"Heli-Ops? With A Fire Engine?" And More With Truett, Austin, Elliot, And Chris From The NV BLM Fire Engine Program

A lot of good, like, I like the way that everybody just came together. They're just like hanging out and ping around. It's cool. It's cool to see that stuff outside of like a work context, you know? Oh, yeah. And I think the big thing like that, I was telling people it's like, man, covid, like we've had the, all these meetings, like technically all these meetings can be done, you know, through the new Zoom way. Yeah. But you finally got to go back and like, oh, hey, let's have a drink.

Let's bullshit. Let's have a good time. And then, oh, I haven't seen this guy. You moved up like, oh, who are you? And so, yeah, it's definitely changing. Like I think everybody needed this, especially after Covid, you know, we see each other on fires or something. But like, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: was that like the extent of it though? Yeah. And, and coming in here you're like, cool. Like we're hanging out now, like we're family again.

Yeah. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: No, it's a good thing, man. It's uh, yeah, like on the line. I mean, it's kinda like a work thing, but when he get to actually like mesh and connect, I think it's really good. It's good for like cohesion, you know, good for camaraderie, good for all that stuff. Just being the human, you know? Yeah. It's good shit. But anyways, we'll go around the table here.

Let's introduce ourselves as the BLM engine, I guess committee, like you guys are, been hand chosen by, uh, the state pretty much to be on the show today. Talk all about the Nevada engine program. So Austin started off man. Yeah.

So you're saying you're, you're winning. I mean, I

I was on the hell attack crew out there, but I ended my career back here in Doyle, California. And, uh, Bronson was my captain. He's, uh, in HR now. That, that fool hot man. That crazy circle. Yeah, it's weird, man.

But the engines here in Nevada, I, I think that they're, they're like one of those resources that kind of win the day, especially on initial attack. Cause we have a lot of capabilities out there, mobile attack, and it's the perfect fuel type, oftentimes the perfect typography. You know, you get out to the flats, you're chasing fire for a hell of a long time. And then if you run into the hill, you just start plumbing hose up the, up the hill.

Or you can crew up and make a crew out of like these engines that are all dispatched to this fire. Right. So let's talk about like the capabilities and what you guys do, how you guys see it and what you guys see in the future for the engine program here in Nevada. That's deep. It's super

Um, did some time on a heavy when I first started and been on a super heavy ever since those, uh, 6 68 s so, Yeah, there's six wheel drive and cruising, you know, either in front of the dozer or behind it. Um, getting in the, you're into stuff. Yeah. So it's fun. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: So 6 68 likes the super heavy, like, kinda explain what that is. Like that package, that engine package.

Cuz not a lot of people are gonna know the, like, the numbers of the bottles and stuff like that. So a lot of listeners aren't going to be listening to that. They're not gonna understand that. So let's talk about like, the capabilities of it. Yeah, for sure. So some of the capabilities, you got a six wheel drive, um, two models in Attc Tatra or a Firehawk ex on a ocos chassis similar to what the military uses for like the fuel hauling and Yeah. Fuel haul is right. Yeah. Yep. Exactly.

Yeah. Or they're crash rescue trucks for the military. But uh, what that looks like is 2060 gallons of water, 50 gallons of foam, um, single cab, three seats across the front. Air rise. It's a little comfy real quick. Real comfy. Yep. Yep. People say asses and elbows and it's true. Um, and you know, it. You got a wa a water monitor. Some people like to call it a turt. I like to call it a water monitor. Um, or just a monitor.

But yeah, you fight for the fire from inside the cab, um, you know, type three engine. So pumping capabilities there. Um, with that 2000 gallons of water, it's, it's, uh, it's more of experience and strategy when it comes to how long you can go to, to fight that fire. But, uh, they have their pros and they have their cons just like everything else in life.

So, um, yeah, no, they do, uh, they do the good workout in Winnemucca and, and, and Elco as well, you know, been, uh, been able to have the opportunity to fight fire in Elco and, uh, Winnemucca with being on the 6 68. So they do pretty good work. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Not only that, but they're pretty damn cool looking too, I gotta say.

Those things are pretty beefy and they, they just get some, they can haul ass across the desert and just pick pretty much anything you throw at 'em. So, yeah, they do good work. Um, but yeah, I, I'm excited to see what the feature holds for those, for sure. Uh, especially cuz they're gonna be up for rewrite soon and. Yeah, just see where it goes. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: So I couldn't imagine what one of those tires cost, um, from Les Schwab.

You're roughly, did we say the quiet part Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: out loud here? It's four grand. Yeah, it's four grand. Oh, shit. That's it. Yeah. Luckily we have the connection through d o d. Yeah. So we're able to get those for, uh, for a better price almost, you know, two for the price of one. So yeah, luckily we were able to circumnavigate a little bit of, you know, getting those, those tires taken care of through the Department of Defense.

So Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: is it like surplus stuff that you're trying to get through, like, I don't know, an Army Depot, like Herlong or something like that? Yeah, I think it's essentially similar to that. Um, I don't, our fire property and fleet manager usually handles all that ordering.

Um, but based off our, you know, annual tire inspections that we do every year, those findings, we just place a bulk order through the D o D and, uh, we're able to get 'em at, at pretty much their cost. Um, and those tires, I believe are. Uh, we're under an exemption where they're gonna still continue to make them for fire and d o d. Mm-hmm. So we're pretty fortunate to at least be under that exemption and still keep those trucks running.

So Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: speaking of exemptions with those super heavies man, um, how does it work with like the road worthiness thing? Like, that's gotta be kind of a challenge, a unique challenge for like the Department of Transportation. Like you don't see these things traveling down the road too often. Usually when you see 'em in a military context, they're on a load boy, like going somewhere. They're Notre like cruising along the road, so, right.

Yeah, I mean, uh, it's uh, it's a long drive when you're in one for sure can imagine. It's very Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: quick. Yeah. I've never operated one, so yeah, it's one of those things, everybody passes you on the road, but once you get off the road, you pass everybody else. So it's, it's kind of one of those things, you know, they, they off they off-road so much better than, than driving on the road. But, uh, you know, you get there when you get there.

Um, the primary goal is getting there safe. You can't fight the fire till you're there. So biggest thing is, you know, we're gonna take as long time, as much time as we need. To get on scene safely and, and get after it. So, oh yeah. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Speaking of, uh, handling off-road capabilities, I, I've heard like rumors about these things like being able to just haul ass through brush, through washes, through rocks, through gnarly stuff.

It's like practically a, I don't know, a semi version of a trophy truck. Like what's the speed capabilities of these things in like, the desert crush and brush? Yeah. I mean, uh, if you're on the tatra with the air ride suspension versus that, uh, that coil suspension, the tatra, you, it just floats. Feels like you're on a boat, on, on glass water. It floats really well. Um, especially if you've got the air ride seat. Mm-hmm.

I mean, you could probably go 40, 45, 50, um, off road, you know, if, especially if you're on like a designated two track, um, you know, you're cutting through vegetation or whatnot, you know, you, you go a little slower just cuz you're not trying to break it. Yeah. But, uh, they, they do good work. Uh, drainages, all that fun stuff, it's, it's one of those things you don't get, toss the keys and say go drive it.

