Everything Hollywood Gets Wrong About Firefighters | Fire Department Chronicles

We've had people escape from fires and then go back in to grab books and they perish in the fire.Yeah.Books or personal items.Yeah.Oh yeah.

So you're never running back in?

Don't run back in the house.No.Once you're out.

So what if your child's in there?

Look, when we say touch the door, if you touch the door and it is scolding your hands, like it is so hot, you can see flames coming out from underneath the door.When you open up that door, you're going to die.There's no way you're going to make it out into that hallway if flames are that bad.

Wetting towels, putting them at the door jam, covering yourself with them, all that's useless.

No.Smoke inhalation is that big issue.When you go out there, those fumes are extremely toxic.You're inhaling all the polyesters, all the whatever lithium stuff is on fire.

I have two air purifiers in my room.bad idea to turn them on?Because they would suck air into the room, but they would also be cleaning the smoke.

They would be.

So I don't know.What is the strategy?

You're going to die.

Welcome back to the Checkup Podcast, where today I'm speaking to Jason Patton, otherwise known as Fire Department Chronicles.He's the most followed firefighter in the world and for good reason.You probably know Jason's viral and hilarious videos recapping bizarre encounters he's had out in the field as a first responder or from his series on YouTube where he green screens himself into firefighter shows and calls them out for their BS face to face.He's easily one of the most charismatic people we've had on the show, but also rich in substance.He's not just some comedy influencer.He's an actual multi -year veteran of fighting fires and treating patients on the front lines with an incredible amount of insight into the profession.

We touched on juicy topics like how much firefighters actually get paid, how to stay safe during a fire, controversial topics like private firefighters for celebrities, and even silly topics like the pain of sliding down the fire pole.Oh, and of course, the basics.Just to set the ground rules straight off the jump,if I catch on fire mid -episode, is it stop, drop, and roll, or are there different strategies now?

Stop, drop, and roll, but I mean, how long do you want me to let you stay on fire?

Minimal, because I don't have the fire suit on.Oh, okay, okay.

I didn't know if this would be an epic video.

Dude, I still think about the training that I got when I was in middle school in Brooklyn.of dare, stop, drop and roll.Has any of these things been upgraded or is it still the same tried and true, because I think about it from a chest compression CPR standpoint.Is there anything new that folks need to know about personal safety?

No, stop job role is great, because you're doing the basic things.You're rolling on top of the fire, so you're hopefully able to remove the oxygen from it.It's funny because you're right, in the medical field, things tend to change constantly.Every four years, they're finding out something new.We're adding one extra compression in now.But firefighting, at a constant basis, we're trying to make things as efficient as possible, save as many lives as possible.

You look at old firefighting pieces, or at least when we were training, we do a forcible entry when we're moving into a structure.And there wasn't a huge emphasis on once you open up that front door with whatever you're using, make sure you close it as quickly as possible until you're ready to go in with a nozzle.It was just open the door, get in there, fight the fire.But we started to really dive into things called a flow path.So if we're opening up the front door to go inside of it, we just leave it wide open.open if that fire happens to be starved of oxygen, then it's going to get a nice influx of oxygen.

And then fire really loves O2 loves oxygen.So it's gonna start moving towards that as well.So you create what's called a flow path.So we know if there's a viable victim in that area, we got to make sure we're opening the door closing until they're ready to go in with the fire hose or the stretch of line in there and then go from there.

Yeah, what does it take to become a fire victim?Those are the top ones, so what does it take to become a firefighter?

First off, I've learned what it takes to be a cowboy and an astronaut.

I'm good, bro, yeah.Not for you.

No way you're smart enough to be an astronaut, no way.

I thought you just didn't like the zero gravity.

No, I would love that.I always say if I could, if I ever get that chance, if it ever becomes affordable and I'm not gonna die in the process, or if I do, that would be an epic way to go up.

You and Jeff Bezos.

Just floating around, hanging out, man.It depends on where you're at.So where I'm at, in order to become a firefighter, you need to be an EMT first.The reason is a lot of the calls are gonna be run to about 85 % and we're gonna be medically based, so.Really?Yeah.

So this is breaking news.Firefighters, 85 % of the time, are not fighting fires.

Surprisingly not.You would think, well, it's amazing with new building constructions, especially down in Florida, sprinkler systems, people finding ways to be able to put out fires on their own, whether it's through extinguishers.But people have found a very good way to be able to prevent fires through proper construction.And then, obviously, in Florida, for us, space heaters, we don't have anything like that.that most of your fires in Florida are gonna be kitchen based or cooking based.So for us, you're gonna go to EMT school first, then you're gonna go to fire school.

So Florida, every place is a little bit different.With Florida, you actually have to put yourself through fire school and EMT school, then apply for a fire department, and then you can be hired for most of the departments that are gonna be there.Places like New York, you can be picked up just straight off the street.So a citizen can apply, and then FDNY will put you through all of their processes or the surrounding departments.

Is that because it's more in demand here?

No, it's just the way that they, different strategies and some ways to do it.Every place is gonna have their own way of doing it.

I'm curious, because in medical school, you go through medical school, you pay your way, so expensive.And then we have something that's known as the match, where you rank certain programs and then they rank students that they like.And sometimes you don't match and that's heartbreaking because now you have nowhere to go and you spent all this money.Does that happen where you put yourself through the schools and then no one picks you up?No way.

Oh my God.So I get hired in 2008.It was during the hiring freeze.My mom still talks about this today.So I get through fire.I put myself through EMT, through paramedic school, then through fire school.

I graduate fire school at my closing ceremony.This incredible guy comes up.He starts, it's a chief.He starts giving this speech.He's like, ladies and gentlemen, it's 2008.This many people, this many firefighters have died in the line of duty over the last year, Good luck.

Was this meant to be inspirational?I don't know, bro.

All of us are like, oh no.

That would have been a good orientation speech to weed out people who aren't serious maybe.

Yeah, yeah.

So what are you thinking in that moment?

Crap.So my instructor, a great guy named Kerry Weiss, the day before graduation, he says, hey, listen, I work for a department.I'm retired from part Riviera Beach and they're opening up their applications.They're actually closing the day after we graduate.So if you want, I would apply.And at the time they were actually one of the lowest paid in South Florida.

And a lot of people were like, I'm not gonna go work for a place.It was $37 ,000 a year to be a firefighter.You're not gonna get paid a lot anyways.70 % of firefighters are actually volunteers.So most people are doing it for free.So I was like, you know what, man, I'm gonna work anywhere and everywhere.

So I applied, I actually got picked up.No one else in my class got hired for another five years after that.

Is it because you had the best grades?did the most pushups?What are they grading you on?

All the above.Really?No.

Well, I don't know.That's what it's like in medical school.

Is that what it's like in medical school?By the way, the match thing, what is that?I'm curious.What does that feel like if you're like, I want to be a cardiologist or I want to be this, and they're like, no, you're going to be a podiatrist.

Yeah, well, so you pick the two, fields that don't necessarily participate in the match.Specifically the two, because to be a cardiologist, you first have to match into internal medicine.And then once you finish your internal medicine residency, then you could do a fellowship in cardiology and podiatry.They have their own medical school together.You pick the two that don't participate.So any other ones like plastic surgery or surgery, what's another simple example, OBGYN.

So if you want to go into those, Generally, you have some sort of sense when you're putting names into the match process of who you like, where you did your electives.So they know you, you know them.There's kind of a understood boundary of, we can't tell you that we ranked you, but we really like you.And you already kind of know.If you're not well -liked and you did a really bad job on your electives and people are like, oh my God, I don't want to work with you, you can get into a bad place.So that's scary.

Because then we have something known as, God, is it called the scramble?I forgot the name of it.

Clearly I didn't participate.

Where you have to then try and find spots because just like students can go unmatched, spots can go unmatched.So programs that perhaps pay less, less desirable specialties, sorry, family medicine, will have openings.And then you can try and scramble into those openings.So literally program directors are calling studentsdidn't match, students are calling program directors, presenting themselves, and hopefully finding a situation where they can get into a program.But if they don't, off year, you have to go do some research, maybe take a long vacation, and hope you match the following year.

That's crazy.

And imagine now you're like 300 ,000 in debt.

I was gonna say, oh crap.With us, so, That's a lot of the issues right now with places where you have to put yourself through the schooling in order to get picked up.Because, you know, EMT school's $5 ,000, you know, depending on where you go to fire school.EMT school is somewhere between three to six months.It depends on if you're going full -time or part -time.Mine was three months.

Fire school is somewhere between three months to six months, again, full -time or part -time.And then for medic school, a lot of programs are gonna be a year.You can do accelerated programs that are nine months, but some people do two -year -long programs.

length of it is about two years, plus minus.And the first part was 5 ,000.What's the total amount for those two years?

So when I went, it was about $8 ,000 to go to medic school.I just happened to be looking at some of that stuff recently.Some places are $25 ,000 to go to medic school.$15 ,000 might be about your average.

But - And to go earn $37 ,000?

Like, yeah, nothing.I think the starting pay here for a medic is $43 ,000 a year or $45 ,000 a year.Wow.I mean, that's nothing in the state of New York.No, it's not.I mean, when I became a medic, I was making $12 an hour.

So there's, How many years ago was that when you started?

That was 19 years ago, 18 years ago.

Do you know any idea what that number is now?

It's still somewhere around like the 18 to $20 range.It's not a lot of money for what they're doing.

Yeah, I mean, you think when you become a barista, it's similar pricing.

Yes.

And you don't have to risk your life.

Yes.

Wow.

Yeah.

And then, okay, so I was saying it kind of jokingly, but is it serious?that they grade you based, like how do they decide who they're taking?What is the logic?

So what's great is that most of the processes are going to be relatively long.So you're going to do an application process.That's all your basic stuff, you know, your name, date of birth, all the fun stuff, your certifications that you're going to have.We require something called a CPAT there to make sure that you're physically able to do the job itself.I do those in my hospital.Do you really?

Yeah.That's awesome.I didn't know that.

Hold on, you mean like it's a physical?

Yeah, yeah.

So I perform those physicals on firefighters.

It's a candidate physical ability test, so.

Well, no, no, no, that's different physical.I do the physical where I listen to heart.Oh yeah, we do that later, yeah.Which actually kind of bothers me to some degree because a lot of it is a corporate contract with the city or town or fire department.And I end up doing tests that I would never do on a young person.because it's a legality.

Like I'm doing stress tests on young folks and I'm like...Dude, you exercise that isn't, but you have to do it based on the rules.Uh, did you have to do any of that?

Oh yeah.Yeah.So you'll do that.You'll do the application.You'll make sure that you're, that you're, that you have your CPAT.Then when you put that in, what's new now is the social media piece of it.

It's like they're, cause they're doing full background checks.

They're trying to see who has the most followers.

Yeah.I mean, yes.No, a lot of times they're like, no, they just want to make sure there's nothing ridiculous going on.I mean, if you are, uh, So they request your social handles or they find them on their own?No, they're going to request and tell us that there's a department, I won't name it, but a department that I applied for while I was waiting to hear back from my department.It was the application.

Then I did the physical piece of it where I'm sorry, a written test and the written test.I was surrounded by mind you, this was the hiring freeze.There was nobody around.So I was surrounded by about 3000 other applicants.It was absolutely insane.

How many positions?

About 20 positions.

Yeah.

Yeah.So where's the medical school?Dude, it was, it was one of those where you sit down and you're like, holy crap, this is so you're the best of the best.

Like you're the finest.You're the Navy seal.

If you have a medic, I wouldn't call me anyone watching.

This is about me, but like, but so you go through that process and this is for, again, a different department.But once you finish that piece, then you, you go through a physical test, which is, it took you about two hours to get to the full physical piece of it.It's search and rescue, finding a victim, stretching a line, knocking down hoses, extending a ladder, like all these different things.Once you pass that, they put you through a lie detector.The lie detector to make sure - And what do they ask you?

Are you afraid?

No, no, like, have you ever smoked marijuana?Yeah, yeah, the basic stuff.So they'll ask you that.

Which now they're probably not asking that question.

No, Florida's still, yeah, you can get your medical marijuana card, but they just - Well, in New York, it's crazy.

Every corner, it seems like.I saw that, that was crazy.It's still crazy for me.

Yes.We'll talk about that.But but once once you did that, you had to do another interview panel, then you did another lie detector test to make sure that you didn't lie on anything in between there.Like it just huge.So some places really want to make sure that the hiring the best of the best, which is obviously great.My department was a an interview.

with an interview panel, they went through a bunch of questions.Then I had to do an interview with the chief, make sure that I was good for the job, and then they signed me up.

Wow, what a multi -step process.That's incredible.Did you worry about any of that application process through it?

Not really.

You were just like, I am who I am.

Yeah.Thankfully, that's kind of the way I've lived most of my life, is just I am who I am.I've tried to grow.I've tried to become a little more focused.and make sure that I'm taking care of my own mental health.And then, as well as other people, my wife is about to get her master's degree in family therapy.

So it's very cool.

Yeah.What is the difference, and this is my lack of knowledge, so I apologize on that behalf, paramedic EMT, People say, don't you ever say ambulance driver, but then in some places they have someone dedicated to drive the ambulance.What is the difference?How does one understand the difference?Take me through that journey.

