¶ Emily Gallipo
As always , today's podcast is sponsored by Fire Facilities . Makers of reliable all-American steel fire training structures built the way you train Fire facilities . Towers , burn rooms and mobile units help you prepare to respond and survive . Today's guest is an amazing firefighter , medic and a wonderful leader . Now all of this at the ripe old age of 24 .
Her name is Emily Gallipo . Originally from Toronto Lieutenant , emily now works pretty far up north in Canada . Like Canadian Arctic North , she works in a Calawate , canada . Now her department has a ton of great firefighters and leaders .
It's kind of hard to pick which one sticks out the most , but having been up there twice now I have seen Emily quickly progress in her fire department skills and her leadership skills . But she again , she definitely stands out . She's worked up there for three years Now .
Another amazing fact about Emily and this is kind of this kind of pushed it over the edge for me is Emily and her fiance have fostered so many Inuit babies up there . Okay , she's just a giving wonderful person and clearly her fiance is too .
She's also the unofficial ambassador for the fire department and so she takes on the responsibility to help the new hire acclimate and define places for them to live . So now that I've sufficiently built her up . I hope you enjoy listening to Lieutenant Emily Gallipo .
Since we now we are officially recording , so I you're giving me a lot of your time , I want to give you a special treat . Okay , so you get 10 seconds , you ready 10 seconds for what ?
Okay ?
Say it .
For what ? What ? Did you say Do you want me to sing ? No , this , oh , oh , your ears . Yeah , you got the biggest ears . I'm sure you can hear me from all the way over there .
See , I care about you . That's why I was giving you that .
That's welcome by the way , that is definitely love .
Now they've already heard an introduction about you by me , even though you haven't sent me one yet , and that's really part of the email , but you didn't obviously follow that . So evidently you're punctual , but you're not very particular , so maybe you'll send me that afterwards .
I could do that . I was giving you the opportunity to just lay it all out there , but it's fine .
Yeah , so for those who are listening , I met Emily a few years ago . She impressed the living shit out of me . She's like seven years old , excellent firefighter , excellent leader , super impressed buyer . Then I go back a year later and even more so . But we're going to get into all of that stuff . Let's start with this . I met you in a Callawit , Canada .
That's where you are right now . Yeah , Supporting my favorite brewery . I see you got same thing on right .
Yeah , I do .
Today I do New brew , so I met you there in a Callawit . I met actually I met a ton of great people there , but tell me a little bit about you and how well . No , shut up , shut up . Why don't you shut up ? Dumb head , listen to this . Why don't you tell me about a Callawit ? Pretend people listening have no idea about a Callawit .
Canada , let's talk about that .
So we are in the Arctic of Canada , above the Arctic Circle . We are above the tree line , so we're in a place with the land of no trees . It gets pretty cold out here . We get about a solid eight months of winter out of the year . It's about minus 50 or I guess , minus 58 in freedom units .
Freedom units .
Yeah , so it's not too bad . It's a small town . We have a population of roughly 8,000 people . We are a big Inuit indigenous culture and I moved up here about three years ago now .
So From where ?
From Toronto , just outside Toronto , Canada .
All right . So I need you to say I'm all about going home in my new pair of boots .
I'm all about going home in my new pair of boots .
Canada sucks . Hey , no . So okay , I think I love a Callawit . I'm hoping I get invited back . I fell in love with the place and I hate the cold . That should tell you something . But let's say I wanted what's that ? I said those earrings get cold . They're like radiators on the side of my head right .
So , yeah , my face gets like totally cold these big sun bitches . But I want to drive there . So tell me , what highway do I take to drive to a Callawit ?
You can take a couple planes or maybe a week , two week long boat , but there's currently no highways , no roads , no streets . Really . We're , we're pretty much gravel , no street signs really , so we go by house number . It's a very different lifestyle .
You can drive your ATV or maybe your snowmobile around here , but you're not getting from one place to another unless you're crossing the water first . We're on an island .
It's very remote , yeah , and it's very cold . It's a whole different culture . Sure , you can drive from one end to the other . What 10 minutes maybe ?
Yeah , not even it's about if you were to go in and out between every single street in town . It's maybe 20 kilometers all the way around .
Freedom units . Freedom units , please . This is an American podcast .
I gotta do the math now .
I was like maybe 35 , 40 miles , maybe not even maybe I think you're wrong simply because you're not using America Eagle units , but that's okay . It's very small , the people are fantastic . It's beautiful . The view is incredible . The first year I was there , the bay was frozen . This year it was the black ice , it was starting to break up .