Um, it's definitely one of those things that you learn the capabilities as you drive it. Um, but yeah, they, they, it does awesome work once you really get comfortable with operating one. So

Like I don't feel all these bumps, but I know that what it looks like on the outside, like I don't wanna get back in there. Yeah, you gotta be careful

Okay. So that's the reason, cuz you can definitely get yourself into some trouble if you don't know what you're Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: doing with those trucks. Yeah, I couldn't imagine that. It's very maneuverable in tight spaces. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're a, they're a straight up, straight down kind of truck. Um, it's real top heavy, so you just gotta be, be careful where you're Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: taking those things. Gotcha.

So side hill's out the question. It's not like a unimog, it's not out of the question, but you just gotta be, you know, it's just gonna be aware of what you're doing. Gotcha. For Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: sure. Yeah. Thanks man. So what about some other machines that we have out there? I know we rely heavily on type threes and four s. We got the special, uh, Tatras and six 60 eights you said? Yeah, the, the

Whoa. Following, you know, a dozer transport down the road doing what we do, you know, cruising down a, a dirt road at fairly good speeds. One of the duals kicked up a rock, broke the windshield. Darn. So I think the, uh, we ended up ordering two windshields, you know, cuz you break one, you try to get two just in case it never happens again. Especially with that truck. And I think it took eight months to get the windshield. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Oh wow.

Did it put your engine down for like d o t stuff or? We were able to have a local windshield company at least just kind of put a patch on it so we could keep running and doing the good work. But uh, yeah, the parts are very slim pickings when it comes to that specialized equipment and luckily the Oshkosh is a little easier getting parts. Mm-hmm. Um, but yeah, it's, it's, that's kind of I think why they, the big push was to phase those out and come up with the next best thing.

Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Nice. Yeah. So what about the type three program? Let's just work our way down to by type. So type threes, that's what I got the most experience on. Type threes. And four is type threes the most experience on, I was wondering an interface package with, uh, what was that? Like a, I wanna say it was a BME interface engine 500 gallons, you know, tons of gallonage, but you gotta have a hyd drink cuz you don't have shift of water.

And so that's why I, I'm, I think it's great, especially we go other places when we help out, but man in the state, like just gimme a four or type six. Like I'm really against the threes. But they're great. I think now it's getting better cuz we're, we've fought for so many years in that in the programs that like those trucks were single cabs to extended cabs and now it's like, hey, like a four door, they're four door, they're a little ugly, but there's more room for the guys.

And like people are starting to realize like, we needed that. Like give us some Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: space. They do look a little bit like a garbage truck now, I'm not gonna lie, but they serve as purpose. Like you can almost, my short ass could stand up in the back of one of these two one. Oh yeah, yeah. But uh, the type threes man, I mean, yeah. Out in like a majority of Nevada except for around like, Exclusively Washoe County pretty much.

And maybe some of the outlying areas like maybe Elko. You have some interface out there, of course around your towns. That's where like the type threes really shine. That's what they're built for interface. Right. While the intermittent interface, great. I was here, so yeah. Made the most sense to have a type three out here. I mean, yeah, we do get, you know, out into the weeds. Yeah. They have the purpose. Like here, they work great. I mean, other places like, yeah, yeah.

You can't go off road very well. They don't turn as good as like a type six would. But like yeah. I mean I just don't like the type threes like, but I also, I have always had the older ones. Yeah. So like I'm just there to retire the trucks. All right. See you later bud. And then go order and wait about three years to get a new one there. It is insane.

Yeah. But, but yeah, we're leaving the labels where they are with the type four s, but the capabilities there. Yeah. So that's nice that we are able to do that. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Should we just start calling 'em the three and a halfs type three and a half engines? Yeah.

We drove back from Colorado Check engine light came on in Utah in June, and uh, then the, the engine blue on July 4th, sat side of the, uh, side of the shop for nine months got it back and the auxiliary power panel went out. So it's just been one thing after another on that truck. But we Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: will say with that old engine, uh, the things that I noticed was it's got like electrical ghosts, I swear to God.

It's like you're chasing fucking wiring harnesses all they've manifested into everything. Cause it's not just electrical anymore, that thing's Yeah, yeah. Thoses

Mm-hmm. You know, I've ran, um, you know, kind of the traditional Nevada type threes and fours, um, otherwise, and so, um, my assistant and I, like, we tore everything outta that truck that was interface and made it a desert truck. Yeah. Because I'm like, I fight fire in Nevada, you know, I don't need to carry a snap tank. I don't need to carry three miles a hose.

Yeah. Like I got hose packs, like, you know, I'm gonna respect the terrain that we're in and the way that they fight fire in Carson versus maybe Elco. But you know, like I wanna be prepared to fight fire in Nevada not to, you know, um, Have all this stuff cuz you know, I'm trying to fit what the, the mold of the truck was. So, yeah.

Um, so hopefully once it's back up and running, we'll actually get to try that out and see, see Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: if it, you know, works, works. So, yeah, so there was a lot of outside pressure when I outfitted that thing and uh, Bronz and I were in charge of that, that engine we outfitted it to where we could easily go to California. Cause we often, like previously, I don't know if it's changed a lot, but we'd be finding ourselves in California all the time.

So whether that's either, you know, herlong or something close with where we're at in Doyle or going over here. So we had to have like the way I was kind of looking at outfitting, that thing was a little bit of versatility to be able to go to California, set up a tank, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But there was, I will say some, some bullshit on that, that I had to put on there and I just kept, it's like, I don't know where I'm gonna store this, so I might as well just keep it on there.

And there were some also outside pressures about outfitting that thing. Did it need three miles of hose? No, like the amount of hose that was on there, probably when you took over it was a lot, right? Yeah. But I mean like 16 hose packs on there or some crazy shit and we still have all the hose packs and everything.

Yeah. I mean we just, yeah, we, we tried to just make it where, you know, it's not just inter interface truck, like we can interface, but then like, I don't know, I, and last year was crazy slow on the Carson City district, you know, so like I They're slow statewide. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. Yeah. It was like nationwide really. I mean we burned 83 acres on district. That's it last year. Yeah. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Eight three, not 830. Nope.

Let's, uh, let's talk about the type six s. You don't see too many of those in Nevada, but they do serve a good utility, especially with getting into like back in some steep shitty canyon. You can get close and then start hiking, right? Yeah. And so, like I know the most, I probably hear about type six s cuz you guys have all been on the I 80 mafia area. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: I 80 hot laps all summer probably.

Yeah. But, uh, so like those type six s like eley district, they have a bunch. Mm-hmm. And then Southern Nevada, we've got two right now. And those things are amazing. They're quick. You can get, it's driving a, your truck off road isn't an F what, five 50? Yeah, it's an F five 50. You got 300 gallons of water, it's like 2 75 or something like that. But you don't have enough water to do anything.

But if you actually know how to use that equipment, like you can hang and go with those heavies for a while. Oh yeah. And like that's the one cool thing, like you can do really good hot, hot, you know. Here we go. Let's go have some fun, but then hey, get back. But we're faster. Like we can go get a water source way quicker. Oh yeah. And so that's the coolest thing that I love about these Type six is like they're quick.

Personally, I think we should just get a word of everything above the type sixes. We just, we'll pump Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: the brakes, man. Every condition. My 2 22 or two four rather. Elliot just heard this as well. Um, there's been, you know, like trying to get the CDLs and all that, like there's a new change for that in the state. So like, okay, let's just get rid of, hes altogether.

Just give everyone type six s and we don't gotta worry about the CDL requirements and all that. Like it'll, it'll cure, you know, it won't help us. Then you're gonna have to order Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: 2020 water tenders. Yeah. This is blasting me. Get out.

