40:11.519 --> 00:40:13.800 to come and say, yep, you got a car pinned 770 00:40:13.840 --> 00:40:16.039 underneath that truck, and we'll get. 771 00:40:15.960 --> 00:40:16.519 You a wrecker. 772 00:40:16.840 --> 00:40:18.599 And then we don't know what kind of wrecker's coming. 773 00:40:19.000 --> 00:40:21.840 And it was always a source of frustration, especially for 774 00:40:21.960 --> 00:40:25.079 our special ops guys, and I could remember in the 775 00:40:25.199 --> 00:40:27.639 nineties I worked half the time on the on our 776 00:40:27.719 --> 00:40:31.719 helicopter and I remember landing on the expressway. It was 777 00:40:31.800 --> 00:40:34.440 a young girl that had plowed underneath a semi. We 778 00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:37.679 had to, you know, somehow lift up the semi. Didn't 779 00:40:37.719 --> 00:40:40.159 have the equipment that was there, and uh, you know, 780 00:40:40.320 --> 00:40:43.559 watched or die before our eyes. And in the early 781 00:40:43.639 --> 00:40:47.440 two thousands, I was out in Los Angeles, La County. 782 00:40:47.960 --> 00:40:50.599 You guys had Larry Collins on here. They had gotten 783 00:40:50.599 --> 00:40:53.480 me a wrecker and I'm like, oh man, we got 784 00:40:53.599 --> 00:40:55.679 to get one of those things. And that was like 785 00:40:55.840 --> 00:40:59.400 back in O two and it just never happened. And 786 00:40:59.679 --> 00:41:02.159 when I became the chief of the department and we 787 00:41:02.239 --> 00:41:05.760 were starting we finally got out of some budget stress. 788 00:41:06.840 --> 00:41:10.639 We started hiring building out apparatus. And my chief of logistics, 789 00:41:10.679 --> 00:41:13.639 who was a phenomenal guy, you know, a true operator, 790 00:41:13.760 --> 00:41:16.800 knew what you did. He started specing this truck out 791 00:41:16.840 --> 00:41:20.880 with Jared Ann and I remember my budget director coming 792 00:41:20.920 --> 00:41:22.719 to me and going, he's going through the trucks, this 793 00:41:22.880 --> 00:41:24.440 is an engine, this is an area. What is this 794 00:41:24.599 --> 00:41:27.039 heavy rescue and recovery. I said, don't worry about it. 795 00:41:27.119 --> 00:41:27.320 Scott. 796 00:41:27.840 --> 00:41:29.679 He goes, we already have a heavy resk. 797 00:41:29.760 --> 00:41:34.679 I said, so how much is it? 798 00:41:34.840 --> 00:41:34.880 What? 799 00:41:35.519 --> 00:41:37.920 So they roll it out. 800 00:41:37.880 --> 00:41:40.639 At a conference here in Florida, our fire conference in 801 00:41:40.760 --> 00:41:43.440 January here in Florida, and of course it blows up 802 00:41:43.480 --> 00:41:46.519 all over the internet, right and he calls me and 803 00:41:46.559 --> 00:41:49.239 he goes, it's a fucking wreckor I go, no, it's 804 00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:52.119 not our wrecker, and I said, it's a it's a 805 00:41:52.239 --> 00:41:56.800 rescue vehicle, Scott. But we did as a sidebar, we 806 00:41:57.199 --> 00:42:00.639 had some issues and Larry had warned me, make sure 807 00:42:00.679 --> 00:42:03.679 you get with your your toe industry, your record companies, 808 00:42:04.079 --> 00:42:06.320 and let them know you're not going into their business. 809 00:42:06.679 --> 00:42:09.480 And uh, and we made it a point. When that 810 00:42:09.639 --> 00:42:12.159 thing came to Miami Dade, we met with our companies 811 00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:15.440 and our great partners and said, hey, look, we want 812 00:42:15.480 --> 00:42:17.280 you guys to know we're going to We're gonna still 813 00:42:17.360 --> 00:42:19.239 call you, but this thing is going to come out too, 814 00:42:19.360 --> 00:42:21.159 and whoever gets there first, we're going to pick the 815 00:42:21.239 --> 00:42:25.800 thing up. We're going to move the vehicle out. But 816 00:42:25.920 --> 00:42:27.400 I you know, we had already bought it. 817 00:42:27.480 --> 00:42:31.280 And I remember who brings that bonds the squad. 818 00:42:31.079 --> 00:42:33.199 The squad, so we had a guide to the squad. 819 00:42:33.320 --> 00:42:36.079 We trained everybody on the squad. I told him we're 820 00:42:36.119 --> 00:42:38.199 sending them to every school. They're going to go to 821 00:42:38.320 --> 00:42:40.800 Jaredan who built the truck. Uh, They're going to go 822 00:42:40.840 --> 00:42:43.440 to crane school. I mean, and these guys were it 823 00:42:43.559 --> 00:42:45.800 was unbelievable, right, I mean they were in their class, 824 00:42:45.840 --> 00:42:48.480 are picking up fire trucks, They're doing all kinds of stuff. 825 00:42:48.480 --> 00:42:51.280 I said, look, if that thing ever flips over, we're screwed. 826 00:42:51.800 --> 00:42:54.079 And I said, I want you guys to know everything 827 00:42:54.159 --> 00:42:56.760 about operating because it's it's a rotating crane, it's a 828 00:42:56.800 --> 00:43:00.400 sixty five ton crane, and it's it's overkill. I'll minute 829 00:43:00.480 --> 00:43:03.599 it's it's but you know what, mind me, daid money, bro, 830 00:43:05.159 --> 00:43:07.400 we got a we got a great price, and. 831 00:43:07.639 --> 00:43:11.800 Uh, I got such a volume for you, such a deal. 832 00:43:11.960 --> 00:43:15.119 I got that a million dollars, you know. And what's that? 833 00:43:15.519 --> 00:43:17.760 I got a share under a million dollars. No, no, 834 00:43:17.880 --> 00:43:23.320 sure do. And I got this shirt. 835 00:43:24.599 --> 00:43:26.840 I'll tell you what. I had this commissioner. You know, 836 00:43:26.920 --> 00:43:29.079 they called me out to the commission meeting and said, 837 00:43:29.119 --> 00:43:30.800 you know, it was ripping me. You know what, I 838 00:43:30.920 --> 00:43:34.119 can't believe. Uh, you know you I'm not going to 839 00:43:34.159 --> 00:43:36.039 approve this. I'm not going to author I mean, he 840 00:43:36.119 --> 00:43:38.199 was screaming at me the whole time. I'm sitting there, going, 841 00:43:38.480 --> 00:43:40.360 we already bought it, so I don't know what you're 842 00:43:40.400 --> 00:43:43.400 going to do because it's already paid for and uh so, 843 00:43:43.880 --> 00:43:46.760 so uh you know, we just we just uh we 844 00:43:46.960 --> 00:43:49.559 just let it go. But fast forward. The first response 845 00:43:49.599 --> 00:43:51.840 I ever had. We'll probably talk about it later. We 846 00:43:51.880 --> 00:43:54.280 had a pedestrian bridge collapse on a bunch of cars, 847 00:43:54.960 --> 00:43:56.920 and when I got there, that was the first day 848 00:43:57.000 --> 00:43:58.760 that truck was in service. And when I got there 849 00:43:58.800 --> 00:44:01.159 that things out with the boom up and the cable 850 00:44:01.280 --> 00:44:04.519 down there. Yeah, there it is, and I'm walking around 851 00:44:04.639 --> 00:44:06.400 and the guy that's running it, the guy that is 852 00:44:06.440 --> 00:44:09.440 handing my handle on my training, j Rod. He comes 853 00:44:09.519 --> 00:44:12.000 up to me and he goes, Chief, it's not doing anything, 854 00:44:12.079 --> 00:44:14.199 but I know you'd want it here, you know, because 855 00:44:14.199 --> 00:44:17.079 it was nine hundred tons of concrete. It wasn't picking 856 00:44:17.159 --> 00:44:19.480 anything up. He goes, but I knew all the cameras 857 00:44:19.480 --> 00:44:21.079 will be here and you want it right in front. 858 00:44:22.000 --> 00:44:25.880 That's the guy you want on your side, bro, little secret. 859 00:44:26.079 --> 00:44:28.039 If I'm not mistaking j Rod, did he not work 860 00:44:28.079 --> 00:44:28.360 for us. 861 00:44:29.239 --> 00:44:32.599 I think he did. Yeah, I'm not sure I know. Yeah. 862 00:44:33.280 --> 00:44:36.519 Also question from the chat, can you ask Chief if 863 00:44:36.519 --> 00:44:42.559 he knows training Lieutenant Alameda at his department? I would hope. 864 00:44:42.599 --> 00:44:46.559 So, Uh, it looks familiar. I don't recognize the spelling, 865 00:44:46.960 --> 00:44:52.280 but maybe maybe spelled. I had a lot of guys, you. 866 00:44:52.360 --> 00:44:54.400 Know, we figured that out. 867 00:44:54.639 --> 00:44:57.679 It's like John like to drink, like to. 868 00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:04.199 Drink, only not spelled. You leave the light on it night, Doc. 869 00:45:05.159 --> 00:45:07.840 But I told that commissioner and we proved it. Right. 870 00:45:07.960 --> 00:45:10.599 I said, in one year, we're going to save more 871 00:45:10.679 --> 00:45:13.440 lives or this truck than any of our ladder trucks 872 00:45:13.480 --> 00:45:15.639 because our ladders don't do what your ladders do, right, 873 00:45:15.679 --> 00:45:18.320 our setbacks of our buildings and Hank, you've seen it 874 00:45:18.440 --> 00:45:20.760 down there. You can't get a ladder up more than 875 00:45:20.760 --> 00:45:21.599 a couple of floors. 876 00:45:22.159 --> 00:45:26.280 Uh. That truck has done so much work. It's amazing. 877 00:45:26.760 --> 00:45:30.440 It depends off it's success. Well, absolutely, it's a success. 878 00:45:30.480 --> 00:45:34.079 All right. So you visicated, so you do this, well 879 00:45:34.159 --> 00:45:34.679 you know what I mean. 880 00:45:34.840 --> 00:45:38.280 Actually, that commissioner where that bridge collapse was that commissioner. 881 00:45:38.320 --> 00:45:41.159 That was his jurisdiction. So that night he walks up 882 00:45:41.199 --> 00:45:44.039 to me and goes now, I see chief, good job. 883 00:45:46.320 --> 00:45:51.199 Anything. I think it was a great purchase. Yeah, yeah, 884 00:45:51.480 --> 00:45:54.800 it you know, like I said, other departments don't have challenge. 885 00:45:55.079 --> 00:45:58.559 It was worth the money. Oh yeah, yeah, was worth 886 00:45:58.599 --> 00:46:01.199 the squeeze to the other. Your other statement, like I 887 00:46:01.639 --> 00:46:03.360 do know down there and I have to tell. 888 00:46:03.239 --> 00:46:08.440 You it comes back. He'll tell you. 889 00:46:10.519 --> 00:46:12.639 Tell me when I'm married. You're back. I have to 890 00:46:12.800 --> 00:46:26.519 tell you that early shut down. Tell us quick quick 891 00:46:26.719 --> 00:46:30.760 if you got sign off, and I'll email this stuff 892 00:46:30.800 --> 00:46:34.599 to him. Hurry up. 893 00:46:35.159 --> 00:46:40.679 I still find it hard that large city departments don't 894 00:46:40.800 --> 00:46:43.880 use uh, you know, a lot of companies the way 895 00:46:43.920 --> 00:46:44.360 we did it. 896 00:46:44.760 --> 00:46:46.320 And I'm not saying it's wrong or right. 897 00:46:46.400 --> 00:46:48.599 It's just very hard when you've done something for so 898 00:46:48.719 --> 00:46:51.880 many years and you've kind of written the playbook on 899 00:46:52.000 --> 00:46:55.199 it and it's been so successful that other departments don't 900 00:46:55.280 --> 00:46:55.480 do it. 901 00:46:55.800 --> 00:46:58.199 And I realized there's a manning issue and all of that. 902 00:46:58.360 --> 00:47:00.440 But it's just, you know, and I get it because 903 00:47:00.440 --> 00:47:02.039 they got a lot of friends all over the state 904 00:47:02.280 --> 00:47:05.519 and in other states with that kind of manning. Some 905 00:47:05.679 --> 00:47:08.000 of them do try to use use the aerial a 906 00:47:08.039 --> 00:47:10.960 little a little more to their advantage and ladders and. 907 00:47:14.599 --> 00:47:20.960 I love I'm sure it's good stuff. I gotta tell 908 00:47:20.960 --> 00:47:23.679 you all right, look again, it just got forget yeah, 909 00:47:23.760 --> 00:47:27.760 just got get your point in quickly. 910 00:47:30.400 --> 00:47:34.320 It's hard, you know, it's hard to believe that the 911 00:47:34.519 --> 00:47:36.760 ladder companies aren't used more for. 912 00:47:36.840 --> 00:47:42.840 La now I and if Hank can hear me, I 913 00:47:43.280 --> 00:47:46.440 can't agree with them one hundred percent, I think. And 914 00:47:46.719 --> 00:47:49.599 what happens is things get missed, right. And the other 915 00:47:49.760 --> 00:47:52.079 thing is it puts a lot more stress on those 916 00:47:52.159 --> 00:47:55.119 company officers to make sure all those duties get taken 917 00:47:55.199 --> 00:47:58.119 care of. Where when you have, you know, people with 918 00:47:58.280 --> 00:48:00.840 dedicated assignments, you know that it's going to get done. 919 00:48:01.039 --> 00:48:03.280 And that was always a challenge, you know, for me, 920 00:48:03.519 --> 00:48:06.400 is trying to, you know, take some of the stress 921 00:48:06.480 --> 00:48:08.679 out of the company officer of having to tell the 922 00:48:08.800 --> 00:48:10.159 next unit all the things to do. 923 00:48:10.360 --> 00:48:11.960 They should know what they have to do when they 924 00:48:12.039 --> 00:48:12.400 get there. 925 00:48:12.880 --> 00:48:14.599 And that's part of the challenge when you don't have 926 00:48:14.760 --> 00:48:17.239 those dedicated units and dedicated positions. 927 00:48:17.400 --> 00:48:20.559 Absolutely, I think we got to turn you into like 928 00:48:20.599 --> 00:48:23.800 an auceaneer, Hank, we gotta and we gotta te so 929 00:48:24.480 --> 00:48:29.480 go ahead about a lot of company, lot of companies. 930 00:48:30.960 --> 00:48:31.559 Subtitles. 931 00:48:32.840 --> 00:48:34.400 It's not all I can do. I paid for the 932 00:48:34.480 --> 00:48:37.159 high speed into that I'm on. Why it's just don't 933 00:48:37.159 --> 00:48:41.920 worry that Bundy's coming on Tuesday. Right, All right, let's 934 00:48:41.920 --> 00:48:46.119 fast Forwardally, you're promoted to lieutenant ye and you stay 935 00:48:46.119 --> 00:48:49.119 at Station eleven where you were yep, across the floor. 936 00:48:49.239 --> 00:48:52.760 I right, I go on the area. Yep. You're one 937 00:48:52.800 --> 00:48:56.519 of the original members of the Florida Task Force one. Yeah, 938 00:48:57.000 --> 00:49:00.280 and you saw a task force that was so tell 939 00:49:00.360 --> 00:49:02.880 us you went to a couple of deployments, the hurricanes, 940 00:49:03.360 --> 00:49:08.280 Turkey earthquake, and America Airlines crash in Columbia. Yeah. 941 00:49:08.400 --> 00:49:10.239 So, I mean just like you know, New York Task 942 00:49:10.320 --> 00:49:13.599 Force one part of the FEMOAS system and Florida one 943 00:49:13.719 --> 00:49:16.800 is is the same thing, you know, but and ours 944 00:49:16.960 --> 00:49:21.639 is contained within within Miami Dade. Yeah, that's from so 945 00:49:22.280 --> 00:49:25.719 in the mid nineties, American Airlines came to us said, hey, 946 00:49:25.719 --> 00:49:29.360 we're taking over all these routes to Central and South America, 947 00:49:29.440 --> 00:49:31.719 and we want to kind of put together a rescue 948 00:49:31.760 --> 00:49:35.079 team if there's a colla crash. You know, we're thinking 949 00:49:35.280 --> 00:49:36.079 what are we going to do? 950 00:49:36.320 --> 00:49:36.480 You know? 951 00:49:36.679 --> 00:49:40.280 And but you know, we said we're interested and flew 952 00:49:40.320 --> 00:49:42.559 out to Dallas and met with them and talked to them, 953 00:49:42.679 --> 00:49:46.760 and lo and behold. Two years later, they end up 954 00:49:46.760 --> 00:49:49.800 flying a DC ten into a mountain in Colombia and 955 00:49:50.199 --> 00:49:53.599 they call us to to help with the recovery, and 956 00:49:54.039 --> 00:49:56.320 we sat a I was part of a ten person 957 00:49:56.440 --> 00:50:00.400 team that went down there and learned a lot. 958 00:50:00.559 --> 00:50:00.719 You know. 959 00:50:01.039 --> 00:50:04.280 That's uh to climb this mountain every day and and uh, 960 00:50:04.519 --> 00:50:06.440 you know we had to be off the mountain at 961 00:50:06.519 --> 00:50:08.320 night because they they. 962 00:50:08.280 --> 00:50:11.480 Didn't know how the locals hotels. 963 00:50:11.280 --> 00:50:15.079 Yes, the cartels, Yeah, yeah, they tell us, they tell 964 00:50:15.199 --> 00:50:17.519 us trying not to look American. I'm like, you know, yeah, 965 00:50:17.920 --> 00:50:21.639 American is uniform would be yeah. So yeah, but it 966 00:50:21.719 --> 00:50:25.000 was it was quite an experience and uh, you know, 967 00:50:25.199 --> 00:50:27.760 we we assisted there. That was the that was the 968 00:50:27.800 --> 00:50:29.239 only deployment we ever did with them. 969 00:50:29.320 --> 00:50:31.199 But that wasn't the plane that had the ya Yo 970 00:50:31.360 --> 00:50:34.960 on it right where the hotels were looking for it. Nope, No, 971 00:50:36.280 --> 00:50:39.480 that was one that gond was on. I think, right, God, 972 00:50:39.599 --> 00:50:42.320 you you're on the Phoma team, then you know the 973 00:50:42.400 --> 00:50:43.719 test team we're there. 974 00:50:44.039 --> 00:50:47.599 Well, I don't want to say competitor, but not a 975 00:50:47.639 --> 00:50:49.519 competitive All of them now he's t F one and 976 00:50:49.599 --> 00:50:50.960 TF two, So we we're neighboring. 977 00:50:51.440 --> 00:50:53.840 Thats got to be to everybody can't be one content. 978 00:50:54.000 --> 00:50:57.840 You know, there's twenty eight teams, so they're all over 979 00:50:58.079 --> 00:51:00.840 happens We're like right here. Yeah. Yeah, it's like Los 980 00:51:00.880 --> 00:51:05.119 Angeles CAL one and CAL two, Los Angeles County, Los 981 00:51:05.119 --> 00:51:06.599 Angeles City got you. 982 00:51:07.079 --> 00:51:09.440 We actually had anything in this area. Normally nine time 983 00:51:09.480 --> 00:51:10.519 out of ten were going together. 984 00:51:10.679 --> 00:51:13.960 So yeah, yeah, and worked well together, I believe. So 985 00:51:14.000 --> 00:51:16.079 you were at Station eleven during a hurricane Andrew, that's 986 00:51:16.079 --> 00:51:18.119 the one we guys got your ass kicked down there, right, 987 00:51:18.519 --> 00:51:23.719 We got destroyed. Yep, yep, I mean it it leveled us. Yeah, 988 00:51:24.079 --> 00:51:24.360 it was. 989 00:51:24.800 --> 00:51:27.199 That was one of the most powerful storms that ever 990 00:51:27.280 --> 00:51:30.400 hit the United States, and you know, it really impacted us. 991 00:51:30.480 --> 00:51:33.440 We had about two over two hundred of our guys 992 00:51:33.480 --> 00:51:37.159 that lost their homes, lost everything, and so one of 993 00:51:37.199 --> 00:51:39.400 the unique things about it was we had all these 994 00:51:39.440 --> 00:51:41.840 guys coming to help, all these firefighters from all over 995 00:51:41.920 --> 00:51:44.800 the country. And so what we started doing was pulling 996 00:51:44.880 --> 00:51:47.280 guys off our trucks and we'd keep one or two 997 00:51:47.360 --> 00:51:50.039 guys on our truck and put these firefighters from another 998 00:51:50.719 --> 00:51:54.000 area on the truck and allow our guys time to 999 00:51:54.079 --> 00:51:57.280 take care of their homes or insurance or whatever they needed. 