I could see the ground and everything . I've made a lot of good friends up there . I count you as one of them , even though you're really really , really mean . Then you turn off your . Is that it ? Did you just quit the podcast ?
I don't have internet remember .
No , okay , so that's actually a good point . When I was up there . My phone only works First off . It doesn't work . I can get on the internet at the firehouse or fire hall , sorry or at my hotel . So you're a firefighter acting lieutenant . Now , right , yes , which is up there ? It's basically a lieutenant .
Yes , I would say so . Yep Doing all the same , nothing to do .
I want to get that like how you all set up your trucks and how you transition from one thing to another Transitional . Here's what really blew me away Falling over through chief right .
Chief McGee , I just said today .
Love the guy , chief , steve McGee . He was on here . If you don't love him , chances are you're a Canadian . Oh wait , I'm sorry , I'm a Thessen Insider . You are from Canada , but it's a great department .
It's transitional though it's so young , this department , you have one station , and tell me if I'm wrong one station , two lighter trucks , an engine and two med units .
That's correct .
Yes , One one , one lighter truck . Doesn't really , you don't really use it Use one in a different building because it won't fit in your current fire hall .
That's correct . Yeah , one lighter is out of commission , so yeah , just the engine and the one lighter truck right now , and then the two ambulances .
It's really impressive because you all are tasked . First off , it's a young department . It's very transitional . When I was there this last time , there was a person that had just started and also just quit . I don't want to name names and I don't want to say anything bad , but it is a tough area for somebody to come and take roots there and do their job .
At least I think so . But then there's you . You've been there a while . What your origin story is ? How did you get there ? Why are you staying ? How long are you staying ?
So I've been here about three years . I was in university back in 2018 , a little late to the fire game , ended up not really following through with with the whole university ideal and met somebody who ended up being the chief and a mentor to me in a small town where I grew up in and I got into firefighting that way .
I took fire school the pre-service that you have to take in Canada here followed by some paramedic schooling a year program also around my hometown and I instantly fell in love with the job and the whole ideals and the comodery and whatnot , and I thought that that was pretty much what I wanted to do with my whole life .
Then COVID hit in late 2019 , 2020 and nobody was hiring in my area , so I ventured out a little bit . I had never moved away from home at that point and I was turning 21 that year , so I realized that a Calawit fire department in Nunavut was hiring and I threw my application in and I said , okay , it would not , it doesn't hurt to get some experience .
At least interviewing Turns out . Three days later I got an interview , five days later I got the job and 12 days after that I was on a plane to a Calawit . So it was a crazy fast , big move , definitely really nervous , but you know I went guns blazing . I thought you know what's the worst that can happen .
At the bare minimum I get some really cool experience . My idea was to stay for one year and now I'm been there for three years , so clearly loving it so far , but I'll probably , I think in the long run I'll probably end up fighting home in the next few years , just because I want to be closer to home .
I love it up here , but it's not a forever home .
Yeah , I could see where it's . It's definitely tough and then I can think of and you can tell me if I'm wrong there's two people that have been there for a long time . One is Saul . He's the training chief , born and raised yep , and then you have a . Is it Scottish Is ?
his name David . Yes , he's Scottish , Captain Oliver . Yeah he's been around for about one and a half years .
He's been there for a long time . I guess he was 25 years .
Yeah , maybe even longer now , but yeah , and a few others over the 10-year range .
Well , and that's what I like about this . And here's where and I hate to give you compliments , I really do , but God didn't know I got to when I first met you you were , so we were teaching 1403 and I teach all around the country . And what the younger people are usually brand new to the fire service , they're not necessary .
I'm not saying they're not bad leaders , but they're not leaders . They're . They're doing their job . Early on I saw you leading . I mean , you were just leading , you weren't . You weren't a jerk , you're , you were just getting , you're getting what needed to be done done now .
Then I come back a year later and you're , you actually got your helmet while I was there . But you're even more defined on your leadership and I think leadership honestly so I struggle with constantly fail way more than than I have any wins . But I was always impressed by you .
I was like , okay , you , you had the leadership style of somebody's been on 20 , 30 years . You have fun at the firehouse , but you also get your stuff done . You're not like I mean , I wish I , I like the vocabulary to paint the best picture , but you're a natural born leader .
You've done it and I was just like so impressed and how you organize people , how you , how you organized your day , how you dealt with it . I was like man , this is . I mean , I don't see young people like you said . You were like 30 something , right now .
I'll be 25 later this year , but close enough all right , well , your old is my , my daughter , your old is my daughter Haley , but you just you get the job , you get the responsibility and and you know what your mission is , and I mean it took me forever . I'm still struggling with those things , do you ?
