BobbieOnFire

In wildland firefighting we talk alot about the weather. Weather has a huge impact upon our operations in the field. We also talk about the changing climate and how our seasons are longer, fuels drier and fires lasting longer and growing bigger. But we don’t often talk about the command climate in our workplace. And […]

In your life as a firefighter and leader, more often than not, it’s miscommunications that will cause you more trouble and heartache than just about anything else. If we could only understand why we find ourselves cross ways with our supervisor and co-workers. Take a few minutes to listen in to this episode and hopefully […]

This podcast should have been posted about 6 months ago, but the filmmaker and I finally got together to talk about this important story. Every firefighter, every family member and every friend of a firefighter and anyone holding a leadership position in any organization should watch this film. There is so much to learn about […]

Right now, I’m hearing alot of armchair quarterbacks passing judgement on the National Park Service management of a wildfire on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. The ensuing fire burned down the historic north rim lodge along with dozens of other structures. It’s a tragedy. Many people seem to “know” that National Park Management […]

Currently in congress and in the Whitehouse, there is more than just talk about combining the 5 federal wildland fire agencies into one organization. There is a draft executive order floating around but more importantly there is language in the budget bill to move all of us under one organization within the Dept of Interior. […]

What’s the craziest unexpected occurance that’s happened to you at an incident or responding to an incident? Was it critical enough that you had to change your plans. The crew of this type 4 engine never made it to their smoke report. Their plans definately changed and so did their local Battalion or Division. We […]

Two weeks ago, I lost my long time friend, mentor and type 1 Incident Commander to a work related illness. He died after being sick for a couple years. Those last two years for him were not good ones. And his illness was the result of our Incident Management Teams deployment to the World Trade […]

There is alot of talk about DEI these days. Much of it is not accurate and much of it implies affirmative action… which is not DEI. In the fire service we will work with lots of different kinds of people. Some from the big city, some from small towns. We’ll work with liberals and conservatives, […]

There are lots of emotions right now about the fires in LA. And there should be. Thousands of people are forced from their home and many of those will come back to nothing but devastation. But let us not fall into the trap of believing simple answers about why this fire is happening and why […]

Do you get tired of the topic of workplace bullying? I sure get tired of talking about it. But you know what? It’s still going on. It wasn’t long ago that an east coast female firefighter committed suicide due to bullying at the fire department. Actually there have been two in the last couple years. […]

A fulfilling job brings joy and a sense of purpose, making time at work fly. Conversely, losing passion can diminish performance and satisfaction. This universal experience affects various professions, highlighting the importance of discussing job fulfillment with peers. Explore these feelings and reflections in Episode 100 of BobbieOnFire.com.

The US Forest Service faces a significant loss of firefighters, primarily due to low wages, making federal wildland firefighters some of the lowest paid in the country. Listeners are encouraged to support these firefighters by joining advocacy groups and unions to help address their challenges as they prepare for difficult times ahead.

The author reflects on the emotional nature of fallen firefighter memorial ceremonies, prompted by the re-dedication of the Dude Fire Memorial. They ponder the absence of traditional elements at the original dedication and express strong opinions on honoring fallen firefighters. The audience is invited to contribute to this discussion.

Have you gotten used to being in risky situations? Maybe things that seemed risky when you were less experienced, don’t seem so bad anymore. Is that because now you’re more knowledgable and are aware of the mitigations being taken for your safety? Or maybe it’s because you’ve done something so many times that it just […]

Have you ever had a problem with your reputation? I have. I had long and successful career in the fire service and yet I’ve had plenty of times when people spread rumors about me. Some of those negative stories were true. But some of them were absolutely false. What should I have done about it? […]

Sometimes, we as leaders think an employees question is a threat to our authority. They may be trying to learn, but their curiosity can be squashed by how we respond. Our body language and the words we use are critical. You might not realize it but you have a direct impact on your organizations learning […]