No, of course.So ambulance driver is just, or they call it stretcher fetchers.That's my, that's my favorite one.So ambulance driver is going to be a basic transport companies to where they, there's no real medical knowledge needed.Maybe just a first responder certificate or something like that.They're just picking up patients and bringing them back to maybe a nursing facility or something that have absolutely, they're literally putting them in a wheelchair and putting them in.

EMT, three month long course, very basic parts of, I keep looking right at that camera, by the way, so.

So the audience knows.

But your real basic knowledge.So like how to help someone administer oxygen or help them use an EpiPen, stuff like that.And then for paramedics, you are now, and we're always operating under some medical director, but we're now administering medications.We are intubating people.It's the advanced level.So basic level and advanced level.

There's an intermediate, an EMTI, that's in between there, that's in some states.I'm not sure if New York is one of them, but Florida, we don't recognize it.So with that, you're still able to intubate, I believe, have a basic host of cardiac medications that you're allowed to give, but it just depends.We're able to crike people, we're able to, yeah.Yeah.

How many times have you criked someone?

Zero, and I'm good with that.

I was on a plane scenario where there was a medical emergency and I was worried that if the EpiPen didn't work or the Epinephrine didn't work, I would have to, and I didn't do one on a human yet, only on little models.So I'm like, oh, I don't wanna do this with a pen.

No, dude.

Because there's nothing to start with.

So when you finish, So you go through pediatric school, then you get hired and then you have to go through a preceptor program, depending on what department you're working for.It could be a year long, but they essentially run you through their own protocols.They make sure you understand their stuff.And then you have a preceptor that follows you the whole time.At the end, you talk to a medical director and he just asks you some basic questions, make sure you're good and went through all mine.And then he says, Hey, what's the hardest part about criking somebody?

And I was like, uh, Like I started going through all this stuff.He's like, just making the decision, bro.That's the hardest part.That's good.

That's like the tricky medical school question of like, what's the biggest risk factor for a heart attack?

Me?Yeah.What do you think?I don't know.I don't know.Having a past heart attack.

Oh, look at you.

Yeah, well, that's what, it's always like some obvious answer.I was going to say like diet.No, but that's what we always say.We're like smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol.Like all those things are important, obviously.But if you just had one, that really raises your risk for having another one.

Have you seen that guy?He's on TikTok.He's a, he always starts off as TikTok.He's a double board certified cardiologist.you would enjoy it.If I find him, I'll send it to you.

This guy is hysterical to me because we were talking before we got on here, like people that like start talking and I'm like, I don't know.I'm in the medical field.I have zero clue what you just said.But when he talks, bro, he sounds like he has just been punched in the face by stupid people that don't, don't listen to - Med life crisis?

No, I bet it's like Dr. Blitz or something like that.

Wow, I thought I knew every doctor on social media.

You probably know he's like, he's like, hey, what's going on?A double board certified cardiologist, Dr. Blitzer.And like every day, he's just like, and he's always like, all right, Jesus, I can't believe I got to say this again.Like he's just so tired.

I wish I knew what his position was.I think he's an exercise physiologist, maybe PhD.And he discusses topics surrounding exercise and fitness, but he says, describing it as if I have CTE.Have you seen that?That dude is so funny.

You need sodium?No.

Honestly, sometimes I watch, I go, okay, yeah, yeah, this is how I learned too.It's true though, in order to, understand complex topics, you have to break it down.So yes, if you could do with a little humor that adds on to do that.

That's all I deal in is humor.Whenever I'm teaching people anything, I've been lucky enough to be able to make some good CPR videos.And you and I got to talk about that Guinness Book of World Records you just took.Was it yours?No, no, that was very cool, man.So I own a comedy CPR company.

I no way I teach people how to do CPR.Use use a EDS basic first aid, okay, all through comedy.So it's all through standing up comedy for an hour and a half, two hours, three hours, depending on how long the class is.And it's so much fun.I started teaching a long time ago and, uh, I just watch these people like, as I'm like, so you're going to push on so much chest and, uh, you're going to feel a lot of crunching.And they're like, no, like, so you just removing all the fears and everything.

It's just such a good time to be able to teach people in the right way.And it was very cool that I'm sure you made it a blast.

I would love to see how you do that because we did a live tour.And part of our lives, it was kind of an improv variety show.And one of the sequences was teaching people if they can keep the a hundred beats per minute on average for a two minute span.And you bring up kids on stage and they all have their mannequin that counts.And then we see who won and we give them an award.But it's like, people are so way off.

They underestimate themselves.minutes is.So I'm running around with the microphone while they're going, the music's playing, it's kind of a vibe, but I'm curious how you do it.

That's so fun.I just try to interject as much humor as possible to be able to remove the fear, yeah.Because I say, so 20 years I've been in the medical field, Last week we have a code.This guy, we believe he vagaled out, passed out on the toilets.We pull him out.

He's - What does a code mean to you?

It's cardiac arrest.

Wow, okay.

What do you, what's a code to you?Well, cause you guys, cause you're in the hospital.Code blue, code red, yeah, yeah.Sorry, we just called a code, yeah.We only have one code.

But wait, so he vasovagaled?And then his heart stopped?Or they thought it was a cardiac arrest, so they called the code, but it turned out he just vagalized.

No, no, I think he vagaled out, fell off the toilet, hit his head.And he actually had a history just three weeks ago of being cardioverted going in and out of stable VTAC, yeah.

Oh, VTAC, okay.

Yeah, so we get there, we pull him out, we start doing CPR on him, he doesn't have a pulse.but he still has agonal breathing, he still has agonal respirations, and put him on the monitor, and he's in V -fib, we have to defibrillate him.But I can tell you, dude, 20 years I've been doing this, man, and 20 years in, it is still uncomfortable for me to see somebody doing something that is normally a life sign, watching that and being like, oh, it was like a shock, just welding, within two minutes he had a viable rhythm and he was good to go.But I mean, now imagine teaching that to someone who has never done this in their life.Like they've never pushed on someone's chest and heard ribs cracking or dislocating from the sternum, however you want to look at it.And like trying to remove that fear is so difficult.

So I do the basic stuff, like their heart's not beating and they're not breathing.What are they?

Yeah, BLS.Do they get a certification of that?

Oh yeah, yeah.

Wow, that's so cool.

It's a blast, man. I love it, dude.And then it's so funny you do the trying to keep people on beat.Because I always say the three biggest things people do wrong is one, the trampoline effect, they bounce off their chest.Or the rabbit effect, it tends to be just men, they go way too fast, not deep enough.

Even when I teach that, there's still a guy that gets on there, he's like, I got this, bro.Oh my God, slow down, bro.

Also, the guys love to do the tricep flex.So they're doing like the tricep extension.I'm like, bro, this is not a close grip.This is not what this is.Yeah, I would say those are frequently.Obviously, if I was your, chief that was interviewing you, I would say the real mistake that people make is they don't do it.

Yeah, you're so good, man.This guy's media trained, I'm telling you.

Okay, so then EMT, well, transport, EMT, EMTI, paramedic, is there anything above?

No, not for us, not in our field, yeah.Once you become a paramedic, then that's.

And then you become a paramedic, how does the firefighter Angle kick in.

So in Florida, if you want to do first response, at least in my area, South Florida, you need to be a firefighter and a paramedic, um, just because of the response models.It's what's it's the only thing that's really going to make sense in that area.So we can have that, that dual response.And as a firefighter, we're not just, I know I say it's only 15 % and obviously depends on the day, but 15%.Uh, I said, yeah, for fires and so on and so forth, but.that 15 % would be like active structure fires or car fires.

But for that fire piece of it, we're also doing extrications, we're doing gas leaks, water leaks, we're doing pretty much anything that do you ever have to bring like the jaws of?

Oh, yeah.Oh, yeah.Oh, yeah.Yeah.Tell me about that.

Dude, I gotta at some point in time, man, I can get you out to this place.But we'll we'll do extrications.We'll put you through full firefighting stuff.

We'll let you do it all man.Oh my god, I spent a day as a firefighter would be a great day.

We'll do it.

Yeah.I can definitely comment down below if you want to see that.Okay.Sorry.

It's just going to be yes, yes, yes.But you're the number one tag in most of my videos are like, Dr. Mike, Dr. Mike, like this is about prostate issues.What are you tagging?

So anytime someone's in a motor vehicle accident, a lot of people don't know with modern vehicles, they have crumple zones.They want vehicles to compress.Yeah.We, we want to limit the amount of inertia that's moving into the patient itself.So when we roll up there, we have to be able to, a lot of people think we just start ripping open doors, but there's a huge problem.process.

We have to do a full 360 around the vehicle, make sure there's no gas or fuel leaking around it.If there is, we pull an inch and three quarter line out or a fire hose.Then we're gonna stabilize the vehicle.So we put blocks of wood underneath the vehicle itself.

So it doesn't collapse on someone.I saw that happen here in New York not too long ago.

The one that was on its side?Yes.Yes, that's a whole different, I'm just talking about basics.Yeah, we're putting up struts and different stuff for that.I saw that video.That is crazy, man.

So scary.It really is.But for that, we'll throw some wood down, we pop the tires.

You know that was on this block.

Was it really?Holy crap.Yeah.I think everyone survived that one, right?

Do you know which video I'm talking about, right?No, no, no, not the building.It was a car flipped over and it was sitting on its side and it ended up falling on the firefighter.Maybe you can Google it and see if you can find it.

Yeah, I think I saw.I think he was good.That, everything, Everything we do as firefighters and paramedics, there's always some inherent danger within it.And those situations are super, super dangerous.That's why when you see us pull up, people want us to move as fast as possible.They want us to get in there, get the person out, but we need to make sure that they're safe.

Yes.

Yes.Do you have any good taglines?Like I know in racing we do like slow is smooth, smooth is fast.That's exactly, we say that firefighting, a hundred percent.

We say that.That like, just please don't die.That's good for anybody.

Okay.So you have to stabilize the scene.You have to do all this, but like, what's the actual process?Like when you do cut someone out, is it.It's a feel good.

Oh yeah.I mean, dude, you working with probably the biggest tools you're ever going to work with in your life.It's, it's an incredible process.You created what's called a purchase point in, in the door itself.So you can use Halligan's or, or whatever you would need at the time.You could even use the tips of the tools.

But we need to be able to open up that door.enough to where we can get the spreaders inside of there and spread it open.There's a bolt inside of there, a bolt that's holding that door on, and we can't just spread it off there without making sure that we're doing it properly, because if we just catch the outside of the door itself.Yeah, you just mangle everything.Yes, exactly.You just mangle it worse.

But we'll do what's called delamination.You just start peeling the door off.It doesn't get the person out.We have a relatively short amount of time that we need to get that victim out.10 minutes is typically the goal that we're trying to go for.

When you arrive at a scene like that, obviously you're evaluating the scene for safety, you're doing all these checklist factors in your mind.Are you ever worried about your own life?

Not I mean we're we always make sure like something we tell lay rescuers like the most important unseen Most important person on scene is you like we always want to make sure that we're as safe as possible when we get there Not because we value ourselves over other people because when you become a firefighter, well you do yeah No, you should yeah we value ourselves, uh Not getting injured or hurt because if we become a victim we now have two victims there and it distracts everybody from the scene.That's something we have to tell new probationary firefighters like dude like don't just kick a door open introduce oxygen to have a backdraft or you know you know create a flashover environment stuff like that make sure that whatever we're doing we stay safe so we don't have to divert people to make sure that you're okay now.

That's like the main reason why when the governor will come on and say, there's a state of emergency, don't go on the roads, because now you're putting first responders at risk if something happens to you, right?That's the same logic?

Yes.When you sign up to be a firefighter, none of us want to die, like we're not suicidal.But we have the understanding that If you have to make the ultimate sacrifice, make sure you're doing it in the way that makes sense.You didn't just do it because you made a stupid decision.

Is that actually discussed in the classroom?Yeah.

Wow.Your job is to save lives.Yeah.and you need to do it the most efficient way.Make sure that, because like I said, if we're going into a structure that's on fire, there's an inherent risk.There's an inherent risk that that entire structure may flash over you.

The floor collapses, stuff like that.So make sure you're making the proper decisions that you don't put yourself in a greater risk where you will get injured.But if you do have to go in there, you are putting yourself at risk, but just make sure you make the proper choices to go in there.

What are the most common reasons or scenarios that a firefighter gets hurt?

It depends on the situation.It can be lack of training or poor decision in the moment.But there's a lot of times we just don't see something that's, an object that's in the house that's on fire that we're not aware of, a chemical that's in there that we're not aware of.But it just really depends on the situation.A fire deteriorates a lot faster than we thought it might have, so people get injured.But building collapse is a big one, roof collapses are a big one.

when you go into a burning building, what is the mindset and what is the equipment that you have to protect you in that moment?

So obviously our bunker gear is going to be the number one thing that's going to stop us.

That's like the big jacket.Yes.

The big jackets, the everything that we're wearing to go in there.So that's fireproof.It's not fireproof.It's fire resistant.That's what we're going to call it.Yeah.

Anything can be set on fire.

So there's a time that you can experience a fire and it's not going to burn your skin or direct flame impingement is what we would really say.

Again, it depends on the environment, how hot it is, how fast it's moving.Um, it depends on the situation a flashover environment.That's when all combustibles in the house have set on fire A lot of people don't know this but smoke is just unburned chemical or unburned combustibles So, uh flashovers when all of those those combustibles have now set on fire So you go from we'll see an average of 500 to 800 degrees inside of a structure to now it's upwards of 1 ,500, 2 ,000 degrees.So thermal layering is what happens in a fire.So the hottest environment's gonna be at the top.And that's why we tell you people, when we're escaping from a fire, stay as low as possible.