Yeah. That's like how you get to places cuz you're not putting ship piles of hose unless it's got campo campaign fire or something like that. Yeah. You need the water, right? Yeah. There's big timber and all that stuff, but chances are you're going in there cutting line and you don't have enough water in the world to put out some of these duff layers, you know? It's, you're just pissing in the wind at that point.

Yeah. So you wrap it up, you fall all your hazards, you clean it up the best you can, you just dry mop it and then let all the other shit burn down in Pacific Northwest. But type six rules the day up there as well and definitely has a utility. So when you're outfitting all of these things, like a lot of people don't know what goes into that, all these engines, all this equipment, right? So let's bring up the equipment shop and how that whole thing goes down.

Like how they set the standards, what is, how they like, Assign compliments of like, gear, all that stuff. I really would like to know how they come up with, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: you know, did you guys know anything? I mean, I, it's not like Jade's here. Is he still in the equipment shop? Yeah. Yeah, he's there. Yeah. Shout out to Jade man. Yeah, absolutely, man.

Um, you know, within Winnemucca, um, you know, you just kind of run with that and, you know, get the blessing from everybody else, making sure everybody else is on the same page and, you know, oh, did you think of this? No, but I'll add it, you know, and you just kind of work together and, and figure that out. Um, and the aspects of like, You know, when, what the equipment shop decided, I couldn't really tell you.

You know, based off, you know, I mean a normal unit stock of surplus items, I, I really couldn't tell you what their, how their deciding factor goes into that. Yeah. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Well, it seems like there's like a national standard for what they're requiring for like engine typing. Right. As far as like the, the nuts and bolts, the pump package, the lights, all that shit that goes on the vehicle, but, and they also set the standard for the n u s. Right.

Normal unit stocking, of course. Yeah. That's like a baseline minimum.

Yeah. Like dig, like we, I mean, yeah, we drive equipment there, but like the philosophy for me, I, it's skipped me from A to B and then back to a and in between. Like we're gonna have fun, I gotta get out and use my Lambert feed like I'm gonna do. Yeah. Like I don't constantly need that. The hose or like, I hate hose packed man.

Like, I think every year, like it's that time of year for us, you would get ready for fire season and you gotta go out and you gotta do, oh, let's go do the hose lay drills. And like we're trying to come up with ways to make it funner for the dudes. Like get engaged, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: not doing the same shit over and over and over again. Yeah. Yeah. But dude, you still gotta throw the hose layout and it sucks. You're like, it's awkward.

Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: You got your pack on. Yeah. It's miserable. And you got muscle hamster over there carrying like three hose packs and it's packing a fucking saw for some reason. It's like, what is

No. You know, really, I don't, you know, depending on fuel type and, and how green or you know, how vetted my seasonals are, and then let's get on the floor and show some stuff about mobile attack, you know, true, true tactics of the old school way. Like, let's get to work that way. So yeah, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Right? Yeah. Some of these tactics have been developed back in the day and they still were today.

Will they work for a fucking reason, right? Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, the monitor thing, I mean, we had, I 24 has a monitor too, and it's, I've maybe used it like operationally twice, and it's just to get like some rat nest up in a tree that happens to be on fire, just like, all right, later. Cool. Yeah,

Yeah. Because that's a big point of pride for me as a captains, like watching trucks peel off to go fill up, and we're just like, let's just keep going. Just like, you know, good water and like, you know, being able to, yeah. Put in all that line. When you're go on mobile. So, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: and that's side, I probably wanna, I wanna say that mobile attack is probably some of the funnest shit you can ever do, man. Oh, alright. There's like nothing like a good

Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: And that's not an understatement. Miles, literal miles, miles of fire out. Yeah. And you're like, it's, it's just so much fun. Like, especially Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: when you get a good rocking, like very well coordinated tandem. Like say you have three or four engines going and then you know your lead's putting out fire, you others' are following, maybe cleaning up the, you know, the line, securing the line.

And then number one's out they peel off. Next one just plugs right in. Mm-hmm. To keep on going. Dude, it's, it's, it's some pretty cool shit to see a well coordinated mobile attack. It's like magic almost. Oh yeah. What it's crazy too, is like how well, like, you know, like everyone else can jump in and do it with them. Mm-hmm. Especially in our state, like, oh yeah. It's like a family. It don't matter where you're at.

Like, it could be the Vegas truck that comes up with the muck boys and Carson boys and like, okay, who's taking lead? All right. And then you're just sitting in the back like, I hope they run outta water. Where's my turn? I wanna get something like, don't catch this, don't catch this. Like, we're not gonna hit the corner yet, boys just, we're almost there. Oh Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: yeah.

Well, it's cool though because like everybody on the, uh, in Nevada, at least on the engines and well just everybody in general, it's pretty well coordinated and they just know exactly what to do. Like the, I wanna say that the training in the state of Nevada's pretty good. One thing that kind of like threw me for a loop though, is working in, under other states and you bring, you bring up the topic of mobile attack, it's like pump creeks and roll pump and roll it.

Not even that, it's like they don't do it. Right, right, right. And there's apl, there's plenty of places out there that would benefit from like a solid mobile attack. Yet, they don't really do it. I, I haven't seen it very much outside of the state, except for like certain areas. Maybe like eastern Oregon. I've seen it a handful of times. That's Idaho. Idaho, Idaho too. Yeah. Especially like, yeah. South of Boise. Yeah. At all. Bruno area. That's that kind of area. They do it.

Yeah. Cause it's kind of like an extent that to me, that's an extension of Elco. Yes. There's a state line, land

We didn't get too many fires, but the one we did, you know, we just mobile attacked right off the road because the other side was the river. So, I mean, we just box it in exactly like used the roads and. Yep. Put it out. So, I mean, I

But yeah, coming out here and it was like every fire for hours and like, yeah. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: So, oh yeah, let's just go and show you like the amount of versatility and engines. Like, I hate that. Like, yeah, there's engine slugs out there. Like everybody hates that term. Right? But they're, that's that name that, that derogatory term I guess exists for a reason because there are those people that fight fire from the cab. But that's not something you can do here.

You don't even have a fucking opportunity to your As is getting outta that cab and

And you just drive up and then you get out and you hike up, put it out and then like the, you know, like those early years I was on hell attack and a few other things, so. Mm-hmm. Which brings back the engines, like how much we are getting better at working with the others. So like with heli attack, like in Nevada, we get to go out and like do the trainings so that we can hover fill. That's the cool shit right there. And it's like that right there, like cool.

We, we found a way to help out like, so the helicopter, cuz there's no water, so Yeah. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. There's not

Oh. But uh, and yeah. And then you go out and that helicopter, you go stand under it and it's hovering above you and two of you're trying to hold a bucket up. Yep. Well, somebody's trying to spray the water in there. You're, you're gonna leave what? Oh yeah, you will.

Like, there's no way, especially if you got a newer person that's never like, understood it and they like, and all that, where they just Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: slam the boar open on the gate or the gate open and you're like, oh my goodness. Like, and you're holding them there and they're freaking out. Cuz Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: it's a lot of force coming out of these, this like an inch and a half hose.

If you're feeling a bucket with an inch or an inch and a half hose, there's a lot of force coming out of that, that full Yeah. Performance. But you also have helicopter

So we gotta do it with what we've got. And that is one of those resources out there that we, it's really effective. Yeah. It'll

You Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: know, you can knock some steam out of it in the meantime. Yeah, yeah. It won't run as fast if you can get some guys going up different Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: flas, so support 'em with, uh, helicopter operations. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's a cool thing about, uh, engines I think. I think that's underutilized. Everybody wants to be, Everybody wants the glory of, oh, I'm a hotshot, lifetime hotshot hand crew. You know?