1000 00:51:57.360 --> 00:52:00.639 It was unbelievable to help that. And then we set 1001 00:52:00.760 --> 00:52:03.840 up a firefighter relief center down south because we're getting 1002 00:52:03.840 --> 00:52:06.800 all these building supplies and everything. So when you were 1003 00:52:06.840 --> 00:52:09.360 off duty, if you were if your home wasn't damage, 1004 00:52:09.400 --> 00:52:11.719 you went there. Okay, here's the list. This guy needs 1005 00:52:11.760 --> 00:52:13.719 to dry and his roof, this guy needs this. And 1006 00:52:13.800 --> 00:52:16.960 we spent you know, every day helping those guys out. 1007 00:52:17.039 --> 00:52:19.679 But it was, you know, it was probably closest to it. 1008 00:52:19.760 --> 00:52:21.920 It was a short period of time, but uh, you 1009 00:52:21.960 --> 00:52:25.280 know your coroverbial War years, you know, during Andrew, I mean, 1010 00:52:25.320 --> 00:52:28.280 we were just running from fire to fire to it was. 1011 00:52:28.440 --> 00:52:29.960 It was crazy craziness. 1012 00:52:31.639 --> 00:52:37.079 Hurricane by you recently with it was flooded out, yeah yeah, 1013 00:52:38.000 --> 00:52:43.079 north of him, Yeah yeah, arm wasn't. Yeah you got hit. 1014 00:52:43.960 --> 00:52:48.719 Arma was a few years ago. But MS my cleaning lady, Homestead, 1015 00:52:49.800 --> 00:52:54.360 that's right. With Andrew, Homestead pretty much got level level level. 1016 00:52:54.880 --> 00:52:55.239 It wasn't. 1017 00:52:55.440 --> 00:52:58.760 And that was really the hurricane where Florida, I guess 1018 00:52:58.840 --> 00:53:00.840 decided they have to help game and with all the 1019 00:53:00.920 --> 00:53:02.400 hurricane codes, with the building there. 1020 00:53:02.400 --> 00:53:06.000 You go, yep, wow, yep. I mean it's as they've 1021 00:53:06.039 --> 00:53:08.679 moved my unit down, you know. And it was interesting, 1022 00:53:08.800 --> 00:53:10.400 right because when the storm, you know, we don't have 1023 00:53:10.480 --> 00:53:13.159 the prediction we have now. I was on duty the 1024 00:53:13.280 --> 00:53:15.559 night of the storm, so they're briefing all of us, 1025 00:53:15.679 --> 00:53:18.960 and we dupped our staffing, we brought other crews in, 1026 00:53:19.239 --> 00:53:22.239 and we thought it was coming into North Date. I mean, 1027 00:53:22.280 --> 00:53:24.599 that's where they were showing it the whole time. And 1028 00:53:24.639 --> 00:53:26.639 I remember the chiefs telling us, hey, look, we get 1029 00:53:26.679 --> 00:53:29.440 a serious fire. We're not laying lines, we're not putting 1030 00:53:29.480 --> 00:53:32.480 aerials up. Just do what you can and pull out. 1031 00:53:33.079 --> 00:53:35.679 So about ten o'clock at night, I get dispatched all 1032 00:53:35.719 --> 00:53:37.159 the way to the east side of the county for 1033 00:53:37.280 --> 00:53:40.880 this gigantic restaurant on fire. I mean, this thing is 1034 00:53:40.960 --> 00:53:43.320 fully involved. And when we get there, I mean there 1035 00:53:43.360 --> 00:53:45.960 are lines everywhere, aerials up in the air. I'm like, 1036 00:53:46.079 --> 00:53:49.039 did they get the same message I got? And you know, 1037 00:53:49.119 --> 00:53:51.480 the whole time, we're thinking this storm's coming, and so 1038 00:53:51.679 --> 00:53:54.079 we're doing our thing, and about two in the morning, 1039 00:53:54.199 --> 00:53:56.119 they said, all right, everybody's got to take up. We 1040 00:53:56.199 --> 00:53:57.519 got to get out of here. I mean you've got 1041 00:53:57.599 --> 00:54:00.800 the blue flickering happen and everywhere, power going out everywhere. 1042 00:54:01.360 --> 00:54:03.559 So we're working our way back to the quarters, and 1043 00:54:04.760 --> 00:54:06.960 the whole time we're thinking we're in the bullseye. And 1044 00:54:07.039 --> 00:54:08.960 it wasn't until we got back to quarters and guys 1045 00:54:09.000 --> 00:54:11.039 were saying, oh man, we're talking to guys down in 1046 00:54:11.159 --> 00:54:13.599 South Day. They've lost the doors of the station. The 1047 00:54:13.719 --> 00:54:16.400 roof's gone on the station. You know, we had trucks, 1048 00:54:16.440 --> 00:54:19.079 they lost their windshields. The guys are in the trucks 1049 00:54:19.119 --> 00:54:22.480 with their goggles, you know, like motorcycle riders driving the hall. 1050 00:54:22.840 --> 00:54:23.719 It was crazy. 1051 00:54:23.960 --> 00:54:27.239 I mean it was Our guys did such a good job, 1052 00:54:27.280 --> 00:54:32.039 you know, you think about you lost all communications, all dispatch, everything, 1053 00:54:32.159 --> 00:54:33.960 and the guys just basically had to take care of 1054 00:54:34.000 --> 00:54:37.800 business in their area and did an unbelievable job. 1055 00:54:37.960 --> 00:54:40.360 And I don't remember what to take to get back 1056 00:54:40.400 --> 00:54:44.639 to some sense of normalcy after that. God, I mean it. 1057 00:54:46.159 --> 00:54:48.320 I know we were on long shifts. We were doing 1058 00:54:48.760 --> 00:54:51.800 you know, forty eight on and twenty four off for weeks. 1059 00:54:53.559 --> 00:54:56.800 I mean it slowly started, I mean rebuilding and everything. 1060 00:54:56.960 --> 00:55:00.280 You know, it took years, but I can remember probably. 1061 00:55:01.920 --> 00:55:03.239 Ten months into it. 1062 00:55:03.360 --> 00:55:08.039 You still saw debris piles just three stories high where 1063 00:55:08.039 --> 00:55:11.639 they'd moved the debris. It took a long time, and 1064 00:55:12.360 --> 00:55:15.119 but you know, it was it was craziness. 1065 00:55:15.280 --> 00:55:18.639 And you know, I remember I, you know, and I 1066 00:55:18.800 --> 00:55:21.400 was a paramedic, you know. So we ran this one call. 1067 00:55:21.519 --> 00:55:24.679 This line worker FB and L worker had been electrocuted 1068 00:55:25.039 --> 00:55:27.280 and we got there first on the engine or the 1069 00:55:27.400 --> 00:55:30.920 aerial and we're working on the guy and the rescue 1070 00:55:30.960 --> 00:55:33.519 shows up and he's burned up pretty bad. And and 1071 00:55:33.639 --> 00:55:35.360 you know, I was I've always been a pretty good 1072 00:55:35.400 --> 00:55:37.559 paramedic and know all I'm doing is wearing a T shirt. 1073 00:55:37.760 --> 00:55:37.920 You know. 1074 00:55:38.199 --> 00:55:40.320 So the guys from I forget where they're from. I 1075 00:55:40.320 --> 00:55:42.800 think one of them was from Naples. Actually I didn't 1076 00:55:42.800 --> 00:55:43.360 know who I was. 1077 00:55:43.920 --> 00:55:46.480 And so anyhow, I ended up putting the airway in 1078 00:55:46.559 --> 00:55:48.679 the guy and I started the IV and we handed 1079 00:55:48.760 --> 00:55:51.000 him off to the rescue. And afterwards, the two guys went, man, 1080 00:55:51.000 --> 00:55:52.800 I didn't even know you were a paramedic. And I said, 1081 00:55:52.840 --> 00:55:55.440 I'm not. I said, what I go, I've been watching 1082 00:55:55.480 --> 00:55:58.480 these guys for years. And this guy went back, He's like, 1083 00:55:58.599 --> 00:56:00.480 holy shit, you should see what these guys do. 1084 00:56:00.599 --> 00:56:04.960 Man, they're not even paramedics. But uh, it was it 1085 00:56:05.079 --> 00:56:05.840 was craziness. 1086 00:56:06.239 --> 00:56:09.039 Uh you know, I mean, but all the support that 1087 00:56:09.119 --> 00:56:12.000 came in was great, and uh but uh it was 1088 00:56:12.119 --> 00:56:13.199 it was some crazy times. 1089 00:56:13.760 --> 00:56:16.119 Yeah, so you're at a level. But you get a 1090 00:56:16.199 --> 00:56:20.440 sign to seven, you got to sign there. You wanted 1091 00:56:20.480 --> 00:56:22.440 to go there. So I wanted to go there. We 1092 00:56:22.719 --> 00:56:25.199 have a for us, we have a bid system. So 1093 00:56:25.920 --> 00:56:27.199 I've heard of that before. Yeah. 1094 00:56:27.320 --> 00:56:29.840 Yeah, so you basically use seniority. You know, it's not 1095 00:56:30.199 --> 00:56:31.880 you know, you don't meet anybody. You don't meet the 1096 00:56:31.960 --> 00:56:34.199 captain or anything. It's just based on seniority. If you 1097 00:56:34.280 --> 00:56:37.000 have the qualifications and the seniority, you can go to 1098 00:56:37.039 --> 00:56:39.679 the company. So I always wanted to go to the 1099 00:56:39.719 --> 00:56:42.679 fifth battalion. It's the busy battalion and and uh so 1100 00:56:42.840 --> 00:56:46.360 seven was a good opportunity. Are you in that picture 1101 00:56:46.800 --> 00:56:49.280 that's me on the far left. Yeah, you got the 1102 00:56:50.400 --> 00:56:53.880 party in the in the back and business in the front. 1103 00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:58.960 No, No, there's no bullet there. There was a mullet 1104 00:56:59.000 --> 00:57:05.000 going on. Maybe it's the light. 1105 00:57:05.159 --> 00:57:07.320 I'll like what Let's see what I got here. One 1106 00:57:07.400 --> 00:57:10.519 other funny story though, right, So, yeah, that's me next 1107 00:57:10.559 --> 00:57:13.400 to the guy. That's my good friend Yawn from Germany 1108 00:57:14.679 --> 00:57:17.639 came over and visited. Uh he actually went up on 1109 00:57:17.639 --> 00:57:19.719 the road we rescue two back in the early nineties. 1110 00:57:20.559 --> 00:57:22.800 Came over visiting as a kind of an official visit, 1111 00:57:22.880 --> 00:57:26.320 and we've been friends ever since. But in that other 1112 00:57:26.440 --> 00:57:28.559 picture you see, you know, I was wearing the radio 1113 00:57:28.599 --> 00:57:31.159 strap like you guys do up at New York. But 1114 00:57:31.440 --> 00:57:34.920 another interesting story, right, so we never had those radio straps, 1115 00:57:35.400 --> 00:57:40.639 and I was still a firefighter, and we and only 1116 00:57:40.719 --> 00:57:43.960 the officer had a handheld, and we were out, believe 1117 00:57:44.000 --> 00:57:46.559 it or not, out jogging. We'd hand off the handheld 1118 00:57:47.119 --> 00:57:49.599 and we got finished, and we're at the back of 1119 00:57:49.639 --> 00:57:52.239 the unit and cooling off and everything, and loaded up 1120 00:57:52.280 --> 00:57:54.400 and rode back to the station. Lieutenant goes, hey, where's 1121 00:57:54.440 --> 00:57:56.800 the radio. I'm like, oh shit, I left it on 1122 00:57:56.880 --> 00:58:00.360 the tailboard, and of course it's called so I guess 1123 00:58:00.400 --> 00:58:03.079 a couple others have been broken. And the division chief 1124 00:58:03.159 --> 00:58:05.239 lost his mind and they said, you're gonna have to 1125 00:58:05.280 --> 00:58:08.039 pay for it. And now you cannot just stick a 1126 00:58:08.159 --> 00:58:10.159 radio in your pocket. You got to have a strap. 1127 00:58:10.280 --> 00:58:12.480 So first they made you wear a belt clip and 1128 00:58:13.079 --> 00:58:16.880 and our original straps were actually horse leads from the 1129 00:58:16.960 --> 00:58:21.440 feed supply. There were nylon horse leads, and uh, we've 1130 00:58:21.480 --> 00:58:23.400 seen what New York had, and we're like, hey, they 1131 00:58:23.440 --> 00:58:26.320 make these leather straps, you know, and that's that's how 1132 00:58:26.400 --> 00:58:30.239 that they had money down in Miami d We didn't 1133 00:58:30.280 --> 00:58:35.000 know anything. Now they do money. 1134 00:58:37.400 --> 00:58:37.880 Of ridiculous. 1135 00:58:37.920 --> 00:58:42.599 I had the money's all up in Naples, bro joke. 1136 00:58:43.840 --> 00:58:46.320 So yeah, so I went to seven great, great company, 1137 00:58:46.480 --> 00:58:51.840 great firefighters, you know, really enjoyed it there and and uh. 1138 00:58:52.280 --> 00:58:56.880 All right, so uh you developed a flash of a 1139 00:58:56.960 --> 00:59:01.960 training program in Palm Beach and then Cols Cols Yeah, yeah, 1140 00:59:02.159 --> 00:59:05.960 oh well I know that place. That's something that's a 1141 00:59:06.039 --> 00:59:13.119 real rundown scum shop, gonzo right, no money, Yeah, yeah, 1142 00:59:13.199 --> 00:59:15.880 they were we were doing some training and Palm each 1143 00:59:16.159 --> 00:59:18.400 was really leading everybody. 1144 00:59:18.440 --> 00:59:20.440 They were really doing all the tech rescue training. A 1145 00:59:20.480 --> 00:59:22.639 lot of your guys came down given the training back 1146 00:59:22.679 --> 00:59:25.159 in the nineties when we were training all our USR 1147 00:59:25.239 --> 00:59:28.519 members and all that, and they they built this flashover 1148 00:59:28.800 --> 00:59:31.840 and I ended up running the program, and uh, you know, 1149 00:59:31.960 --> 00:59:35.159 good training, you know, just really I sold it to 1150 00:59:35.239 --> 00:59:37.639 him as a fire behavior simulator, you know, and and 1151 00:59:38.000 --> 00:59:40.599 it was good training for for just learning, you know, 1152 00:59:40.719 --> 00:59:42.559 be able to sit there and watch fire behavior. 1153 00:59:42.840 --> 00:59:43.639 That's really what it is. 1154 00:59:44.119 --> 00:59:46.719 Yeah, that's really what it is. Yeah, what's that the 1155 00:59:46.800 --> 00:59:47.400 fire behavior? 1156 00:59:48.239 --> 00:59:51.360 You know, don't really flash it because you just kind 1157 00:59:51.360 --> 00:59:51.920 of watch it, you know. 1158 00:59:52.639 --> 00:59:54.760 Talking about his his sales skills because I heard he 1159 00:59:54.840 --> 00:59:57.000 went on to buy a wrecord later on in his career. 1160 01:00:00.039 --> 01:00:03.199 That's what we've done as good sales skills, you know. Yeah, no, 1161 01:00:03.400 --> 01:00:08.280 my my ability to hide things. Ah. So we started 1162 01:00:08.280 --> 01:00:10.599 teaching a technical rescue too. So you had learned that, 1163 01:00:10.760 --> 01:00:12.840 you said, the guys up north from coming down and 1164 01:00:12.880 --> 01:00:14.360 teaching you guys, and you'll pass it on. 1165 01:00:15.159 --> 01:00:17.599 Yeah, the brothers down there, and we were also doing 1166 01:00:17.679 --> 01:00:19.559 the training, you know, all the US our teams were 1167 01:00:19.639 --> 01:00:21.440 kind of training in the beginning. I remember that was 1168 01:00:21.480 --> 01:00:24.360 the first time I had met Ray Downey was it 1169 01:00:24.480 --> 01:00:26.960 was a captain. Then it was in Montgomery County and 1170 01:00:27.000 --> 01:00:29.280 we were doing some training there with some New York 1171 01:00:29.320 --> 01:00:32.639 guys and other folks. And yeah, so that that all 1172 01:00:32.760 --> 01:00:35.000 kind of developed all through the nineties. That's when our 1173 01:00:35.559 --> 01:00:38.440 that's really when our squads and our tech rescue, you 1174 01:00:38.559 --> 01:00:41.440 our our heavy rescue doesn't again doesn't run like you all. 1175 01:00:41.519 --> 01:00:44.280 They primarily do the tech rescue stuff. 1176 01:00:44.480 --> 01:00:46.840 I asked him about the pool story at the training 1177 01:00:46.960 --> 01:00:50.159 center from Mark Hunley the pool. 1178 01:00:50.760 --> 01:00:52.480 Yeah, can you tell the story? 1179 01:00:53.320 --> 01:00:55.960 Yeah, yeah, I mean when I was you know, we 1180 01:00:56.199 --> 01:00:58.840 uh in the late nineties, we passed a bond to 1181 01:00:58.920 --> 01:01:02.320 build more station, headquarters and a training center. We never 1182 01:01:02.400 --> 01:01:04.320 had our own trainings. We closed our training center in 1183 01:01:04.400 --> 01:01:07.440 nineteen eighty and so we were using the community college 1184 01:01:07.840 --> 01:01:09.599 and other places, and. 1185 01:01:10.119 --> 01:01:10.559 So we. 1186 01:01:16.000 --> 01:01:19.280 Got to be close to my age then. So so. 1187 01:01:21.159 --> 01:01:25.440 Anyhow, we unfortunately had a recruit killed in some live 1188 01:01:25.519 --> 01:01:29.599 fire training in two thousand and three, and so we'd 1189 01:01:29.639 --> 01:01:32.199 already used the bond money for the stations and the headquarters, 1190 01:01:32.239 --> 01:01:34.199 but they had never done anything with a training center. 1191 01:01:34.320 --> 01:01:36.039 And so fast forward. 1192 01:01:36.320 --> 01:01:39.239 I'm chief of training and they finally decide, hey, we 1193 01:01:39.320 --> 01:01:41.079 got to move forward on this training center. So we 1194 01:01:41.159 --> 01:01:43.400 start doing the design and everything. But you know, we 1195 01:01:43.480 --> 01:01:47.079 have a huge dive rescue program and so we part 1196 01:01:47.119 --> 01:01:49.000 of it was always going to be a pool and 1197 01:01:49.280 --> 01:01:54.719 so for training, and so when they're doing the design 1198 01:01:54.800 --> 01:01:56.599 and everything, they come to me and they said, hey, 1199 01:01:57.000 --> 01:01:58.840 you know, you want to pool that's twelve feet deep, 1200 01:01:58.920 --> 01:02:01.679 but the water table because of the water table is 1201 01:02:01.719 --> 01:02:04.239 so high in Florida, it's got to be nine feet 1202 01:02:04.280 --> 01:02:07.920 above the ground. I'm like nine feet above the ground. 1203 01:02:08.000 --> 01:02:09.960 That's going to be ridiculous. How About we build a 1204 01:02:10.400 --> 01:02:13.159 pool deck on the second floor and then just build 1205 01:02:13.199 --> 01:02:15.000 it on the ground. And that's what we ended up doing. 1206 01:02:15.079 --> 01:02:17.199 So the first thing on the entire lot that was 1207 01:02:17.280 --> 01:02:21.320 built was the pool. But the other funny part of 1208 01:02:21.400 --> 01:02:23.960 it was we wanted an observation window in it, right, 1209 01:02:24.039 --> 01:02:28.320 so we designed this window. It was eight by four 1210 01:02:28.679 --> 01:02:33.440 observation window for you know, when you're doing training. And 1211 01:02:33.599 --> 01:02:36.360 so this thing had been designed by the engineers and everything, 1212 01:02:36.639 --> 01:02:40.480 and they're actually framing out the pool and my facilities 1213 01:02:40.519 --> 01:02:43.559 guy and the contractor comes in my office. Chief, we've 1214 01:02:43.559 --> 01:02:45.480 got a problem, I said, what is it? Hecause we're 1215 01:02:45.519 --> 01:02:47.239 framing everything out and they're saying we can't do the 1216 01:02:47.280 --> 01:02:49.639 window because of the pressure of the water and the 1217 01:02:49.760 --> 01:02:50.559 concrete and all this. 1218 01:02:50.840 --> 01:02:53.320 It can't be done. I go, what are you talking about, 1219 01:02:53.360 --> 01:02:56.440 Like engineers designed this. I go, no, no, you have to. 1220 01:02:57.119 --> 01:02:58.760 We can't do anything. Maybe we could do like a 1221 01:02:58.880 --> 01:03:02.239 porthole or something. This is bullshit, guys, I said, I'll 1222 01:03:02.239 --> 01:03:04.159 tell you what. Let's go for a ride and they go, 1223 01:03:04.280 --> 01:03:05.679 what do you where are we going? I said, We're 1224 01:03:05.679 --> 01:03:07.599 going to go over to the Miami Seaquarium and one 1225 01:03:07.679 --> 01:03:10.119 YouTube idiots are gonna tell me why shamou can be 1226 01:03:10.199 --> 01:03:12.480 in a tank. It's a whole blast wall and I 1227 01:03:12.599 --> 01:03:15.639 can't get a four by eight window. And they said, okay, 1228 01:03:15.719 --> 01:03:21.159 you get your window. So yeah, the surgery window. And 1229 01:03:21.199 --> 01:03:25.400 everybody's watching them do the surgery down there, right that. Yeah, 1230 01:03:26.719 --> 01:03:29.440 until ninety nine, November nine ninety you have promoted. Now 1231 01:03:29.639 --> 01:03:31.360 when you have promoted to captain, I guess these are 1232 01:03:31.400 --> 01:03:32.320 tests you're taking. 