You're gonna stay away from the smoke.Most people that die in fires, they don't die from the flames or the heat, they die from smoke inhalation.And they tend to die - Is that because they're spending a lot of time in that environment, they're trapped there?They're trapped, they're just trying to get out.I mean, you're, That's why smoke detectors are so important, man, like early detection.You're sleeping in your bed, close before you doze, like the basic things.

If you close your door before you go to sleep, especially with your children, if there is an environment where there's a fire, smoke has now spread throughout the house.Fires are now producing 200 times more smoke than they were 60 years ago because of polyesters lithium batteries so on and so forth but if they do happen to wake up and there is Smoke alarms going off the door is closed.Their room is not filled with smoke So they can feel the door at the back of their hand.We always feel at the back We don't want to feel the front of our hand if we burn our palm then it's gonna be a bad situation for us So they they feel if it's if it's super hot then they can shelter in place when they call 9 -1 -1 We'll do what's called a VES will assume no matter what floor you're on but we'll break the window, we'll go in, grab you, isolate the room, and then we'll get out.But in those situations, it's justmaking sure you stay as low as possible so you can avoid the smoke.

But for us with firefighting, again, the gear depends on how old it is or what's going on, but it's designed to keep the heat from hurting us, allowing us to get as deep as possible.And then there's some schools of thought that saying our gear is so good now, it lets us get too deep into pockets of fire.Too deep.

Wow.So are you, going in with an oxygen canister as well?And are you using that the whole time?

Yeah, it's an SCBA, it's a self -contained breathing apparatus.So it has just regular air in it, 21 % oxygen, all the fun stuff.

How long does it last?

It depends.Ours are 4 ,500 PSI bottles.So they're roughly somewhere between 30 to 45 minutes.If you're like an absolute stud, you're in the greatest shape ever.Use less.You can use less, yeah.

You'll be within that range.But some people will suck a bottle down like that, 15 minutes, it's gone.

Wow, okay, I would definitely suck it down.That's my vibe.You're in shape.No, no, no, I'm oxygen hungry.This brain be using it too.

We'll go in with that.So there's typically two people that are showing up to fires.I mean, with with firefighters, we are there's multiple different types of roles that are showing up command officer or someone that's going to be there.running the entire scene, giving people their tasks or their jobs that they need to perform, letting dispatch know what's going on, giving tasks or updates on how we're doing.Then we have someone that's going to be forcing entry if the front door is locked.So that's where the halogens and the axes come in.

We can bust doors open.That's exciting.We can let you do that.If you be a firefighter for a day, you'll blast it.Yeah, it's fun.And then People that are on the nozzle.

Then you have people that are 316 in the building.

Is the nozzle as impossible to control as they make it seem in movies?

No, everything in the movies is.

Everything?

Not everything, but yeah.So it's controllable.Oh, very controllable.You can one hand the nozzle.So what's great about this is the techniques that you learn, learning how to advance hoses properly.We don't hold the, you see where like the hoses have a little pistol grip on the bottom where they hold that?

No, no, no one is holding that pistol grip.Why?It's, it's, it's, it doesn't make any sense.It's completely uncomfortable.And what it does is if you're trying to hold the piece that has the most pushback, the most pressure back on top of you, eventually as you're moving your way into a fire, because we need to advance that line in, it's going to start to force its way back.So now this is very uncomfortable, and it's not appropriate for me to be able to rotate and spray and do whatever I need to do.

So what we'll teach you is how to keep the nozzle out in front of you, and then you can just hold the base of the hose itself.And that becomes very, very, very manageable.And then you can spin it or do whatever you need to do in the process.

person who's in charge of the nozzle have their own.Yes.Like, oh, this is mine.Don't use mine.No, it's not there.

Freaking awesome.

Mike, did you use Jim's nozzle?

No, it's on the truck.So most of your engines are going to have what we call pre -connects.So you'll have a front bumper line.Then we have two pre -connects that come off the side, and then larger diameter hoses that'll go from there.But yeah, the nozzle guy that goes in, he is in charge of that nozzle.Typically, I have someone backing him up.

The joke is that everyone wants to be on the nozzle, because that's the most exciting part.You'll understand if you do it, man.You're going in.when you become a firefighter, that's what we, we want to break stuff, you know, appropriately to help people.But we want to go in there and slay the dragon.We want to fight fire.

Like that's what we're here for.We're here to stop fire from spreading and save lives.And with rookies or new probationary firefighters, they'll get up there.They have to put their mask on so they don't inhale any smoke and they'll put the nozzle down.And that's a, that's a big no, no.We're going to take that from you.

So another guy will run up and take it and run.outside.

So okay, let's run a training scenario.I am on the second floor of my home.I smell fire, there's smoke everywhere.Maybe not so bad because my door is closed.Dogs are loose.I touch the handle, it's hot, back of my hand.

Do I open a window and run out and like fall, take the -?

You're on the second story?Yeah.You're going to call 911.Okay.Do you have an escape ladder?No.

You don't have an escape ladder?

No, but I can tuck and roll.

You can tuck and roll?

No.

Have you ever fallen from a second story?

No.

Don't do that.You're going to call 911.You're going to shelter in place.You're going to, if the dogs are out, I have a dog, a Yorkie.I love him, man.He's such a cool dog.

He wakes me up every morning, like he's a stud.I actually think he expects me to rub him every morning.He's like, come on, let's go.And it would be very hard for me not to run out and try to find my dog if he wasn't in the room with us.Pets are really good, man.They understand danger.

They understand where they should and should not be.So they will do their best to find a place where they can survive or at least be good enough until we can show up there.If the dog is scratching at the door, open up the door, get your dog inside and then we'll go from there.But if you don't know, don't go venturing off.There's a good chance.We've had people escape from fires and then go back in to grab books and they perish in the fire.

Yeah, books or personal items.

No way.

And it's obviously, it's super unfortunate.

And is that, you were already on scene when that happens?

No, we arrived on scene, they had already self -extricated and then we get there, they had gone back inside and now we're going in to get them.So second story.

So you're never running back in?

Don't run back in the house.No, once you're out.

So what if your child's in there?

Is your child in a room by themselves with the room locked?Look, when we say touch the door, if you touch the door and it is scolding your hand,like it is so hot, you can see flames coming out from underneath the door.It doesn't matter how much you want to save your kid.When you open up that door, you're going to die.There's no way you're going to make it out to that hallway if flames are that bad.

But if your child's door is closed, we've called 911.Hey, my child's on the backside of my house, second story.We're going to immediately pull up.We're going to get ladders or if we can put an aerial out there, then we're going to try to get your child as quickly as possible.

But you...Wetting towels, putting them at the door jam.covering yourself with them, all that's useless.

Again, you're not going to die in that situation.If there's flames blowing out from the door, then yeah, it's going to be bad.But smoke inhalation is that big issue.When you go out there, those fumes are extremely toxic.You're inhaling all the polyesters, all the whatever lithium stuff is on fire.

I have two air purifiers in my room.bad idea to turn them on?Because they would suck air into the room, but they would also be cleaning the smoke.So I don't know, what is the strategy there?So don't even think about that.

So here's what I'll tell you.Average response time for my area.is six to eight minutes.Sometimes we're even faster than that.Your average response time for most places, assuming you live in a city, is going to be somewhere between six to 10 minutes.Fire spreads extremely quickly.

If you're in a room by yourself, or if you're in a room and you are safe, stay in that room.Do not try to get out of that room.Open up the window.we're gonna get ladders there, we'll get you out.

So opening up the window doesn't create that pulling in effect?

Once, wait, obviously wait until we get there.Okay, got it.I'm sorry, yes.But I mean, two towels underneath the door is totally fine.Take your sheet on your bed, put it underneath there so no smoke's making it in there.

What if there is already so much smoke in the room, can you then open the window?

I would open the window.Do we have a balcony there?Is there something, a roof I can go on?Like if you're starting to choke, then yes, let's get outside of that.It's really hard to make a decision.Yeah, it's like me saying my chest hurts.

And you're like, well, what do you mean?I can't imagine being a physician during that telemedicine piece, man.

It's really hard.And honestly, the private equity world that we live in, they're like, oh, we should just do telemedicine for all of it.Like why do you even need hospitals?Dude, try and evaluate someone's pain virtually.It's like, oh, touch this.Okay, that person has never touched 2 ,000 stomachs before or abdomen.

So it's really difficult.I'm trying to think how many patients I've seen.I think to graduate, you need something like 5 ,000 encounters outpatient.

Oh wow.

Yeah, the numbers are huge.

That's crazy.Yeah, you need a lot of it.Well, I would want that.Maybe not 5 ,000.I would want you to be very well -versed at your job.

There's competency standards that these organizations set for us, but it's thousands of patients.Yeah.And this is my 12th year, so it's a lot of patients.

How old are you?36.You're 36?

Yeah.

God, it must be nice to not look 36.

You don't think I look 36?

No, dude, no way.I was gonna say, I think I'm falling apart.Maybe I just feel 36.Why, how old are you?I'm 40, I just turned 43.Oh, okay, so the same age.

I woke up on my 40th, swear to God, I had my 40th birthday.I wake up and my ankle was killing me or my heels, my heel, my heel was killing me.And I was like, I didn't do anything.I didn't like exercise excessively the day before, nothing.

Did you rest it on something hard?No, I was just sleeping in a bed.So you went to bed, no pain, woke up, no pain.

You see, he's trying to diagnose me right now.

Does it radiate anywhere?Interesting diagnoses, because I'll sometimes develop weird stuff and I'm like, oh, it's cause I laid my heel on something plastic for an hour while playing a game.And I go, oh.never put my heel on something plastic.Cause like bone on a hard surface doesn't like that.

What game you play?

Overwatch.You know it?Really?Wow, no one knows the game.Every time I say it, they're like, what the hell is that?I also sim, race.

And on the sim, the thing's really hard.So if I'm lazy and I don't put on a shoe, oh boy, my feet hurt the next day.Those are old people problems.Uh, okay.So, uh, we have this scenario for me.Luckily for me, my house is a sprinkler system.

So, so my, uh, my townhouse does as well.

Okay.So look, does that mean like I'm good?I'm good.

You should be good, bro.Sprinklers are incredible, right?That's the purpose of them is to stop the fire from spreading into additional areas.So if that pops off, then a hundred percent.

And when a sprinkler system pops off, does it pop off everywhere?

No, that's a, that's, those are just like deluge systems is what those are called.You just don't see those anymore.But sprinklers, no, they're just, there's a bunch of different types of sprinklers, or at least the heat that they go off at.There's a little glass vial inside of there.Once it reaches a certain temperature, it expands.There's a plug inside, it pops out.

The fun part, though, is what's inside of that sprinkler system.

What, water?

Is it gross, you mean?Is that why?Every other one has gasoline.I'm just kidding, that's not true.No, it's water, but that water has a metric ton of sediment in it.Like when it goes off, it's just straight black water coming out of there.

Black and brown water.

It's just been sitting there and stuff coming off the pipes, which obviously in a fire, who cares?Everything's good.Like it needs to be put out, but I've had multiple people put their hangers.They'll go to hang clothing up.

Oh, I see that in the hotels.They always have the sign.

Yes, and so many people.

I mean, you're, and this is.Call to action.Do not put a hanger on the sprinkler.

Please do not put a hanger.You're talking, it depends on the sprinkler, six to 12 gallons per minute.coming out of this thing, your house is destroyed, it is flooded.

Yeah.Are you tearing the house up after that?

We're not doing anything.But I'm saying like, as a person.Yeah, it depends.If it's flooded through to the floor below, depending on what's going on, absolutely.

Okay, so we talked about the trajectory to become a firefighter, a paramedic, EMT, EMTI.You have a child.I'm speaking in hypotheticals.You have a child or you are a child and you're watching this and they, or you want to become a firefighter.are you gonna try to say, don't do it?

No, do it, man.Greatest job on the face of the planet.Really?I'm telling you.I was a mechanic before I started doing this.My father was a mechanic.

I told him I wanted to be a mechanic.He said, please don't become a mechanic.For two reasons.One, he's like, it's not as lucrative as it was when he was a mechanic and he managed to move his way up.And he's like, you don't have the attention span to be a mechanic, which inevitably became true.when I went to EMT school after being a mechanic for two years, it was incredible.

I'm sure it's the same way that you felt the first time you really started learning about human anatomy and the body and just the way it works.And I was like, this is incredible.This is so cool.And then fire school is the same thing, just on a different level.This like, dude, I get to, break things in half.And I get to hang out with some of the greatest people I've ever met.

I don't know how it is in the physician world, but we show up on shift, we're there for 24 hours, there's a bunch of different schedules, 24 on 48 out, some do 48 on 96 off, that kind of thing.You get into this job to save lives and you stay in it for the brotherhood and the sisterhood that you get.Some of the greatest guys I've ever met, I get to sit around a table.They say all the world's problems have been solved around the firehouse table.It's amazing, it's such a good time.I would tell anybody at any point in time, you get to save lives.

you get to interact with people, you get to find real human interaction.Sometimes the greatest medicine in the world is just holding somebody's hand and saying, hey man, what can I do to help you?And that, I've loved every single second of it, it's been so cool.

Do you guys slide down the fire poles though?Yeah, I do, yeah.You do, you have it?