And it's, it's more than that. I mean, engines are a great place, especially with the training and development side of things, right? There's a lot of versatility in engines. You can crew up, you can get off district, you can go see some other country, you can go see different fuel types, all that stuff. And then, uh, yeah, like things like that are random, like the hover fill. There's a lot of versatility built in these platforms, and I think it's oftentimes under underrated and overlooked.

Mm-hmm. How in which direction you can go with your career just by starting, even out on mention. So, none the,

They're, and right now we have so many openings throughout the state. It's ridiculous. It's sad. We have so many openings. Yeah. So many possibilities move up in the engine Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: program. There's a lot of, uh, that's a, that's a very complex topic there, I wanna say, just because of like the paid classification issues, you know, and then Nevada's a expensive state. It doesn't matter if you're an e e, Elco, Reno, God damn, it's expensive here.

I mean, it's an expensive state. The cost of living here is astronomical.

Yeah. It's, there's so much mining and, and like one of the overlooked things too is like the agriculture community here. Like, you go down to Austin, there's like some seriously fuck you rich people out there. Yeah. And it's all like generational wealth from like ag either ranching or, um, alfalfa farming. I mean, it's expensive. Yeah. Doesn't matter if you're in Austins, Nevada, dude. It's like, it's expensive.

A shack in the ghetto with maybe a garage or a one car garage that was built in the 1940s is still gonna be 300 grand. Yeah. Which it shouldn't be. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Welcome to the club, man. It's, this is Nevada. Yeah. And I mean, you go other places, like, you know, especially now it's the hiring thing. People are jail bouncing, and it's like, yeah, all right. Like, cool, they're gonna offer you this little bit now, but why, why leave? Just stay. Stick it out.

And that's the, it's the hard part. It's hard to find the right words to keep. Your dudes still wanna work for you. Mm-hmm. But,

Bitching house. Yeah. Yeah. No, you know, hats off to the mining eating ramen every night e Exactly. You know, but, uh, you know, I, I just tell 'em, you know, like, come try it and let the job speak for itself. Yeah. You know, cuz like, that's gonna tell you whether you love it or, or leave it, you know. And originally I wanted to do structure fire and everybody's like, go get your foot in the door in Wildland. And my first season I was like, I'm not leaving. I love it. You know?

Yeah. And so, you know, we get to travel, we get to do all that fun stuff, you know, and, and you get to see the country essentially, you know, putting fire out, standing where no man stood before. It's just, it's just, it hits deep sometimes, you know? And so, That was like my biggest selling point. So for any of you listeners, you know, just give it a, give it a shot. Yeah. Let the job speak for Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: itself. Keep your toe in the deep end there.

But also, hey, side note, you guys get to, uh, well, working in Nevada on any platform, whether it's held at cruise or engines, you definitely get a good, uh, pin on some of your hunt zones. You could use little pre scouting, so Oh yeah, yeah, that's, yeah, that's another got that going for you as well. But yeah, I mean it's, it's hard though. It's uh, I mean the pay parity thing, it's, it's hard, especially in this state. And California's even worse.

I mean the cost of living here is like, we're bitching about that, but California, oh fuck man, it's like bad. But that's the thing though, it's like you have so much opportunity to move up. You could be a GS fantastic. I mean we have plenty of them in this room, in this building for this whole week. Right. And uh, they all started somewhere and that's the thing is it's getting your foot in the door starting somewhere. Cause there's a lot of opportunity in fire.

I mean, you don't even have to stay in fire. You can go be an ologist or whatever is so, It's a lot, lot of places to go. And

But you go to the, one of the trade schools, you go to these lower income style schools, especially in Vegas, we got like 28 high schools to try to visit all year. And like you go to one of those schools where those kids are like, wait, I can get a job and do what? Yeah, I can get a retirement, I can do this. Like, yeah man. And the hardest part though is the application process. That's, oh man, that's the

And yeah, going through that application process and like, what we found was the, the districts that were able to sit down with interested applicants and essentially walk them through the entire process unique where we saw the Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: most success. Yeah. Like I had no fucking clue what I was doing when I first applied to USA Jobs, and that was shit almost 15 years ago. Right.

Yeah. Like how do you explain that to somebody over like the phone, you need to do this. Like, and we're still getting, I mean even, you know, applying for that, not even that first job, but that first career seasonal or whatever, like people are still getting hung up and getting, you know, kicked back. Cause Well, they forget Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: to put their 40 hours of work week. Yeah, totally. Exactly.

Yeah. Or driver's license or whatever, you know, and yeah, you get hung up and then just the way the system works, like, all right, well now you gotta wait until this time next year, and then you're trying to convince 'em that it's still a good. A good choice to be here and, and, you know, put in that time and, and energy and wait that extra year for that career seasonal position or whatever. So that's where the challenge is.

Just like, we're so rigid in some of the stuff that the way the system's set up, you know, like, whereas like yeah, in the private sector, it's like a lot more flexible it seems like. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. Gimme your one page or two page resume depending on if you're like mid-career entry level or professional, you know? Yeah. And it's just like, here you go.

But man, like the other biggest issue is these kids like the, oh, this is too hard. Which is cool, like, all right, we weeded you out, but man, like there's some, you're, you're wishing that they would've applied. Like, so in Vegas, the one year I went to the school three different times, same school. First time there was like a hundred kids in the room and talked with. Cool. Next time there's like 30 kids.

Then I went back, there's 20 kids after school and they all brought their laptops and I had 'em all open 'em up going to USA Jobs and we sat there for two and a half hours and we applied like no shit. Yeah. And you know, I don't know if any of 'em took a job, they didn't come to Vegas, but you know what, like I got toyed more kids to go in there. It's the start, right? But yeah, but show in the process and and watching how it dwindled down, like exposure, we

That was my foot in the door. And it's, I think it's a great program. It serves its purpose, but if you want to like actually make a career out of this, like, you gotta apply, you gotta start somewhere. You gotta get in.

Um, at the very least, like we can capture some of that population that's still interested, but, but may have been missed. So, you know, I think the biggest part of it is just that tracking though is like, You know, going to the high schools or whatever, but then like that follow up and just keeping up with 'em.

And, and that's where the districts did really well this winter with just like, um, you know, creating like events where, you know, like you guys had folks come down to the station, right? Yep. And, and then like, Elco rented out a, um, lap or a, um, it's like a computer lab. Computer lab, yeah. Yeah. Kinda like a community college there. Yeah. Okay. And just like what, three or four sessions throughout December where they were open and people could come in and, and apply.

So Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: see that's the way to do it, man. If we want numbers, I mean, it's, it's FaceTime really. At the end of the day, it's exposure because I mean, we, everybody in this room has probably experienced it. Nobody knows what a wildland firefighter is, right? Right. You go in the grocery store, you're, you know, getting your lunch for the day or whatever. You get your green pants on your boots and your crew shirt. Cool. Someone asks you, oh, what do you do?

And you say, I'm a wildland firefighter. What do they typically say? Thank you.

Then it's a long process, like trying to explain it, right? Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. Do you automatically assume that you're either, hey, a Cal fire or b a smoke jumper, right? Yeah, because that's like the glory, that's everybody. Everybody knows them, that you jump outta a helicopter. So it's like, yeah, like Howe Long, I got two saws, like, we're going Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: recycle all that stuff in one hand.