1233 01:03:32.199 --> 01:03:35.159 Right, Yeah? So we take a written test. Yeah, oh 1234 01:03:35.320 --> 01:03:37.559 and here you go bank he gets his first foray 1235 01:03:37.639 --> 01:03:39.119 here in special operations. 1236 01:03:39.880 --> 01:03:43.039 Yep, okay, so I'm working in special ops and uh, 1237 01:03:44.000 --> 01:03:47.440 and ultimately took over the task force as we call it, 1238 01:03:47.480 --> 01:03:48.840 a bureau officer in charge. 1239 01:03:49.719 --> 01:03:53.280 So are all of your tests the promotion tests? Are 1240 01:03:53.320 --> 01:03:57.199 they strictly competitive written? Whether you have to pass the written. 1241 01:03:56.920 --> 01:03:58.719 And then you got to go for like an evaluation 1242 01:03:59.119 --> 01:03:59.719 or anything like that. 1243 01:04:00.360 --> 01:04:02.599 Nope, you just you just read a bunch of books, 1244 01:04:02.840 --> 01:04:05.000 you know, the lieutenants. I think there were eighteen books 1245 01:04:05.559 --> 01:04:08.559 and uh and uh, you take a written test and 1246 01:04:09.079 --> 01:04:12.039 however you rank that's back from as at seven. Okay, 1247 01:04:12.159 --> 01:04:14.079 there no bullet there, uh. 1248 01:04:16.440 --> 01:04:16.559 Uh. 1249 01:04:18.000 --> 01:04:19.840 And then you know they rank you just based on 1250 01:04:19.920 --> 01:04:20.320 your score. 1251 01:04:20.440 --> 01:04:22.840 That's it. I think a lot of small departments are 1252 01:04:23.360 --> 01:04:24.000 surrounding you. 1253 01:04:24.519 --> 01:04:27.239 They have to go through like a oh yeah, most 1254 01:04:27.320 --> 01:04:31.400 everybody evaluation, uh, which I mean could be subjective, you know. 1255 01:04:32.360 --> 01:04:34.480 It's kind of kind of leaves itself open to a 1256 01:04:34.519 --> 01:04:35.920 little bit of criticism, I guess. 1257 01:04:36.000 --> 01:04:38.519 But my agency, it's a it's a written in a 1258 01:04:38.559 --> 01:04:40.000 practical exam, right. 1259 01:04:41.400 --> 01:04:43.320 They shoot scenarios at you, and you gotta you. 1260 01:04:43.360 --> 01:04:45.880 Have to per the union contract to actually do what 1261 01:04:46.000 --> 01:04:47.639 they call a live scenario. So I have to take 1262 01:04:47.679 --> 01:04:50.719 them out and perform live elements that they would obviously 1263 01:04:50.760 --> 01:04:52.280 it's a scenario, but I have to put them through 1264 01:04:52.280 --> 01:04:54.440 the motions, and I have to bring in outside evaluator 1265 01:04:54.519 --> 01:04:56.559 so they try to eliminate the bias so there's no 1266 01:04:56.639 --> 01:04:57.599 favoritism kind of things. 1267 01:04:57.760 --> 01:04:59.920 Favorite, could you stop making it like you really important? 1268 01:05:01.280 --> 01:05:03.599 He ruined it for me, He really ruined. 1269 01:05:03.400 --> 01:05:05.280 It for me. I'm like, this is the guy talking 1270 01:05:05.320 --> 01:05:07.480 about movies. What line he does it? Now? All of 1271 01:05:07.519 --> 01:05:08.960 a sudden, I got to look at him and somebody 1272 01:05:08.960 --> 01:05:11.199 who's important. You know, I can't do it. 1273 01:05:11.440 --> 01:05:13.360 I'm on a small scale, man, I'm just a training guy. 1274 01:05:13.800 --> 01:05:16.880 Yeah, this is the guy who's sitting in my living 1275 01:05:16.960 --> 01:05:21.239 room scratching his nuts last week, you know, and now 1276 01:05:21.239 --> 01:05:23.360 I gotta look at him like he's somebody important. You 1277 01:05:23.440 --> 01:05:29.000 know where the outside evaluators come from? Is there is 1278 01:05:29.039 --> 01:05:32.000 there a business that provides them, or are they guys 1279 01:05:32.119 --> 01:05:32.280 or what? 1280 01:05:32.679 --> 01:05:34.519 I don't know. I don't remember how many days does it, 1281 01:05:34.599 --> 01:05:37.000 but it's as far as in Browwood. We'll ask neighboring, 1282 01:05:37.280 --> 01:05:40.360 neighboring guys that usually worked at the day shift to 1283 01:05:40.440 --> 01:05:42.719 come out and volunteer. We do it kind of in exchange. 1284 01:05:42.800 --> 01:05:44.159 And if you help me, then I help you. 1285 01:05:44.320 --> 01:05:46.320 And I thought you went down to the home depot 1286 01:05:46.400 --> 01:05:48.079 and you got a couple of guys sitting there waiting 1287 01:05:48.119 --> 01:05:51.880 to do something. You want to work to evaluate, you 1288 01:05:51.960 --> 01:05:52.960 want to evaluate, you. 1289 01:05:53.039 --> 01:05:54.800 Want to evaluate. But yeah, if not, then I have 1290 01:05:54.880 --> 01:05:57.119 to hire people. And then you know, it's but definitely 1291 01:05:57.199 --> 01:05:59.199 outside people. We try to get people that they don't 1292 01:05:59.239 --> 01:06:01.880 know within their ranks, within the ranked test. 1293 01:06:02.440 --> 01:06:06.079 Mm hm, than Gonzo is really up on it too, man, right, right, Hank? 1294 01:06:06.239 --> 01:06:10.079 I mean, man, when you when you you know, when 1295 01:06:10.119 --> 01:06:12.320 you're used to a certain way and you start talking 1296 01:06:12.360 --> 01:06:13.679 to guys from all around the country. 1297 01:06:13.719 --> 01:06:17.679 There's so many different ways of testing and and. 1298 01:06:17.760 --> 01:06:20.320 It's different for the administrator level too. The administrator level, 1299 01:06:20.320 --> 01:06:22.320 they could just do an interview and you're the guy, 1300 01:06:22.480 --> 01:06:23.880 and then they could they could pick if they really 1301 01:06:23.920 --> 01:06:26.159 want to. I mean, but they put put you through 1302 01:06:26.159 --> 01:06:26.440 the show. 1303 01:06:26.519 --> 01:06:27.840 So it doesn't that lead to a little of this 1304 01:06:27.920 --> 01:06:29.800 still like hey, maybe I'll pick you if you move 1305 01:06:29.960 --> 01:06:30.880 something like you know what. 1306 01:06:32.599 --> 01:06:32.920 The chief. 1307 01:06:33.760 --> 01:06:36.400 I think it's more of who you know rather than 1308 01:06:37.440 --> 01:06:39.480 you know and some of that that that the. 1309 01:06:39.519 --> 01:06:41.480 Scuttle has never hurt though, Hank, you know what I mean. 1310 01:06:45.400 --> 01:06:49.119 Our higher ranks are definitely different than yours. Are not tested, 1311 01:06:49.239 --> 01:06:52.320 you know, like by department, Battalion chiefs the last tested position, 1312 01:06:53.199 --> 01:06:58.519 so divisions, assistance, deputy political are appointees New York is on. 1313 01:06:58.679 --> 01:07:00.760 There's one more test, is it, deputy chief. 1314 01:07:01.320 --> 01:07:04.239 But then all the staff chiefs are all our appointments 1315 01:07:04.360 --> 01:07:08.239 because you have to take the test the deputy to 1316 01:07:08.320 --> 01:07:10.280 get there, gotcha, okay, and. 1317 01:07:10.360 --> 01:07:15.400 Then it's all you know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, 1318 01:07:16.159 --> 01:07:19.159 So during this point when you're a captain is uh, 1319 01:07:19.639 --> 01:07:25.719 you get deployed to WTC posted September eleventh, walk us 1320 01:07:25.719 --> 01:07:26.440 to a little bit of that. 1321 01:07:28.199 --> 01:07:31.639 So you know, like everybody, you know, you remember where 1322 01:07:31.679 --> 01:07:35.239 you were. So we were actually in the Special Ops office, uh, 1323 01:07:35.400 --> 01:07:38.119 me and the chief and we got a call, uh 1324 01:07:38.559 --> 01:07:40.039 and he's like, hey, man, turn on the TV. 1325 01:07:40.360 --> 01:07:41.239 You know this plane. 1326 01:07:41.920 --> 01:07:43.760 So of course, you know, we're watching it, and we 1327 01:07:43.880 --> 01:07:46.639 see the second plane and we literally, I mean as 1328 01:07:46.679 --> 01:07:49.039 soon as we saw it, we're like, we're under attack. 1329 01:07:49.599 --> 01:07:52.159 And you know, back then you got you know, pagers 1330 01:07:52.199 --> 01:07:54.800 and the phone rings and it's FEMA had activated all 1331 01:07:54.880 --> 01:07:59.159 the teams. Uh, literally within minutes after that, and so 1332 01:08:00.119 --> 01:08:02.880 like all the other teams, you know, started assembling. We 1333 01:08:02.960 --> 01:08:06.159 didn't really know about the Pentagon at that point, but 1334 01:08:06.360 --> 01:08:12.119 just started assembling the team, mobilizing and uh and got 1335 01:08:12.519 --> 01:08:15.119 our orders. You know, we drove up there. It was 1336 01:08:15.519 --> 01:08:19.199 pretty amazing. You know, somebody had orchestrated. You know, we've 1337 01:08:19.239 --> 01:08:24.000 got fourteen vehicles in our caravan. Somebody had orchestrated. Every 1338 01:08:24.159 --> 01:08:27.000 state had a troop. Troopers would pick us up and 1339 01:08:27.039 --> 01:08:29.359 they'd block all the on ramps and we just keep 1340 01:08:29.399 --> 01:08:31.680 on going. We wouldn't have to slow down for anything. No, 1341 01:08:32.159 --> 01:08:37.000 no checkpoints were at the states. It was unbelievable. 1342 01:08:37.159 --> 01:08:37.279 Uh. 1343 01:08:37.520 --> 01:08:40.039 You know, I remember we we had some guys in 1344 01:08:40.079 --> 01:08:42.479 the overhead team at the Pentagons. On our way up, 1345 01:08:42.560 --> 01:08:46.039 we stopped at the Pentagon to uh to see what 1346 01:08:46.159 --> 01:08:48.359 they were doing, because we were we were going to 1347 01:08:48.399 --> 01:08:52.560 be brought into uh what there's a military base in 1348 01:08:52.640 --> 01:08:55.760 New Jersey. That's where they held us. Uh Fort Dicks 1349 01:08:56.000 --> 01:08:59.960 for Dicks, So our orders were to report there were 1350 01:09:00.039 --> 01:09:01.840 to be held because they had a way of teams 1351 01:09:02.039 --> 01:09:06.840 already moving in from Massachusetts Pennsylvania. So we were coming 1352 01:09:06.880 --> 01:09:11.880 in behind them, and uh we held at Fort Dix. 1353 01:09:12.000 --> 01:09:15.479 And then when they pushed us into the city, they 1354 01:09:15.520 --> 01:09:19.439 had us all housed at the Javit Center. It's where 1355 01:09:19.479 --> 01:09:21.880 they had all the FEMA teams. And uh they would 1356 01:09:22.039 --> 01:09:24.760 transport us down to the you know, we've worked one 1357 01:09:24.920 --> 01:09:28.359 you know, a day shift, night shift, and you know, uh, 1358 01:09:29.000 --> 01:09:31.960 there we are there. Uh, they transport us down, We 1359 01:09:32.119 --> 01:09:34.199 do our we do our work at the at the site, 1360 01:09:34.600 --> 01:09:36.720 and then head back to the Javit Center. 1361 01:09:37.520 --> 01:09:37.680 Uh. 1362 01:09:38.039 --> 01:09:40.079 It was interesting because where we were all we were 1363 01:09:40.079 --> 01:09:42.079 sleeping in the second floor of the Javit Center and 1364 01:09:42.119 --> 01:09:45.600 the whole thing is glass, and so it's like sleeping 1365 01:09:45.680 --> 01:09:46.720 in an aquarium, you know. 1366 01:09:46.880 --> 01:09:50.840 And yeah, uh but uh, you know, it was uh, 1367 01:09:52.159 --> 01:09:53.399 it was definitely. Yeah. 1368 01:09:53.560 --> 01:09:55.239 I think we were talking about it in the pre show, 1369 01:09:55.279 --> 01:09:57.279 you know, it was. It was definitely a tough one 1370 01:09:57.359 --> 01:09:59.479 for a lot of us, myself included. You know, this 1371 01:09:59.640 --> 01:10:02.520 was like you guys, this was very personal. We knew 1372 01:10:02.520 --> 01:10:05.239 a lot of these guys, and I remember when we 1373 01:10:05.319 --> 01:10:07.840 first heard that Ray was one of the ones missing, 1374 01:10:07.920 --> 01:10:10.479 you know, just like that's not possible. You know, We've 1375 01:10:10.479 --> 01:10:12.000 been trying to get in touch with him. He's got 1376 01:10:12.079 --> 01:10:15.800 to be running everything, and uh so it it was. 1377 01:10:16.079 --> 01:10:18.079 It was, uh, you know, a tough one for for 1378 01:10:18.199 --> 01:10:21.159 everybody I know. But uh, you know, like everything we've 1379 01:10:21.199 --> 01:10:23.960 been on. Our our mission is of course rescue, but 1380 01:10:24.079 --> 01:10:26.920 if if we can do anything to recovery and bring closure, 1381 01:10:27.000 --> 01:10:30.399 that was a that was a goal, you know. I remember, 1382 01:10:30.600 --> 01:10:33.119 like everybody, you know, you have you have your memories, 1383 01:10:33.159 --> 01:10:36.640 and I remember the day that, uh, we've they finally 1384 01:10:36.960 --> 01:10:38.920 kind of locate I think it was Rescue three. A 1385 01:10:38.960 --> 01:10:41.239 lot of the guys were in an elevator or in 1386 01:10:41.319 --> 01:10:44.720 an area and elevator of the Marriott and I remember 1387 01:10:44.800 --> 01:10:46.840 that day so vividly. You know, when they were bringing 1388 01:10:46.880 --> 01:10:49.439 those guys out, you know, it was amazing to me 1389 01:10:49.760 --> 01:10:52.279 the level of respect, you know, and you guys were there. 1390 01:10:52.399 --> 01:10:54.479 You know the size of that work site and they 1391 01:10:54.560 --> 01:10:57.000 were bringing a firefighter out. I mean everything stopped. You 1392 01:10:57.039 --> 01:11:00.119 could hear a pin drop and uh. And I I 1393 01:11:00.239 --> 01:11:03.079 remember that Sunday. It was a long day seeing recover 1394 01:11:03.199 --> 01:11:07.079 those guys. And I don't remember the guy from I 1395 01:11:07.159 --> 01:11:09.680 think he was a rescue three guy. Huge dude, that's 1396 01:11:09.720 --> 01:11:12.079 all I remember. He'd had to be six seven, look 1397 01:11:12.199 --> 01:11:13.960 like a linebacker. 1398 01:11:14.960 --> 01:11:17.079 Meisenheimen was from Well, that's. 1399 01:11:16.960 --> 01:11:20.239 The name that came to my head. He was a 1400 01:11:20.279 --> 01:11:24.239 big He wasn't tall, but he was big. Was a 1401 01:11:24.359 --> 01:11:24.800 tall guy. 1402 01:11:25.039 --> 01:11:28.119 But uh, you know, there was some like everything, there's 1403 01:11:28.159 --> 01:11:30.199 stuff going on, right, I mean, we had some issues 1404 01:11:30.279 --> 01:11:33.239 with the steel guys and even with fellow firefighters. 1405 01:11:33.319 --> 01:11:34.359 You know, what are you doing here? 1406 01:11:34.600 --> 01:11:36.720 And you know, trying to just be able to help 1407 01:11:36.920 --> 01:11:39.720 help each other out. But I know that there was 1408 01:11:39.800 --> 01:11:42.399 some side stories about I think it was the Texas 1409 01:11:42.479 --> 01:11:44.640 team that had made some comments in the media that 1410 01:11:44.760 --> 01:11:47.840 really offended a lot of a lot of the New 1411 01:11:47.880 --> 01:11:51.279 York firefighters about hey, the cavalry is coming or something, 1412 01:11:51.319 --> 01:11:53.600 and kind of pissed guys off. And again I didn't 1413 01:11:53.600 --> 01:11:55.560 know any of this stuff till afterwards, but I remember 1414 01:11:55.680 --> 01:11:59.520 this guy coming to me coming down from the pile 1415 01:11:59.600 --> 01:12:01.680 and some of the first U SAR guy he sees, 1416 01:12:01.760 --> 01:12:05.520 and he goes, the fuck are those guys from Texas? Like, hey, bro, 1417 01:12:05.720 --> 01:12:09.960 I got a pod, you know, and am I think 1418 01:12:09.960 --> 01:12:11.079 they're on the other side. 1419 01:12:10.880 --> 01:12:15.159 There, you know. But I was just glad to see anybody. 1420 01:12:15.199 --> 01:12:17.760 It was so much work there to do. Oh my god. Yah. 1421 01:12:20.199 --> 01:12:22.079 Yeah, I was gonna say, Chief if you when you 1422 01:12:22.119 --> 01:12:23.880 and I spoke briefly down here, you told me a 1423 01:12:23.920 --> 01:12:27.279 little bit about the tunneling story to J Jones. 1424 01:12:28.199 --> 01:12:31.319 Yeah, so you know the weird the weird stories. 1425 01:12:31.439 --> 01:12:31.560 Right. 1426 01:12:31.640 --> 01:12:33.880 So the area that we were working, we were we 1427 01:12:33.960 --> 01:12:36.439 were working down into the path train and trying up. 1428 01:12:36.439 --> 01:12:37.920 I guess it's building one, right, is that? 1429 01:12:38.279 --> 01:12:38.399 Uh? 1430 01:12:39.039 --> 01:12:39.479 And uh? 1431 01:12:40.000 --> 01:12:42.079 I remember because I was kind of a sign working 1432 01:12:42.159 --> 01:12:44.960 with whatever the FD and Y Chief was in that area. 1433 01:12:45.600 --> 01:12:48.039 And my guys called me on the radio and they said, hey, 1434 01:12:48.119 --> 01:12:51.159 we we found this stairwell and there's some gear in 1435 01:12:51.239 --> 01:12:54.800 here and stuff. Nobody in here and uh, I think 1436 01:12:54.840 --> 01:12:57.359 it's the B stairwells. I tell the chief and he 1437 01:12:57.479 --> 01:13:00.600 kind of just chuckles. He goes, he goes, yeah, he goes. 1438 01:13:00.640 --> 01:13:02.600 You know, the day the towers came down, we had 1439 01:13:02.640 --> 01:13:05.760 some guys trapped in there and they didn't realize the 1440 01:13:05.800 --> 01:13:08.239 whole building had come down. And so they're on the 1441 01:13:08.399 --> 01:13:11.279 radio saying, we're in the B stairwell. Go through the 1442 01:13:11.359 --> 01:13:14.039 glass doors of the tower. Make a right turn. It's 1443 01:13:14.079 --> 01:13:17.000 the second stairwell on your left, the B. He goes, 1444 01:13:17.079 --> 01:13:19.880 it took you guys ten days to find it, And 1445 01:13:20.680 --> 01:13:22.920 I said, yeah, you know, And of course I heard 1446 01:13:22.960 --> 01:13:25.000 the story afterwards, but I didn't know it then. 1447 01:13:25.279 --> 01:13:28.439 How long were you therefore? I think we were there 1448 01:13:28.479 --> 01:13:31.880 a little over two weeks and then they. 1449 01:13:33.319 --> 01:13:35.840 Rolled us out. I remember, I know, Hank, you said 1450 01:13:35.880 --> 01:13:38.279 you were with Rescue one. I remember we went and 1451 01:13:38.359 --> 01:13:40.800 visited Rescue one. Obviously they were close by, so they 1452 01:13:41.239 --> 01:13:43.199 they had rolled us off, and we had like a 1453 01:13:43.319 --> 01:13:46.520 day and a half, I guess to Demo, and so 1454 01:13:46.720 --> 01:13:48.479 we made it a point because we had known a 1455 01:13:48.520 --> 01:13:50.159 lot of the guys from Rescue one, and so we 1456 01:13:50.720 --> 01:13:52.239 took a few of us and we walked over to 1457 01:13:52.279 --> 01:13:55.199 the quarters, right, I wasn't. 1458 01:13:55.399 --> 01:13:57.279 At that point. I was out of rescue one and 1459 01:13:57.359 --> 01:13:59.880 I was in charge of the Kevin Coole was in. 1460 01:14:00.159 --> 01:14:01.560 We were fraid. I was and squad the way the 1461 01:14:01.640 --> 01:14:02.560 eight Cata Murphy. 