We built two brand new stations.

But it's kind of falling out of favor.

Yeah, because it hurts people.

You guys end up needing to have to give care to your own?Yeah, dude.

What happens, people?Twisted ankles, like yeah.

So the first pole I ever got to, or probably pole I got to go down was in Shreveport, Louisiana.And I want to say there's his 30 feet up.I want to say it's three stories or something like that.Dude, I looked, I looked at, they're like, you want to slide down?I'm like, sure, we're on it.They open it up.

I'm like, well, I'm good.Are you gloved up when you do it?No, he just.Yeah, you just slide down, yeah.So I'm not a huge fan of heights.When you're in fire school, and when I got hired at the fire department, we have a 75 -foot aerial ladder, and they put it up at a proper climbing angle, roughly 70%, or 70 degrees, and you have to climb straight up it.

With no safety hook attached?You'll have it, but when you get to the top, you hook in.Got it, so if you fall prematurely.It's been fun.Wow.Okay.

So you, you're going down this 30 foot pole.

So I'm going out there.It was, I, it was one of those, like, and I got like 12 guys watching me as a fire station.And they're like, Oh my God, I locked it.

I was just, you're supposed to be somewhat relaxed.

And I just like, okay.

So lots of injuries from the fire pole.

We still do it.It's much faster than going down the stairs.And how much faster?

Um, you're probably talking 10 seconds.Yeah.But it's probably also.real estate wise a good choice because stairs require a lot of room.

There's some people doing fire slides.So instead of the pole, they'll just put a slide in and you just slide down.

That sounds more fun.More safe.I would be asking for calls.Jump in.And how many calls on a shift do you normally get?

It depends.I've had calls where we call them goose eggs and have a single call the entire shift.And then I've had calls where we've run 26 calls in a 24 hour period.

Wow.

Yeah.

So because a lot of these are not fire, what are the calls?

EMS based calls.So chest pain, shortness of breath, seizures, cardiac arrest, all the fun stuff.And then car accidents, like I said, the no fire species, just structure fires are diminishing at least in South Florida because of the, or in a lot of areas.But again, when you move into the winter periods or you go into places that, you know, our wood frame structures, a buddy of mine works or a couple of friends of mine work for a city called Rockford.they'll have three or four structure fires in a day.So yeah, it just depends on the area, but for us, it's gonna be mainly those EMS -based calls.

And I'm sure we have a lot of manufacturing facilities.Those probably are very high risk and huge probably when they happen.

So the area that I work in is everything, million dollar structures, low -income housing, highways.I told you before we got on here, we'll go with the Coast Guard every once in a while on a, three mile trip out to a cruise ship, which is a blast every single time.Those guys are nuts, bro.Really?Oh my God.Because they're just so comfortable on, they're good.

They're very good at their job.And they're so comfortable on these boats.And it's always 3 a .m.whenever this happens, we get toned out, we're half asleep, we get on there and like, all right guys, you ready?And we're like, yeah, sure.

Six foot waves, we're just jumping over this stuff.And they're like, we're good.For a very long time, we would,the boat, the Coast Guard boat right next to the cruise ship.And we would have to time the waves and we would jump onto the cruise ship.

And - Wait, so you're doing fire rescues on a cruise ship?

Not fire rescue, we're going out for medical patients.Yeah, they'll call us, because we have to bring them in because they can't come in.So they'll treat the patient, then we'll get them and then we'll bring them in and bring them to a local hospital.

So currently we're in the midst of a Hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship.What were you called to a cruise ship for?

A couple of cardiac arrests I've had, a lot of either broken bones or minor injuries, stuff that they can't treat, something major enough to where they can't treat it or stay on the ship.So we just need to bring them to a local hospital to be able to get checked out.

What if there's a fire on a cruise ship?

They have, dude, their entire crew, crews are trained to fight fire.

So they have fire extinguishers, hoses, the works.

And I would imagine there's levels of it, but they have rescue teams on there that that is what they do.Let me tell you why I don't want to fight a fire.on a cruise ship or on a boat.Those are horrendous.Think about it.

There's water all around you.

Once it gets in the boat, that's a big problem.

You're surrounded by metal.There's nowhere for that heat to go.It's just a big hot box.And then depending on where the fire is.So like I said, the thermal layering, heat's always at the top.I have to go into, we don't have basements in Florida, but a lot of the guys around in these areas, they fight basement fires.

They're walking through - Why are there no basements in Florida?

Oh, flooding.

Water, yeah.I lived in a townhouse that had a basement.They just built it really above grade.

I'm like, I'm on a hill.

This is the first floor.Um, but, uh, yeah, they'll, uh, they, you have to go through all three layers of the heat before you can get to the fire itself.So it's super hot.So same thing on, on boats.Those are, those are super dangerous.Yeah.

So you mentioned earlier,that a lot of what you see on TV is wrong, especially when it comes to the nozzle.What do we know about firefighters that is not accurate?

Oh my God, that's a great question, Mike.I'm gonna have to circle back to that.

But you're like, because I know everything, so I don't need to deal with that.I don't know.

So I'll say this, and I don't know, because you review a lot of the medical shows and stuff.There is there is that line where it is a show.They need to dramatize it.They need to create.They need to explain what they're looking at in dealing with, even if it's really outside of the way that a normal paramedic or two doctors would talk to each other.so that viewer can understand what's happening.

And they need to dramatize stuff like fires or whatever it is.The only time that I'm like, what is, like, what are you doing?Is when they get the information just completely wrong.Like, or they use the absolute wrong word for something.Like, they're like, look at his knee.It's really bad.

I'm like, Jesus, guys.Come on.

The patella, is this okay?Yeah, dude.

So I think, or the, God, my absolute favorite.Lava in California or wherever it was There's a volcano that explodes or something like that a piece of magma shoots out and lands on this guy's chest Oh, and it's melting through his chest.I'm not sure if you saw this one, but it's melting through his chest she grabs the McGill forceps and tries to grab the lava and it melts and melts the metal and I forget how they solved the problem.Oh, she used the laryngoscope blade because laryngoscope blades have a, you know, 50 ,000 degree melting point.

It's melting on this guy's chest.I'm like, this dude's dead.His heart is literally cooking.He's got a hot pocket for a heart right now.

Like, but I, it's those things where I'm like, God, this is so, it's absolutely insane.

Which fire medical drama is the most and least accurate?

Tacoma FD was a comedy that came out from the guys from Super Troopers.Perfect, bro.Really?Yeah, just really good in -station humor.And let me tell you, it's really hard to get in -station humor to be acceptable.That was the only thing that kind of allowed me to gain any kind of, popularity within the fire and EMS service was I didn't take what we say in the station.

Like, cause I know you when you're around your physician buddies, like you say stuff that if you ever said on this podcast, they'd be like, ah.

Nursing humor is some of the darkest humor ever.You walk into a nursing station, you're like, what the hell am I hearing in here?But it's how you deal with dark moments and stress all the time.

Dude, I'm telling you, you don't, you get in this field, And the one thing that we've, I think we're doing so much better in the fire and EMS systems.And I think just as humans is we are putting mental health on the forefront when we're talking about it enough to where it's normal for, I had a prob, we go to a call, it's a deceased person.He walks in, he sees, and the guy's been deceased for a few days.It's something that's normal.most people should never see.And back in the day, when I started, if you saw that and someone was like, you all right, bro?

I'm like, dude, that was really weird.

They're like, buck up, buddy.Like, if you don't know how to handle this, screw you.

Like Jesus, dude.So for us to be able to say, hey man, to be vulnerable with someone and say like, hey, it's okay.Like that's no, most people will never see a dead person in their life, let alone that type of dead person.So putting that at the forefront, we now have a class when it comes to talking about mental health and just talking about the things that you feel and hear And it's being really well received, which I think is very cool in the fire and EMS service.

What was it like the first time you lost someone in the field?

I think so.My first call was a woman who was in a car accident.She got hit on a highway.she had bilateral femur fractures.You want to talk about green, dude.I ran up and grabbed the door.

She was crushed, she needed to be extricated.I grabbed the door and started pulling on it.I didn't have my coat on, I was just like, let's go, we're saving lives.And one of the guys was like, what are you doing, bro?I was like, I'm so sorry.I'm just excited.

So we ended up extricating her, but she ended up bleeding to death.I think her pelvis was fractured as well.I think that was my first real experience with, oh crap, we can't save everybody.That's weird.If we're there in time, if they're still breathing when we get there, we should be able to save them and get them to the hospital.But that was an interesting experience.

And then I had two kids who flipped over in a car and ended up in a lake.And we had to swim down and grab these kids, which I learned that day.I can hold my breath for eight seconds.That's not enough, dude.

Do you have that self -contained airway breathing?

No, you're just swimming down.

So you're not scuba -ing?

No, you're not scuba -ing.

No, you're swimming down, trying to break windows and get people out.And we got them both out, swam to the shore, and we got back to the station.One of the guys I work with, he's like, he started crying, man.He's like, both those kids were my teenager's age.It was like, that's what he saw.He immediately identified with his kids.

You know, we talked, we took our pants off.It was a great day for both of us, but I'm just kidding.We didn't take our pants off.

I love male bonding.I get it.Sauna session.

It's worse when he doesn't laugh at that.It just makes me look like a weirdo.Thanks, Mike.Appreciate that.

No, I get what you're saying.It's every time you experience loss in the healthcare space, it reminds you how vulnerable human life is.But then at the same time, because you're seeing sick people all the time or injured people all the time, you're realizingwow, the body does bounce back.It has an immense capacity for healing.So it kind of puts you on these two extremes where you're like, everyone's dying and no one's dying.

And then he went right back into a viable rhythm.I was like, that is crazy.Cause we talk about that.We teach people that we tell people that as lay rescuers, like if you, you know, if you use an AED, they have a really high chance, which they do of surviving, but you see so many cardiac arrests that don't end that way.And you're like, man, I like, I need a win here.And you're, and.

You're right, dude.It is that fine balance between everybody's dying at all points in time and people can actually come back from this.

Yeah, because it's like you're one inch from death and a thousand miles away from death at the same time.

Yes.

Because the human body is just like, to me, I get so excited talking and thinking about the human body when it's like, there are, everyone says, oh, we're so fragile and they lose someone.And I get why they're saying that because they just lost someone that was healthy a few days ago.But it's like, if you look at it, the amount of threats we face on a given day from bacteria and things that would kill us just a hundred years ago, that now it's like, oh, my throat hurts and I'm annoyed that I have to take Advil today.So it's interesting how far we've come in handling acute disease and acute threats to our life.And now we're dealing with the flip side of it because we're helping people survive these acute deaths moments.They're chronic health patients.

Everyone's like, why is everyone chronically unhealthy?Well, because we've prevented them from dying.So now they're chronic health patients.

That's so funny.

We see that a lot in our current health sphere where people say that, why is America so unhealthy?Part of it is a problem of success.Another problem of it is like a societal issue and prevention issue and lifestyle issues.So it's a lot of things all bounce together in one.

That's a easier access to things that they would need to be able to extend their lives is easier.And that's kind of the same thing.cheaper products for fires.That's why they're spreading so fast, man, is because back in the day, it was just, you know, cotton, there was, you know, your basic combustibles that are in some of these things, woods.Now everything is polyester, everything is plastic, everything lights and spreads so fast.Yeah.

But then you also were saying some of the building materials are slower.

So building construction has gotten better.

But the actual things in the home have gotten worse.

Yeah, things in the home are worse.

But then also less people smoke.Less people do smoke.

The other risks that are now coming, more things have lithium ion batteries, and then people are using - Charging banks and shit.Yeah, charging banks, they're not using the right charging cables.They're like, they got their one from their laptop, they're plugging it into - The Alibaba.Yeah, that kind of thing.Allowing their cell phones or other things to charge while under blankets, they're overheating and causing fires.Space heaters are a big one, extension cords, man.

Is that the deadliest thing in a home?

No, no.

What is the deadliest item in a home?

Humans.Second deadliest.Yeah, got them.That was a good cheap answer.The biggest cause of fires is going to be cooking.That's gonna be your number one thing.

So don't cook.I mean, look, if you can afford it, man.Cook, just cook safely.Don't leave cooking unattended.If you're cooking with grease, make sure that you're not overheating the grease so it can bust.If you do have a grease fire, do you know what to never put on a grease fire?

water, my man.Look at that.Yeah, good.Yeah, water, dude, everyone.Obviously, the first thing you want to throw on a fire is water.But when you throw it on there, it's

it.You gotta think - The grease moves around basically.

Well, not - Because it sits on the top of the water.

Not only that, that's good.I guess guys go to the doctor.Also, it immediately converts the steam.So - And that could - It essentially explodes.You're throwing it on there.It's converting to steam.

Now we're throwing fire.

What if you throw a really dense droplet because the nozzle, sorry, go ahead.

that you're going to be a billionaire if you invent that.It's just the one droplet.

So steam converts and now now we have flames everywhere and you've also gotten burned in the process but covering Oh, you just cover it.If you have a lid put it on top fire blankets work really well ABC extinguishers are good.That's what is that?Type ABC is just different types of your extinguishers.

So I'm buying one which one should I buy you buy ABC?

So ABC will say that it's gonna it's gonna combat airway breathing.Yeah airway breathing You spray it in their mouth and they come back.

That is not how you want to eat.Dr. Mike has killed 43 people.

This video gets taken down by YouTube.I lose my doctor certification on the bottom.