There's some homework assignments for the listeners there. I've, I've learned that a couple times the last few days. Like I say like these shows or movies and everyone around me like, what? And I'm like, Go watch that now. Yeah. Like, you need to go watch that. And now I'm turning into one of the older guys in the room. I'm like, Ugh. What do you mean you Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: haven't seen Videocracy? That's the best documentary ever. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's blowing me away.

It's, it's, it's uh, kind of a shock these days. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. Well I think it's like, uh, the PR problem that we kind of have, it's like we don't do a good job of telling our story. So, I mean, a lot of people just don't know what the federal side of wildland firefighting is. They see smoke in the air somewhere off in the hills that they probably may or may not have visited or hiked through or whatever. And then green, yellow buggies, they show up.

Then depending on the severity of the fire, how long it goes for, they take off. It's like they show up in the dead at night and they just leave and smoke's gone. Oh, thank you. You cal fires over there doing like structure protection. Yeah. And they're very, very visible. I mean, in that, in the retardant planes, I mean, you can't miss that so Well, and it's, I think we're getting better at trying to tell our story. I just don't think we.

I mean, I, I'll be honest, I hate when the camera comes out, like, yeah. Whenever they're like on the fire line because somebody is sitting over there watching like, oh, you don't have your gloves on? Like, yeah, I don't have my gloves on 'em on the radio. The Blue Falcon shit. Yeah. And it's like, stop that. Like stop, like, you know, we look at these pictures, but if it's a good shot, like, okay, like I'm glad you caught that. Don't come hammering down on me. Yeah. That way I'll go, okay.

Yeah. I'll remind them next time like, Hey, we gotta do this. Like, put your damn glove on when you know, we sweat through our hands. So you wear your gloves all day, you're gonna go tee you really fast because Yeah, you're gonna have holes in your hands. Yeah. Like you've gotta take your gloves off. Like eventually you do if you, we tell it and preach it, but like, go mess with the pump. Those gloves are not on for very long. No. I think we're getting better at telling our story.

The social media pages, like letting people sit there and make their, put their little pictures of what they've done. They're all dirty. Like the younger kids love doing that. Like it's great. I think it's starting to, but you know, everyone, there's a ton place. Yeah. Yeah. And then everyone just always thinks, oh, do you go to California? Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: If I hear, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I'd be a very, very rich man. Oh yeah, Jesus man, do I?

But it's getting better. I mean like the whole social media thing, like doing it for the Gram, like don't do stupid shit. But it's also, at the same time, it's important to share that story with your friends, your family. Sometimes some of that content goes viral and people learn man, and like, yeah, if you don't have your clothes on in a photo, Chances are you didn't need your gloves on, man. Yeah. It's, it's, we make these, these decisions about safety and P P E and stuff like that. Right.

If you're well removed from the fire and you don't need gloves, then you don't fucking need gloves. The FMO shouldn't be busting your balls about that. Yeah. Because everybody out there knows when the appropriate, well, for the most part, not everybody, but for the most part, you know, if the, if your leadership is taking their gloves off, the chances are you can afford to take your goddamn gloves off, man. Yeah. So stop harping on people and just like spread the positivity, tell the story.

It's important because we do have a PR problem.

You know, and, and we build that mental slide of we saw it, we, we sifted out what we liked, what we didn't, and we stored in our long term memory. So if we were ever faced with that challenge again, we, we know what to do at that point. Yeah. You building those slides, right? Yeah, exactly. It was mental slideshow, you know, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: so, yeah.

But there is something kind of attractive about, like, one, the Dirtbag lifestyle and it's kind of been like a recurring theme with all these conversations I've been having with folks this week. And, uh, it's, it's enchanting man, but it is very much a young man and young woman's sport. I mean, when you start getting into like, the level of your careers, right. It, it's got us different challenges, man.

I mean, you guys have, uh, guided your careers to, you know, be successful, especially with dealing with like the issues that. Everybody fucking is eating the same turd sandwich when comes to PE classification. But there is a lot of things on the horizon to make that better. And I wanna say, to shout out to Nevada that they're being pretty progressive.

I fucking hate using that word, because depending on what flavor of politics, you, you belong to that word, progressive can have some serious negative connotation. Right. But I think that, uh, for the definition itself, I think that Nevada's pretty good at taking their, taking care of their people, getting 'em trained up, getting 'em paid, getting 'em the right grade for like engine captains. I mean, what they're eights now. Yep. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And that was what, that's recent.

That was what, four or five years ago? Oh, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just pushing the boundaries, man, and getting people like the stuff that they need to do their job successfully and also live like Well, and that's where that retention part comes in. I mean, like, I think BLM Nevada's done a really good job in terms of like, uh, They have started like this health and wellness, um, like week long, uh, class that they did one in Vegas and they did one in Reno and like mm-hmm. That was great.

I attended the one in Reno and, you know, I mean, it was an opportunity to learn, um, you know, like in a, a longer period of time, like both like, you know, from a mental and physical nutritional wellness, you know, standpoint. Yeah. Whole body, right. Holistic top down and, you know, that's stuff then that we're able to take back to the districts and then, um, you know, hopefully disseminate and, uh, and continue.

But like, even, you know, this like bringing everybody together in the spring, like that goes a long way throughout the whole season because, you know, like when you run into somebody inevitably in Winnemucca, like you've, you've at least met 'em. Mm-hmm. Or recognized 'em like, oh yeah, I saw you at, you know, the spring meetings and like, so, um, like you're getting at it before, like just.

You know, having those opportunities to interact pre-season, like that's super unique to Nevada at a statewide level, which is Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: cool. Yeah, I've only experienced that kind of, uh, pre-season meeting, so like where it's kind of similar to this and the Road group resist you so up in region six, but that's the only other place that I've ever seen it done.

And they'd bring outside, you know, consultants and I guess the academy as well when I was going through the Jack Academy. But, uh, yeah, I think the Nevada's good cuz they're, they're not afraid of begging for forgiveness as Brock would say. It's, yeah. They just do shit and it's, it's, it's obviously working. It's productive, right?

So bring someone in, you don't breathe through your nose. Like, like it's awesome that we're doing that. Finally bringing in people that are actually what we're asking for. Yeah. Like, and when Brock has done a great job at and Pauling on them, like, it's cool that we're finally, it's a little bit, you know, like they're not giving us everything we've always asked for, but yeah, to give that little bit, I mean, that's a reason to come back to work every day.

Like get a little bit of appreciation, so mm-hmm.

They're two ways, two years away from retirement. Right. It's not like that here. No, no.

The sport Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: bitching phase. Yeah. Yeah. And then next thing you know, you're like, oh shit. Like I've got like eight or nine years till my 20 and I can retire. Like, fuck. Like I guess I'm stuck, man. I'm over the hill. Like, I actually better start changing some shit. But like, that's the, that's where I'm at right now. I'm on the downside of, you know, get, get through a few more practices and, and we'll see what happens.

Yeah. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: That's another thing too, man. It's like this does have a, a, a good feel to it. And uh, and I know it sounds like I'm riding for the brand for Nevada b l blm. Right. But that's like, Pretty much a majority of my career, it is the majority of my career, uh, exclusively, not exclusively, but primarily in Nevada. Right. And I've seen the things that, uh, the state has done with all of their programs. Right. Fire wide. And it's great, man.