1462 01:14:03.359 --> 01:14:05.560 Yeah, so I wasn't you know, when when the tow 1463 01:14:05.640 --> 01:14:07.439 has happened, I was already out of rescue one. 1464 01:14:08.640 --> 01:14:11.319 Yeah. Yeah, So I saw Joel just post Yeah, so 1465 01:14:11.880 --> 01:14:13.760 you know, I remember that, Joel, and you know, so 1466 01:14:13.960 --> 01:14:16.520 it was and I was we didn't know where any 1467 01:14:16.560 --> 01:14:19.680 other fire stations were. We knew we're rescued, Joel. Yeah, 1468 01:14:20.000 --> 01:14:22.319 that's all I got to talk about Engine three. Yeah. 1469 01:14:23.079 --> 01:14:24.880 I didn't want to rush you, but I was just 1470 01:14:24.920 --> 01:14:29.319 trying to show you. Yeah, good man, good Man yep. 1471 01:14:30.039 --> 01:14:33.720 Uh so yeah, so that was that was kind of ours. 1472 01:14:33.840 --> 01:14:36.760 I mean, it was. It was quite an experience and 1473 01:14:37.119 --> 01:14:38.680 I'm glad I was part of it. Has got it. 1474 01:14:38.840 --> 01:14:40.840 We could help in our little way that we could help. 1475 01:14:41.039 --> 01:14:46.880 And how many how many teams responded, Yeah, all of 1476 01:14:46.960 --> 01:14:49.399 the team. There's twenty eight teams in the country, and 1477 01:14:49.560 --> 01:14:52.119 all but two were deployed. 1478 01:14:52.880 --> 01:14:55.720 Uh Now, I think they sent the team to the 1479 01:14:55.800 --> 01:14:57.880 Pentagon too. For four of the. 1480 01:14:57.920 --> 01:14:59.039 Teams went to the Pentagon. 1481 01:14:59.159 --> 01:15:01.520 The rest of them came to New York City and 1482 01:15:01.720 --> 01:15:04.760 kind of in waves, and I know the teams coming 1483 01:15:04.800 --> 01:15:09.479 in behind us, they actually had them also doing something 1484 01:15:09.560 --> 01:15:12.439 as first responders, you know, because you obviously your special 1485 01:15:12.520 --> 01:15:16.079 ops were decimated and trying to support whatever you guys 1486 01:15:16.199 --> 01:15:17.840 needed on the special ops side. 1487 01:15:18.319 --> 01:15:19.760 I don't know how that worked or anything. 1488 01:15:19.800 --> 01:15:21.399 We weren't part of that, but I know they were 1489 01:15:21.439 --> 01:15:23.319 talking about that with the waves that were coming in 1490 01:15:23.399 --> 01:15:26.720 behind us, So it. 1491 01:15:28.479 --> 01:15:32.840 Was definitely an experience. Now, were you still on the 1492 01:15:32.960 --> 01:15:35.399 job when the surfside collapse happened? 1493 01:15:36.399 --> 01:15:40.399 So the surfside interesting. I was retired, But when I retired, 1494 01:15:40.439 --> 01:15:43.560 I went to work for the state because one of 1495 01:15:43.640 --> 01:15:45.600 the jobs I've served in the state of Florida for 1496 01:15:45.880 --> 01:15:48.319 a long time, we have a state wide emergency response 1497 01:15:48.359 --> 01:15:50.800 plan where we coordinate like for hurricanes and stuff in 1498 01:15:50.880 --> 01:15:54.840 your area, coordinate the fire resources and rescue. And I 1499 01:15:54.960 --> 01:15:56.880 was one of the guys that helped build our USAR 1500 01:15:56.960 --> 01:16:00.720 system here in Florida. So that morning the collapse, I 1501 01:16:00.840 --> 01:16:02.760 got the phone call that hey, we need you down 1502 01:16:02.840 --> 01:16:06.520 there on behalf of the state Fire Marshal to coordinate. 1503 01:16:06.600 --> 01:16:08.439 So yes, I spent nineteen days down there. 1504 01:16:08.840 --> 01:16:10.840 So that I mean, because I was leading into my question, 1505 01:16:11.000 --> 01:16:13.760 do you feel that the experience you had at the 1506 01:16:13.840 --> 01:16:17.399 trade set? You know, I mean it was obviously a 1507 01:16:17.800 --> 01:16:21.119 much smaller scale, but still a building collapse with numerous 1508 01:16:21.199 --> 01:16:24.359 people trapped or killed. Oh, you feel that that experience 1509 01:16:24.439 --> 01:16:26.960 helped you coordinate and run the surfside collapse? 1510 01:16:27.439 --> 01:16:30.439 Oh, one hundred percent. All all of the responses i'd 1511 01:16:30.439 --> 01:16:32.560 been to. I remember when I when I first got there, 1512 01:16:32.600 --> 01:16:34.840 I was talking to one of the chiefs and and 1513 01:16:35.720 --> 01:16:37.560 you know, again they were kind of in that shock 1514 01:16:37.680 --> 01:16:41.119 of disaster, right, and they said, listen, we've run the 1515 01:16:41.239 --> 01:16:43.520 dogs and we're not getting any hits. You know, I 1516 01:16:43.560 --> 01:16:45.520 think we're going to wrap things up in about an hour. 1517 01:16:45.720 --> 01:16:48.600 I said, that's what you think. I said, you're going 1518 01:16:48.680 --> 01:16:50.840 to be here for a month until we hit dirt. 1519 01:16:51.600 --> 01:16:52.760 And I was wrong. 1520 01:16:52.840 --> 01:16:57.079 We were only there twenty eight days. But again I 1521 01:16:57.359 --> 01:16:59.760 had a different perspective, right, I had. I had seen 1522 01:17:00.039 --> 01:17:03.279 their disasters like this and realized, first of all, if 1523 01:17:03.359 --> 01:17:06.680 not you, then who, and and you know what we 1524 01:17:06.840 --> 01:17:10.000 had to do. And you know, I'm incredible. You know 1525 01:17:10.119 --> 01:17:12.359 it's my department, you know, I know all the people, 1526 01:17:13.199 --> 01:17:16.199 uh and I'm incredibly proud of what they did, especially 1527 01:17:16.239 --> 01:17:18.119 the first responders. You know, I don't think they got 1528 01:17:18.159 --> 01:17:21.000 the credit that they deserved. You know, the USAR teams 1529 01:17:21.439 --> 01:17:24.159 did a great job and bringing closure, but you know, 1530 01:17:24.239 --> 01:17:27.600 those first responders that aren't tech rescue, that aren't engineers, 1531 01:17:27.640 --> 01:17:30.560 that aren't anything, and pushed themselves into that building, into 1532 01:17:30.640 --> 01:17:34.800 that pile, uh, not knowing whether what's holding up that 1533 01:17:34.920 --> 01:17:36.760 other building. I mean that was my first thought when 1534 01:17:36.800 --> 01:17:39.600 I got there, why is that thing still standing? And 1535 01:17:40.199 --> 01:17:43.319 they saved lives, They brought out thirty four people, and 1536 01:17:44.079 --> 01:17:45.439 you know, incredibly proud. 1537 01:17:45.199 --> 01:17:48.640 Of what they did. Stuff. Man, Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I 1538 01:17:49.359 --> 01:17:50.920 have a little show I do in the morning called 1539 01:17:50.920 --> 01:17:53.399 a Cup of Joe and Fuego and I played somebody 1540 01:17:53.520 --> 01:17:57.239 sent me the audio to the serf side. Man, those 1541 01:17:57.279 --> 01:17:59.880 guys were calm and cool because they weren't going on 1542 01:18:00.079 --> 01:18:01.680 They were going on a box for something else. 1543 01:18:01.920 --> 01:18:06.000 Got so yeah, forget how it came in. It was 1544 01:18:06.079 --> 01:18:07.680 very non came in and the. 1545 01:18:07.720 --> 01:18:10.439 Way they responded very cool. Hey listen, we got a 1546 01:18:10.479 --> 01:18:13.479 major collapse, hett out. I forget what you guys call it, 1547 01:18:13.880 --> 01:18:16.800 you know, the technical rescue whatever, it is very cool. 1548 01:18:16.960 --> 01:18:18.279 No panic, no nothing. 1549 01:18:18.359 --> 01:18:18.479 Man. 1550 01:18:18.560 --> 01:18:21.439 I was like, wow, I was impressed. So funny story 1551 01:18:21.520 --> 01:18:24.039 with that, right. So yes, originally it was dispatched as 1552 01:18:24.079 --> 01:18:26.720 a fire alarm, right, so it just it just went 1553 01:18:26.920 --> 01:18:28.560 one engine and uh. 1554 01:18:28.720 --> 01:18:31.239 I talked to the captain and his driver's driver was 1555 01:18:31.279 --> 01:18:34.279 one of my rookies, and they had said, look, we 1556 01:18:34.319 --> 01:18:36.359 get alarms there all the time. It's middle of the night. 1557 01:18:36.439 --> 01:18:38.960 Servici is not a big city. And as they're turning 1558 01:18:39.000 --> 01:18:41.840 down the last road they see this cloud. At first 1559 01:18:41.840 --> 01:18:44.479 they're thinking, holy shit, we got a fire, and then 1560 01:18:44.560 --> 01:18:48.399 they dispatched a parking garage collapse. So they're literally sitting 1561 01:18:48.479 --> 01:18:50.640 there while the dispatch is going out, so you could 1562 01:18:50.680 --> 01:18:53.520 imagine there's all these exploitives flying around in the cap 1563 01:18:53.640 --> 01:18:56.760 holy shit, what you know? And the driver's doing what 1564 01:18:56.880 --> 01:18:59.199 great drivers do, cap taking breath. This is what you 1565 01:18:59.279 --> 01:19:03.199 have to say, think about this. So we, of course 1566 01:19:03.239 --> 01:19:05.760 we affectually nick named him Count Chocula because he said 1567 01:19:05.800 --> 01:19:08.000 there's one, two, three, I don't know a lot of 1568 01:19:08.039 --> 01:19:09.760 floors and uh. 1569 01:19:10.279 --> 01:19:16.239 And they bill hild them. But but the other funny 1570 01:19:16.319 --> 01:19:18.399 part is he gets his whole size up. 1571 01:19:19.119 --> 01:19:21.560 And because it was just a single company response, the 1572 01:19:21.640 --> 01:19:25.239 dispatcher said you've got to switch to the tactical frequency. 1573 01:19:25.479 --> 01:19:28.359 So he had to do it all over again. But 1574 01:19:28.600 --> 01:19:31.119 he did a phenomenal job. I mean he said a 1575 01:19:31.199 --> 01:19:33.319 few things that put in the motion you know how 1576 01:19:33.359 --> 01:19:36.239 that goes right? That that made things easier for the 1577 01:19:36.319 --> 01:19:40.079 next days and weeks to come. Uh he didn't they 1578 01:19:40.119 --> 01:19:40.760 all did they did? 1579 01:19:41.039 --> 01:19:41.159 You know? 1580 01:19:41.199 --> 01:19:44.920 Because that collapse had sheared off the stairs and the elevator, 1581 01:19:45.039 --> 01:19:47.920 so all those people, mostly elderly, had to be taken 1582 01:19:48.000 --> 01:19:48.840 out over ladders. 1583 01:19:49.600 --> 01:19:49.720 Uh. 1584 01:19:49.840 --> 01:19:52.399 And fortunately for that building, the building was right up 1585 01:19:52.439 --> 01:19:54.600 on the road so they could use the aerial ladders. 1586 01:19:56.000 --> 01:19:58.520 But uh, yeah, it was it was quite an event. 1587 01:19:59.119 --> 01:19:59.359 Yep. 1588 01:20:00.239 --> 01:20:06.960 Who and this is probably I don't want to say 1589 01:20:06.960 --> 01:20:10.479 a cynical question, but not towards Miami Day. But you 1590 01:20:10.600 --> 01:20:13.560 said the guys went in the remaining standing part of 1591 01:20:13.640 --> 01:20:16.520 the building to make searches and they rescue thirty four people. 1592 01:20:17.159 --> 01:20:22.520 Did they do that as before a command chief had 1593 01:20:23.239 --> 01:20:25.560 command of that scene or did the chief let them 1594 01:20:25.600 --> 01:20:26.760 go in and do what they had to do. 1595 01:20:27.279 --> 01:20:31.600 No, the chief for that area was coordinating it before 1596 01:20:31.640 --> 01:20:33.960 the other senior chiefs arrived. So yes, that was a 1597 01:20:34.039 --> 01:20:37.079 coordinated effort. But there were people in there calling nine 1598 01:20:37.119 --> 01:20:39.359 to one one. There were people on their balcony screaming 1599 01:20:39.479 --> 01:20:42.119 for help, and so they realized we got to get 1600 01:20:42.159 --> 01:20:44.800 in there. And there was also you know, you're hearing 1601 01:20:44.920 --> 01:20:47.399 voices from the rubble up underneath there was a two 1602 01:20:47.520 --> 01:20:51.399 level parking garage. So you know, they realized they made 1603 01:20:51.479 --> 01:20:54.000 that whole risk benefit decision that hey, we got to 1604 01:20:54.000 --> 01:20:56.720 get in there and get these people right, right. 1605 01:20:56.840 --> 01:21:00.439 I mean I applaud the decision. I think it was yeah, 1606 01:21:02.039 --> 01:21:05.359 we we remember when we raised our right hand. Yeah, 1607 01:21:05.680 --> 01:21:07.279 we knew it was a hazardous job. 1608 01:21:07.680 --> 01:21:07.880 Yep. 1609 01:21:08.560 --> 01:21:12.000 And I think, now, don't you know this is not 1610 01:21:12.079 --> 01:21:14.119 I'm not painting with a broad brush, but I think 1611 01:21:14.239 --> 01:21:17.760 nowadays some guys are a little gun shy and like, 1612 01:21:18.079 --> 01:21:20.520 we'll wait until we get built the building engineers here 1613 01:21:20.600 --> 01:21:22.640 to see whether the building is stable enough to send 1614 01:21:22.680 --> 01:21:25.279 you guys in or ye. And I mean sometimes you 1615 01:21:25.439 --> 01:21:28.239 just you know, there's people's lives in the balance, and 1616 01:21:28.319 --> 01:21:30.960 if the fire department's not getting them, who's coming to 1617 01:21:31.000 --> 01:21:31.319 get them? 1618 01:21:32.239 --> 01:21:34.159 And Hank, You's spot on, you know. And when I 1619 01:21:34.239 --> 01:21:36.000 talk about this, I was just talking about it the 1620 01:21:36.079 --> 01:21:38.279 other day. I was teaching in a leadership class and 1621 01:21:38.359 --> 01:21:40.640 that's exactly what I said. I said, we all raise 1622 01:21:40.720 --> 01:21:43.399 our right hand. And it's that small percentage where you say, 1623 01:21:43.399 --> 01:21:45.640 I don't know if I'll ever have to really put 1624 01:21:45.720 --> 01:21:48.800 my life on the line, but that's what I signed 1625 01:21:48.880 --> 01:21:51.800 up for, and that's what they did, and they did 1626 01:21:51.840 --> 01:21:53.439 a great job, right. 1627 01:21:53.479 --> 01:21:56.720 And you know that's what I said, I have And 1628 01:21:56.880 --> 01:22:00.359 thirty four lives was saved absolutely that job. 1629 01:22:01.159 --> 01:22:05.720 And like I say, sometimes, you know, even as even 1630 01:22:05.720 --> 01:22:10.000 as a guy in charge, you know, you got to remember, yes, 1631 01:22:10.119 --> 01:22:12.000 you know, you don't want to lose any of your members, 1632 01:22:13.079 --> 01:22:15.720 but you know, I don't want to be explained to somebody, 1633 01:22:15.920 --> 01:22:16.079 you know. 1634 01:22:16.119 --> 01:22:18.880 Why if you know why they saw there. You know, 1635 01:22:19.319 --> 01:22:21.079 they were on the phone with somebody. 1636 01:22:24.119 --> 01:22:26.800 And look the building collapsed, and you got to explain 1637 01:22:26.840 --> 01:22:29.359 to them why he didn't have anybody trying to rescue them. 1638 01:22:29.720 --> 01:22:33.239 I mean, actually, actually one of the apartments they forced 1639 01:22:33.279 --> 01:22:35.760 in because they checked every apartment, you know, they go 1640 01:22:35.840 --> 01:22:38.000 into a bedroom and here's a seventy two year old guy, 1641 01:22:38.640 --> 01:22:41.560 sound asleep, slept through the whole damn thing. They took 1642 01:22:41.640 --> 01:22:44.279 him out in a tidy whities over the area. How 1643 01:22:44.319 --> 01:22:45.359 many people did they lose? 1644 01:22:45.560 --> 01:22:51.239 Chief? Holy shit? So That's the other thing. 1645 01:22:51.199 --> 01:22:55.279 I'm really proud of is that you know, they accounted 1646 01:22:55.359 --> 01:22:57.600 for every one of the people. I mean literally the 1647 01:22:57.720 --> 01:23:00.159 last day is when they found the last remain of 1648 01:23:00.520 --> 01:23:03.039 one of the one of the victims. And that's that's 1649 01:23:03.119 --> 01:23:05.720 pretty amazing too, right, I mean, is trying to bring 1650 01:23:05.840 --> 01:23:10.439 closure to these families. Yeah, and uh so incredibly proud. 1651 01:23:11.359 --> 01:23:13.039 To be proud, because that's how we operate when it 1652 01:23:13.079 --> 01:23:15.239 comes to the test force deployment. If we have a 1653 01:23:15.279 --> 01:23:17.680 list of names, whatever that may be, we're not leaving 1654 01:23:17.760 --> 01:23:20.720 until we complete that task at least account for some way, 1655 01:23:20.840 --> 01:23:22.720 some way to check that box or that name that 1656 01:23:22.800 --> 01:23:23.359 might be missing. 1657 01:23:23.960 --> 01:23:25.840 Well, Chief, you said it right when you told that, 1658 01:23:26.119 --> 01:23:28.720 when you responded when you told that, Chief, but he said, 1659 01:23:28.720 --> 01:23:29.960 we'll be out here in a couple of hours. 1660 01:23:30.199 --> 01:23:35.000 You're not out of there until you yep, yeah, yeah, 1661 01:23:35.039 --> 01:23:36.119 you're round in. 1662 01:23:36.239 --> 01:23:38.199 Then you're be going to be going subterranean. But until 1663 01:23:38.199 --> 01:23:41.119 every bit of his buildings lifted off, you sit through 1664 01:23:41.159 --> 01:23:43.479 all of that stuff, you know, especially if there's still 1665 01:23:43.640 --> 01:23:45.159 one or two bodies on accounted for. 1666 01:23:45.680 --> 01:23:49.960 That's what you're doing. Let's shoot forward to two thousand 1667 01:23:49.960 --> 01:23:52.159 and two. You may of two thousand, you're promoted to 1668 01:23:52.239 --> 01:23:53.159 battalion chief. 1669 01:23:54.800 --> 01:23:59.079 Yep, yeah, that's that's just you know for us, every 1670 01:23:59.119 --> 01:24:01.399 time you get promoted, did we tell you? We tell everybody. 1671 01:24:01.439 --> 01:24:04.640 You get the city, the city bid, Carroll City, Florida City, 1672 01:24:05.039 --> 01:24:07.560 you move all over the county and so just a 1673 01:24:07.640 --> 01:24:11.640 relief battalion moving around filling vacancies. 1674 01:24:12.760 --> 01:24:15.520 So that was that. So August two thousand and three 1675 01:24:15.560 --> 01:24:20.359 appointed Division Chief now North Operations, responsible for four battalions 1676 01:24:20.399 --> 01:24:23.520 in the northeast part of the county, primary high rise 1677 01:24:23.760 --> 01:24:27.720 primary high rise districts as well as residential. Yeah. 1678 01:24:27.880 --> 01:24:30.119 Actually that's where Surf Side is, right, so all of 1679 01:24:30.199 --> 01:24:32.319 our cities along the coast there. 1680 01:24:32.520 --> 01:24:35.920 But yeah, so we're organized. We have fourteen battalions. 1681 01:24:36.479 --> 01:24:39.159 And then at back when I was there, when I 1682 01:24:39.279 --> 01:24:41.840 was a division, we had four divisions, so we had 1683 01:24:41.880 --> 01:24:44.000 a north of Central, the South, and the West. So 1684 01:24:44.560 --> 01:24:47.920 I had four of the battalions under my division in 1685 01:24:48.039 --> 01:24:50.960 the northeast. So you know, that was a challenge because 1686 01:24:50.960 --> 01:24:53.159 some of the very senior chiefs, many of them I 1687 01:24:53.520 --> 01:24:56.439 had worked for when I was a younger officer and 1688 01:24:56.520 --> 01:25:00.119 now I'm their boss. But real good officers, and you know, 1689 01:25:00.159 --> 01:25:02.119 I enjoyed working up in that area. 1690 01:25:03.199 --> 01:25:05.520 Right, So how many how many spare miles is that 1691 01:25:05.600 --> 01:25:09.199 if you have four battalions, is that a large area covered? Now? 1692 01:25:09.960 --> 01:25:10.640 How much would that? 1693 01:25:11.119 --> 01:25:13.720 You know, we're the way we're set up, that area 1694 01:25:13.920 --> 01:25:17.359 is much more compact than other parts of the county, 1695 01:25:18.399 --> 01:25:21.079 so our stations are much closer, our battalions are a 1696 01:25:21.119 --> 01:25:24.640 little smaller in that area. If you get west, you 1697 01:25:24.720 --> 01:25:28.520 get south, that's when things start getting farther apart. So 1698 01:25:30.199 --> 01:25:35.279 let's see, each battalion had about four stations, but it 1699 01:25:35.439 --> 01:25:36.960 is a tight geography. 