Is it something that you had to develop in such a place that had transitional people , yet so many people under you coming and going , coming and going , or is it something you've always had ?
um , that's a good question and I appreciate all the the compliments there .
I hated it all out .
I think it's something a little bit of both . I mean , I was born and lucky enough to be born to a family who was very strong leaders and plus all the supports that I've played growing up , where I was able to adapt my skills and , you know , work within that team setting and and to push myself to be that
¶ Challenges in a Small Fire Department
leader . When I came to a Calaway , like I said earlier , I had to gum guns blazing . I didn't know what I was coming into and when you , when you're starting fresh somewhere , you could be whoever you want to be . No one knows who you are when you come in here . So I knew that I wanted to be strong . I knew that I wanted to be confident .
You know I'm loud , I'm outgoing at least that's how I see myself . I wanted to keep that up you're right , I wanted to keep that up and , like you said , we are a very young department so I was lucky enough to have a lot of good mentors when I first got here . One including my captain , who is now a chief , or our assistant chief , and he was really .
He really , you know , showed me what I wanted to be , and a lot of those transient people showed me what I didn't want to be . So , being in a Cal in such a small town , I was able to adapt and grow my skills even more because I had a lot of opportunity to grow where I wouldn't get that opportunity down self . So I think it's a little bit of both .
You know , it comes from mentoring , it comes from my own personal personality and a little bit more well-rounded . But I'm still learning . I definitely I'm not exactly where I want to be , but I'm happy where I am right now , learning every day .
You get a lot of fires up there and you make a ton of EMS too we do .
Yeah , we actually had a fire a couple days ago well , house fire loss two days ago , I think now but so we've had a pretty busy fire year this this year . Last year we finished with 4100 calls 4100 calls just over and we're on track this year by the numbers . By looking at it , we're close to 4,500 .
I want to say maybe even a little bit more , we're on track for it here's something else that you have to deal with .
I don't think a lot of people have to . So anybody listening I want you to think about . You have a big fire . If you're the average American fire department , your five stations , you know maybe a hundred people , blah , blah , blah . Now you get a fire , one box alarm . It has most of your people up , okay . So what do you do ? But you call mutual aid .
I'm gonna get this county to come help me , or this county to come help me in a Cal o it . Who do you have to help you if you need help ?
So we have a staff of 20 full-time firefighters and we're about 12 to 15 volunteers right now who are not fully trained yet to be doing everything , but we're working them up . 15 are in town to come to a fire , so we'd be on call 24-7 with our pagers .
Fire comes in , you have the choice to go in or not , and so you kind of just have to deal with who you've got . So I definitely would say that we're not the same as a bigger department where they can send crews of two , three , four in at a time . We're very limited at that point .
But you don't have . There's not a town next to you . You don't have a town .
That's going to come help you .
No . mutual aid no , it's not what you're about Exactly , yeah , and I always thought that was kind of amazing . And then Steve seems to be pictured . He's always bragging . That's one of the things .
I kind of fell in love with Steve immediately meeting him the first time , because the second I got into his truck all he did was talk about his people , not one thing about himself , nothing . He's like I got the best people and to this day he says that . And I met him and honestly I agree with him .
Now there's another thing that's kind of unique to a Caliwet what is ? Let me start with this way . Let me see if you can figure out where I'm going with this . I have a . I work for a department of approximately 80 . We have one female , only one . She's badass , she can do the job of 11 women , I'm quite sure of it , and at least 50 dudes .
So we're blessed to have her . Big shout out to Maddie . Now tell me you got . You're the only girl in the department .
I take it ? No , not at all . Very fortunate to come into a department where we are currently eight full-time firefighters out of 20 are women . We have four out of 12 volunteers who are women and two out of five dispatchers who are women . So when I started in a Caliwet there was only I was one of four women . So in the last three years we've doubled .
I don't see a difference whatsoever , I think . Well , I know actually all the all the women can do the job just as well as the guys . Everybody brings in you know their special skill and helps everyone reach their same potential . And , honestly , we're one big family . Whether female or male . We work together both on and off the fire shift .
We get together all the time after work . So I don't see any bullying or , you know , hazing or anything like that . That happens in other fire halls around both Canada and the States , or at least from the horror stories I've heard , but that has never happened to me . And , like I said , just one big family .
And that's exactly one of the things I picked up there was that it was everybody was treated fairly , and I'm not saying people are treated badly here either . I just figured with a high percentage of women . How would that work ? But it seems to work . Now you all have terrible living conditions .