I keep coming back for a reason. I mean, I went to region six, fucked off at the academy. Yeah, dude. It's, it's, I keep coming back for a reason. So. Well, and I think it's funny too, is like in Nevada, like we go somewhere, we all, you know, going back east or, or up north, like you, everyone asks like, where you from? Like, oh, I'm from Nevada. And they're like, oh, do you not Vegas. Yes. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. I say, Vegas is nine fucking hours away from Reno.

Okay. Oh yeah, yeah. That's always, oh, you live in Las Vegas? I'm like, yeah, but I really like, I grew up in Rio Nevada. Yeah. Oh, Reno. No Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: you don't. Speaking of tying in on that point, do you talk to people in, they're from Nevada. It's like, oh yeah, I drove through Nevada. It's least, fuck. I'm like, Get off the beaten path, man. There's some beautiful country like Wheeler Peak out there, man.

Yeah. It's, it's gorgeous out there, but it's all off the beaten path. All of it. Yeah. You gotta stop being Lincoln. That's

But it, it is true though, like, man, there is some cool shit in our state. There is, man. And people don't, people don't need to know about it. Yeah. I'm not gonna, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: I'm not gonna stay on I 80. Yeah. Stay on 80. I mean, I kinda give away, uh, the wheeler peak thing. What is that? This is tallest, uh, peak in Nevada, right? Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, everybody knows about that though. And you can look it up. Yeah, it's, it's a national park.

Like yeah. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: I'm not gonna drop any of my like, hunting spots or anything like that, but No, but like, stay the hell outta my rivers. You're overfishing 'em. Yeah. I still haven't seen a river in Nevada. We have no water. We've got no Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: water. There's

Still a week. Okay. I didn't know if it changed or anything like that, but is there six days?

Like the decade he did it seems like, you know, I mean, he taught my class back in, uh, 15, 16, somewhere in there. So, I mean, yeah. Hat's Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: off to bile too. I'm trying to remember when I went to EOP. I think it was the year before Biddle, I was under C Mask, so Chris Mason. Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah. So I wanna say it was like, shit 20 13, 14, I don't know. I blacked out. Yeah, but it's cool man. Cuz it's like a, it's like a crash course in everything.

Engine operations, right? I mean, do I like doing uh, volume calcs and all that stuff, like flow charts and all that shit? No, I don't think anybody likes that stuff. And I, I, I, if someone busted out a slide rule on a fire, I'd probably punch him in the fucking face. But it's good. It's useful maths in some context, right? There's some things you can pick up, some things you can remember. Um, is it practical to, you know, bust out a slide rule on a fire? No, it's not.

But it might serve its purpose for going somewhere else, right? Maybe you end up at the equipment shop and you have to do something, right. Do some calculations. I don't know. I don't know where that serves purpose enough about that shit. But there's other things that are of value in the EOP program. Um, Man, just like day-to-day operations and maneuvering, like evasive maneuvers, stuff like that. Backing and familiarizing yourself with your vehicle. Yeah, that's

But like, he's telling the kids like, to like really get engaged and look at things and, and that's what you need, man, like Yeah. The attention to detail. Yeah. And when it take, they take an extra five minutes to do a, the daily check. Like, okay, but did you find something wrong? Like, no, I just, I was really worried. I don't care. Like if you were worried Yeah. You were looking, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: you're accounting for safety, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

And that's, I think the coolest part is like, these kids are getting, you know, a little secret from everybody. Like, Hey, always check this. Always look at this. And so it helps out. Yeah.

EOP Academy. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: One thing I think that's cool about the, uh, standardization fee, like across the entire state, especially with any ground vehicle, crew, vehicle or engine. Right. Any apparatus that we have out there is the, uh, standardization of medical equipment. Oh yeah. That is fucking cool, man. That in the expanded it's scope of practice that we have for our medical direction, but that was something that was pretty cool too.

But everybody knows where it's at. Yeah. Everybody.

Uh, I don't know about you guys, but I used to drive like an as still kind of do, but I have kids now, so I don't drive like an ass anymore. They're usually in the backseat. But I will say that the EOP Academy translated into like, just everyday stuff. Like it's probably made me a better driver overall and I think I wanna just like attribute that to the EOP program. What about you guys? I'm a shitty driver. I drive fast.

Uh, I don't drive fast in my truck cuz it, it won't go, it's an old truck, but, uh, I drive like an asshole. But I mean, it does, it does help you out. Especially the situational awareness part. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Like, you know, like I don't hit as many tree branches anymore, but that was trial and error. Like some Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: things will learned the hard way. Yeah. But that, I mean, That place has really taught you, like, I think it's gotten better.

I've, I haven't gone back since I went to eop. I haven't gone back and helped. I just wasn't like, yeah. I just wasn't into it. But everyone else, like, they keep telling me new things that happen every year. I'm like, all right, this is cool. Like, you guys are getting a lot Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: better. Yeah. So do the, uh, cadre of eop, do they still fuck with the students when they go out on their field days, their op day?

And it's great, you know, practice like it's live, you know, and, you know, for taking away, you know, in the life perspective, I think anything eop, any trainings we do it, it's, you could take something from it and, and make it part of your life, you know, and how you, how you take it, you know, and incorporate it in your own life, personal life, whatever. Yeah. There's always key takeaways. Like our leadership classes, I think they're great, you know, all that fun stuff, but, Yeah.

I think, uh, for takeaways is every class we offer really is is one of those courses where you could take something and implement Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: it. Oh yeah. That it implements itself. Like you can take a crew boss class and still get something for your engines. Right. You can take a, a hecken class and obviously we talked about the hover field. That's, that's a huge benefit, right? Knowing you get some familiarity with ships.

Uh, side note on the, uh, EOP Academy, shameless admission of guilt here. When we went to do our field op day, well, it was either CMAs or Scojo or one of the guys over there, they decided to crack open the, uh, like full board, not even crack it. They just fucking opened up my protection line and it had those bins. Oh. I had a P T O pump. So me explosion being eager to get after it and go after the fire, the, the flagging fire. Right. Uh, fired up the pt o pumping booms.

This is fucking, just goes popping out of the box, dude. I, that's was a lesson learned though. It was, it is. Yeah. So

Like the kids are freaking out trying to grab hoses, protect you, just throw 'em right into the shit. Yeah. And then training. Crank the, crank the pump up. And then as soon as they grab, I'm like, we got protection, we gotta burn. Like I'll hit that thing and just watch people just launch. And I'm like, man, I'm, it's be like, it sucks. Like, but it's good training because you never know when it's gonna happen. Like true.

I just make it more lifelike because I don't yell at the dudes that often. Like, don't you speak with a purpose thing? Right. Yeah. But like those guys when I'm like, where the fuck up? Like, we gotta move. Like we're getting the fires coming and. Really just trying to sell, like they know nothing's going on, but like, well Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: it's the intensity, right?

Yeah. You're trying to mimic that and there's no replication for some a situation that you would be in, right? Like there's no replicate for that except for when you're in it, right? Yeah. But if you can just turn up the stress, turn up the, the volume, turn up all the, I guess the heat of the moment, right? Mm-hmm. You get a lot of out of it. Yeah. Because now like those man those kids, they figured out like, you gotta open that box. You can't just turn the, can't go up there and go like that.

Cause they go boom, never. And then never You're getting that fucker Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: out. Yeah. Or it's gonna blow out the side of it. Like I, yeah. Yeah. Oops. Yeah. Which is awesome to see. But yeah, like you have to train those cuz you never know, you're not always gonna be with them either.