Risk Management in the Wildland Fire Service

Have you ever felt like a failure? How about just having failed from time to time? In this episode, we talk about what it means to fail versus what it means to merely make a mistake. The difference may be our ability to learn from our mistakes. But how do we learn from our mistakes? […]

If you’re a firefighter, have you ever felt isolated from those friends and family members who aren’t firefighters? I never realized how different I was until I retired and wasn’t around as many firefighters. I would anxiously wait until some of my firefighter friends showed up for a visit. Being around my firefighter friends made […]

Why do we have accidents? Sure, we have a dangerous profession. But are accidents just the inevitable results of a perilous environment? I hope you don’t think so. We can and should look for ways to avoid injuries and worse for our personnel. In this story, Curtis Heaton and I talk about a couple issues […]

Todays podcast is an interview with Riva Duncan, the Vice President of the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters Organization. She’ll talk about the Presidents proposed 2024 budget and all that it might mean for our federal wildland firefighters as well as the promised permanent changes in pay grades and job classifications. Tune in and hear the latest […]

A few years back, I was flying around with a political appointee who many of us used to work for. We were visiting some large, complex incidents, talking to the ICs and our jurisdictional partners. It wasn’t my favorite kind of duty, but once I worked at the Regional Office, that was my typical day. […]

Many of us are formal leaders. Some of us are informal leaders. Maybe we aspire to a higher leadership role. But all of us are leaders in some way or another. But even experienced formal leaders may not have been tested during a crises. It all depends on the kinds of jobs we have and […]

I don’t know about you, but in my career some things just stand out like they happened yesterday. This story happened 22 years ago but it I still remember some odd details and it still makes me smile and miss “the good old days.” I made some good friends and work relationships on this fire. […]

It’s been a busy last few months preparing for my book release and then the last three weeks visting book stores for readings and signings. It’s exhausting talking to strangers about what has been a closely held “secret”. Ok, maybe not a secret, but I’m talking about some very personal information to people I’ve never […]

If you’re going to push the rules, you better know exactly what they are…. even when it comes to sunglasses. And you should be really good at your job and valuable to your employer too. Today’s story is a comical recollection of a time when I pushed the rules and culture of my fire department. […]

As first responders we have a responsibity to the public we serve. I’d say an overriding responsibility. Is that responsibility greater than department polices? More important than our Chief’s direction? And who exactly is our public? Do we have any responsibility to our neighboring jurisdiction’s taxpayers? And if there are policies and direction that keeps […]

Many years ago I was a Division Supervisor on a fire in the northern rockies. Listen in to how I dealt with, or didn’t deal too well, with some of the line medics assigned to my Division. You’ll get a good laugh at this one.

As wildland firefighters, we often have no idea about what goes on behind the scenes in dispatch. If you’re not a wildland firefighter, you might not have any idea just how complex the work can be. Getting a helicopter or an extra crew on a small fire might seem like it should be a simple […]

Sometimes while fighting fires or just working with your crew, we have an opportunity to make a difference in their lives. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. Small things can make a difference too. If you listened to episode #64, you heard how I was able to get some of my SRV crews […]

Leadership can be difficult. It can cause the leader to second guess themselves and question if they’re doing the right thing. Today we have two stories. The first one is a good example of both me and my fire chief not doing that “one good thing”. The second story is an example of the good […]

While reading some blogs and webpages for people effected by the latest round of devastating wildfires, it occured to me that everyone is incredibly stressed right now. Homeowners have had to flee for their lives, leaving pets and all their worldly possessions. Once evacuated they’re not allowed to re-enter their neighborhood. Now away from their […]

In my life, I’ve experienced some pretty crazy incidents. Like all of us, many of those stressful events and emergency incidents don’t always occur on the fireground. We all have plenty of personal stress and trauma in our lives. Many years ago, it hit me all in one month. I had 2 significant emotional events […]

Years ago, I worked for a Battalion Chief who was a great mentor for me. I was a new Captain and didn’t have much support from the other officers on the fire department, let alone support from a Chief officer. But my Battalion Chief gave me some real pearls of wisdom. He had two that […]