Please don't spray it in people's mouth.

So A is going to be for your normal combustibles.

So wood, paper, that kind of thing.Your flammable liquids are going to be for B. And then C is electrical fires.

Your average person, they want them within 10 feet, one on every floor, and then one within eight to 10 feet of a cooking surface.But if you're doing that, just remember pass, pull, aim, squeeze, sweep.So you're gonna pull the pin, you're gonna step back, make sure you're, again, far enough away to where you can spread it properly, you're not gonna spray anything on yourself.Then you're gonna spray and you're gonna sweep back and forth.

And you're aiming at the base.

Aiming at the base of the fire, very good.

There are different types of fires, grease,electrical.Grease is gonna - Wait, is it just based off the ABCs?

Not the ABCs, but it's just the type of combustible that it really is.

So solids, liquids, and electrical.

No, that's, man, we're gonna get deep in here now.Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.We got pyrolysis, all this fun stuff.But it's just the type of combustible.The A is like, again, like your normal things, this wood - But how is electrical fire different than a grease fire?Because it has electricity involved with it.

The grease fire is gonna be the actual liquid that is on fire itself.The electrical fire is gonna be, It's an electrical source that is setting something else combustible on fire.

Oh, so even if you put out the fire, if you don't stop the electrical source.

Correct.Correct.But it's safe to spray it on that thing that is around that, that electrical issue.So you're, but we obviously want to shut the electricity off.If you can't shut the electricity off because it's, you know, coming in from another source, then just get out of your house and we'll, we'll help them.

Another dumb guy question.Have you ever been burned?

Yes.I've only been burned on a fire once.And that was, we were fighting a fire as a shed fire.And we get there, it's a big shed.What's on fire in there is a bunch of crazy stuff.It's lawnmowers, a bunch of different fuels, diesels, gas, like big things of gas.

When fire touches a gas tank, does it explode like it does in the movies?No, it doesn't explode like that.It doesn't?

No.God damn it.So you gotta think, in order for something to actually light on fire, it needs to be converted to a gas.It's through something called pyrolysis.once it's converted to a gas, that is the state of matter that can actually be lit on fire.So when you put gas, that's why when people like pour a ton of gas and then they talk to their friend for a second.

then they come back and they're still pouring, that's just off gassing all of that.And then that's where you see explosions happen.

Okay, got it.So car accidents don't explode?

No.

God, I feel like every movie I've watched has been a lie.Like Man on Fire, I'm thinking of Denzel Washington walking away from the car.Oh, actually he had C4, so I guess you got it.

That was a great movie, by the way.

That's my favorite movie of all time.Is it?Yeah.

Dude, Denzel is one of those guys, I'm positive he's...He's a little bit like that in real life.Yeah.Joe Pesci is supposedly just like that.Really?Yeah.

Supposedly.

I could see that too.Just being angry.What's your favorite Joe Pesci movie?I mean, I know I'm from the Goodfellas vibes.I say Goodfellas is really, I do.

I love Home Alone, man. I just, I love that version of him.Like it's, it's really, really funny.

Home Alone is kind of, how I view the United States still.Because when I came to America, that's like one of the first things that was out at the time.And I was like, wow, this is America.Like strange people come into your house, but you could beat the show.He was standing his ground.How long would you move to the United States?

I was six in 95.

That's so cool.Do you still actively speak Russian?

Yeah.With my father, it's perfect.our primary way of communication.

I learned Polish at one point in time.

No way.

Yeah.

Who learns Polish casually and then forgets it?

I was married before and I learned Polish to speak to her family and I became conversationally fluent.I went to Poland twice, three months for each time.Do you know what kołamcze means?

Do you love me?Well, I figured because you said it was for your loved ones.I thought you would know that one.

Yep, Dr. Miraculous.

I loved speaking it, but it made me have such an incredible respect for anybody that learns another language.Not only just learns another language to be able to be conversationally fluent with other people, but then learns like a whole new like medical terminology or like, that's insane.

they should have a name, like a sub -language, like music should be another language.Like if you play music, you speak another language.You are a lawyer, you speak another language.You're a doctor, engineer, whatever, you speak a different language.So I think that's definitely true.How did you learn?

I started with Rosetta Stone.

And it worked?It worked enough.I've heard mixed reviews.You have to be in the environment, right?

You have to, man.What I learned was because, Polish, I imagine Russian is very similar.Like everything is so dense or like so complex.Like you can say the word to like 22 different ways because it's got to change male, newer, neuter, a female, that kind of thing.But what I learned was that I went through Rosetta Stone, learned enough.Then, then I eventually got like a private tutor.

which was fun, and I went back and read my notes from Rosetta Stone.Dude, none of it made sense.I understood nothing that I was saying, dude.But it was such a cool experience, man. I met a guy who was from the Ukraine, the Uber driver that brought me here, and the guy's been here four years, and we're just talking.I'm like, that's crazy, man.

Wait, he was talking to you in Polish?

No, in English, in English.

Yeah, yeah, that'd be cool, too.I was like, hey, I learned Polish.He's like, good job.

I speak English.

Yeah, I would not be able to learn Russian had I started now.There's no way.It's too complicated.It would take too much time.Spanish I picked up from the medical world and also past relationships.So I can understand what that's like.

You speak Spanish too?Not well, but enough to get by, especially medically.And the population that I take care of being in a community health center,is so grateful that you've even tried.To them, it's the effort that you're putting in that is a blessing to them, which I love putting in that effort because I want to be a better communicator, right?That's like part of the biggest part of your job that requires success, right?

Connecting to another human.

And I think a lot of people lose that.And don't get me wrong, man, at three o 'clock in the morning for a toe pain, I'm like, what am I doing?

But buck up.

But one of the biggest things I've learned is looking somebody in the eye.and then giving some kind of human touch to them.especially if they're freaking out, they don't know what's going on.A buddy of mine said to me a long time ago, he goes, what's an emergency?I was probably five years and I was starting to like get that, that burnout feeling.Um, and he's like, just remember, bro, what's an emergency to you is not, or what's not an emergency to you is definitely an emergency to that man.

Like this is the first time they've ever seen this.They've never had to call 911.They've never dealt with this before.And I think, uh, the best phrase I could ever, I ever say to people that seems to work really well is it's, it's going to be okay.Like we're going to do our best to help you.And for, uh, 80 % of the time, man, that that's at least enough for them to say, all right, cool.

I can take a breath.It's going to be okay.

Wow.And, um, in connecting with all these folks, are there any encounters that stick out in your mind as well?That was an interesting one, or I can't believe we got through that.God, I know a big part of your channel is creating these stories of there were these patients or these cases.

When Flaca was around for a bit, that was insane.What's that?Oh, you never, you guys didn't have Flaca up here?Flaca, no.Flaca was - You have three nos.You should try, I'm kidding.

Is this the gentleman known as Waka?

Waka Flaca, yeah, he just ran through my area every once in a while.

No, he was a, it was a, she was a,pharmaceutical that people were consuming, they were smoking it.Is this like bath salt?Not as, didn't seem to be as violent.It was just very, they were all naked every time, but they like were no longer attached to our reality.The weirdest thing, dude, The weirdest thing is every time I ran on someone that was on there, they said that they were being chased by wolves.

Every one of them.I was like, are they actually going to another reality?Like what's happening here?

You don't have wolves in Florida.

No, no wolves in Florida.God, that would be a whole new plot.That's in Minnesota.But a few of those, and you get there and they're legitimately, they're looking through you.They're no longer, I think that's the scariest patient you ever deal with is someone, I don't know if you've ever had that, but.

I mean, of course, to some degree, especially, someone sundowning who's older in the nursing home.So we spend time in the nursing homes.Those people forget about it.They're so sweet otherwise, which is why seeing that flip is whoa.

But they're looking through you.They don't know what's happening.They're scared because whatever they smoked is detached them from reality.And those are the moments where you're like, crap.this could go south really fast, they could hurt themselves.So we give them some sedatives.

I've had a couple of them, we give them some sedatives and boom, they're right back and they're like, hey, what's going on, bro?I'm like, holy crap.This is years ago.

Are you seeing more substance abuse cases now?

No, it's actually decreased a lot in Florida.Really?They used to call us the - Narcan crew?The pill, the Narcan crew.Dude, that was bad.

Wait, you had a time with - Oh my God.

During the peak of, they called it the pill highway.There were so many physicians, pain clinics down there that were prescribing medications.or opioids to people.They were coming down from other states, going to multiple doctors, they called it doctor shopping, going to multiple doctors and then driving back up.But we had a point where I don't know what type of opioid it was.but this, we would show up on overdoses.

There'd be two of them, two people at one time, which we had never really seen in our area.And they're right next to each other.We were giving them eight, 10 milligrams of Narcan.And I mean - Dude, I've never seen anything like this.

I've never seen, you normally give - I didn't touch them.

You normally give somebody 0 .5.Yeah, they wake up screaming.Yeah, yeah, yeah.Or you like just slowly titrate them.I actually, I don't wake people up anymore.I just get their respiratory drive back to normal.

Comfortable.Yeah, comfortable.

Well, yeah, you bring them to a safe place.

Yeah, because I, dude, you watch people slam two milligrams of that stuff and you're like, this is not good for anybody.They have now vomited all over all of us and they're not happy.So, but yeah, that was, Two milligrams, two milligrams, two milligrams, nobody's waking up.Supposedly, I don't know if it's true or not, but I teach CPR.A lot of my clients are treatment facilities.They do CPR so much that they need some difference than someone coming in.

So supposedly there was someone who got busted in the Miami area.And after that, that's where that, because it was overnight.It was overnight, it stopped.Whether that's true or not, who knows?Yeah.

of differentials you have when you go to a case?Like, what do you know when you go to a call?Like, for me, before I walk into an exam room in an outpatient setting, I'll know the name of the patient, the age of the patient, the reason for the encounter, and my nurse will grab a, or CMA will grab a brief history along with the vitals and present that to me.Now I can go in with knowledge of what's going on.What do you know?

So we'll get the basics.We'll get the address, whatever the type of the call is, if it's chest pain, short, or chest pain, respiratory.

Do you call it a chief complaint?

Call it a chief complaint, yeah.

Which I don't really love, because it's like, your heart stopped, you're not complaining.

Well, we don't walk in and go, his chief complaint is cardiac arrest, guys.

Yeah, we'll get just the basics of what's going on.But it's funny, bro, because you take that with a grain of salt.At least for you, they've gotten a set of vitals and kind of an updated stuff.For us, like you said, especially telemedicine, for you, they're describing something, they may not understand how to describe it properly.Or if you don't ask that one right question, like is it radiating or anything like that, you don't know that their aorta is currently tearing in half.So how would you get vital signs if you needed, would you just?

If there's a dissection of the aorta?

No, no, I'm saying like during your telemedicine piece.

Oh, you don't?There is no vitals for a telemedicine.There are now companies creating devices where if people wanna, they sell them the device and a membership to this telemedicine service where they could put on the devices and the doctor can use those vitals.And some of those devices actually allow you to like look in their throat and ears and things like that.Not widely adoptable, but they were being sold at Best Buy at one point.

Yeah, I have my own little blood pressure machine at home.Amron?Yeah, it's a great machine, dude.I'd gone through two or three of them, and some of them were just wildly inaccurate.

Oh, really?Was it the size of the cuff that was the issue, because you have big arms?Yeah.Gotcha.

I think it was, or it might have been, I tried different placements of it, and then I learned something I never knew, dude.I didn't know that your blood pressure is the highest when you wake up in the morning.

Well, is it the highest?

It's supposedly higher than normal, I would say.

Yeah, like from the cortisol spike of just waking up.

Yes.

Yeah, I wouldn't ever say wake up a chicken.Yeah, well, that's what I was doing, Dr. Mike.

I was waking up, I was like, Jesus, why is my blood pressure so high?But yeah, that was fun just being able to, I, I developed high blood pressure out of nowhere.Just like personal note, I started getting headaches at the base of my head.And I worked with this company called Detect Together, they're cancer prevention for firefighters, and they have a two week rule.If you have any symptoms for longer than a two week period, you should get it checked out.So for two weeks, I was having, yeah, it was great, great, great messaging.

I had just pressure headaches at the base of my skull all the time.So I was like, I think I have a tumor.That was my first thought.But I started, I was like, let me just check my blood pressure.And it was like 155, 160.And then my diastolic was closer to 100.

And I was like, I work out every day.My pulse is naturally in the low 50s.I was like, this is not normal.I was eating these pre -made healthy meals.Sodium rich?they were so sodium rich, man.

And I don't eat any sodium.So I ended up going on a low sodium diet, ended up working itself out, and it's good now.So yeah.And were the headaches related to that?Yeah, that's what they was, yeah.

Because it's very unusual to have a headache from blood pressure, unless it's really high.I mean, the 100 diastolic, now you're getting into that number.But I had a patient the other day came in for a bilateral leg swelling.And obviously whenever you have leg swelling, especially in someone who's older, you're worried about a clot.She's not moving around much, but it wasn't the type of swelling that you'd have from a clot.It felt like pedal edema from congestive heart failure.

And her heart had some issues, but not to the degree where I would say, oh, we need to implement diuretics.And her echo did not show congestive heart failure to that degree.I said, look, look, this doesn't make sense.Are you eating anything really salty out of Noah?She goes, no, like I add no salt.I don't do this.