No. That's like, you can be walking away from the truck and be out like scouting shit and next thing you know, like they're having a moment down there like shit, hitting the fan and, and you know, luckily in this day, like we've trained our dudes well enough that hopefully we've trained 'em well enough, you know, that they're gonna be able to jump out and do their thing. That's the one nice thing with eop, like you guys go over it like crazy, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: so.

Mm-hmm. Well, that's another thing too about uh, eop I think people see that qual on people's red cards and they kind of overlook it. Especially like the forest service, right? Oh yeah. Cause they don't have it. They don't have it, right? Yeah, yeah. It's not a thing with Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: them.

The expectation though, I think there's a lot of value for the bureau land management, the EOP program, because if you look at that qual and then your captain and your F M O and everybody around you, the expectation of having that qual and being the EOP is that you are effectively the assistant. I mean, you are responsible and you're, say you had to go tie in with division or go like scout or whatever, the captain, right?

You were very much in charge of whoever else is on the, on the, on the truck. Right. That's your sa their safety is in your hands and your own, so it's

But you know, like it's, it's funny is like I make the dudes go and then they have to have the seasonals sit there and show me where everything is and know the n U us. Like where is everything on this truck? Mm-hmm. It's engrave. But yeah. Man, I think we're just a guy on the truck. Yeah. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. Well it's funny how you like move up in your career and like the less firefighting you actually do, it's like the more you move up, the less ops you do.

You're just like basically a paper bitch after a while. So

Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Oh yeah. But yeah man, the engine program is, it's pretty bitching for Nevada. I've had great experiences the entire time I've been, you know, with Nevada, I mean just in general, like it doesn't matter if it's hell attack or detailing with a crew or on engines or detailing with W n A. It's fun man. And I think there's a lot of opportunity on the engines to.

Explore different paths too, because sometimes you'll have a slow season, so maybe your second year or maybe shit, maybe even your first year. Sometimes you get to go detail with like a hali tech crew or go plug in with w n a and just like crew up and or do a task force role. Mm-hmm.

I don't want you to leave my program, but I want you to go fight fire and actually learn like, yeah, you can't just stay on this one thing. Like you need those exposure. You need to go work over here, you need to like do that. But I don't want you to leave, but I'm gonna just, Detail you out. Like, yeah, if the person falls in love and wants to leave, like, cool. Like Yeah. If you love it, respect. Let him go, man. Yeah. You let him go. And I mean, that's, and Elco is

But at the beginning of the year, this is painful for you, isn't it? Yeah. Well, last night he was trying to, he was talking to somebody like, Hey, come up. He's trying to poach your people. No, no, it wasn't my people, but I mean, I mean, if they wanted to go, I was like, yeah, go for it.

I mean, right place, right time, you know, and um, but I mean, you know, like there's few other places especially. At that point, like I feel like I would've been able to make that big of a leap and, and, you know, feel like, all right, I made the right decision. I'm, I'm making moves forward. So Yeah. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. Made the right decision to come to oco. Yeah. Well there's nothing truth behind that though.

It's like people don't wanna admit the fact that, that they have to move around to move up. Right. You have to, and that's one thing that's good about the engines. It gives you a, a, a, a good baseline of diversity and experience cuz you get to go do these things.

You get to go ic, single trees, you get a, probably a good chance to punch off your IC five pretty quickly, you know, just because the lightning storms and stuff that comes through here and get a lot of single trees and you're hiking into that thing and you're putting out, calling it in, getting those reps in. You have a lot of potential to get the experience on engines, but at the end of the day, you still need to move around to move

Mm-hmm. Um, you know, so I, I mean, still float around by home means, you know, network, get to know everybody, um, but, you know, find home, you know, and, and see what the opportunities look like and if they're not there, you know, there's always Elco, there's always Carson, there's always Vegas, there's always Eli, you know, I mean, we work great, I think as a state in whole, you know, just trying to work on this recruitment, retention and all that fun stuff that we did all winter.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. It was, it was an awesome, awesome to be a part of that. So, and I think, you know, again, like things like this are so valuable because, you know, like I'm talking with, um, you know, guys from Ruby Mountain Hot Shots yesterday and like, you know, about what they need and how we might be able to help and, you know, like, You know, just making those opportunities and creating those relationships.

Like, because like ultimately, you know, it, it is all Nevada BLM folks here, but you know, regardless of it was for service and BLM or whatever, like, we're all trying to do the same thing at the end of the day and we're all trying to progress forward and, and, you know, look out for our people and get 'em the best opportunities we can.

So, you know, like if, if I can kick somebody, you know, four hours away to Elko for, you know, two or three weeks to get that opportunity, then as long as I can make it work on my end, I'm gonna do it. It's, I'm gonna be a question. So, you know, but knowing that they need that is half the battle and, and you know, being able to communicate across the state is huge. Oh Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: yeah.

I think another thing that's, uh, beneficial about the engine programs too is like the flexibility. Like you guys, even you said it right? You have the ability to like grab somebody for two weeks. So if someone has a wedding to go to, Or if someone has like a birthday for their kid or like, I don't know, family reunion, whatever event. Right. You, you have a lot of flexibility built into that to where you can be like, Hey Drew, I gotta go for this, this wedding. Do you mind if I do this right?

But it seems like overall that there's a lot more respect for, uh, like, Personal stuff going on, there's a lot more leeway to go to those birthdays, those weddings, those blah blah, blah. Go see your son or daughter be born. Right. And I think that's a major change that's happened over the last maybe six, seven years. Yeah. Yeah. It's like that acceptance, you know,

You know, big part of his life is, you know, he's born, it's game changing. It's, it's, oh yeah. It's, you know, it, it was awesome to be able to be a part of that, you know, and, and know that. My engine back home is being covered and you know, I can forget about work for the six weeks. And that's a big thing. You don't have to drag it home. Exactly. So big changes for sure though.

And now I see these dudes, I get really jealous of like, you got how many days off? Like 12 weeks? Like what the, you know, like Yeah. I try not to talk about it too much. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Well, guess what? A couple thousand people are listening, so buckle up. But, but it is good though that they're thinking of that and like, and being more acceptable to like, you know, I'm the worst about it. I'm like, dude, you want. You want how many days off?

Like, no, dude, you get back to work, you take your two, let's go. But I'm getting more better. Like, more better. That's more better earth. Yeah. Um, but I'm getting better about it just because that's, it's bringing the dudes back to work. Yeah. Like going, keeping a happy team, man. And it's, you know, it's, it's a happy life if, if you're, you know, the happy wife, happy life, but how those guys need it. Yeah. You know, we have a, we have a very high divorce rate in the, in the fire service.

Like, people struggle in and it's, and if you don't know how to, like, can't have those battles, like Yeah. I mean, they're gonna lose the dude because, you know, he's like, I gotta quit. Like, fuck this out. Yeah. Or. I'm gonna lose it. He, because he's doesn't know how to handle that stress, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: you know, and like, or doesn't have the resources Yeah. That he knows about to get the help that he needs.

Yeah. Or they need, and so now we're, that's the best thing is we're transitioning and all that, and adapting

So, well that's another thing too, like you guys all have mentioned that is changed over time. Like that whole work life balance thing, the whole like taking care of our own, I mean, yeah. Everybody's got their different, like expectations of their employees and we all do, man. I'm expecting them to show up and work just as hard and just as long and be there and be present and all that stuff like that.

But then again, if I were to do it all over again, I would try and have, I would, I'd rather have what we have now that, that expectation of you being able to take that time off, be with your family. But I was thinking about this last night during the bowling thing and having some conversations with everybody and it's, it's because of the people in this room. It's like, you, you, you, you, everybody in that room, we set the pace for the new generation firefighters, right?