If you’re a federal wildland firefighter, you already know what I’m about to say. If you’re not, this may come as a surprise to you. The lowest paid people on a large wildfire… I’m including the kitchen help and those who are cleaning the toilets, the lowest paid personnel on the fire are likely the […]

Sometimes we think no one is watching us. But in reality, someone is always watching. Whether you’re a firefighter on a crew or engine, or you’re a Captain or Chief, someone is always watching you. That doesn’t mean it’s like big brother looking over your shoulder all the time. It’s just the way it is. […]

If you google “Leading Up”, you’ll find a hundred of books on the subject. But for this retired fire chief, it’s a relatively new term compared to when I started reading about leadership and attending leadership courses in the 1970s and 80s. But I susggest you read up on the subject if you haven’t already. […]

I used to tell my firefighters that if it weren’t for people’s mistakes, we wouldn’t have jobs. There’s a lot of truth to that statement. People make mistakes and end up having to call 911. Thanks to my friend Ann, today we get to hear a couple stories of mistakes that could have had tragic […]

If you’ve listened to many of my stories, you’ve probably heard me refer to my beloved co-workers as knuckleheads. Well, we’re all knuckeheads sometimes. In this weeks story I’ll prove to you a few times that I was certainly one. The easier and quicker we are to admit it, the better it is for us. […]

We all have to deal with our supervisors at work. And while we’re dealing with our boss, our employees are having to deal with us as their supervisor. So we’re both an employee and a supervisor. That makes life interesting. We can bitch about our boss while at the same time our employees are bitching […]

Often times in life, it’s the little things we do that are remembered. As a leader, we have to be aware that what we say and how we behave can have a big impact on our employees. And how we make our employees feel about us as their leader will effect their job performance and […]

As firefighters we usually try to portray ourselves as tough and capable. And for the most part we are. But even tough firefighters have emotions. This story isn’t about all the bad things we’ve seen and the emotional toll it takes on our mental health. But it is about the emotional let down that we […]

Sometimes life can get a bit anxious. Staying calm can help us maneuver through the rough water we encounter. Life can throw alot of enexpected challenges our way. Research has proven that when we begin to panic we actually reduce our field of vision. In other words we are unable to take in as much […]

Firefighters will recognize what might seem like unusual or unique situations to the public becomes common place for emergency responders. The public might not realize just how often weird things happen. But for firefighters, that’s our bread and butter. Poor decisions and whacky behavior is what gives us job security. if everyone behaved maturely and […]

If you’ve listened to many of my stories, you know that there is always a surprise right around the corner. If you’re a firefighter, you know how surprising some of the calls we all respond to can be. You NEVER really know what you’re likely to find once you arrive on scene. No two calls […]

I believe there have been 240 trillion books written about leadership. (that’s an exaggeration) I’ve read a lot of them and thought half of them might have actually been useful. But after working in the fire service for over 40 years, I think I have a reasonable perspective of what good leadership might look like. […]

This week’s title could fill volumes of books about how “erratic human behavior” costs society in so many ways. You might think fighting fire is a pretty straight forward operation. I think it used to be simpler. Or maybe it seemed that way because when I held positions lower down in the organization I didn’t […]

Romanticizing the past is pretty normal for all of us. I hear myself doing it when I’m complaining about changes to the neighborhood where I grew up. Sport Bitching (Episode #28) done in moderation can be cathartic if it isn’t taken to extremes. But in the fire service (both wildland and structural) talking about the […]

The experienced Division Supervisor was extremely distraught over what had just happened… If you listen to many of my stories you probably already know that this week’s title might be a bit tongue in cheek… and of course it is. What you’ll hear is a story of how firefighters had to deal with an angry […]

Today feels weird and disorienting to me. Well, It’s been feeling weird and disorienting for a few weeks. The images above probably give you the topics that are making me feel odd. Tomorrow is the 19 year anniversary of the attacks on New Your City. You may have listened to some of my stories from […]