I will say that your rooms at night open to the point you walk past that . If you walk past your wait room , go from the kitchen into the wait room and you see a couple places where people sleep , you open a door to something else . Now that was really cool . What's that ? What am I talking about ?
The hockey arena .
Yeah , yeah , it's huge . It's a full blown hockey arena , right yeah attached right to the fire hole . That's pretty cool and I think it's you this tell us that you go out there and skate on when you're on shift and everything .
Yeah . So I join a hockey league in the winter . We have a men's league here that I was fortunate enough to get on a team and join and the odd time a game clashes with shift .
So you know we have this like unwritten rule that somebody can cover somebody for an hour or two to go play a game and we're right there , keep your pager in your radio on and if you get called out you head out . But you know someone's always there to cover you and we kind of do that for everybody .
A good percentage of the department do play in that same league , so we got each other's backs in that case .
That was really cool . Another extra cool thing and this happened while I was there this last time is a tradition you all have when you leave . So what do people have to sign when they leave ?
So in our kitchen table , which is , you know , the place everybody comes to chat and gossip , I should say on the underside of the table is a bunch of signatures that every past firefighter who's ever worked for the IFT , both volunteer and full time , get the opportunity to sign this table and it represents their time here in the IFT .
So it's pretty neat and it's a good little piece of memory to kind of look back on to see who you've worked with and all the stories that come along with it .
Yeah , I've got some pictures of the top of the table and then you all lifted it up for me , so I'm going to post them on my social media , because I really thought it was pretty neat , that little tradition right there . Now , think about it . There was another person that left while I was there , but she'd been there .
Lexi had been there the last time I was there . She got on another department . Yes , again showing how transitional this is . You know , people come up there and it's just hard to live up there . So , for those , if you're looking at the YouTube channel , I'm pointing to some symbols , and I think you got some symbols on your shirt too . What is this ?
Talk to me .
So this is a nook to tock . It's the silks that the Inuit write in . So we have our three major languages in the Caluit , one being a nook to tock , which is their native tongue , french and English . So we have this writing on the three different writings on pretty much everything , from our stop signs to our clothing .
Yeah , it's pretty neat and this basically was . And you say Inuit , I say Inuit . I'm pretty sure I'm right because , again , you know Eagles for the Plains , america who , either way , that was a base that the Americans , I guess , built a long time ago , and so it's still a heavily , heavily concentrated Inuit population .
So tell me a little bit about that , because it can be , it could be , actually , it could be pretty damn sad with some of the stuff that I've seen and some of the stuff that you have to deal with .
Yeah , so we are . I would say majority of the population is in Inuit population and so this is their land . They are come from a lot of trauma , so we have to take the good and the bad right being in this town .
We do have a lot of mental health issues , intergenerational trauma and those barriers that we have to get through , but on the other hand , the culture itself is absolutely beautiful , from their handmade clothing to their singing and their dancing and just the culture all the way around , and if you really immerse yourself into it which I've had the opportunity to do
on so many times it's really it is really beautiful . But , like I said , on the latter half there is a lot of trauma .
So , working on the job , we kind of had to break through some of those barriers being quote unquote the white person coming into the town , right , we're not always looked at with a smile , so you know we've had to adapt during during those times , but eventually , you know , you kind of , you kind of get an idea of how to talk to people and how to work
through those situations . So it benefits everybody in the end .
So when I was there and Steve was driving me and Gilbert around , we were at the North Mart and we were coming out and there was a pack of anyway women just like blocking the parking lot going out . They were just standing right there .
So Steve was trying to drive his truck around or whatever and they just yelled you know , this is our land or this , this belongs to us . I forget exactly , just out of the blue . So I guess that happens a lot .
It does . It does , like I said , it's not everybody . It's a good percentage , but it is not everybody . It does happen . So it's something you kind of have to just kind of go with the flow , ignore , because they are right . Right , it's not . It is not our land , it is their land . You have to give them the benefit of the dope .
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¶ Small Community's Alcohol Issues
Now there's also a very high population of alcoholism there , right ?
Yes , absolutely , I'd say mature- .
And it counts for a lot of part of your a big part of your run too right your runs .
Yeah , all of our medical calls I'd say good 85 to 90% of our medical calls have some sort of alcoholism tied into it Again .
It just comes from intergenerational trauma and you know the mental health problems being so secluded in this town there's not much to do and lack of education and homelessness , it kind of all ties in together which causes a lot of you know alcoholism and again reverts back to just the mental health part of it , right ?
Right . So I will tell you this when I was there , there's one out in the Caliway . There's only like one place to buy alcohol to like take home , right , and now you can go to the there's a few bars that are in hotels there , and then there's the world's greatest brewery , you know , obviously the new brew .