1700 01:25:36.520 --> 01:25:39.800 Had about sixteen to twenty stations. Yeah. Yeah, that's a 1701 01:25:39.840 --> 01:25:45.319 lot of guys. Yeah, yeah, Yeah. August two thousand and four, 1702 01:25:45.359 --> 01:25:47.960 you get assigned as chief of EMS, so now you're 1703 01:25:48.000 --> 01:25:52.560 in charge of all all squads or all EMS then yep. 1704 01:25:52.960 --> 01:25:55.439 Yeah, so that's where ours all the training, all the 1705 01:25:55.520 --> 01:25:58.079 certification for both the paramedics and the E M t s. 1706 01:26:00.319 --> 01:26:02.479 And uh, you know, at the time, the chief was 1707 01:26:02.560 --> 01:26:04.920 kind of moving people around to different places. 1708 01:26:05.800 --> 01:26:07.680 Uh, And so I got that. 1709 01:26:09.960 --> 01:26:12.279 I didn't mind it, but you know, I had kind 1710 01:26:12.319 --> 01:26:14.399 of come up on the EMS side, but I really 1711 01:26:14.720 --> 01:26:17.079 kind of had run my course with that. So I'm 1712 01:26:17.159 --> 01:26:19.000 fortunate you know, if you ever asked me what I 1713 01:26:19.039 --> 01:26:21.479 wanted to do ultimately in the fire department, it was 1714 01:26:21.560 --> 01:26:22.760 not to be chief of the department. 1715 01:26:22.800 --> 01:26:25.079 I wanted to be chief of training. You know, Well 1716 01:26:25.279 --> 01:26:28.560 there it is, you says five beside, the chief of 1717 01:26:28.640 --> 01:26:31.159 training my dream job, that's it. Yeah. 1718 01:26:31.199 --> 01:26:33.079 When I interviewed first for division, they go, where do 1719 01:26:33.119 --> 01:26:34.720 you want to be? And I said, I'd like to 1720 01:26:34.800 --> 01:26:36.960 be chief of training? And they put me in operations. 1721 01:26:37.039 --> 01:26:38.680 And the next chief where do you want to be? 1722 01:26:38.760 --> 01:26:40.199 I said, I like to be training, and they put 1723 01:26:40.239 --> 01:26:42.560 me in the MS. So finally they put me in 1724 01:26:42.920 --> 01:26:46.399 training third time. Yeah, you're in College of All Training, 1725 01:26:47.239 --> 01:26:49.960 all fire training, all and not the EMS side, so 1726 01:26:50.319 --> 01:26:52.800 we and not the special ops. Special Ops does their 1727 01:26:52.800 --> 01:26:56.920 own training. So all we do is the basic firefighter certification, 1728 01:26:57.239 --> 01:27:02.439 the continuing education, the driver's certification and uh those things. 1729 01:27:03.279 --> 01:27:05.479 Now do you have like a fire academy too? Is 1730 01:27:05.520 --> 01:27:07.000 that that training center that you built? 1731 01:27:07.319 --> 01:27:09.560 We we didn't, I mean we were, we were building it, 1732 01:27:10.479 --> 01:27:15.079 but uh that's that's the artist rendering. Uh it's it's 1733 01:27:15.119 --> 01:27:17.479 a great facility. You know, I wish we had more space. 1734 01:27:17.640 --> 01:27:20.119 We got ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag. 1735 01:27:20.840 --> 01:27:23.159 But always this is a story of all lives. When 1736 01:27:23.199 --> 01:27:24.640 it comes to training, you want most space. 1737 01:27:25.279 --> 01:27:28.279 But but you know, and that the color of the building, 1738 01:27:28.359 --> 01:27:31.319 you know, I learned was the architects wanted to put 1739 01:27:31.359 --> 01:27:33.600 the different colors of flames. So that's why you have 1740 01:27:33.720 --> 01:27:37.439 the orange and yellow the right. So that's when I 1741 01:27:37.520 --> 01:27:40.399 learned what an architect is, and that's that they're not 1742 01:27:40.560 --> 01:27:42.600 as they're not smart enough to be an engineer and 1743 01:27:42.640 --> 01:27:44.560 not feminine enough to be an interior designer. 1744 01:27:45.680 --> 01:27:49.439 So I like that get built or was that still 1745 01:27:49.640 --> 01:27:53.359 just nope, that's fully built. Yeah, so it is fully built. 1746 01:27:53.439 --> 01:27:53.520 Now. 1747 01:27:54.159 --> 01:27:57.800 Yeah, we actually broke around in uh two thousand and 1748 01:27:58.000 --> 01:28:01.399 nine and in one year than higher facility was built. 1749 01:28:01.680 --> 01:28:08.000 Wow that's pretty big. Yeah yeah, well we grabbed that 1750 01:28:08.079 --> 01:28:08.520 guy again. 1751 01:28:08.800 --> 01:28:10.279 That's one thing in South Florida. I will tell you 1752 01:28:10.359 --> 01:28:12.319 that they don't mess around when it comes to building ship. 1753 01:28:12.720 --> 01:28:14.239 It can built in no time. 1754 01:28:15.159 --> 01:28:17.640 And one of my goals was, you know a lot 1755 01:28:17.680 --> 01:28:19.640 of training centers I see you know, they'll have a 1756 01:28:19.760 --> 01:28:22.800 box and they'll say, okay, let's make pretend this is 1757 01:28:22.840 --> 01:28:25.760 a house. Well, if you look past the colored building, 1758 01:28:25.840 --> 01:28:29.159 that that building on the just past that the two story. 1759 01:28:29.279 --> 01:28:31.920 That's a twenty five hundred square foot house. So it 1760 01:28:32.000 --> 01:28:34.640 has bedrooms, it has a kitchen, it has a garage. 1761 01:28:35.760 --> 01:28:37.960 Across from that as a tower. And what we did 1762 01:28:38.199 --> 01:28:41.640 was we have a high rise side and then we 1763 01:28:41.800 --> 01:28:44.000 have a low rise. And what I wanted to do 1764 01:28:44.239 --> 01:28:47.119 was I wanted to have hallways as you actually train 1765 01:28:47.199 --> 01:28:51.079 on stretching lines down hallways as opposed to pretending in 1766 01:28:51.199 --> 01:28:52.039 a square. 1767 01:28:51.840 --> 01:28:52.800 That you have a hallway. 1768 01:28:53.439 --> 01:28:53.520 Uh. 1769 01:28:53.680 --> 01:28:55.560 And we have a lot of guarden apartments we call 1770 01:28:55.640 --> 01:28:57.560 them with terraces. So that's that side. 1771 01:28:57.760 --> 01:28:59.760 The other side of that building is flat like an 1772 01:28:59.800 --> 01:29:02.279 off This building kind of to the left of that 1773 01:29:02.560 --> 01:29:05.199 is a is a mercantile. We've got a mansard roof. 1774 01:29:06.079 --> 01:29:07.279 We have three stores. 1775 01:29:08.199 --> 01:29:08.319 Uh. 1776 01:29:08.720 --> 01:29:12.159 And then we have in the back right corner there 1777 01:29:12.479 --> 01:29:15.680 is a training prop for our extrication. Uh. 1778 01:29:15.920 --> 01:29:18.199 And next to that is a ship, a three deck 1779 01:29:18.319 --> 01:29:23.359 ship because we do shipboard training. And then a technical 1780 01:29:23.439 --> 01:29:24.000 rescue area. 1781 01:29:24.159 --> 01:29:28.680 Yeah. And on the back back right is the swimming 1782 01:29:28.720 --> 01:29:30.840 pool there you see. So at the back right area 1783 01:29:30.920 --> 01:29:35.720 is the swimming pool with the glass window thank you. 1784 01:29:36.399 --> 01:29:38.640 Yeah, with the window window was present. 1785 01:29:38.760 --> 01:29:38.960 Yeah. 1786 01:29:39.079 --> 01:29:43.840 So yeah, that's the that's the that's the facility. Where's 1787 01:29:43.880 --> 01:29:47.279 that locking right behind our headquarters. So it's in an 1788 01:29:47.279 --> 01:29:50.800 area called duru Uh. It's kind of west Ade Central West, 1789 01:29:52.680 --> 01:29:55.560 right across from Trump's Durau Country Club. A. 1790 01:29:57.119 --> 01:30:02.199 Yeah, it's a beautiful training center. It is beautiful. Absolutely 1791 01:30:02.279 --> 01:30:02.479 love it. 1792 01:30:02.880 --> 01:30:08.079 It's the best training center ever. But as guys said, 1793 01:30:08.119 --> 01:30:11.800 you don't have a sub seller. We don't have not 1794 01:30:11.880 --> 01:30:13.359 too many sellers here in Florida. 1795 01:30:15.079 --> 01:30:16.680 If you have a sub cellar, you're in the water. 1796 01:30:17.279 --> 01:30:20.279 I've ate or sight. Oh look, if I had read 1797 01:30:20.359 --> 01:30:23.840 to probably I would have saw that already. Yeah. 1798 01:30:24.079 --> 01:30:27.479 Yeah, so but I put in there right. I was 1799 01:30:27.760 --> 01:30:30.640 part of the team. And again, like designing trucks, I 1800 01:30:30.680 --> 01:30:33.079 brought in guys to help me design this thing. You know, 1801 01:30:33.159 --> 01:30:34.840 I wasn't going to do it all by myself. There's 1802 01:30:34.920 --> 01:30:38.760 things I wanted to see. But yeah, but I never 1803 01:30:38.840 --> 01:30:42.199 got to sit one day in the office. Wait wait, 1804 01:30:42.840 --> 01:30:44.399 you never got You never got to sit one day 1805 01:30:44.399 --> 01:30:44.880 in the office. 1806 01:30:44.920 --> 01:30:47.039 Are you sure about that? Are you sure about that? 1807 01:30:47.119 --> 01:30:54.560 Wait a minute, That's what I was chief. That was 1808 01:30:54.600 --> 01:30:58.960 what don't give away let the truth get away of 1809 01:30:59.039 --> 01:31:00.199 a good story about them. 1810 01:31:01.279 --> 01:31:10.119 I think better without my shoes on. I sent so 1811 01:31:10.199 --> 01:31:12.079 many pictures. I didn't know what I sent. He probably 1812 01:31:12.119 --> 01:31:13.880 hasd some of my baby pictures too. I don't know, 1813 01:31:15.960 --> 01:31:17.560 so some of your kids. 1814 01:31:17.880 --> 01:31:20.399 March tenth, you're pointed to assistant chief. I know you 1815 01:31:20.479 --> 01:31:23.079 had your dream job. I did. I screwed up. 1816 01:31:23.560 --> 01:31:27.840 Yeah, I screwed I got brow beat into taking the 1817 01:31:27.920 --> 01:31:30.159 interview for it, and lo and behold they give it 1818 01:31:30.239 --> 01:31:30.399 to me. 1819 01:31:31.239 --> 01:31:34.479 So uh uh, you know, I I enjoyed it. 1820 01:31:34.560 --> 01:31:37.479 It was areas I wasn't familiar with overseeing fire prevention 1821 01:31:37.760 --> 01:31:40.399 and logistics. You know, those aren't areas. I was familiar 1822 01:31:40.439 --> 01:31:44.000 with communications. I mean I told everybody to me. Mega 1823 01:31:44.079 --> 01:31:45.600 Hurts is a big rent a car I don't know 1824 01:31:45.680 --> 01:31:48.920 anything about. But I had a lot of smart guys 1825 01:31:48.960 --> 01:31:50.279 that that helped out a lot. 1826 01:31:50.439 --> 01:31:55.520 So you got Jim can't pronounce his last name, le dude. Yeah, 1827 01:31:57.079 --> 01:31:58.439 everybody has the biggest fans. 1828 01:31:58.800 --> 01:32:02.399 Everybody's got the big ass. Yeah. Yeah, those things are great. 1829 01:32:02.800 --> 01:32:04.680 Yeah, they move the man. We need them in Florida. 1830 01:32:05.039 --> 01:32:09.680 Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah. I missed the deployment. He deployed Towle. 1831 01:32:09.840 --> 01:32:12.279 You go to a lot of uh yeah, you went 1832 01:32:12.359 --> 01:32:15.640 to New Orleans and then you went to Haiti. Yep. Yeah, 1833 01:32:15.640 --> 01:32:18.199 I went to the earthquake in Haiti. Uh. Yeah, that's 1834 01:32:18.199 --> 01:32:18.960 the team in Haiti. 1835 01:32:19.800 --> 01:32:19.920 Uh. 1836 01:32:20.119 --> 01:32:22.159 You know when that earthquake hit. You know, there's two 1837 01:32:22.199 --> 01:32:24.119 of the twenty eight teams that also work with the 1838 01:32:24.159 --> 01:32:27.159 State Department, Los Angeles and uh, Virginia. 1839 01:32:28.039 --> 01:32:28.159 Uh. 1840 01:32:28.439 --> 01:32:31.079 But when they Haiti earthquake, because it's so close to us, 1841 01:32:31.439 --> 01:32:34.840 you know, we I directed the USAR chief at the time, 1842 01:32:34.920 --> 01:32:36.680 I told him, you know, let's roster a team. We 1843 01:32:36.760 --> 01:32:38.640 don't know what's going to happen here, and lo and 1844 01:32:38.720 --> 01:32:39.720 behold they send us. 1845 01:32:40.479 --> 01:32:42.359 Uh. Actually New York was down there too. 1846 01:32:42.520 --> 01:32:44.439 It was it was uh, you know, it was it 1847 01:32:44.600 --> 01:32:47.000 was a It was a great deployment in the sense 1848 01:32:47.119 --> 01:32:50.319 that and you guys know this, right, how long you train. 1849 01:32:50.359 --> 01:32:52.039 Over and over and over again. 1850 01:32:52.119 --> 01:32:55.359 And every deployment we've ever been to going back to 1851 01:32:55.439 --> 01:32:58.760 Oklahoma City, you know, you're doing body recovery, and it 1852 01:32:58.880 --> 01:33:01.640 was Haiti where we were at actually bringing out survivors. 1853 01:33:01.760 --> 01:33:05.560 You know, we rescued eleven people one kid, two year 1854 01:33:05.600 --> 01:33:09.119 old kid eight days buried, and we rescued. 1855 01:33:09.199 --> 01:33:10.239 Several of those stories. 1856 01:33:10.680 --> 01:33:11.840 Yeah, unbelievable. 1857 01:33:12.000 --> 01:33:13.520 There was other teams, not that I don't know the 1858 01:33:13.560 --> 01:33:15.359 teams off the top of that, would not refuse to 1859 01:33:15.399 --> 01:33:18.079 go into certain buildings where t F one and TF 1860 01:33:18.119 --> 01:33:20.720 two decided to go in and actually found another additional 1861 01:33:21.119 --> 01:33:23.920 I want to say seven individuals that were in the 1862 01:33:24.079 --> 01:33:27.560 in the market if you remember correctly marketplace, were they? 1863 01:33:27.640 --> 01:33:28.840 Oh, were you down there two guns? 1864 01:33:28.960 --> 01:33:29.000 No? 1865 01:33:29.159 --> 01:33:29.560 I wasn't. 1866 01:33:29.640 --> 01:33:30.560 That was before my time. 1867 01:33:30.840 --> 01:33:34.359 You're on two are you? Yes? They were there, Yeah, 1868 01:33:34.359 --> 01:33:37.239 they were there. If you're not first, you last, Ricky Bobby. 1869 01:33:37.920 --> 01:33:40.520 I know you're copying that guy's fucking statement in the chat. 1870 01:33:40.720 --> 01:33:41.079 Shut it. 1871 01:33:43.399 --> 01:33:45.399 Yeah, somebody said in the chat you not first, you'll last, 1872 01:33:45.479 --> 01:33:45.680 thank you. 1873 01:33:49.680 --> 01:33:51.359 But yeah, but you know, I had I had a 1874 01:33:51.399 --> 01:33:54.439 good moment down there because it was actually the morning 1875 01:33:54.520 --> 01:33:56.680 after New York had rescued. I think, like this nine 1876 01:33:56.760 --> 01:33:59.359 year old boy, and uh it was, you know, suns 1877 01:33:59.399 --> 01:34:00.960 starting to come up up and I was over there 1878 01:34:01.000 --> 01:34:03.359 were you know, we met every morning, and uh I 1879 01:34:03.439 --> 01:34:05.800 saw Joe. Joe Downey was their team leader. I was 1880 01:34:05.880 --> 01:34:08.079 our team leader, and so we had a moment where 1881 01:34:08.119 --> 01:34:09.680 Joe and I kind of were standing there and I go, 1882 01:34:09.800 --> 01:34:11.600 you know, I think your dad would be proud man. 1883 01:34:11.760 --> 01:34:14.159 You know, all this stuff came together, you know, because 1884 01:34:14.159 --> 01:34:16.880 he really built he built the US our system, right, 1885 01:34:16.920 --> 01:34:19.079 I mean, it was it was it was Ray that really, 1886 01:34:19.840 --> 01:34:23.199 you know, I didn't get for nothing. Yeah yeah, I 1887 01:34:23.239 --> 01:34:25.439 mean I know he's looked at one way in your organization, 1888 01:34:25.920 --> 01:34:28.840 you know, but from my standpoint, you know, we couldn't 1889 01:34:28.840 --> 01:34:31.000 have done it without him. And uh so it was 1890 01:34:31.039 --> 01:34:33.319 really kind of cool that everything came together, right, and 1891 01:34:34.840 --> 01:34:36.640 so you know, if I was going to have my 1892 01:34:36.720 --> 01:34:38.600 final deployment, I'm glad it was that one. 1893 01:34:39.800 --> 01:34:42.920 Yeah. Bro, Uh and then you do it again. Here 1894 01:34:42.960 --> 01:34:44.920 we go. This guy can't help get promoted. 1895 01:34:45.520 --> 01:34:47.920 You wait, yeah, I'm working on him. 1896 01:34:47.960 --> 01:34:52.439 So that was at eleven appointed Chief of Operations, seventy stations, sport, 1897 01:34:52.520 --> 01:34:58.119 three airports, EMS and special operations. Now the circle is widening. Yeah, 1898 01:34:59.359 --> 01:35:06.840 well what happened and was our chief somewhat abruptly, uh retired. 1899 01:35:06.880 --> 01:35:08.800 There was some change in leadership in the in the 1900 01:35:09.039 --> 01:35:11.680 in the county and the chief said, up, I think 1901 01:35:11.720 --> 01:35:14.439 it's time to pull the plug, and uh kind of 1902 01:35:14.479 --> 01:35:16.800 retired and kind of left us hanging there. 1903 01:35:17.119 --> 01:35:19.159 And not left us hanging. 1904 01:35:19.279 --> 01:35:22.960 But so the the guy that took over, because we're 1905 01:35:22.960 --> 01:35:26.319 a strong mayor former government, the guy that became mayor 1906 01:35:26.439 --> 01:35:29.840 was a former City of Miami fire chief uh and 1907 01:35:30.239 --> 01:35:33.359 and so he brought in a good friend of his 1908 01:35:33.560 --> 01:35:37.359 that was a former Miami fire chief, Shorty Bryson, who 1909 01:35:37.439 --> 01:35:39.159 turned out to be one of the best things that 1910 01:35:39.239 --> 01:35:40.079 ever happened to us. 1911 01:35:40.159 --> 01:35:42.000 You know, he was the right guy at the right time. 1912 01:35:42.279 --> 01:35:44.359 You know, sometimes you don't want these outsiders, and the 1913 01:35:44.399 --> 01:35:47.319 guy before him was an outsider and you know, who 1914 01:35:47.359 --> 01:35:49.720 did a lot of good for us as well. But 1915 01:35:50.239 --> 01:35:52.000 Shorty was the right guy at the right time. It 1916 01:35:52.079 --> 01:35:53.960 was definitely the right guy for me. I was starting 1917 01:35:54.000 --> 01:35:55.800 to be in the dumps, like I didn't feel like 1918 01:35:55.840 --> 01:35:58.479 I was in sync with anybody else, and so he 1919 01:35:58.600 --> 01:36:01.279 moved me to operations and we were kind of joined 1920 01:36:01.319 --> 01:36:07.079 at the hip. So great, great guy, and you know 1921 01:36:07.279 --> 01:36:09.920 I kind of knew not many people knew that he 1922 01:36:10.039 --> 01:36:11.920 was really only you know, he had retired after a 1923 01:36:12.000 --> 01:36:14.479 long career, and he was retired when the mayor brought 1924 01:36:14.520 --> 01:36:16.159 him back, and he wasn't going to be there long. 1925 01:36:16.960 --> 01:36:19.600 So you know the funny story, right, you talk about 1926 01:36:19.640 --> 01:36:22.239 how people test an interview for chief and all, well, 1927 01:36:22.319 --> 01:36:25.560 mine is different than anybody's, right, So he tells me, hey, 1928 01:36:25.640 --> 01:36:27.520 you need to be the chief, and I said, look, 1929 01:36:27.560 --> 01:36:30.199 I don't want to be the fire chief. And I said, 1930 01:36:30.239 --> 01:36:31.680 I like what I'm doing. And he said, well, I'm 1931 01:36:31.720 --> 01:36:33.359 not staying. And he goes, if you don't take it, 1932 01:36:33.439 --> 01:36:36.600 they're going to bring somebody from the outside. And I'm like, shit, 1933 01:36:36.680 --> 01:36:39.319 I didn't have them bring somebody from the outside. And 1934 01:36:39.439 --> 01:36:42.800 we went back and forth for months, and I said, look, man, 1935 01:36:42.960 --> 01:36:45.800 I gave up six years at Sunrise that I didn't 1936 01:36:45.800 --> 01:36:49.479 get credit for in my retirement. I said, I've got 1937 01:36:49.520 --> 01:36:52.279 another year before I or six more months before I 1938 01:36:52.359 --> 01:36:53.239 hit my retirement. 