I'm like, do me a favor.keep a journal.Well, we'll do an ultrasound to rule out clots.Cause like you want to be thorough.There's no radiation, low risk test, but keep this journal.She goes, there's nothing obviously on the ultrasound, messages me on the messaging portal and goes, so the prosciutto I started implementing in my diet actually is very rich in sodium.

And I'm like, wow, I thought that was pretty common knowledge.

Oh my God, it is not, dude.It's so funny.I worked for a physician's office for six months before I became a medic.I was actually, I think I was just an EMT at the moment.I was getting ready to go to medic school and I was doing what your nurses do.The patients would come in, I would do my basic stuff with them, check their vitals, all this stuff, and wait for the physicians to come in.

I had this patient come in and they had CHF and they were like, yeah, I just feel really dehydrated.And I was like, just drink more water.Just like, you got to drink a lot more water if you don't want to feel dehydrated.They can't breathe.

The doctor comes out, he goes, hey, you tell that patient to drink more water.I go, yeah.He goes, Jesus, bro.You're gonna swear to God's exact words were stop giving people advice.I was like, I'm sorry.

That happens a lot from well -intentioned advice.I've even seen this with residents where this is a hyper -specific case, but if someone has a thyroid cancer that's been treated, sometimes they would give additional thyroid hormone to really make sure that your levels are super low of TSH so that you don't regrow this cancer tumor.And because of that, if you check just the TSH, you'd say, oh my God, we're giving them way too much thyroid hormone, but it's being done purposefully so that we don't regenerate this cancerous tumor.And then the resident will start adjusting it.And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.You're going to regrow their tumor.

Please don't do that.And sometimes in healthcare, you learn very quickly that why it's so humbling, just because something makes sense, it might not be the right move.Or just because you have the right intention, it might not be the right move.And very, very tricky to figure that out.

That's what I love about, like physicians and people that are just truly good at what they do.Like I was saying before, when we, I watch like certain TikToks or whatever, and you just listen to that, that double board certified guy.Like I listened to, I'm like, dude, this guy is incredible.

Well, there's a new genre.It's called competency porn.where you just watch people who know what they're doing.It's why the pit, I think, is so successful.Do you watch that?

Yeah, I don't watch it, but I've heard nothing but incredible things about it.

Because it's just like watching people who are really good at the thing that they do, because we kind of live in this era where on social media, there's a lot of people who claim they know what to do, but when push comes to shove, they don't know shit.Are there people spreading misinformation about fire safety?

Not really, man.Most people are pretty good about it, thank God.

No one's selling like a miracle rescue kit or something?

No.dude, and again, this is still, some of this stuff is still preliminary and coming out, but like you talk about like the guy that wants to adjust something that's really gonna screw something up.By the way, I saw, I had a lady go into a third degree heart block because her cardiologist gave her a calcium channel blocker and someone else gave her a beta blocker and they must've not communicated or she didn't tell them and like really messed up.So lithium ion batteries for a long time, they were, and stuff is still coming out about this, but taking fire blankets, putting them over the cars when they're on fire, and it extinguishes the fire, then it allows it to cool down.It doesn't keep going into the thermal runaway is what it's called.Well, what they found, and again, still stuff coming out about it, was that you're trapping all those very dangerous explosive gases underneath that,

tent, but under that blanket, and it could make an explosive environment.So, and like, you damage if you do, you damage if you don't, like, what's the best way to approach these things?

So.Now that we have more EVs and charging stations, are there fires related to those?

Yes, no.

Really?

Yeah.I don't know about the charging stations themselves, but you're going to see more and more fires with EVs.It's inevitable.

I forgot if this was Secretary Pete Buttigieg or someone was mentioning to me how because these EVs are heavier, On the highways, for example, the barriers that prevent people from sliding off are now not strong enough because these cars are heavier.That's crazy.That now roads have to be adapted, et cetera, for the electric car environment.Is there anything you guys are doing differently when you come to a car accident scene when it's an EV versus combustion engine?

Our biggest thing is we don't want fires to happen at any point in time.And it's so rare that you see a combustion, you know, regular gas fueled fire starting or on a, automotive vehicles starting.These EVs, it's the hardest part is we just don't know what to do yet.We don't know how to fight them.I mean, if it goes in a thermal runaway, if it's just, it catches on fire and it's just the components around the batteries on fire, it's not a big deal.You know, we're just, water's gonna be totally fine.

But if it goes in a thermal runaway, which is one battery overheating, then catching the next one, the next one, the next one.And if it's inside of that actual compartment or inside of the pack itself, we can't access it.So we can spray water on it all day long, but it's not getting in there to cool it down.So we can cool the battery pack, hopefully, if it's just that, and hopefully cooled enough to where we can prevent the thermal runaway.But the big issue they're having is when they cool it down, then you have a tow truck show up.When it moves, it can set back on fire again.

So they're taking them, they're putting them inside of dunk tanks.Wow.

It's like a bomb squad is coming out.

Yeah.Jesus.It's not as common as, as people make it out to be.Uh, and it's anything new is terrifying.

Of course.

And that's, so they're coming out with different things where you can take a nozzle put it underneath there.It's specifically made to just drench it and hopefully cool down the thermal runaway.But then they're having piercing ones where they'll go in, they'll pierce the battery pack and then put it out.But our big thing is just trying to cut off the electricity and then kind of go from there.

Create the safety there.Like in my race car, I have a fire extinguisher, but it's not a handheld manual one.I have a giant red button that I have to press and I think it just explodes in the car.

I don't know.

You know, it's funny.So I crashed my car in Indiana.Great, great job, Mike.And smoke billowed inside the car.I don't know how I knew, because I shouldn't have known.But The smoke was coming from, I hit the rear tire against the wall and then the tire kind of got jammed.

So as the car was rolling to a stop, the brake and everything created a bunch of smoke.It wasn't actual fire smoke.It could have easily been a fire smoke and there should have been a world where I considered pushing the button, but I didn't at all.So if I press that button, And something, they said it explodes.

There's no, maybe, hey, listen, I'm not an expert on all things extinguisher.I can tell you back in the day, they used to have little hand grenade ones where you threw it in there and it exploded.Yeah.

Did you ever use one of those?No, dude, we're talking years, years before.I could see you guys in the firehouse just messing with each other, just like, yo.

No, but there is a story about that, where a guy, we get there, the guy had pulled the pin and thrown a modern extinguisher into the fire and it didn't put the fire out.It's not gonna do anything.He threw the actual?Yeah, the whole extinguisher.It doesn't do anything.Does it ever explode?

I mean, it might, if it sits there for long enough periods of time, but I can't imagine it where that would end up happening.

So for yours, I'm not sure it may explode or it may, it may just be that it is charged with whatever that chemical is, that agent that's going to put out the fire.Cause I assume it's spraying in your gas tank area as well as is it also going in the engine department?

I think it's exploding area.

Everywhere?

Well, and I don't know if exploding is the right term.But it's clearly not, it's bolted down.It's not like a point and shoot thing that I pick up and shoot.So you punch a bush, there's a button.And it reminded me, this is such a random thing to bring up, but it reminded me of the button that I flew in an F -16 with Air Force Thunderbirds.And they were like, hey, just so you know, this is the button and this is the seat thing in between your seat.

Do not touch this, unless like you're ready to jump out.And I'm like, wait, why are you saying do not touch it?What if I need to jump out?And they said that this is a bilateral switch.So if I pull it, the pilot also gets thrown out as well.And this thing's worth like 15, $20 million.

They're like, do not do this.The level of trust to just send in a YouTube dude and be like, yeah, just don't pull that, that's $15 million.

And then - You gotta be the right YouTube guy, because there'd be people that would push that.

And what's crazy is, It's not like you have a parachute on.Your seat is the parachute.So your seat gets what?

Dude.Again, respect for people that created that.Like someone was like, all right.

Respect who uses that comfortably.Yeah.

No, I'm telling you those Coast Guard guys, when we go out to those shifts, I told you this before the, like literally he's like putting, and I've never been on, I'm not comfortable in boats period.My biggest fear in life is being 12 miles out.My boat goes down and I got to just sit there and burn in the sun.Cause I'm like,ginger.Um, but he, um, literally putting that on me and, and he's like, you know, just if, if, if you go in the water and like, hold on, bro, Aren't you the Coast Guard?

What do you mean if I'm in the water?Things happen, it should inflate, oh my God.And then I'm like, then what happens?

He goes, they should send a helicopter.I'm like, dude, what is happening right now?

Like I'm terrified.They should, I love that it's always should.Yeah, I'm positive this guy was like, I'm gonna mess with this firefighter.But they're like, dude, just six foot waves, just cool.

You know what's interesting, given the era in which we live where the majority of the country is either overweight or obese, going into scenarios into people's homes where someone is extremely obese, morbidly obese, and you need to get them out?How do you handle that?

Thankfully, we've been able to adapt.And if it's really bad - I'm saying 400 pounds.400 pounds, anyone over a certain weight, I couldn't give you that exact.We can call a unit that is specifically for that.

Really?

I've only had one patient in my 18 years of being at the fire service where I had to call another unit to transport them just for their own safety.Cause they have OB units or not OB, obese units.Thank you.Obese units where they can bariatric units where they'll show up and it's a wider stretcher with a bigger vehicle.

Well that I get, but actually moving them.

We'll figure it out, man.

So if they are down on the stairs or like, what do you?

We're gonna grab feet.

Straps.

Yeah, straps.We're gonna grab feet.We're gonna grab, we call them carry -alls.Wow.We're gonna put it underneath them.We're gonna move them as best as we possibly can.

And that's scary in the midst of an emergency.Like, health emergency is one thing, but when all of your lives are at risk.

Yeah.Yeah, it's, like I said, it's, we're gonna figure it out, man.

That's our job.So you're calling audibles, basically, is what you're saying.

Yeah, yeah, we need to get.You're creative.So we're lucky, man, because, like I said, we're a Firebase EMS service.So we have a minimum of four people showing up on a call.Sometimes depending on if it's cardiac arrest, we're going to have, you know, six to 10 people showing up.You go to some of these privately private ambulance companies, they don't like they got two people showing up.

It's They're showing up and response times are bad.EMS is probably at its lowest.It's been in a very long time.

How does one check for their area what the response time is?

I'm sure they can look it up or they can call their local fire department.They can pull the stats.Yeah, that kind of stuff.Like I said, we're four to six minutes.If you're in a more rural area, then it's probably gonna be a little bit longer just depending on what's going on.

Are you oftentimes, again, this is my knowledge from movies.God, I feel like I learned everything from television.Are you rescuing cats from - No, no, no, come on.That always felt like, if there was misinformation - That's 100 % accurate.

Really?

Oh, you know what?The biggest thing that's inaccurate about firefighters, they say that we sleep all the time.They say that's all we do.We play video games in sleep.

Do you not play video games?

Uh, I don't play video games.I have seen it, but we're not going to point that out.Uh, I have played a video game a couple of times.

Uh, but, um, the sleeping part is sleep does happen.It is possible, but it's gonna happen at some point, especially when we're on for 24 hours.You wouldn't want guys staying up for 24 hours.It's horrendous.But you know, the truck I'm on right now, we average four or five calls after midnight.So we're up all night, that kind of thing.

Yes, cats all the time.

Cats out of trees, yeah.In a month, how many cat calls do you get?That could mean two things.

Yeah 16 to 18 per month.I'm kidding You are nowI would say probably two to three a year.Yeah, we're not like we're not like going out there all the time, but I just pulled one out of a So we get on scene, there's a cat in the drain, and we're like, there's no cat in the drain, man.Wait, there isn't?I was like, is there really a cat in the drain?

You're like, this is the Waka Flocka.They're like, I'm telling you, it's down there.So we're sitting there, meow.I'm like, no way, there's a cat in the drain.So pop open the sewage cover, look down in there.It's a huge waterway, like I can stand in this thing.

And look down there, yeah, there's a cat.So I crawl down there.We have a four gas meter.So we bring it down there to make sure there's nothing toxic down there But go down there and run over grab them bring them back.Oh Yeah, you're a cat here.Yeah But people call us all the time and although is there any time people call you and you go why the hell did you call there's nothing here?

That's a really I think it's probably the same lane that you kind of go in where it's like there's nothing wrong here You know that they called They people will call like you know they'll ask us to blow candles out or...No, bro, come on.I think I called three in the morning, said he was having a heart attack.He's like, I'm having a heart attack, my chest is killing me.We're like, holy crap.Well, he's having a panic attack.

Okay.So we sent our units there, everybody shows up, we're walking up to this and he sticks his head out, he opens up the window and he goes, hey man, I was lying, bro, I'm not having a heart attack.We're like, oh, well, what's going on?Like maybe just miscommunication.He goes, He's got a refrigerator plugged in, in his, what do you call it?His front yard.

He's like, can you just grab me a bottle of water out of there, man?

I swear, dude.

Do you, is that a crime?It should be.It should be.Dude, we've had people call us.we call them frequent flyers, I know it's not nice.

No, no, no, that's a common term in healthcare.

We had someone calling us four times a day, four times a day for months.It's a huge deal to get people.We want people to call 911.If you're thinking 911, we want you to call 911.Because someone might be like, eh, I just smell a little bit of smoke.There's probably nothing going on.

There's a fire behind their wall or something like that.And if you're thinking 911, let us show up.And I've had both sides of it, where we show up, we're like, dude, this is insane.You really called for this?And we've also had where it's like, you should have called a month ago, man.What are you doing?