But generally speaking , the people that we're talking about aren't going to those places . They go to this liquor store , or not even liquor store . It's beer and wine , it's only two things you cannot buy Beer and wine , and so , and when you walk in here , walk into this , it's like here it would be an off track bedding site .
Where you walk up , there's a plexiglass thing . You can't touch any of the beer or the wine . It's behind this and you got to show your card and with that card it proves that you you've only gotten , you can only get 24 beers , or was it two things of wine , a ?
day Four of wine . Four bottles of wine a day .
Four of wine . Yeah , so you see lines outside of people going in again . We've talked about the alcohol problem , but the would I be wrong , and so we know it's closed on Monday though , right .
Yes , yes , Sundays and Mondays . Sundays and Mondays .
Okay , sundays and Mondays . So , with you only getting 24 beers and having two days of not being able to get alcohol . I noticed when I was there that Tuesday the line was super long , super early and I wanted to show Gilbert with that play because I was in it a couple years before . I said you got to see what this looks like .
So we walk in there , when we walk out , we see and I'm not exaggerating three fist fights .
From walking out the front door and driving around the back just to get back on the main street , there were three fist fights like not pushing shoving , they were throwing hands and Steve said yeah , I came back here about an hour or two ago and they were all sitting on that wall right there drinking beer together . Is that is it ?
Would I be wrong in assuming that Tuesdays kind of suck ?
Oh , tuesdays are the worst , by far the busiest for us as well , for medical calls , but yeah , a lot of people will be fighting over a can of beer , right ? It's just that bad out there .
So , yeah , not wrong though , and Alex said you can't buy bourbon , you can't buy whiskey , you can go into the bars and get it . But that was you were telling me that there's a big problem with fetal alcohol syndrome . And then how it is it's infiltrated throughout the generations .
Oh yeah it . Fetal alcohol syndrome is huge , right , and I partially , I want to believe a lot of it comes from lack of education , both in the schools and with the families . Due to the intergenerational trauma , a lot of kids and youth aren't finishing or graduating elementary school or high school , right .
They either go into work or they don't work at all due to mental health and addiction and because of that lack of education a lot of young women are having kids a lot earlier here and we're talking . I think the earliest I've had would be a 13 , 14 year olds , so it is very young .
And because this lack of education they are drinking during their pregnancy , they are smoking and the occasional time doing drugs , and so that obviously passes on to the fetus and to the baby and that child will grow up having these hardships .
Dealing to deal with these hardships of fetal alcohol syndrome , which I think do relate to a lot of other medical conditions . We have a very high volume of seizure related calls , a very high volume of mental health related calls and I think a lot of that has to do with fetal alcohol syndrome .
So with a small community like that , how many foster kids are there ?
In just my community I want to say anywhere from , I want to guess at least over 500 kids .
Wow , and I want people to Google a Callowit , look up on a map what we're talking about and then apply that number . It's a very small place for that high number there's also . So right next to a Callowit is Apex . Now is that a separate town ? It's literally like right there .
So it's like a sub town on its own community . It's like a sub town on its own and it's literally just a five minute drive through the dirt road . So those numbers are in Apex .
They're including Apex . Yes , Yep . So when I was there getting this , I noticed that the lady that was there has a ton of handmade stuff by Inuit women . This is sad and happy , but she was saying , yes , all this is from the battered women's shelter across the road and then I guess she donates and helps . They make the stuff and all that .
And I was floored that such a small community had so many problems . And again , talking to people , it seems to trace back to the alcohol , to the fact that in the winters there's no , in some parts of the winters there's just no going out . You're just not going out , it's just freezing .
So I mean like nothing , like I could ever understand , no , there's way too cold .
No , just how it is , and here's what .
Okay , so I don't want to talk on the side shit too much , but here's why I want to brag on you . We went . So my last day I requested I want to go to , you know , new Brune , right , I love , I love that place and they were doing karaoke and I already had it in my head .
I learned something about you that I'm like you know what I I want that she is such a helper , I want to help . So my goal was to give you $150 for something , but bring up in a second and a drink too much challenged . You ended up giving you $300 . Now here's what you probably don't know about Emily her and her fiance or boyfriend .
I forget my fiance , yeah , fiance . You guys foster Inuit babies all the time . Yep , how many of you had ?
in the last 18 months since we started , we've had 21 babies between the ages of premature to two years of age .
That is Amazing . You can go watch an Avengers movie if you want , or you can listen to this or watch the YouTube and look at a hero . You two
¶ Foster Care and Dedication Conversation
are heroes . So I didn't learn that till I think the last day and I didn't know need another reason to like you . But when I learned that , I'm like , okay , I'm gonna give her some money , so her , her fiance , can , you know , have something . And then I ended up getting drunk and give me 300 .