1939 01:36:53.319 --> 01:36:55.640 Here. Somebody told me a long time ago, never take 1940 01:36:55.680 --> 01:36:56.199 a chief. 1941 01:36:56.119 --> 01:36:58.640 Job unless you could leave. And I said, I am 1942 01:36:58.720 --> 01:37:03.359 not sacrificing anything for this six months. He goes, six months, okay, 1943 01:37:03.479 --> 01:37:06.319 I can wait just like that. So I really we 1944 01:37:06.439 --> 01:37:08.399 never talked anymore, and I'll never forget. 1945 01:37:08.439 --> 01:37:09.239 It was January. 1946 01:37:09.319 --> 01:37:11.359 I was in Philadelphia at a FEMA meeting. I was 1947 01:37:11.399 --> 01:37:13.920 a national representative. We talked every day. I called him 1948 01:37:13.920 --> 01:37:16.239 and I I said, hey, you know what today is? 1949 01:37:16.399 --> 01:37:16.800 He goes what? 1950 01:37:17.319 --> 01:37:20.399 And I said, I said, from here on out, I 1951 01:37:20.439 --> 01:37:20.960 can tell you to. 1952 01:37:20.960 --> 01:37:25.600 Go fuck yourself. And he goes, oh, he said, uh, 1953 01:37:25.920 --> 01:37:27.880 that's right, that's right. He goes, when do you come back? 1954 01:37:27.920 --> 01:37:29.840 And I said Wednesday. He goes, Okay, you're going to 1955 01:37:29.920 --> 01:37:33.359 meet with the mayor on Thursday. There's a press conference tuesday, 1956 01:37:33.439 --> 01:37:36.000 and I leave February first, so go fuck yourself and. 1957 01:37:40.560 --> 01:37:42.399 You and he wouldn't. 1958 01:37:42.439 --> 01:37:44.960 He wouldn't take my call and texting them, Hey, I 1959 01:37:45.079 --> 01:37:47.279 call my wife and I go, I'm not sure what 1960 01:37:47.479 --> 01:37:51.039 just happened. And I get back and they dragged me 1961 01:37:51.079 --> 01:37:52.520 down to the Mayor's office. 1962 01:37:52.239 --> 01:37:59.199 And like that on the fire chief. Wow, you know 1963 01:37:59.279 --> 01:38:03.880 what I think. I think that was probably a great 1964 01:38:03.960 --> 01:38:08.920 move for your department. I never understand what these departments 1965 01:38:09.000 --> 01:38:12.279 that bring chiefs in from the outside. 1966 01:38:12.640 --> 01:38:15.720 To me, that's that's a slap to the chiefs that 1967 01:38:15.760 --> 01:38:18.119 are working hard to get up there. And even the 1968 01:38:18.159 --> 01:38:20.479 guy that's a firefighter who was aspiring to be a 1969 01:38:20.560 --> 01:38:24.239 chief of department. It's like, why should I bother when 1970 01:38:24.319 --> 01:38:26.800 they can bring some guy in from East Podum to 1971 01:38:26.880 --> 01:38:28.239 be chief of the fire apartment. 1972 01:38:28.920 --> 01:38:32.239 Yeah, well, I mean that's that's kind of what I 1973 01:38:32.359 --> 01:38:34.119 was thinking about, right. I didn't know what that was 1974 01:38:34.159 --> 01:38:36.239 going to mean. And you know, I loved my department, 1975 01:38:36.319 --> 01:38:40.000 and and you know, sometimes you make sacrifices right for 1976 01:38:40.840 --> 01:38:42.920 you know, even when I studied for officer right, the 1977 01:38:43.000 --> 01:38:45.399 old word back in the day was you either work 1978 01:38:45.439 --> 01:38:47.399 for an asshole or you be an asshole. So I said, 1979 01:38:47.399 --> 01:38:48.720 all right, well I'll be the asshole. 1980 01:38:49.319 --> 01:38:58.239 And that's always great though, hell you fucking everybody. People 1981 01:38:58.319 --> 01:38:59.840 call me all the time, Hey can you help me? 1982 01:39:00.079 --> 01:39:01.880 How did your interview go? And I you don't want 1983 01:39:01.880 --> 01:39:02.560 to know how my interview? 1984 01:39:04.199 --> 01:39:04.319 Now? 1985 01:39:04.399 --> 01:39:07.479 They know, now they know, right. 1986 01:39:07.640 --> 01:39:09.640 So when you got on of the your first GTOG, 1987 01:39:10.359 --> 01:39:12.479 let's see what was that when you went to Miami, Dad, 1988 01:39:12.680 --> 01:39:16.520 eighty eight eighty eight. Did you ever think you'd be 1989 01:39:16.640 --> 01:39:20.359 chief and apartment? Never in a million years, never, never, 1990 01:39:20.560 --> 01:39:23.960 never wanted to be a chief. Never. No, I mean I, 1991 01:39:24.479 --> 01:39:27.640 like I said, I I was. I was already involved 1992 01:39:27.680 --> 01:39:30.920 in teaching, even early on in my career. I love teaching. 1993 01:39:31.399 --> 01:39:33.800 I felt like I could impact more people in training 1994 01:39:33.880 --> 01:39:34.680 than anybody else. 1995 01:39:34.760 --> 01:39:38.119 I still believe that. Uh and and so that's all 1996 01:39:38.159 --> 01:39:40.119 I wanted I wanted to be. You know, I took 1997 01:39:40.279 --> 01:39:42.600 I dabbled in training coming up. I was a recruit 1998 01:39:42.640 --> 01:39:45.640 instructor for a couple of classes. You know, I just 1999 01:39:45.760 --> 01:39:46.039 loved it. 2000 01:39:46.199 --> 01:39:49.880 And so no, I never I never ever thought about 2001 01:39:49.960 --> 01:39:53.039 me in the margin. Did any of the other coworkers say, 2002 01:39:53.119 --> 01:39:54.880 this guy is going to be something some days? 2003 01:39:54.920 --> 01:39:56.800 Well, so it's it's funny. I was a rookie. I 2004 01:39:56.920 --> 01:40:00.840 was only on maybe four months, and and I'm riding 2005 01:40:01.119 --> 01:40:05.079 Engine nine, and I had a great captain and just 2006 01:40:05.159 --> 01:40:07.760 a great guy. And I've been on four months. I've 2007 01:40:07.800 --> 01:40:11.159 been with him maybe a month. And a new chief 2008 01:40:11.199 --> 01:40:13.479 comes by, a guy named Dave Brooks, who ends up 2009 01:40:13.479 --> 01:40:16.520 becoming a very good friend of mine. But he was 2010 01:40:16.560 --> 01:40:19.359 a brand new chief and he's he's bouncing. The regular 2011 01:40:19.439 --> 01:40:21.479 chief wasn't there that day. So we're all sitting at 2012 01:40:21.520 --> 01:40:24.439 the table and he looks over and he goes, hey, downey, 2013 01:40:25.079 --> 01:40:27.359 he said. Captain King said you're you're going to be 2014 01:40:27.399 --> 01:40:28.279 the next fire chief? 2015 01:40:29.800 --> 01:40:32.680 Really? And I said, hey, look you joy, Chief. I 2016 01:40:33.399 --> 01:40:35.399 I just want to get through probation. You know, I'm 2017 01:40:35.439 --> 01:40:36.960 not looking at anything else. 2018 01:40:37.479 --> 01:40:38.560 It was timing in here. 2019 01:40:38.760 --> 01:40:43.119 Yeah, hey rock, yeah, very bell. Yeah. 2020 01:40:43.359 --> 01:40:47.520 But so I never was able to track down Chief 2021 01:40:47.640 --> 01:40:51.159 King or a Captain King. But yeah, and Chief Brooks 2022 01:40:51.239 --> 01:40:54.520 ended up becoming my battalion when I went to Station seven. 2023 01:40:54.680 --> 01:40:57.560 But you know, one of our great chiefs, and I 2024 01:40:57.720 --> 01:40:58.640 learned a lot from him. 2025 01:40:58.840 --> 01:41:00.199 And but yeah, so. 2026 01:41:00.479 --> 01:41:03.199 Somebody saw something. I absolutely didn't see anything. 2027 01:41:04.279 --> 01:41:07.399 So let's let's branch off a little to the other side. 2028 01:41:08.039 --> 01:41:10.159 Where did your wife wind up? She wound up being 2029 01:41:10.199 --> 01:41:10.840 a chief. 2030 01:41:11.560 --> 01:41:14.479 So in Davy, So this town I live in, So 2031 01:41:14.840 --> 01:41:18.600 we live in. So she she was a lieutenant at 2032 01:41:18.680 --> 01:41:23.560 Sunrise and she had she had twenty four almost twenty 2033 01:41:23.600 --> 01:41:26.880 five years at Sunrise and Davy, where we're at, was 2034 01:41:26.960 --> 01:41:32.000 really exploding, the departments growing, and you know, to your Pointank, 2035 01:41:32.119 --> 01:41:35.359 they had problems that nobody was eligible to move up. 2036 01:41:35.920 --> 01:41:38.960 Nobody wanted to move into chiefs positions in the department, 2037 01:41:39.640 --> 01:41:42.680 and so they had to recruit people from outside and 2038 01:41:43.279 --> 01:41:46.680 talk at smaller departments, smaller department, smaller departments. Yeah, so 2039 01:41:47.520 --> 01:41:50.000 she got recruited and they brought her over as a 2040 01:41:50.079 --> 01:41:54.319 division chief of EMS. She's big EMS and emergency management. 2041 01:41:54.920 --> 01:41:57.319 And that's how she started. And then she moved up 2042 01:41:57.319 --> 01:42:02.920 to assistant chief. And and when the fire chief who 2043 01:42:03.239 --> 01:42:06.319 tragically died of a heart attack, young guy, great shape, 2044 01:42:06.520 --> 01:42:09.880 dropped out of a heart attack, they were looking for 2045 01:42:10.000 --> 01:42:13.119 a chief. And I still remember this that their city 2046 01:42:13.199 --> 01:42:16.239 manager went and talked to the union president. The chief 2047 01:42:16.319 --> 01:42:18.720 officers in the apartment. He told me, he goes, I 2048 01:42:18.800 --> 01:42:21.960 talked to thirty five people in this department, and you 2049 01:42:22.000 --> 01:42:24.239 know how many people said I should pick your your wife? 2050 01:42:24.279 --> 01:42:27.840 And I said how many? He said thirty five. He said. 2051 01:42:28.920 --> 01:42:32.079 They said that the chief that treats the men most 2052 01:42:32.199 --> 01:42:35.159 like a men, most like men, is a woman, and 2053 01:42:35.840 --> 01:42:39.039 they wanted her and he made her chief and she did. 2054 01:42:40.800 --> 01:42:43.760 Chief of the department. Yeah, so that was it. I 2055 01:42:43.840 --> 01:42:45.800 gave up right. I was ahead of her as chief. 2056 01:42:45.840 --> 01:42:48.640 And you know she had she always had said that 2057 01:42:48.720 --> 01:42:51.479 she was she chief first. No, I was chief first 2058 01:42:53.199 --> 01:42:59.800 to be chief. Yeah, she's in Orlando. She probably is, 2059 01:43:01.039 --> 01:43:04.359 she is, She's still honest. She retired. She retired in February. 2060 01:43:04.880 --> 01:43:06.560 So she did forty three years. 2061 01:43:08.239 --> 01:43:11.560 Forty three years, very very instrumental in the area. 2062 01:43:11.640 --> 01:43:16.640 Chief. Just so, yeah, here's the real chief down. Can 2063 01:43:16.640 --> 01:43:17.800 you kiss some more asks? 2064 01:43:20.119 --> 01:43:20.279 Oh? 2065 01:43:20.560 --> 01:43:20.840 Chief? 2066 01:43:22.960 --> 01:43:25.000 You know what to my point, Chief, is that even 2067 01:43:25.199 --> 01:43:27.640 you know that that's kind of the same area, like 2068 01:43:27.720 --> 01:43:30.640 you said, they recruited. You're in Davy, you're in Coral Gables, 2069 01:43:30.680 --> 01:43:32.319 you're in Lauderdale by the Sea. 2070 01:43:32.520 --> 01:43:35.000 You know, it's kind of like you're in that area. 2071 01:43:35.279 --> 01:43:37.159 You met everybody knows each other. 2072 01:43:37.359 --> 01:43:40.680 It's not like they went to say, Wichita, Kansas, right right, 2073 01:43:41.600 --> 01:43:43.560 you know, And I was like they went to the 2074 01:43:43.640 --> 01:43:45.960 ghetto of Coral Springs and pulled somebody. 2075 01:43:45.760 --> 01:43:48.600 Out of the exactly what the fuck? 2076 01:43:50.279 --> 01:43:52.840 Yeah, well, I will say that that's not to say 2077 01:43:52.880 --> 01:43:55.399 that the chief from which Wichita couldn't do a good job. 2078 01:43:55.520 --> 01:43:58.399 It's just that I undertand what you're saying. Yeah, I 2079 01:43:58.439 --> 01:44:03.720 mean I want to you know that was a big thing. Yeah, absolutely, 2080 01:44:03.960 --> 01:44:06.239 Why did you interview for chief of Davy guns when 2081 01:44:06.479 --> 01:44:08.520 you know it was internal? 2082 01:44:09.119 --> 01:44:13.720 But I will tell you that that some agencies they 2083 01:44:13.800 --> 01:44:16.720 have to create or make it very attractive to do 2084 01:44:16.880 --> 01:44:19.760 those jobs. The culture has changed. Whether you guys realize 2085 01:44:19.800 --> 01:44:21.840 it or not, the culture is changing the fire service 2086 01:44:21.920 --> 01:44:25.880 that affecting jobs like that. You know, people don't want 2087 01:44:25.920 --> 01:44:28.920 to go that higher. They're very happy being the show 2088 01:44:29.000 --> 01:44:31.479 for or the engineer or a captain retiring. That's it. 2089 01:44:31.520 --> 01:44:32.560 They don't want to go any higher. 2090 01:44:33.000 --> 01:44:34.439 Look at me, bro, you would have to put a 2091 01:44:34.439 --> 01:44:36.359 stick of dynamite under my ass to blow me out 2092 01:44:36.399 --> 01:44:36.840 of that seat. 2093 01:44:38.000 --> 01:44:40.119 But it's it's getting it's I don't say more of 2094 01:44:40.199 --> 01:44:42.960 a problem, but it's it's it's a very serious thing. 2095 01:44:43.000 --> 01:44:44.680 You guys don't want to go much higher, very. 2096 01:44:46.079 --> 01:44:50.039 Chief of the female chief of the provin Yet. 2097 01:44:49.760 --> 01:44:51.840 You know, you know what they don't want down there, 2098 01:44:51.880 --> 01:44:54.840 cap They don't want anybody from New York doing any 2099 01:44:54.920 --> 01:44:55.680 training down there. 2100 01:44:55.920 --> 01:44:57.600 I found that. Really. 2101 01:44:57.960 --> 01:44:59.960 You think if you had a friend down there, somebody 2102 01:45:00.039 --> 01:45:02.479 would hook you up. A guy who was a rescue 2103 01:45:02.520 --> 01:45:08.720 wan ghetto and I think he would help a brother out, 2104 01:45:08.840 --> 01:45:09.439 you know what I mean? 2105 01:45:11.079 --> 01:45:12.560 Yeah, ok, bud. 2106 01:45:16.640 --> 01:45:19.119 She was, Yeah, but she was the first female, first 2107 01:45:19.159 --> 01:45:22.279 female Brower County. And the other funny story or interesting 2108 01:45:22.359 --> 01:45:24.359 story when she was trying to get on the fire 2109 01:45:24.399 --> 01:45:27.960 department back in nineteen eighty, she interviewed with Davy and 2110 01:45:28.279 --> 01:45:30.800 at the time that chief said, we will never hire 2111 01:45:30.880 --> 01:45:37.720 a female. Ah you well, and you know and you 2112 01:45:37.800 --> 01:45:42.119 know how the world is round, right they circle. There's 2113 01:45:42.159 --> 01:45:44.880 a Chamber of Commerce award named after him because. 2114 01:45:44.640 --> 01:45:55.000 He passed away. Guess who got it? The world is round? Wow? 2115 01:45:55.800 --> 01:45:57.000 Wow, that is great. 2116 01:45:57.520 --> 01:45:59.960 Could you help out a brother who's really good at training? 2117 01:46:00.079 --> 01:46:01.840 Maybe you could hook him up with a couple of games. 2118 01:46:01.840 --> 01:46:04.680 I'll up got another friend that you know doesn't want 2119 01:46:04.720 --> 01:46:08.640 to you know, extend a hand. Yeah, I'm sorry, I 2120 01:46:08.680 --> 01:46:11.680 can definitely do that. I don't know, at least I 2121 01:46:11.760 --> 01:46:13.800 know I got some friends on the East coast. 2122 01:46:15.159 --> 01:46:17.239 Know Hank for my defense. I didn't know Hank was 2123 01:46:17.239 --> 01:46:19.880 still interested in wanting to come out and have an 2124 01:46:19.920 --> 01:46:20.680 hour and a half drive. 2125 01:46:21.359 --> 01:46:23.239 Want to make it a couple of questions. Are you 2126 01:46:23.319 --> 01:46:25.399 a chief? Who you? 2127 01:46:25.920 --> 01:46:26.000 Oh? 2128 01:46:26.079 --> 01:46:34.880 Yeah, you achieved of training? You know what? You guys 2129 01:46:34.960 --> 01:46:36.560 don't have to talk to a guy who put it 2130 01:46:36.680 --> 01:46:39.439 thirty years on the f d Y and special lots 2131 01:46:39.479 --> 01:46:42.079 and get a they've seen it a fight, don't worry 2132 01:46:42.079 --> 01:46:42.680 about They're. 2133 01:46:42.560 --> 01:46:48.720 Good, roomy, contact fires, working them work. 2134 01:46:49.199 --> 01:46:51.720 Beat him up too much? That's enough. A couple of lefts, 2135 01:46:51.760 --> 01:46:54.600 a couple of rights, that's good? Is that good? Hey? 2136 01:46:54.720 --> 01:46:57.640 Uh god? Do we have time to do the engine three? 2137 01:46:57.760 --> 01:46:59.359 Or yeah? Yeah, I was gonna make sure we got it. 2138 01:46:59.439 --> 01:47:01.079 Don't worry. We aren't going to go without that because 2139 01:47:01.079 --> 01:47:07.359 I know I'll let no, that's let's do it. So yeah, 2140 01:47:07.399 --> 01:47:08.840 I'll let me go ahead and pull u up. And 2141 01:47:08.840 --> 01:47:11.439 all the chiefs on talking about it, Well, we'll pull up. 2142 01:47:11.720 --> 01:47:14.760 You have the older one that's got the galleon and 2143 01:47:14.800 --> 01:47:15.279 stuff in it. 2144 01:47:15.680 --> 01:47:20.079 I have that one. There you go. Oh Bobby, baby, 2145 01:47:20.560 --> 01:47:24.600 you recognize those guys, Yes, I do. So is in 2146 01:47:24.680 --> 01:47:25.359 the middle. 2147 01:47:26.800 --> 01:47:30.680 Right, Bobby Gallion and I'm not sure what the other 2148 01:47:30.760 --> 01:47:32.239 fellows must be a young chap. 2149 01:47:32.800 --> 01:47:33.039 Yeah. 2150 01:47:33.319 --> 01:47:36.840 So, you know, like all departments, uh, you know, we 2151 01:47:36.920 --> 01:47:39.680 wanted to find some way after September eleventh to honor 2152 01:47:40.159 --> 01:47:44.319 the brothers that made the supreme sacrifice. And as you know, 2153 01:47:44.520 --> 01:47:47.560 we we we're the land of Green fire trucks. And 2154 01:47:47.800 --> 01:47:49.880 so the decision at the time by the Chief of 2155 01:47:49.880 --> 01:47:52.159 the department was to paint one of our trucks. Read 2156 01:47:52.399 --> 01:47:56.600 who is the chief by the time, Dave Paulis and 2157 01:47:57.039 --> 01:48:00.760 who ended up becoming the theme administrator. And so actually 2158 01:48:00.800 --> 01:48:04.439 an O two we dedicated this truck engine three. It's 2159 01:48:04.479 --> 01:48:07.159 an in service engine. You see the logo when the 2160 01:48:07.239 --> 01:48:10.000 guys came down to help us with the dedication ceremony. 2161 01:48:10.079 --> 01:48:13.960 So that was our first iteration of as we refer 2162 01:48:14.079 --> 01:48:14.800 to it, big Red. 2163 01:48:15.479 --> 01:48:17.520 And it's still in service. 2164 01:48:18.079 --> 01:48:21.600 Well so the unit a unit is in service, but 2165 01:48:21.720 --> 01:48:24.880 over time, you know, you're replacing the engine. So when 2166 01:48:24.920 --> 01:48:29.520 I became fire chief, we were embarking on some new units. 