Let's take you to the hospital.

That's so scary.You know, I remember the first time I called 911.I was on a bus when I was in eighth grade.I moved from Brooklyn to Staten Island, so I would take the bus from Staten Island to Brooklyn.And while I was on the Verrazano Bridge, which is one of the longest suspension bridges, I think it's the second longest in the US, Golden Gate I think is first.And in the middle of it, bus starts slowing down, smoke fills the whole bus, everyone kind of goes off.

And I don't know why, maybe from the movies, I was certain it was going to explode and the bridge was going to collapse.

That was all that was in my head.

So everyone neatly disembarked the bus.I ran off and Everyone's just standing in there like, all right, we'll wait for the police to come or fire department to come.Like, fuck this.I don't want this thing to explode and then I'm left standing here.So I just started walking down the highway.

It's not, look, like getting away from that is not a bad idea.And there are some, I've just seen, I've seen a video recently where I think it was a natural gas bus.I'm not sure, but it exploded.

Look at that.I was ahead of the game at age 12.

Oh, you were 12, I missed that part of the story.Where did you go?You just.

So I started walking and the bridge itself, I believe is two miles.I was halfway.So I had a mile walk.And as I'm walking, I call 911.Let them know what this happened as if they weren't going to show up anyway.And what's scary is I was on the, there's two levels, the horizontal bridge, upper, lower.

On the lower level, there's like kind of a little pathway.It's not meant for walking, but there's a little bit of a pathway.And in between the pathway and the road, you could see the water.And I have a, death fear of heights.So I'm walking this thing and I'm trying to look what's happening on the bus, but I don't want to turn my head.Cause I had this fear that God forbid, I'm going to walk off the bridge.

Like I'm going to just jump off or the wind would blow too hard.Cause it also sways a little suspension bridge.Oh boy.That was a scare.And then as I'm a hundred feet away from the exit to my school, a police officer pulls up to me.You're not allowed to just walk here.

I'm like, I know, but my, Thing is on fire.They're like, another bus is going to come pick you up to walk you off the exit.So I had to get on for like a hundred feet and then they let me off.

I'm proud of you for still going to school.That's where you and I separate.I would've went the other way.

I had to go tell everyone the story.I'm a survivor, baby.My bus exploded.The story became 10.

The story became way more dramatic.Oh, man. I would've went home and be like, mom, I can't go to school.The day was on fire.

You know why?It's because you did not have a Soviet father.My father, you didn't go to school because there was a fire.I'm going to light you on fire.It's true.You couldn't stay home forever.

or anything.

Like I would rather you I would rather if you're not sure if the threshold fires Yes, it should be low.Yeah, like if it's gonna be like, oh god, I don't know like like to get away from it If you're not I stand by this I tell people when I teach CPR If you're thinking 9 -1 -1 call 9 -1 -1.Yeah, like let us show up man.Like Number one, we don't charge where I'm at.We don't charge just for showing up We only, if it's a fire service, it's another thing, but for EMS, we don't charge when we show up, we only charge when we transport.So if you're not sure, just let us come there.

Most people are not gonna call, but if you're not sure, dude, that's what we're here for.

Hold on, is there, like, let's say I call the fire department, I had a fire, they put out the fire, do I have to pay for that?

It depends, I'm not like super up in the billing piece of it, but.

I've never thought about it, do you know?Yeah.Dan, do you know?

Yeah.We'll have to look that up.Let's put a disclaimer up on your thing.

Obviously, you're very familiar with the wildfires that happened on the West Coast.People, rich people hired private firefighters.Do you hate that?No, dude.Oh, yeah.Oh, OK.

Because they take away the resources from.

I don't like it's so hard for.me to be mad at somebody for doing something like that.I don't know if they were short on resources.I'm not, I'm not, I wasn't really well -versed in that side of it.

The reason they were angry, Sam is well -versed on this.People are upset about it because firefighters who could help other people will stand at X celebrity's house and not help the surrounding area because they're responsible for what they paid to come.

Okay.Yeah.I could see people being upset about that.Yeah.That would be, especially if, Dude, the thing with wildfires, so I'm a structural firefighter.There are just wildland firefighters and then there's the combination of both.

So like out in California, those guys are gonna be doing wildland firefighting and structural firefighting.That stuff's insane.So wildland firefighting is by far one of the craziest things that I've ever seen.Because with structural firefighting, what we're fighting is typicallycontained in a structure, right?If it gets out, then we can do exposure protection, that kind of thing.

That is not, and then it can dictate its own wind patterns.It can spread incredibly fast, faster than we could ever fight it.And then it can change directions at any point in time.You hear that all the time.So for those guys, and then the other thing with those guys is they, It's called mandatory, so my department is short -staffed right now, so I'm supposed to only work 24 hours, but literally, I was supposed to be mandatory a couple weeks ago.

I'll give you the doctor's note.Yeah.Thanks, buddy.

Almost every other shift, like guys on my crew are getting mandatory, so we're, do you want to go home?No, you're here for another 24 hours.Those guys can be sent off for 21 days.So, Hey man, we need you out.You got to do some wild land stuff.So you're gone for 21 days.

And then depending on where they work, they can be brought back for one day and then sent back out for another 21.So like it's crazy.Should, uh, I don't know.That's a difficult question to answer.I don't know what the end result of those other things were.Was that fire coming through no matter what?

You're gonna be really good to stop a wildland fire from destroying your house.I have seen these new things where they put billy pumps, portable pumps inside of their pools, and then they just, they have their own fire hose at the house.Yeah, I saw that recently.

I never thought about that, that's good.So then the trajectory of your life, mechanic, EMT firefighter, Now, YouTuber extraordinaire.How did that happen?

Loose on the extraordinaire part.

Once you get into the seven figures, baby, you're an extraordinaire.

Just messing around, man. I don't know how it worked out for you, but we were messing around the station.The original name was National Geographic's Fire Department Edition.We would hunt for different positions.And the battalion chief, the bigger their belly was, the more gnarly they were, that kind of thing.But just messing around.in, in like people were like, Hey man, I can relate to that.

I always say like none of my calls that I talk about are unique.Like everybody across the world has run something similar to the exact same call.So just slowly started growing it over time.Saw more and more people enjoyed it.Green screening is what really it just like set it into the stratosphere.That was insane.

That I enjoyed so much being able to do because I never make fun of the actors or what they're doing.Cause it's like, they're just doing roles.Like this is who you are.Okay, cool.And even the writers, the writers have to write fun, interesting stuff.It's just like, just get the terminology right.

Like they ran over a hose in one of them, they run over a hose and the hose burst and they're like, that's it.We don't have any more water.

It's gone.They're like, there's a thousand gallons in that truck right now.

You got more than enough to put out the fire guys.So just start green screening.That's where my YouTube started.That's where it kind of set me over a million.And then the real things I've seen in shorts, that was, I never, 2024, I had, I think it was 1 .5 billion views on YouTube.Like it was insane.

Like it never made sense the amount of views that I was getting on there.And it was just so cool because all the comments are positive.They're fun.Like I'll take somebody off every once in a while, but.I think it's just fun to not only make fun of myself, because there's a couple of them where I accidentally injected myself in an EpiPen and crapped myself in the back of a rescue.But just the stuff that we see every day kind of creates some sort of place for everyone to talk, you know?

Sure.And how did your life change?

I'm sure the same with you, like people recognize me, man.Like it's, I have a 10 year old daughter and I'll go to her school and like, it's the only place that makes me uncomfortable.

Like I walk in there, they're like, that's the guy.And my daughter's like, dad, come on.

I offered to buy her a pizza party.Right.Like once a year, I'll just buy pizza for a class.

And she's like, she's like, dad, don't buy that to me.She goes, everyone says you're rich and you're famous and you buy pizza.I'm like, it's like $20.

You're not giving them lobsters, turf and dinner.I have a butler coming there.Let me spread my wealth.Yeah.

The, the firefighting community is so like firefighting and EMS community.There's so, um, like tight -knitted, it gave me an ability to be able to create an open line of communication with people.So I get to talk to brothers and sisters from all around the world.I mean, guys, FDIC, the Fire Department Instructors Conference was last week in Indianapolis.It's 40 ,000 first responders come together.It's insane, dude.

It's absolute blast.But there's guys from Mexico, Guatemala, China, Japan, These guys speak a handful of English and they come up, they'll take a picture of me, they'll be like, dude, we watch your videos every day.I'm like, that's insane.It's so cool, man.So I think it made my world smaller in a really fun, exciting way.And then I'm able to share, like you do, just pieces of medical information in a fun comedic way to people that hopefully learn something and they're able to utilize it in their personal lives.

Yeah, when you made the choice to do the green screening of yourself into the show, I'm curious, given the fact that the reaction world was so popular at the time, why did you choose to do the green screen approach as opposed to just a standard reaction video?

So I did two or three regular reaction videos.And I thought it was fun.And then one day, so it's going to shock you, man, but I have ADD, like severely.And my brain is always like, well, what's the next thing I can do?How can I make myself just slightly different than many other people?done it before me?

And I was, I had a green screen, bought it for the house.I was like, give us your top, man.And I did it.And I mean, by probably average views, 50 ,000 views at the time I put that first one out, dude, it had like 4 million views in the first like, in the first like week or something like that, which is crazy for me at the time.And That was like, okay, this is it.And I can have more fun because then I can physically interact with the person.

I can really show what the scene is looking like.And it makes me sad because I love Rob Lowe.And I don't like, oh no, God, what's the late, the police officer in 9 -1 -1.Oh my God, she's an amazing actress.

I don't know.

Yes.Look at that.Angela Bassett is my, she's my favorite actress.

I find it every time I'm in a video with her, I'm like, oh God, I love you, Angela.Anyways, this is all wrong.

None of this is correct.So wait, we never actually answered the question.Tacoma FD was your most accurate.What was the least accurate?

Station 19 was - Is that the spinoff of Grey's Anatomy?The one that was in Seattle.They just like, At no point in time did any of that make sense, like never.And then, brother, if we were sleeping with each other in the station as much as they were, we'd all be fired.There would be no fire.

Wait, are you not allowed to date other firefighters?

You can date other firefighters, but if you're actively having sex.

They would come out of the battalion chief's office like, woo!That was a fun one.The guys are like, great job.Like Jesus.

And then they, again, the verbiage, uh, there's my favorite one ever was they're fighting a structure fire.The fire is in the house, but it's a security house.So like everything is like well fortified.Um, and they are like, we,fight this fire.We can't get in there to fight the fire.

And the girls like, the captain's like, well, you want to base the turkey?And he's like, yeah, let's base the turkey.I'm like, what?

That was a firefighting term that they just made up.We're like, what's the base of turkey?Like we close everything in the house.We close all the windows, all the doors.We let it stay inside and then we spray it from the outside and that cools it down.I was like, nope.

This is someone's interpretation of what they think firefighting should be.

I was like, this is, it's just, again, fun firefighting.Cause now the shows have gotten a little more accurate.Really?

Cause one of the shows that I was considering reacting to, firefighters went into space.I don't know.

So this is where I'm like, oh, We would never do that in a million years.Wait, you'd go out with a coast guard.

I'll tell you right now, if NASA calls me and they're like, Jason, we need you to go to space to fight fire.I'll be like, uh, I'm going, we're all going to die.

They're putting on the suit.Like this should auto -inflate.

You should have oxygen.

Yeah.I, uh, the, the, actually the one that's, that is quickly catching up to the worst is the newest one, Nashville 9 -1 -1.That one is just, again, no, I don't, they're cutting out.

Is anyone going to reach out to you to?write or have you thought about writing?

I would love to write.I would.Uh, so I do all the writing and editing for, for my videos and fire department coffees as well.Um, and I love the writing process.It's, it's, it's very cool.And I, I would do it.

It's just one of those, like, even as a consultant, they should bring you on, dude, I would, I would love to.I don't think they won't be after now.Uh, not sure if this is true or not, but somebody told me on that movie,ambulance that there was a scene and supposedly the what the consultant there had seen my green screens and went to again, I don't know if this is true or not, but went to Michael Bay and was like, hey, You see this?

If you shoot that scene, this is gonna happen.Supposedly we wrote it.I'm not sure if that's true or not.If it was, I'm gonna just stick with that, but.

Wow.You know what came into my head that I should have asked you earlier?And you mentioned volunteer firefighters.Why in the world does a volunteer firefighter exist?

Lack of funding.

So like an area just has no firefighters and then a couple of people go, we got this.

So firefighting was basically, born from volunteering.The first firefighters ever were all volunteers.They all got into this for free.And when did that start?A long time ago, 1900s, 1800s.I want to say 1800s, maybe 1700s.

I want to say 1700s.Yeah.Whoever knows that fact right now is commenting.They're going to green screen him in this interview sitting next to you.People are like, I'm going to green screen myself into your videos.I'm like, please do it.

It would be amazing.That'd be so good.But it was born from that and then slowly made it to where the first paid firefighters began.But if you have an area where they just don't have the tax base to be able to support a full -time firefighting department, then volunteers will come in.I love the fact that people do that.They're literally working nine to fives.

Then they're getting up at 2 a .m.to go grab a fire truck and drive all the way out to wherever to fight a fire to hopefully save somebody's house.

So they don't stay at the firehouse.They're kind of at home and they get a page and then they go out.

Or those big sirens.

Yeah, I have them near my house.