And the way I gave you 300 was I challenged you to karaoke and I picked what I figured to be the hardest song ever and it was Bohemian Rhapsody . Now , when I started , you weren't in on it . You're like no . And then finally had to keep raising the money and I think you called your fiance or something , said this idiot's about to give us .
I would have done it for a hundred bucks . I would have done it for a hundred bucks .
And and you went up there and you knocked it out of the park . Now , here's the thing that I like I Gave you the money before you did it . I just was more or less fucking with you , but I was like , look , you don't have to do that , because you did look nervous . You were like looking at the lyrics and your , you look nervous as shit .
I'm like no , no , no , here , here's this . But you said no , I gave you my word , I'm doing this . You got up there . Not only did you crush it , everybody in the bar was singing the song and that , and but that's the backstory .
I was like man , you just I know how it is up there and you got me drunk and made me give you twice as much money , but it's Canadian money , so it's not like real money , I mean , I think . It smells like maple syrup and it looks like monopoly money . Yeah , I do . You don't have cool . I'm not loonies and tunies , I love it . They do look good .
We got one color in ours , but you guys got all kinds of colors but you knocked it out of the park . But I think it's amazing that you and your fiance do that . I mean , that is in that community .
I'm sure that's needed , but to have somebody that you guys are young , you're , you know you don't have to do it , you don't , but you do , and that's such a high number . And then I , when I was there , I talked to you . I said Uh . I said man , how do you not like just fall in love with these babies and want to adopt every one of them ?
And you said , well , this last one , we were thinking about it , but somebody else went ahead and adopted it . Yeah , how do you survive all those heartbreaks ?
You know , we know that we saw it , we knew what we signed up for and we knew that these babies will eventually go to a good home and if we could provide them even with just a little bit of love in those first few months that we have them , um , then I know that . You know we're doing what we can .
You know , again , due to our living situation and cost of living and things like that , it would be very hard to adopt all these babies . Not that I wouldn't want to Um , but , like I said , this last one , we actually he just got adopted two days ago , um , as of today , and we had him for 125 days , um , and it was .
It was very difficult , but you know we made the process . So we got to meet the adoptive family and , um , you know , share our stories together and it made everything a lot easier and sometimes we do get to keep in touch with some of these kids , um .
So again , I know they're going to a good home and you know we did our part and that's all I could ask for .
Now it's , it's , it's amazing , it is . I want to call you every weird word in the dictionary because I was like messing with you . But that is true hero ship there . I couldn't do it . I think we we fostered a cat once and that's all I could handle . I was like that's enough . And for you guys to dedicate your lives like that ?
Uh , both of you , I mean , you do shift work , and doesn't he do shift work or he does something ?
Uh no , he works nine to five .
Oh , he saw , it's never bad , he's no big deal there . I just that's amazing to me . Um , I had no thing , but I've already forgot what I was about to ask you . What was I'm gonna ask you ? Do you remember tell me what I was gonna ask you ?
I don't know man , your ears are big , but I can't hear .
I'm not too sure , man . Um well , I'll tell you okay . So Very fortuitous . The last day me and gilbert were there , there was a fire alarm in our hotel there was , and you guys showed up how hard . That would remind you , by the way .
So when you come to work and I'm going to touch on this earlier we talked about two ladder trucks , but really kind of one , an engine and two med units , but you really staff the med units and then cross staff the fire trucks . Is that a good way to describe it ?
Yeah , I would say so .
The never take work . You don't know exactly . I mean , you have to be a paramedic , you have to be Be on an engine , you have to be a lot , you have to learn so many aspects of the fire service and such a short amount of time and be effective . Hardly any resources . I think that's amazing .
¶ Remote Fire Station
But so what are your shifts like ?
So we work four on four off , 12 hour shifts , two days , two nights , if that makes sense . Uh , we are a crew we're supposed to be a crew staffed of five Currently my shift is four , or waiting on a fifth one to join our crew . Um , and so we would walk into work . Shift starts at seven , so just before then .
Um , and basically , if we have a medical call , two members of the crew would take the medic and go to the medical call , and if we have a fire call , the whole crew would go to the fire , take the fire call , and then we would page people in to cover the hall if it was needed .
Wow , just wow , holy cow . Now , what about it's so isolated ? Uh , what kind of training ? Uh , besides the the obvious awesome training through point firefighter provided this year . But outside of that , what ? What do you all do ?