2167 01:48:30.359 --> 01:48:33.600 And so there's the new and actually there's one that's 2168 01:48:33.640 --> 01:48:37.680 replaced that sense, but that's the new big red which 2169 01:48:37.720 --> 01:48:39.600 one's this one right here. 2170 01:48:40.000 --> 01:48:41.920 So it looks like a squadron. 2171 01:48:42.359 --> 01:48:45.319 That's Engine three and some things. Just to note, you know, 2172 01:48:45.439 --> 01:48:47.600 we wanted to continue to honor. So you see that 2173 01:48:47.720 --> 01:48:51.880 black stripe. So the black stripe has all three hundred 2174 01:48:51.920 --> 01:48:54.479 and forty three names and oh and then when you 2175 01:48:54.600 --> 01:48:57.600 hit it with a light, it looks like the memorial. 2176 01:48:57.640 --> 01:49:00.439 In other words, the names become black and the black 2177 01:49:00.520 --> 01:49:01.199 becomes white. 2178 01:49:01.800 --> 01:49:02.000 Wow. 2179 01:49:02.199 --> 01:49:04.800 And uh there's all these little touches. And you see 2180 01:49:04.800 --> 01:49:07.800 that mural on the side there in the back. That's 2181 01:49:07.840 --> 01:49:10.439 a picture from a guy, you know, Danny Alfonso. 2182 01:49:12.439 --> 01:49:14.000 Right, you get a little bit of picture that we 2183 01:49:14.039 --> 01:49:15.560 should have got in the back of that picture. 2184 01:49:16.800 --> 01:49:19.560 I think the other I'm working on it, leave me alone. 2185 01:49:21.880 --> 01:49:23.960 Beat up. You see him. Hey, he's all beat up. 2186 01:49:28.479 --> 01:49:31.439 But uh, but when we put that engine in service, 2187 01:49:31.520 --> 01:49:35.319 and and I did it on September eleventh. Uh that's 2188 01:49:35.359 --> 01:49:38.079 when Joe Joel came and a couple other retired uh 2189 01:49:38.560 --> 01:49:40.720 FT and y guys had come down. Joel said, you know, 2190 01:49:40.800 --> 01:49:43.800 he wanted to be there, and uh so we did 2191 01:49:43.880 --> 01:49:48.039 a whole ceremony and everything and I was telling him that, Yeah, 2192 01:49:48.359 --> 01:49:49.760 it did a tour around the country. 2193 01:49:49.800 --> 01:49:53.159 In fact, the chief of fd and Y there you go, 2194 01:49:54.239 --> 01:49:56.840 there you go, that's a shop looking rig man. 2195 01:49:57.239 --> 01:49:59.520 Yeah, and so that was by your fd and Y 2196 01:50:00.479 --> 01:50:01.600 Danny Alfonso, right. 2197 01:50:02.119 --> 01:50:02.239 Uh. 2198 01:50:03.119 --> 01:50:07.880 Who I learned from Joel was Dennis boheka is the 2199 01:50:07.880 --> 01:50:11.439 illegitimate child. Uh that he would always come ride rescue 2200 01:50:11.479 --> 01:50:12.279 one with Dennis. 2201 01:50:13.600 --> 01:50:18.680 Really, I've got I say that about Gonzo. But uh, 2202 01:50:19.279 --> 01:50:22.279 send me those pictures for a cup of joe. Okay, yeah, 2203 01:50:22.560 --> 01:50:24.479 so I actually sent that to you a while back 2204 01:50:24.520 --> 01:50:25.920 for a cup of joe. But it never made it, 2205 01:50:26.199 --> 01:50:31.520 that's it. Uh. But uh yeah, but when it when 2206 01:50:31.560 --> 01:50:31.760 it was. 2207 01:50:31.800 --> 01:50:35.479 Doing its tour, because they debuted this at fd C 2208 01:50:35.680 --> 01:50:37.159 and then it went on kind of a tour and 2209 01:50:37.239 --> 01:50:39.520 it went to New York and I remember I don't 2210 01:50:39.520 --> 01:50:44.520 remember who the chief of department wash but but he 2211 01:50:44.640 --> 01:50:46.680 had called me and he has said, hey, I love 2212 01:50:46.800 --> 01:50:48.920 the rig, you know, he goes, I think you could 2213 01:50:48.920 --> 01:50:49.720 work out a trade. 2214 01:50:50.359 --> 01:50:52.880 And I said, well, I've got thirty one green ones. 2215 01:50:52.920 --> 01:50:56.159 You can have any one of those Miami. 2216 01:50:57.399 --> 01:50:59.640 Is that the only red one? Now, that's the only 2217 01:50:59.680 --> 01:51:03.760 red one. The really and what we ended up doing 2218 01:51:04.000 --> 01:51:07.079 was making the rescue out of that quarters. Again the 2219 01:51:07.159 --> 01:51:11.439 medicuteit is also red. It's called Little Red and it 2220 01:51:11.920 --> 01:51:15.720 is painted up as a salute to the veterans. So, 2221 01:51:16.079 --> 01:51:19.199 uh so the guy that the station's unbelievable. If you're 2222 01:51:19.199 --> 01:51:23.199 ever in Day County sending me some stuff, I do, 2223 01:51:24.199 --> 01:51:28.039 beautiful station. But you know that that engine, just like 2224 01:51:28.119 --> 01:51:31.520 the heavy rescue, is an example of I had the 2225 01:51:31.600 --> 01:51:33.920 easiest job in the fire department. I just said yes, 2226 01:51:34.199 --> 01:51:36.680 and the guys made it happen like I didn't. All 2227 01:51:36.760 --> 01:51:39.199 I said was we got to replace engine three. 2228 01:51:39.399 --> 01:51:42.439 That was it. Turn the guys loose. They did it. Unbelievable. 2229 01:51:42.479 --> 01:51:44.159 They came up with all of that on their own. 2230 01:51:44.159 --> 01:51:44.279 You know. 2231 01:51:44.359 --> 01:51:46.279 I saw it for the first time like everybody else 2232 01:51:46.359 --> 01:51:49.640 did at FD. I see and uh and the wrecker 2233 01:51:49.760 --> 01:51:50.319 the same thing. 2234 01:51:50.359 --> 01:51:51.079 I knew what I do. 2235 01:51:51.479 --> 01:51:53.279 You know, I had a concept of what I wanted, 2236 01:51:53.319 --> 01:51:55.119 but I had guys a lot smarter than me that 2237 01:51:55.159 --> 01:51:57.960 could figure it out. And uh, oh, there you go. 2238 01:51:58.079 --> 01:52:03.319 There's a little red yep. So uh yeah, so we're 2239 01:52:03.359 --> 01:52:05.520 proud of that. You know, we're going to maintain that then, 2240 01:52:05.680 --> 01:52:08.920 but it says down the firehouse, Yeah, well, yeah, the 2241 01:52:09.000 --> 01:52:13.039 heroes of September eleventh. Uh and then the uh also 2242 01:52:13.159 --> 01:52:14.560 off to the left in the front of the station, 2243 01:52:14.640 --> 01:52:16.720 they actually have a piece of the trade center steel 2244 01:52:16.840 --> 01:52:18.600 that they built their own. And these guys did this 2245 01:52:18.760 --> 01:52:22.199 all themselves, you know. But the station itself they've done 2246 01:52:22.239 --> 01:52:26.119 all themselves. And just a station with tremendous bride and 2247 01:52:26.359 --> 01:52:31.159 and uh, you know, good great guys. Wow, what lad 2248 01:52:31.239 --> 01:52:34.039 of company is that? I don't know, it's just one 2249 01:52:34.039 --> 01:52:37.079 of our put back up again. It was probably an event. 2250 01:52:36.920 --> 01:52:41.119 There, souse no, no, no, I was gonna say, get 2251 01:52:41.159 --> 01:52:42.079 what the program mean? 2252 01:52:42.199 --> 01:52:45.600 Yeah, it would not I know, I know, listen, if 2253 01:52:45.640 --> 01:52:48.079 I start, if I started a fire department, I would 2254 01:52:48.199 --> 01:52:51.479 never have picked green. But that's what we're known for, right. 2255 01:52:51.560 --> 01:52:55.479 We've had it for forty years and uh. And the 2256 01:52:55.560 --> 01:52:57.840 only thing I added to it was the gray roofs. 2257 01:52:58.159 --> 01:53:01.000 And the reason I did that is chief is because 2258 01:53:01.520 --> 01:53:03.279 we always when I get up, when I got on, 2259 01:53:03.399 --> 01:53:05.479 we wore gray uniforms. We were always known as the 2260 01:53:05.520 --> 01:53:07.800 guys with the gray uniforms and the green trucks. So 2261 01:53:08.399 --> 01:53:10.279 I like traditions, So I said, I want to pay 2262 01:53:10.359 --> 01:53:13.279 the roots gray instead of white, just to bring back 2263 01:53:13.319 --> 01:53:14.199 some of our history. 2264 01:53:15.239 --> 01:53:19.039 Very nice. Somebody asked, why is the engine's to be 2265 01:53:19.119 --> 01:53:20.039 then eleven league? 2266 01:53:21.159 --> 01:53:23.920 You know, I think I don't know how that where 2267 01:53:23.960 --> 01:53:27.319 that started. It might have been something as simple as 2268 01:53:27.720 --> 01:53:30.199 in the very beginning that that was the unit being replaced. 2269 01:53:30.760 --> 01:53:33.760 But they couldn't have picked a better house. I mean, 2270 01:53:33.840 --> 01:53:36.479 that's one of our traditional houses. You know, when I 2271 01:53:36.560 --> 01:53:38.840 got on, it literally was a home, right, I mean 2272 01:53:38.920 --> 01:53:41.920 it had the jalousy doors, and you know, it was 2273 01:53:42.000 --> 01:53:45.840 one of our original fire stations. And but they couldn't 2274 01:53:45.840 --> 01:53:46.720 have picked a better place. 2275 01:53:47.800 --> 01:53:49.479 What area in Miami is that in? 2276 01:53:51.119 --> 01:53:55.520 It's called Tropical Park, so it's Bird Road and uh 2277 01:53:55.800 --> 01:53:59.319 and basically the Palmetto Expressway. I mean just basically just 2278 01:53:59.359 --> 01:54:01.880 a little west in south of Miami International Airport. 2279 01:54:03.159 --> 01:54:05.960 So you go back and visit the brothers now that 2280 01:54:06.039 --> 01:54:08.960 you were telling, absolutely, yeah, absolutely, you know I try, 2281 01:54:09.680 --> 01:54:11.920 because I tell everybody, you know, I miss the clowns. 2282 01:54:11.960 --> 01:54:14.600 I just don't miss the circus, right and uh so 2283 01:54:14.920 --> 01:54:16.760 you know, but I missed the guys. You know, I 2284 01:54:16.840 --> 01:54:19.279 loved the department and uh, you know, as much as 2285 01:54:19.319 --> 01:54:22.680 I can see him, I I I tried to. It's 2286 01:54:22.800 --> 01:54:25.279 it's interesting though, and you know. It was Freddie Alfamina 2287 01:54:25.319 --> 01:54:27.560 that told me, he goes, when you retire, man, it's 2288 01:54:27.640 --> 01:54:31.239 just the longer you retired, the more they forget, you know, 2289 01:54:31.479 --> 01:54:33.199 or you you know, you walk in the station, you 2290 01:54:33.199 --> 01:54:36.560 don't recognize anybody, and and uh, you know, it gets 2291 01:54:36.680 --> 01:54:38.880 it gets harder and harder. But I said, shit, that 2292 01:54:38.920 --> 01:54:39.279 happened to me. 2293 01:54:39.479 --> 01:54:41.079 I was chief. You know, I stopped at a station 2294 01:54:41.199 --> 01:54:42.720 one day. I was famous. 2295 01:54:42.760 --> 01:54:44.560 The guys called him drive bys. I just show up 2296 01:54:44.560 --> 01:54:46.920 at a station. I love talking to firefighters. I didn't 2297 01:54:46.960 --> 01:54:49.159 bring an entourage. I didn't call the chief. I just 2298 01:54:49.239 --> 01:54:51.560 showed up. And I stopped at a station one day 2299 01:54:51.640 --> 01:54:53.560 and there was a guy there, a firefighter. He came 2300 01:54:53.640 --> 01:54:56.199 on with me and we're sitting around. He goes, where 2301 01:54:56.199 --> 01:54:58.239 are you at these days? And I go, I'm still 2302 01:54:58.279 --> 01:55:01.960 at headquarters. And I said, hey, you idiots the fire chief. 2303 01:55:05.479 --> 01:55:07.359 I said, you know what, I don't take it personal. Man. 2304 01:55:07.439 --> 01:55:09.239 Even the President has to put his picture up in 2305 01:55:09.239 --> 01:55:10.079 every federal building. 2306 01:55:10.279 --> 01:55:14.079 Ah, that's right. I got to the squad the other day. 2307 01:55:14.239 --> 01:55:19.000 Was it tuesday? I knew two guys dead, and nobody 2308 01:55:19.159 --> 01:55:21.159 has one guy I knew and has been That's it. 2309 01:55:21.399 --> 01:55:25.000 Eric It's amazing right, how fast it is. That's where 2310 01:55:25.000 --> 01:55:27.359 I'm getting the challenge going. Oh, he's slipping it right 2311 01:55:27.399 --> 01:55:34.000 in the hand. Brother, there you go. Oh that's one 2312 01:55:34.079 --> 01:55:35.239 that I don't want. 2313 01:55:39.000 --> 01:55:39.279 Kidding. 2314 01:55:39.560 --> 01:55:41.960 I also got a handwritten note from Donald Trump, but 2315 01:55:42.039 --> 01:55:44.640 before presidential stuff, when he bought Doral, I had to 2316 01:55:44.680 --> 01:55:45.680 have a meeting with him. 2317 01:55:47.399 --> 01:55:50.079 Issues. I don't want to let out my political views. 2318 01:55:51.640 --> 01:55:54.079 We have another gentleman that he Uh, I'll just share 2319 01:55:54.119 --> 01:55:54.800 this picture. 2320 01:55:54.560 --> 01:55:59.079 With Oh, great guy, I love him. What a shame 2321 01:55:59.159 --> 01:56:01.840 right after the earth Man. He had a great free 2322 01:56:02.760 --> 01:56:04.560 and I knew Bobby for so many years. 2323 01:56:04.680 --> 01:56:07.640 And and uh, we we've got a guy, Bill gust 2324 01:56:07.760 --> 01:56:10.039 and he's are firefighters firefighters. 2325 01:56:10.079 --> 01:56:10.720 Oh that's the guy. 2326 01:56:10.760 --> 01:56:12.760 That's another guy we're trying to get. We're going to 2327 01:56:12.800 --> 01:56:13.720 get he. 2328 01:56:14.000 --> 01:56:17.039 Oh my god, he'd be great. Uh, he would probably 2329 01:56:17.039 --> 01:56:19.439 be more than one show. But anyhow, we do our 2330 01:56:19.640 --> 01:56:23.800 annual Metal Day, nothing like yours, but but an award ceremony. 2331 01:56:23.880 --> 01:56:25.960 And we created a new ward, the Student of the 2332 01:56:26.039 --> 01:56:28.920 Fire Service, and we named it after Gustin. And so 2333 01:56:29.199 --> 01:56:31.319 him and Bobby Halton were very close to each other, 2334 01:56:31.399 --> 01:56:33.800 and so we invited Bobby down and you can you 2335 01:56:33.920 --> 01:56:36.000 know this is when Bobby was in the midst of 2336 01:56:36.079 --> 01:56:39.079 battling cancer. He could barely walk, and you know, he 2337 01:56:39.239 --> 01:56:42.399 came down and of course did an unbelievable speech and 2338 01:56:42.680 --> 01:56:43.680 it's just a great time. 2339 01:56:43.880 --> 01:56:44.039 You know. 2340 01:56:44.079 --> 01:56:46.520 We spent a couple of days together and uh, you 2341 01:56:46.600 --> 01:56:50.279 know when they recognized Bill for lifetime achieving at FD 2342 01:56:50.359 --> 01:56:52.359 I see, you know, Bobby asked me to be there, 2343 01:56:52.479 --> 01:56:54.439 and you know, Bill and I have always been good friends, 2344 01:56:54.520 --> 01:56:57.399 and and uh, you know he calls me chief, which 2345 01:56:57.479 --> 01:56:59.840 makes me so uncomfortable because he's one of my mentors. 2346 01:57:00.079 --> 01:57:00.119 Know. 2347 01:57:00.880 --> 01:57:03.600 But yeah, so that was that was a great guy. 2348 01:57:03.640 --> 01:57:06.279 Did you see the show with him? I did? I did. 2349 01:57:06.359 --> 01:57:11.760 Yeahial skateboarder. Yeah I didn't know that either, with the 2350 01:57:11.920 --> 01:57:15.319 long hand like yeah, yeah, you going after I see 2351 01:57:15.399 --> 01:57:19.279 this year? Yeah, I actually just got notified there in election. 2352 01:57:20.600 --> 01:57:27.479 You know what that means. I was a no one. 2353 01:57:27.600 --> 01:57:28.399 I was a nobody. 2354 01:57:28.439 --> 01:57:30.399 But I actually stopped by your booth one time, and 2355 01:57:30.479 --> 01:57:32.119 you guys are busy. There was a lot of people there. 2356 01:57:32.239 --> 01:57:35.319 I just remember Lou going, hey, big Dave, that's all 2357 01:57:35.399 --> 01:57:35.760 you said. 2358 01:57:36.399 --> 01:57:39.279 I bought a hat from you guys, But you doing 2359 01:57:39.640 --> 01:57:41.119 you know what now you get to come on the 2360 01:57:41.159 --> 01:57:41.920 boat cruise. Bro. 2361 01:57:42.880 --> 01:57:47.119 Yeah, well I'll tell you my New York boat stories. 2362 01:57:47.119 --> 01:57:49.239 So I'm up ride. I went up to visit. 2363 01:57:49.600 --> 01:57:49.720 Uh. 2364 01:57:49.880 --> 01:57:52.319 I wanted to visit the training center, your training center 2365 01:57:52.359 --> 01:57:54.319 when I was you know, we were designing ours. And 2366 01:57:54.720 --> 01:57:56.439 so I went up to ride, and I was going 2367 01:57:56.479 --> 01:57:59.239 to ride along with Joe Downey with sock. So it 2368 01:57:59.319 --> 01:58:01.279 took me to training center, me to chief and stuff, 2369 01:58:01.279 --> 01:58:03.640 and then he had to go buy the safety chief 2370 01:58:03.720 --> 01:58:05.600 somewhere in Brooklyn. I guess that's where one of the 2371 01:58:05.640 --> 01:58:06.680 fireboats are housed. 2372 01:58:07.319 --> 01:58:07.800 And uh. 2373 01:58:08.079 --> 01:58:10.159 And so the guys are like, hey, man, we're gonna 2374 01:58:10.319 --> 01:58:11.079 take a ride out. 2375 01:58:11.159 --> 01:58:11.520 Go around. 2376 01:58:11.560 --> 01:58:13.800 It's like, may it's beautiful to go around the Statue 2377 01:58:13.800 --> 01:58:16.479 of Liberty. It wasn't the big fireboat. And you want 2378 01:58:16.520 --> 01:58:17.239 to come And I'm like. 2379 01:58:17.319 --> 01:58:20.279 Yeah, sure, that's cool. And Joe's like, yeah, go ahead, man, 2380 01:58:20.279 --> 01:58:22.159 I'll wait here for you. If I get something, I'll 2381 01:58:22.199 --> 01:58:23.920 come back and get you. So we go out. 2382 01:58:24.039 --> 01:58:26.880 It's beautiful, man, took us around stat Just a beautiful day. 2383 01:58:27.359 --> 01:58:29.640 I see the guys talking on the radio and everything, 2384 01:58:29.680 --> 01:58:32.880 and I'm like, what's going on? And they go Marine 2385 01:58:32.960 --> 01:58:34.960 One's coming out here to pick you up. There's a 2386 01:58:35.079 --> 01:58:38.039 collapse in Manhattan. The Chief Downy's going to They want 2387 01:58:38.119 --> 01:58:40.319 you to go to Manhattan and Marine one. I'm like 2388 01:58:41.039 --> 01:58:42.840 the odds of this man. They're picking me up in 2389 01:58:42.920 --> 01:58:45.600 a fireboat and I'm a building collapse. 2390 01:58:45.720 --> 01:58:52.640 Yeah, well you know who chief, the chief down? You 2391 01:58:53.079 --> 01:58:56.079 put yourself down, you out. You're not Downy, Downy, I'm 2392 01:58:56.079 --> 01:58:59.760 looking for Downy. Yeah. 2393 01:59:00.079 --> 01:59:02.720 Well a few a few years, my daughters and I 2394 01:59:02.800 --> 01:59:05.600 did the Father's Day run the family puts on, you know, 2395 01:59:05.760 --> 01:59:07.960 so we always got a lot of mileage out of that, 2396 01:59:08.119 --> 01:59:10.720 you know, because the signs always said D C. Downey, right, 2397 01:59:11.039 --> 01:59:12.359 and my initials are d C. 2398 01:59:12.560 --> 01:59:12.920 Downy. 2399 01:59:14.439 --> 01:59:18.199 But yeah, I have excellent But now that you're out, 2400 01:59:18.239 --> 01:59:20.439 are you doing any training or anything to keep your 2401 01:59:20.479 --> 01:59:20.880 hand in it? 2402 01:59:21.560 --> 01:59:25.000 Yeah? There we go. There, we're at the right. Yeah, 2403 01:59:25.399 --> 01:59:27.800 the kids needless to say, they run a lot better 2404 01:59:27.880 --> 01:59:32.439 than me. But but everybody needs to caboose. 