You will have places where people will stay at the station itself.And then some places have figured out a budget to at least have one person on the station.to where they're staying at the station, they can grab the fire truck, everyone else knows the address to show up to, and then they show up there and then they can fight the fire.Got it.

I can't believe that exists.That also exists for EMS as well, right?Yeah.

EMS, a large portion of EMS personnel are also volunteers.

And to be an EMS volunteer, you get nothing?Like there's no...

Nothing, but if you're truly 100 % a volunteer, you get nothing, you just show up.Some of them will be paid per call, but you're talking 15 minutes, yeah, or $15, sorry.

Oh, $15?

No, you're not getting a ton of money for doing that kind of stuff.20 bucks, something like that.

I mean, the person should tip.Are you allowed to accept tips?

No, no.

Really, it's in the handbook?

Yeah, it's ethically not allowed.

So like in my ethical handbook, Patients are allowed to gift you things that are of nominal value, like something below $30 or whatever.

Are you allowed to do that?People will show up with like baked goods.So they'll show up with like sealed baked goods or something like that.It's great.I tell people, unless you have a good rapport with a fire station, don't show up with like homemade baked goods.Oh, because you don't know what you're getting.

We just don't know.Somebody just made us pot brownies or something like that.That'd be a big problem.Yeah, we'd have to work that whole shift.

Now, do your coworkers treat you differently?

No, they treat me worse.

God forbid anybody recognize me and take a picture.Oh my God, they're so bad.

I got asked this question a lot.I'm curious if you've been asked it and I'm going to ask it right now.Why do you still continue to be a firefighter?

I love it, man.What brought me into this field is firefighting.I'm telling you man.There's you say you sit around a station You run calls like you get to save lives you get to do the stuff the reason that we went to school I love creating social media videos.It really isIt's really fun.

It's a good outlet.

Yes, it's a great outlet.And especially because I get to write it and film it and edit it.I get to see something come from whatever this small piece of thought was to an actual product that's funny and people laugh.So that is fun.But I don't think anything will ever take place of the reason why I got into this.I'll keep doing it.

I'm eligible to retire in two years.We'll see what happens then.And also the other thing I say, a lot of people have quit their nine to five or quit the reason why they got into this.A, you lose purpose in the reason you were doing it in the first place, and B, the social media world is not nice.Like, they will wake up tomorrow and Facebook or Meta or whoever will be like, we're not gonna monetize your videos anymore.

Thanks for playing.

Now you have no business.Yeah.

So is that why you launched the coffee company?

So Fire Department Coffee was founded just before, we actually founded at the same time kind of.Okay.Firearm Chronicles, Firearm Coffee.Luke Schneider reaches out to me.He's like, hey man, just launched this coffee company, love to work with you.So we started growing it from there.

And I was lucky enough to be able to grow both social media channels, which has been very cool.And we're in 10 ,000 retailers, Walmarts, Sam's Club, like all this really cool stuff.Yeah, man, I sent you guys a bunch of it.I don't know if Sam brought it back to his house or not, but.

Oh, Sam did not give me any.Sam, why are you hiding it from me?

Did you not get it?Oh man.

No, Sam drank it all.Are there different variations, light roast?

Yeah, we have light roast, dark roast.We just launched instant espressos and instant coffees, which are incredible.Like if you want a good hot or cold espresso, just throw this in there, mixes instantly with it.So you and I share something, I don't know if you know, but both of us have had medical emergencies on planes.

Oh, tell me about yours.

Both of them were coming to New York, by the way.Not on this trip.No, not on this trip, no.Um, first one was just a basic like diabetic emergency, um, got up there.He was.his sugar, he was fine.

I think we gave him a little oral glucose and he was good to go.But the other one, I was sitting in my seat and the page comes over, you know, is there any doctors or paramedics?By the way, no doctors ever jump up whenever they say that.

You might be the only one.

All the PhDs are like, literature.Literature.

But I get up, I go, hey, what's going on?This lady's like, my grandpa or my dad is still in the bathroom.I'm not sure what's going on.So they open up the door.He went into cardiac arrest in there.So pull him out, start working him.

And - Where are you on the - I'm in the back of the plane.

But I'm saying is the plane close to landing?

Oh no, no, we're like - Mid -flight.Yeah, we're probably, I think we were still an hour out or something like that.So we start working him.Do they have a whole host of medications on there?AEDL and stuff, I was so impressed by that.I managed to get a line on him, give him Epi while we're fine.

And I was going based off of - So I was going based off of what the AED was telling me.Because if it's saying no shock advised, he's most likely an asystole if he doesn't have a pulse.

So you gave him Epi because he was an asystole?

Yeah, so I gave him an Epi.And then every once in a while, he would go back into a shockable rhythm.And I think we shocked him four times on the way there.But the funniest part is I'm going back and forth with the flight attendant, we're doing CPR and she's like, we have to give him breaths every time.And I was like, we can do hands only CPR.Like that's fully acceptable.

And she's like, no.we have to do I was like, I teach this stuff, man.Like we're good, dude.We've ended we ended up they ended up having an OPA was able to drop an OPA.And we were able to start doing that as well.So but it was absolutely incredible experience.

We landed in the pilot was like, Hey, man, I'm pretty sure I broke like 20 FAA laws get this here as quickly as possible.

Yeah.

But they theythem off and - You got Rosk?I didn't get Rosk on there, but I don't know what the end result was.

Well, I mean, I'm assuming you didn't land in two minutes.

No, no, not in two minutes.No, we did CPR.I rotated back and forth with them.It was incredible.Those flight attendants, man, were absolute rock stars.They knew exactly what to do.

I was like, hey, this guy's in cardiac arrest.We gotta start doing CPR.And we started rotating back and forth so fast.

So 20 minutes?

I think we landed, I wanna say it was 30 or 35 minutes of us doing CPR.

Not a good outcome.Brain without oxygen.

That's gonna be a problem.

What airline was it?

I want to say it was Delta.

Yeah.And did they give you some coupon code?

They gave me $250.

Oh, I got a hundred.So clearly they're not, they're struggling.Maybe now that spirit is out and they're collecting all their business.

I find American man.They've been great.

Oh yeah.Yeah.

They've been really good.

Honestly, like I used to pick favorites and then like in two months it would change because like some companies shifted their business policies and you see, okay, man, I'm like, I, they all suck.

Yeah.Yeah.

They get us there safely.

That's all I care about.But flying is - Are you scared of flying?No, it's just an adventure.There's always a flight.I'm slightly afraid to go on boats for long periods of time.Like cruise ships.

I'm not going on a cruise ship.My wife's like, let's go on a cruise ship.I'm like, nope, I'm good.Norovirus, people pooping and vomiting out of both ends.I ended up doing American just because I got their little credit card and I can upgrade whenever I can't sit in the back, dude, like in between two people anymore.

Oh, that's tough.Yeah, that is tough.I wonder.Yeah, I get really scared on planes.It's it's a weird deal.Frightened mind.

Yeah.Like, honestly,planes and purchase.Do you get what I mean by purchase?So anytime you're higher up than the safety mechanism to prevent you from falling off.I don't know why I was just in Shanghai last week and they have that pool that overlooks Shanghai and it's an infinity pool, but it's on the roof.

And obviously they're like, if you look over past it like low, there is something else there.So you're not sure you're gonna fall off if you jump off.And you're five feet deep into the pool.So you're not, there is a five foot railing.But when you're walking next to the pool, you're above the pool, which means you're above the ledge.So you see like openness.

Oh my God, the anxiety from that perch feeling.It feels like there's a wind that's about to blow and tear me off.

But you have, you don't like heights in general, right?

Yes, but let's say later we did like a little tour thing around the gardens and they had a really high up like bridge that would walk you around and everyone was really scared.I wasn't because the things were really high.I mean, I have 16.I'm like strapped in, I'm good.But perch, forget about it.

Like if I'm not strapped into something, I'm afraid.See me with planes, I don't have a fear simply because like, There's, if this thing goes down, there's nothing I'm gonna do about it.I just accept my fate and try to send a text message out.

Although people just shared a crazy statistic.While he was secretary of transportation, which I believe was four -year term, 4 billion people took flights or 4 billion flights, probably.4 billion passengers were carried, zero fatalities.

That's crazy.

Bro, what else can we do 4 billion times and then not have a fatality?

Yeah.

Like crossing the street, I mean, 4 billion times.

First time I came up to New York, I was with somebody and they just walked in front of a car and I was like,hey, what are you doing, man?You need to stop.And they're like, dude, they'll stop.

And I go, what happens if they don't?

You die.

This is a terrible thing that I have to say right now.When I was a kid, you know Magneto?We would play Magneto where you would be like, I can cross the street anytime on Magneto.And the cars would stop.Well, like that was really bad.But I was really young, like 11 years old, where like puberty is happening, 12 years old.

And you're like, oh yeah, I feel that testosterone.Watch me buck this car.I'm getting blasted by a car.

Do not play that game.No, please don't play that game.This might not end up in the final cut.Look, you do dumb stuff when you're a kid.

Some people climb trees.Dude, I fell off of walking on the side of a wall.did thorn bushes on both sides of me.Yeah.I fell right into one of my two brothers, both of them, uh, uh, were one four years from one and then eight years from another one.And, uh, just, we just did constant and stupid stuff.

Uh, my, I threw a dart one day, my brother got in this box and we were throwing darts at it before he got in the box for doing darts at it.And he got in the box and I was like, threw it, it went through the box, went right in his head, pops out.It was fine, it was just surface.

But he gets out, he's like, oh my God.I'm like, don't tell my mom.If that was on camera, that would go viral.

Yeah, oh yeah, that would've been super viral.YouTube bans you.That's difficult, not getting banned at all times, man.

Especially if the story's kind of like - Yeah, if you're saying words, cancer, depression, anxiety, whatever.I'm saying them all right now.So where's the future for you?Where are you going to be in 10 years since you're retiring in two?

I want to do anything, bro.I want to wake up in the morning and just do interesting stuff.Yeah.What bathroom am I pooping in today?That's going to be fun.

my big conversation.Because I still am full -time at the fire department, I have the CPR business, my daughter, the coffee business, I'm constantly traveling and doing stuff for that as well, and then whatever else comes up in the middle.Like, I love it, dude.It's an incredible thing, it gives me purpose, it gives me the stuff that I wanna do, but it's definitely.

Any big picture, big ticket items, book?

I want to do a book at some point in time, I just don't know.So I don't do a ton of speeches, because whenever I do a speech, I want to make sure I'm bringing value to whatever it is.

So the same thing with work.You don't think you do that?

I think I do to a point, but I want to make sure that like, I'm not one of those people that everyone's like, what was that?He told five jokes up there, like that was it.

So I know I can bring value to stuff, but I do, book would be amazing.I want to set the Guinness world record for CPR.Um, but I'd love to, at some point in time, either be in a film or produce a film, but that's, uh, do you act?Yeah, not where historically, uh, I, I've been, my, I was in my first film, uh, that just came out, uh, think two months ago.Oh, yeah, I have six seconds in it.It's amazing.

That's very good.Yeah, it's got Eric Roberts is in it.It's a Yeah, it's for and what's your role?I'm a firefighter.So this guy flies me out to Seattle, flies me out to Seattle.He's like, Hey, I love your videos, man.

He's like, he's a director, this director.

He's like, I love your videos.If you, if you, would you mind, would you like to be in a part?I'm like, sure.What's the part dude.

He said, it's a firefighter 17.

It's fine.Yeah.It's a completely serious part.It's like the house burnt down.It was really tragic.And like that, that's pretty much it.

But it was a cool experience, man.And so you want to grow up.

Yeah, I want to grow that.

Oh, that's exciting.

I just did a big thing with that American Red Cross, uh, fire prevention, which was very cool.That was, uh, three videos all about the same kind of stuff.

Cool.I would love for us to partner up on your comedic show.Yeah.Rent out Madison square garden and we've reset the Guinness world record.Okay.Cause I don't think we trained enough people.

I want to throw people.I think we can do it, man. I think we can do it too.And I think it could be like, a show, a spectacle.Obviously, we've never sold out Madison Square Garden, but we did sell out one of the local theaters here, City Winery, which obviously is drastically different numbers.But when you combine forces, when there's a plan in place.When I would do my live tour, it's like, buy a ticket, you don't know what you're gonna get.

And that's a tough proposition for people.Like we have to travel somewhere and we don't even know what the show is.Do I bring my children?Do I not bring my children?So if we flesh it out, I think it could be really fun.If you have interest, leave us a comment down below.

And where would you like people to follow along your journey?

So Fire Department Chronicles, you can do it on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok.And then if you wanna see my newest game show, that's we're on season two, It's called Shot or Shock, general knowledge questions.It's on the Reveal Network.Imagine general knowledge questions.If you get the question right, you get points.If you get it wrong or your opponent gets it before you, we shock you with a dog collar that's either on your arm or on your thigh.

And then - That sounds awful.It's one of the funniest things I've ever been a part of.

And it's like one of these ecstatic shock, it's not a taser.

No, yeah, yeah.But we hit you, man.

It is an absolute blast.We're laughing really hard.

Wow, okay, cool.We'll check it out.

Appreciate it, buddy.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.Hope you had fun.Thank you, man.Had a blast, dude.

Thanks.Remember the scene from 9 -1 -1 Lone Star Jason mentioned where a volcanic rock melts through a guy's chest?Yeah, I actually reacted to that and so much more.Click here to check out that video.And as always, stay happy and healthy.