So a lot of us , you know , we do our own research and we come together and bring our own training to the game . So one of our chiefs , I guess , is Saul . He is our training officer , quote unquote . So he'll bring in a lot of training ideas .
So once a week to once a month we are doing , you know , big training days , whether that has to do with live burns , you know auto extrication , confined spaces , whatever that day theme may be . But then we also bring in our own training on shift .
So you know , I would go in and create a schedule of everyone's strengths and weaknesses on my crew and everybody would teach something that they're strong in and teach something that they're weak in .
So they have to prepare , come up with an idea , you know , research , some training on their weekend and bring it into work and then we can all kind of give feedback on that . So that's just a good way to keep expanding our training .
But then we're also very fortunate enough that our chief Chief McGeeing does bring in quite a few people throughout the year to come and train us .
Say it , say it , say it like 3.5, .
Fighter like you and Gilbert .
Boom .
So just Gilbert , just Gilbert .
I know he would agree with that . He would totally agree with that .
You would , but you know his helmet's got to go . I don't know what to tell you .
Those LA helmets , dude ? Oh my God .
But yeah . So we have had the opportunity for a lot of people to come up and train us in different courses , which has been fantastic . And then , the odd time we do get the opportunity to leave our community to go down south or to a different community to get a different course under our belt .
Maybe one or two of us will get appointed to go , and so that has been , you know , phenomenal . I've been able to really grow , as you know , myself , as both a firefighter and a medic because of these courses I've been able to get my hands on . So training does come . When it does come , you know , we all jump in .
What about winter ? Like when it's so fucking cold up there in the middle of winter . What the hell ? What do you ? Just stay in the fire ? What if you can't get to work ? Is that even ?
a thing ? It has been a thing , yes . So we had a couple of big blizzards this year and in that case you're either stuck at the fire all for 24 hours or maybe longer , or we'll all go out . Let's say I'm on crew , we'll go in the fire truck to go pick everybody up and drop everybody off .
Because the fire truck needs to be able to make it through , or we call a plow if that's available .
But in terms of training , we kind of schedule at least for my crew and I'm sure a couple of the crews do the same we schedule our training around the weather , so I know that we'll be able to do live burns in the summer because we're not in minus 58 freedom units .
Freedom units .
Yeah , so you know , in the winter we can do like we'll pull our trucks out and in our bays we'll do some training , whether that's RIT training , medical training .
Maybe we'll do radio comms in our training room upstairs so we adapt to the weather , and then again in the summer do things that we can do , our ladder training and whatnot , things we can do in the training tower . But yeah , there's no way we're doing that outside training in the winter . It's just not feasible .
Oh my God . So going out and gist your gear let's say it's the coldest part of the year and you're making a run maybe it's an ambulance run what the fuck do you wear ? Hmm , how do you I mean ?
it's brutal Station pants , station boots and a big highlighter yellow jacket . Yeah , that's about it . Some rubber gloves .
Well , we were there . What in June ? Me and no , was it June , okay , june . So me and my partner , I was all excited we go back there . I couldn't wait for it to show it to my friend Gilbert . He loved it , just like I did .
And every one of you people were like in t-shirts , going oh , this is like a beautiful day , hey , this is totally warm , perfect day . And me and him are like no , this is freezing , what are you talking about ? And I was like I don't get it . I don't get it . You guys don't know what cold is . I mean , you kind of do , but come on , cold is cold .
T-shirts , 30 degree weather .
You adapt . After a while you adapt . I think it took me about three to four months to really adapt to the weather . I mean , on those crazy days of winter I'm not going outside in a t-shirt . Yes , you stay inside . I mean anybody can get frostbite at that point . But June , july and August we only get a few weeks of summer .
So if that means you know a little bit of sunshine and no winds , I'll be out in a t-shirt any day .
Do you ever swim in Frostbite Bay ?
I have twice , both times in July . I don't think I would go outside of July and August because now temperatures are dropping sub zero . So in that water , so no way . But I have a couple of times yeah .
Is it like a bunch of people ? Do you see like collecting that ? I guess , that beach over there by the oldest outpost or whatever ? I noticed there's a little beach right there . Do people actually go there or do you see one Really ? Yeah , oh wow . God it looks freezing . I guess I'm just a baby . It's possible that I'm a baby .
It is , I'm spoiled yeah .
That makes a lot of sense .
Should have taken you something you got both making devices on your head .
I didn't need a plane to get there , did I ? You're so mean , you know what ? It's not that my ears are big . I got a really small head because my mom smoked when she was pregnant under high tension lines , with the microwave door open , if you must know . So let's see what else . Oh , I tell you , nothing I hated , loved about EC .