2405 01:59:32.479 --> 01:59:32.880 It's okay. 2406 01:59:33.079 --> 01:59:33.239 Yeah. 2407 01:59:33.279 --> 01:59:35.560 I do a lot of uh, you know, I wanted 2408 01:59:35.600 --> 01:59:37.239 to get back to the fire service. I know we 2409 01:59:37.319 --> 01:59:39.359 have a young fire service and and so I do 2410 01:59:39.439 --> 01:59:40.640 a lot of leadership training. 2411 01:59:40.840 --> 01:59:41.000 You know. 2412 01:59:41.159 --> 01:59:44.359 I was just in North or Central Florida, the last 2413 01:59:44.399 --> 01:59:48.039 two days. I do like a depends what they want. 2414 01:59:48.079 --> 01:59:50.920 I did an eight hour leadership class and just I 2415 01:59:51.039 --> 01:59:52.840 told him, Look, I'm no expert, but I've made so 2416 01:59:52.880 --> 01:59:53.520 many mistakes. 2417 01:59:53.560 --> 01:59:56.359 I want to help people learn from those. So I 2418 01:59:56.439 --> 01:59:57.039 do a lot of that. 2419 01:59:57.279 --> 01:59:59.319 And and the company I work for, we do a 2420 01:59:59.359 --> 02:00:04.000 lot of uh leadership coaching and working with officers. I 2421 02:00:05.079 --> 02:00:07.359 work with Gonzo, you know, I work with people all 2422 02:00:07.399 --> 02:00:09.239 over the country. You know, I feel like a therapist. 2423 02:00:09.319 --> 02:00:11.239 Sometimes I don't tell them anything they don't. 2424 02:00:11.119 --> 02:00:14.560 Know, you know, I just reaffirm it. Right, if you 2425 02:00:14.680 --> 02:00:16.800 weren't doing that, you'd be climbing the walls. 2426 02:00:17.399 --> 02:00:19.479 Oh yeah, I I had, you know, I had. The 2427 02:00:19.560 --> 02:00:22.239 Fire Service is literally my whole life. I have nothing else. 2428 02:00:22.279 --> 02:00:25.359 I mean, I I love scuba diving. I do underwater photography. 2429 02:00:25.479 --> 02:00:26.199 That's my piece. 2430 02:00:26.960 --> 02:00:31.880 Uh yeah. But besides that, you know, I don't play golf, 2431 02:00:32.039 --> 02:00:33.039 I don't have a wood shop. 2432 02:00:33.159 --> 02:00:35.119 I mean, I have to do something. And I love 2433 02:00:35.159 --> 02:00:38.000 the fire Service and I still love talking to firefighters. 2434 02:00:38.039 --> 02:00:39.600 I love visiting fire stations. 2435 02:00:39.720 --> 02:00:43.600 And yeah, like you said, you know, your dream job 2436 02:00:43.760 --> 02:00:47.479 was chief of Training, And I mean, I'm out of 2437 02:00:47.560 --> 02:00:51.199 it for so long, but I to me, it still 2438 02:00:51.239 --> 02:00:54.520 gives me some self worth when I go out and 2439 02:00:54.600 --> 02:00:57.199 I talk to these young guys and they love it 2440 02:00:57.279 --> 02:01:01.359 because I mean, they there's no shortage of questions, and 2441 02:01:01.720 --> 02:01:05.920 it can be anything from fire house life, how they hire, 2442 02:01:06.039 --> 02:01:08.560 how did they transfer, or what would what would the 2443 02:01:08.680 --> 02:01:12.760 tactics or procedures for this and to me, if there's 2444 02:01:13.000 --> 02:01:15.079 if there were young people that want to, you know, 2445 02:01:15.640 --> 02:01:19.520 that are interested in learning that that's our job as 2446 02:01:19.560 --> 02:01:23.239 guys would experience to pass that on absolutely. 2447 02:01:24.000 --> 02:01:30.760 When you go by. God's all right some of them, 2448 02:01:31.800 --> 02:01:34.000 but you know you're right. I mean one of the things, 2449 02:01:34.119 --> 02:01:34.640 you know, when I. 2450 02:01:36.279 --> 02:01:39.119 Had to deal with six suicides in eighteen months of 2451 02:01:39.399 --> 02:01:41.640 some of our members, and a few of them were retirees, 2452 02:01:42.319 --> 02:01:44.800 and you know, we were really trying to figure out 2453 02:01:44.880 --> 02:01:47.000 what can we do to try to keep guys connected, 2454 02:01:47.039 --> 02:01:49.720 and we actually created what we call the Reserve program. 2455 02:01:50.359 --> 02:01:52.960 And in Florida, you know, if I keep your name 2456 02:01:53.039 --> 02:01:55.880 on the books, it maintains your fire certificate. You'll never 2457 02:01:56.039 --> 02:01:58.079 use it again. But Jesus, you know I've had it 2458 02:01:58.119 --> 02:01:59.840 for forty years. I don't want to give it up. 2459 02:02:00.600 --> 02:02:03.279 And so basically, if you leave in good standing and 2460 02:02:03.319 --> 02:02:04.359 you want to be a reserve. 2461 02:02:04.479 --> 02:02:07.319 You can. We give you a polo shirt. I'm a reserve. 2462 02:02:07.920 --> 02:02:09.359 And if you want to come in and teach a 2463 02:02:09.439 --> 02:02:11.560 class you want to, you know, you can't ride the truck. 2464 02:02:12.039 --> 02:02:14.800 But like I'll encourage a lot of the senior members. Hey, 2465 02:02:14.920 --> 02:02:17.399 stop by the station, give them the history of Station three, 2466 02:02:17.479 --> 02:02:20.199 give them the history of this battalion. You know, let 2467 02:02:20.239 --> 02:02:23.239 these guys know where you came from. And we also, 2468 02:02:23.399 --> 02:02:25.279 you know, we do all these recruit awards, you know, 2469 02:02:25.439 --> 02:02:29.199 Outstanding Recruit and athletic and all this. We added a 2470 02:02:29.319 --> 02:02:35.079 retirees present the Camaraderie Award. The recruits themselves pick who's 2471 02:02:35.119 --> 02:02:37.720 that guy that you can count on, and it's given 2472 02:02:37.800 --> 02:02:40.840 out by the retirees, And just trying to keep them 2473 02:02:40.920 --> 02:02:43.720 connected with the organization and keep them connected with the 2474 02:02:43.800 --> 02:02:48.479 department because you know, it's it's critically important to you know, 2475 02:02:48.600 --> 02:02:51.159 if you move away to Montana, there's nothing we can do, right, 2476 02:02:51.199 --> 02:02:53.399 but if you stay local and so now you know, 2477 02:02:53.439 --> 02:02:55.199 if they check out, you know, because you you know, 2478 02:02:55.239 --> 02:02:57.920 the firefighters got everything figured out to the penny right there, 2479 02:02:58.039 --> 02:03:00.479 their finances, the retirement, but they don't have a clue 2480 02:03:00.520 --> 02:03:03.319 what they're doing. The first week they're retired, and so 2481 02:03:03.680 --> 02:03:05.800 we'll have a group that meets with them and it's 2482 02:03:05.840 --> 02:03:08.560 called the Brotherhood and hers and Pink. So we don't 2483 02:03:08.600 --> 02:03:11.680 offend anybody. And uh, you go through you know, you 2484 02:03:11.760 --> 02:03:13.600 talk to the Brotherhood, you go, oh, you're moving up 2485 02:03:13.600 --> 02:03:15.479 to Central Florida. Or there's a group of guys that 2486 02:03:15.600 --> 02:03:18.600 meet on Tuesday for lunch. You know, here's the guy's number. 2487 02:03:18.760 --> 02:03:22.000 Hook up with him. We do an annual retiree thing. 2488 02:03:22.119 --> 02:03:24.159 And it's amazing. Right, the guys that spent their whole 2489 02:03:24.199 --> 02:03:26.800 career hating each other are like best friends now, you know, 2490 02:03:26.840 --> 02:03:29.159 because we're all the same once you retired, right right. 2491 02:03:31.079 --> 02:03:33.760 I said, it's like, you know, now that I'm retiring, 2492 02:03:33.840 --> 02:03:34.920 I even missed the guys. 2493 02:03:34.720 --> 02:03:39.279 I didn't like. Absolutely, anybody wants a guy with a 2494 02:03:39.359 --> 02:03:43.159 welcome knowledge, a living legend. Call on Senior Dude Coobs 2495 02:03:43.199 --> 02:03:45.760 podcast at gmail dot com. If you want to train 2496 02:03:45.800 --> 02:03:49.000 at your fire house. Absolutely, that's what I'm saying. Put 2497 02:03:49.800 --> 02:03:54.399 put my email up, ask a question. That's it. Put 2498 02:03:54.479 --> 02:03:57.159 my banner up. Come on before I do it. They 2499 02:04:00.079 --> 02:04:06.640 let me teach my Jose. Was that you went and 2500 02:04:06.720 --> 02:04:07.840 taught by Jose? Didn't you? 2501 02:04:08.399 --> 02:04:08.560 Uh? 2502 02:04:09.600 --> 02:04:13.199 At the Orange County they have right, Yeah, they do 2503 02:04:13.359 --> 02:04:16.000 some uh training every year in memory of one. 2504 02:04:16.119 --> 02:04:19.039 Again he's a good guy, Jose, he really is. Yeah. 2505 02:04:19.840 --> 02:04:21.439 I got that to the guys in Orlando. 2506 02:04:21.600 --> 02:04:23.880 Actually what was his what's his fiance's name? 2507 02:04:25.159 --> 02:04:32.159 Uh, you got to get you know what time? The 2508 02:04:32.279 --> 02:04:39.640 times that time, the old old old tip of the day. 2509 02:04:43.680 --> 02:04:46.439 All right, Well, you know I don't I watch a 2510 02:04:46.520 --> 02:04:48.039 lot of your shows, but I don't see all of them. 2511 02:04:48.119 --> 02:04:50.479 Hopefully this isn't being repeated, but I wanted to do 2512 02:04:50.640 --> 02:04:52.560 something for the new people and something. 2513 02:04:52.319 --> 02:04:53.520 For for leadership. 2514 02:04:54.239 --> 02:04:58.199 So for for those new firefighters out there, those firing ones. 2515 02:04:58.319 --> 02:05:00.680 You know what I what I when I got on 2516 02:05:00.760 --> 02:05:03.159 the job. You know, when you go through training, you're 2517 02:05:03.199 --> 02:05:06.119 familiar with your ups, right, push ups and pull ups 2518 02:05:06.239 --> 02:05:08.520 and sit ups. But when you get on the floor, 2519 02:05:08.760 --> 02:05:12.279 you know, remember four other ups. Shut up and listen up, 2520 02:05:12.920 --> 02:05:15.520 and take the time to listen to those senior members 2521 02:05:15.640 --> 02:05:18.880 and learn from those senior members, and spend less time talking. 2522 02:05:19.520 --> 02:05:22.399 The other two ups is step up, get involved, Get 2523 02:05:22.479 --> 02:05:25.039 involved with your company, Get involved with your department, go 2524 02:05:25.159 --> 02:05:28.560 to events and the last one's clean up. Look sharp, 2525 02:05:28.720 --> 02:05:32.399 keep your apparatus squared away, your tools squared away. So 2526 02:05:32.560 --> 02:05:35.359 that's for the new people and for those leaders out there. 2527 02:05:35.560 --> 02:05:38.079 You know, it's simple. You know, I tell leaders all 2528 02:05:38.119 --> 02:05:40.520 the time if if your goal is to be liked 2529 02:05:40.840 --> 02:05:44.319 and then respected, you're going to get neither. So your 2530 02:05:44.399 --> 02:05:46.720 job as a leader is to make people better, not people, 2531 02:05:47.119 --> 02:05:48.159 not make people happy. 2532 02:05:48.479 --> 02:05:52.079 So that's what I got. I like it, like it. 2533 02:05:52.239 --> 02:05:53.319 I like to push up. 2534 02:05:57.319 --> 02:05:57.840 A shirt. 2535 02:06:01.119 --> 02:06:05.239 We have so many, we'd have so many recruit graduations. Again, 2536 02:06:05.279 --> 02:06:07.319 my finance guy used to laugh about it because I 2537 02:06:07.359 --> 02:06:09.079 always you I would throw the ups in and the 2538 02:06:09.159 --> 02:06:11.159 other one would be the bacon and egg breakfast. 2539 02:06:11.239 --> 02:06:13.560 Right, you've heard that one. Tell everybody. 2540 02:06:13.640 --> 02:06:16.279 Look, if you're familiar with the bacon and egg breakfast, right, 2541 02:06:16.359 --> 02:06:17.239 I want to know which one? 2542 02:06:17.279 --> 02:06:20.359 Are you? Right? The egg made a contribution, but the 2543 02:06:20.479 --> 02:06:29.319 pig made a commitment. That's another problem. And then the 2544 02:06:29.439 --> 02:06:31.119 last one, I tell it the promotion. Right. 2545 02:06:31.960 --> 02:06:34.479 Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, not 2546 02:06:34.600 --> 02:06:36.880 a vegetable, and wisdom is knowing not to put a 2547 02:06:36.960 --> 02:06:38.199 tomato in a fruit salad. 2548 02:06:38.960 --> 02:06:44.000 That's it. I'm done, all right, great job. We got 2549 02:06:44.079 --> 02:06:46.439 one more thing to do. We need to explain why 2550 02:06:46.560 --> 02:06:48.119 Hank's got a bad date on his farm. 2551 02:06:48.760 --> 02:06:55.880 Oh yes, we give me twenty twenty four seconds. 2552 02:06:55.920 --> 02:06:57.039 Here we got twenty five. 2553 02:06:57.119 --> 02:06:59.399 The First Responders Center for Excellence is it not for 2554 02:06:59.520 --> 02:07:03.039 profit organization dedicated to protecting the lives and livelihoods of 2555 02:07:03.199 --> 02:07:06.720 first responders. Their education and research initiatives aim to bring 2556 02:07:06.840 --> 02:07:10.960 greater awareness and understanding the challenges to the health, safety, 2557 02:07:11.039 --> 02:07:14.239 and well being of firefighters, EMS personnel, and other first 2558 02:07:14.279 --> 02:07:17.399 responders too. They are an affiliate of the National Fallen 2559 02:07:17.600 --> 02:07:18.880 Firefighter Foundation. 2560 02:07:20.720 --> 02:07:24.239 So Tody Tonight's old school health and safety tip is 2561 02:07:24.279 --> 02:07:26.359 brought to you by he well Light. 2562 02:07:27.560 --> 02:07:30.640 Okay, well, we know that they're always preaching, and it's 2563 02:07:30.680 --> 02:07:33.520 good preaching. We need to take care of ourselves. Nobody 2564 02:07:33.520 --> 02:07:35.720 else is going to do that. Get checked out for 2565 02:07:35.760 --> 02:07:37.239 a lot of things. You know, we go for our 2566 02:07:37.279 --> 02:07:39.199 World Trade Center medicals. You should be going for your 2567 02:07:39.239 --> 02:07:43.039 annual physicals. And as firefighters, we know that we have 2568 02:07:43.159 --> 02:07:47.479 a higher incidence of many things, cancers and different illnesses 2569 02:07:47.600 --> 02:07:51.279 because of the things that we're exposed to. So this 2570 02:07:51.600 --> 02:07:55.119 was do you know it doesn't sound glamorous, but twice 2571 02:07:55.159 --> 02:07:57.720 a year I go and get checked for skin cancer 2572 02:07:58.319 --> 02:08:01.720 and I had a spot up there that you know, 2573 02:08:01.800 --> 02:08:03.439 for a while, they would freeze and free you just 2574 02:08:03.520 --> 02:08:07.600 kept coming back. Finally got biop seed and it was cancerous. 2575 02:08:08.000 --> 02:08:10.039 So I had to get it cut out and I 2576 02:08:10.119 --> 02:08:13.560 got some stitches up there. And skin cancer is one 2577 02:08:13.560 --> 02:08:15.479 of those I think it's one of It might be 2578 02:08:15.560 --> 02:08:19.439 the highest rate of cancers that are diagnosed every year 2579 02:08:19.479 --> 02:08:20.199 in the population. 2580 02:08:21.000 --> 02:08:23.119 And it doesn't just happen to Floridians. I know, well, 2581 02:08:23.119 --> 02:08:28.359 you're in Florida. I just read a study where I think, 2582 02:08:28.760 --> 02:08:30.199 if you look at it, this is where the face 2583 02:08:30.319 --> 02:08:32.079 you know, when you're wearing your face piece, where the 2584 02:08:32.159 --> 02:08:33.439 seal is, well. 2585 02:08:33.439 --> 02:08:36.159 That's up against your skin and there's carcynergy of sweating 2586 02:08:36.279 --> 02:08:39.840 and you know, the whatever is in that atmosphere, you know, 2587 02:08:40.479 --> 02:08:43.760 the burn, the combustible products or up against your skin. 2588 02:08:43.960 --> 02:08:45.960 So you know, who knows it could have been from 2589 02:08:46.000 --> 02:08:48.520 having a mask on for thirty years, you know. But 2590 02:08:48.720 --> 02:08:51.239 the thing is, if you don't get tested, you don't 2591 02:08:51.319 --> 02:08:54.359 know about it. And skin cancer can definitely kill you. 2592 02:08:54.560 --> 02:08:56.319 So that's just one of the many things that you 2593 02:08:56.439 --> 02:08:57.319 need to get checked out. 2594 02:08:58.039 --> 02:09:01.720 Fairly. Detection seen, you, dude, that is correct early detection. 2595 02:09:02.840 --> 02:09:05.640 Great job, great job by you tonight. Chief double date. 2596 02:09:09.399 --> 02:09:14.520 Double they're not double date, you know, trying to be respectful. 2597 02:09:15.319 --> 02:09:18.880 Yes, we have nine to eleven fastly approaching. Jose's coming 2598 02:09:18.960 --> 02:09:22.359 up with Agnes. I don't know if Gondo's coming up. 2599 02:09:22.840 --> 02:09:26.039 He's on the fence right now now. But as you know, 2600 02:09:26.199 --> 02:09:29.720 everybody's welcome to the squad to eighty eight. Uh, come 2601 02:09:29.760 --> 02:09:31.560 in and pay respects with us, and then we go 2602 02:09:31.720 --> 02:09:36.439 back to the watering hole afterwards. Squad's watering hole. So, uh, 2603 02:09:37.039 --> 02:09:40.960 you're all welcome, Yes, all right, and that's all I got. 2604 02:09:41.000 --> 02:09:42.600 What do we got? We have a show on Thursday night. 2605 02:09:42.920 --> 02:09:43.760 We have somebody but. 2606 02:09:43.840 --> 02:09:47.039 Don't forget we have the fire Marshal. I want to say, 2607 02:09:47.199 --> 02:09:48.319 was it the George? 2608 02:09:48.840 --> 02:09:50.640 Oh, I'm sorry, we have a line of duty death. 2609 02:09:50.680 --> 02:09:51.680 You're right, Gons, thank you. 2610 02:09:52.239 --> 02:09:55.359 I'm in the process of loading his photo right now. 2611 02:09:55.359 --> 02:09:58.960 So okay, good job. Say look, you redeem yourself tonight. 2612 02:09:58.960 --> 02:09:59.720 I will break your balls. 2613 02:09:59.760 --> 02:10:06.079 Any be'st bullshit, you know, minutes at least for the 2614 02:10:06.159 --> 02:10:09.800 last part of the show. So all right, mister George Nider, 2615 02:10:09.840 --> 02:10:12.640 here you go. Unfortunately I don't have the details as 2616 02:10:12.680 --> 02:10:15.920 far as it's passing. But after twenty two years of service. 2617 02:10:16.760 --> 02:10:18.800 Twenty two years service. I think he was a fire marshal. 2618 02:10:19.039 --> 02:10:22.520 He was the fire Marshal supervising marshall. 2619 02:10:25.680 --> 02:10:26.840 Bring him the five bells. 2620 02:10:39.079 --> 02:10:40.439 God rest in peace, my brother. 2621 02:10:41.600 --> 02:10:43.720 Yes, Chief, double date. I'll see you on the boat. 2622 02:10:43.760 --> 02:10:46.640 Cruise Brother, I'll see you in the first Yeah, I'll 2623 02:10:46.680 --> 02:10:48.800 be there. Oh we got you now, man. We're taking 2624 02:10:48.880 --> 02:10:50.680 out for dinner. Numble louis giving you the Hey. How 2625 02:10:50.760 --> 02:10:51.119 you doing? 2626 02:10:51.199 --> 02:10:51.680 You know what I mean? 2627 02:10:51.840 --> 02:10:52.479 How you doing that? 2628 02:10:52.600 --> 02:10:57.960 Big day? Oh, Chiefs, double day. Let's go there we go, 2629 02:10:58.600 --> 02:11:02.800 senior dude. A great time, guys, Thanks so much, pleasure 2630 02:11:02.840 --> 02:11:05.399 meeting your chief. You had a great career. Thank you 2631 02:11:07.319 --> 02:11:09.199 all my buddies out there and leave the head nation. 2632 02:11:10.039 --> 02:11:14.359 Glad to be with you tonight. Stay safe, excellent, good gods. 2633 02:11:16.159 --> 02:11:17.880 Hey, and I remind me date. I want you guys 2634 02:11:17.920 --> 02:11:18.840 to roll heavy, you know. 2635 02:11:21.920 --> 02:11:22.239 You know what. 2636 02:11:22.359 --> 02:11:26.079 I stay low and go bro let it blow baby, 2637 02:11:26.079 --> 02:11:27.840 all right, good night, guys, We'll see you night.