It is the first time I ever saw the sun not go down when I was there . It would get down to like right before , like you would think the sun was going to set , and then right back up it went . So I'd wake up . I'm an old man with an old prostate , so I'd wake up two , three times a middle of night bright as sunlight .
I'm like , oh shit , I'm late every single time . Does that not drive you mad ?
It still does , I'm not going to lie . So in the summer , from just after May to about August , we're looking at anywhere between 19 to 24 hours of daylight throughout that time period . Right , so the sun really never sets . It's equated , it's like equal to like dusk .
Right , we're like six , seven pm , where it's not too dark yet , and that's all night and then only latter half , latter half of the year . So in the winter , from November to February , it's all dark and I think the dark way where it's all sunlight . I would take sunlight every day , all day , over the darkness , to be honest .
Oh , I would drive me crazy . That would drive me . I don't know which I would hate more . But at the same time , we can talk about all this horrible , too dark , too cold , too bright . But there's something that you have that super jelly about , and that is the Northern Lights you get to see them regularly .
Yeah , from they come out about October until April , I would say .
Just about every night you can see them .
Yeah , as long as it's not too cloudy , and the colder it gets , the brighter they are . So if you really want a good look , you got to go out when it's very cold . But yeah , we're lucky enough , unfortunately , to be able to work under the Northern Lights half the time . It's beautiful .
There's a picture on the Facebook . I encourage everybody to go to it , but it shows . I think you all are standing in front of a ladder truck with the Northern Lights behind you and it looks like a screensaver . I'm like , oh my God , that's beautiful . So I've asked Steve .
I said , steve , if we did a good job and you want us to come back to teach some more , have us back when it's the Northern Lights . To which he said , yeah , it'd be too cold for that shit .
Yeah , you won't survive .
What ? I'm ? A fairy . Okay , I wouldn't survive . Never mind , I was about to lie .
You ought to survive , don't be you ?
were in a oh man .
What are you talking about ? You're going to come out in April .
It was cold .
No way .
So was Gilbert , gilbert , was it ? He was cold too , but he's from SoCal , so , yeah , it was tubular dude man . Oh man , I tell you what . That was a really great trip this last time . Tons of go-getters . I remember you and Nate and Bree , the people that were , you know , the final four .
I guess that actually , because of your schedule and high run volume , sometimes people missed a part of the class , they went back or whatever , but some people were there most of the time and you guys just gave it your all and just .
I remember we made a I can find space thing outside , you know , and it was like really teeny tiny and then you guys did so good going through it . We're like all right now . You got to take your your air pack off in it and put it back on , and he did that Everybody . Oh , by the way , big shout out to Nate .
Give Nate a big hug for me , would you ?
I will .
Yeah , he's a great guy .
He's absolutely amazing .
Oh yeah , a lot of your guys . You get there and I forget . Oh , I apologize for getting the guy's name . He was in the 1403 class and he's an officer now , alex , but he wasn't in the classes Alex , alex . Yeah , he's a good pal of mine .
We came up around the same time . He came up about a month and a half after I did .
So Kick him in the balls . He'll know what it means . Just tell me this from Barnes and kick him right in the balls and he'll laugh .
I doubt he will .
¶ Podcast Interview With a Firefighter
Well , listen , you give me a lot of your time , but I got to end my podcast , like I always do . I know you've never listened to it , so you have no idea I'm going to talk to you , hey , I listen to it all the time .
Don't even go there .
Okay . So what's the last thing ? I asked ? My guess that's what I thought Good lie , good lie . What's next ? I got normal size ears . You're full of hate woman . So I always ask what's the best firehouse prank that you've played on somebody or have played on you ?
Oh , I got to think about this one , Hmm , so I wouldn't say it was played on me , but we did play it on someone . Somebody filled up a guy's locker and his car with Dick Dick shaped confetti and to this day this is a couple of years ago to this day we are still finding them all over .
That's awesome , I like that . Especially when you keep finding them .
Yeah , they're everywhere .
Oh listen , thank you for being on here . Don't hang up . By the way , I'm back to . I'm back to end this , but you got to stay right there . I talked afterwards . You're an amazing person . You're an amazing firefighter , amazing officer , and what you and your fiance do is straight up hero shit . So thank you for what you do , what you do .
I hope I get to come back up there and meet you and everybody else and we're already staying in touch , so that's not a problem . I like the training pictures you send me . So , sister , thank you for being on .
Thank you for having me . It was definitely an honor . Yeah , occasionally .
All right , now hold on . I got hit this . Wait , I'm still recording . I better unrecord it .