Yeah. It's, it's thanks to folks like us, not me. Obviously I'm a, just a dickhead with a microphone and a camera, but it's folks like us that have set the pace and made the new standard. So we say this new generation of firefighting and this new paradigm shift, but really was it us that implemented that? Because I think it's our generations. I mean, we're all about the same age. What, mid thirties, low forties. I think it's us that we kind of set that pace cuz we were vocal about it.

We talked to leadership. We directed and steered that. I don't know. It's, it's what it seems like to me. Well, and we saw, I mean, at least from my experience, like how many people left because those things weren't there. Like, it was a consequence of like, you know, this attrition that we're dealing with now is like, oh shit, we need to give people more time off.

Like, we need to, you know, understand like how taxing this is mentally, emotionally, you know, on families, on, on significant others. And like, you know, I'd like to think, yeah, we were ahead of the curve, but I don't think we were, I think, you know, in the last four years of been catch up of like, yeah, oh shit, we kind of fucked things up for, you know, what the shit that we brought up though. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, and you know, but hopefully, yeah, like we can smooth things out going forward. And like, I know for me, like a rule that I have with my wife is like, we try and take one trip a summer, in the middle of the summer to try and actually have a summer. And we've been doing that for a while and it's still uncomfortable every year when I have to go and ask for a week off in July, you know? And like, yeah. And that, that's just like a personal thing.

But if, if my guys ask for a week off, I'm be like, yeah, do it. Go for it. Yeah. And, and no question that's, yeah, it's not even an issue, but you know, like, just cause of the way, like, you know, the, the culture was, it's like my boss doesn't really care, you know, we'll figure it out, but like, cuz they, they ma they care about that too. But yeah, just the idea of having to do it, it's swallowing my own ego and pride.

Like, you know, like having to, uh, you know, decide between like your work life balance and putting your folks, you know, best interest ahead. So, yeah,

Like, like I think that's awesome that you take a week off every year. Like, I should try that, but I'm pretty sure like, I, like won't, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: you're too much of a busy body. You're gonna get stir crazy. Yeah. Well it's, it's just, it's been engraved in my head for Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: so many years and that's what the culture has like drilled into you, right? Yeah. I gotta make money between this month mm-hmm. And this month.

And that gets you through, like, I've worked year round since I started, but boom, those are the days that you gotta go make money. Yeah. And so it's, it's hard to break that after. So many seasons, like Yeah, for sure. But I'm really good at saying, yeah, you wanna take a day off Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: or Yeah. Do it. Yeah. But you're done taking care of yourself in the long run. Well, you're taking care of yourself, but maybe not during the summer. Right?

Yeah. Like taking those opportunities, like, but telling the boys, like when I just got a Texas warning from one of the guys, like, Hey, after our week in 4 0 1, can I take a couple days off? Yeah. I don't care, dude. Fuck. You know, go for it. Yeah. Like, why are you asking? Like, you know my answer? Like, yeah, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: we'll figure it out. Yeah. In the back end for staffing. Yeah. Like, oh, well you're gonna miss a couple days.

Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Like, there's ain't shit going on, man. It's, it's, yeah. And it's early. Everyone's getting geared up ready for the seasonals come on. But like he's going through the 4 0 1 program, which is all the college crap with me. So like, I get it, man. Like you want to take before the season starts to take and just reset, like Yeah, take a breather, man. Yeah. Like there's nothing against doing that.

Oh, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: sweet cover. I'll put out a single tree on the top of wherever it's Oh, yeah. It's fun shit. Oh yeah, exactly. You know? So I think that's where that push is. We're, you know, like, like we were saying is, we were, might have been behind the curb a little bit, but we're getting caught up. Yeah. Yeah. So, so last year, I, I took my week off with my wife. We went to Denver for like six days.

And, uh, there was a guy from the state office that was covering for me and, uh, you know, it was supposed to be at five days and then he ended up in Elco on severity for two weeks. Whoops. So, but he was stoked and, you know, the, the engine got out. So it was awesome. But yeah, it was just kind of funny, like, you know, it can be. Hey, come over for five days. Like, oh, actually we're going here, so hopefully you're good for 14.

Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: I'm glad you brought up that point though, cuz I think a lot of people don't talk about that, especially like from a leadership perspective, is that sacrifice you have to make because you do have to, it's, it's like the untalked about things like when you become a supervisor of some sort, any sort, right? You do have to keep your, your crew's best interests in mind and that requires a sacrifice from the captains man.

I mean, you have to fill in those gaps and yeah, you gotta make their money. Especially the seasonals man. Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you brought that up cuz I, yeah. That, that never comes up in a talk like conversation, really. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, shout out to my wife for, you know, putting up with your shit. Putting up with my shit and putting sometimes like, you know, guilty put work first, you know? Um, we all do.

We're all guilty. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: It's part of the culture, man. Yeah. And I, you know, I feel like, you know, that's just me doing my job and serving my guys a purpose for why they're there and why I'm there too. So, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: yeah. That's awesome man.

But, uh, I know you guys gotta get outta here pretty soon, so I'm gonna wrap this thing up, but, uh, just wanna say thank you guys for coming in and showing the, uh, the ropes for the, uh, B L M Nevada Engine Program and, uh, if you guys had any, like, tips on hiring or anything like that. I know you guys mentioned that a couple times about hiring, so if you guys got any tips or tricks for like a last, last little note there.

Yeah. Yeah, so I mean, what I would, you know, plug for all of Na Nevada would be, um, in vfi info uh, dot org. Um, so that's, you know, what we're trying to use as kind of our one-stop shop for, uh, you know, everything, fire information, um, you know, career information, uh, you know, any kind of resume application guidance. And, uh, you can go on there.

You know, if, if you are interested in fighting fire in Nevada, it's you've never fought fire or you know, you're in another state and you just want to kind of get an idea of what BLM Nevada's about, you can go on there. Click contact a recruiter, um, and schedule a time. And, you know, more than likely it'll be me, uh, Chris Weaver calling you and just having a conversation and seeing, you know, what's gonna be the best fit for you within the state or within our programs.

And, um, trying to help set you up for success. Um, you know, put you in touch with one of the districts if that's gonna be the best or if it's one of the crews or whatever. And, and just really, um, you know, help move the program forward from a statewide perspective. So, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: oh yeah. Anybody else got anything to add? My one thing you know is don't be afraid to show your face. You know, those district office doors are open Monday, the old school approach.

FaceTime. Yeah. Monday through Friday. Go to that front desk and say, Hey, I want to fight fire. They call one of us up there and we'll have that conversation with you. Well, if

I hate going there. Yeah. I just

Yep. Yeah. You're not like washed up and broke, like busted or

Yeah. Um, you know, the hope would be, you know, at least, uh, for the program here in Reno, like we can set them up so that if they want a career seasonal job, like basically outta high school, you know, we've put them on that path and then. Yeah. I mean, retire at 43. Like yeah, that's crazy. You know, like, and these kids

I'm like, okay, well come do my job. Well think about the like Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: life benefits, not everybody. Right? Think about the, like the development benefits of fire though you like rapidly accelerate in maturity in some regard. I mean, you do kind of make fart and dick jokes in the woods with like 20 of your best friends at the end of the day.

But I mean, as far as like maturity, as far as like figuring shit out, being self-sufficient, I mean it's, fire's made me who I am today and I'll take some of the lessons I've learned in fire for the rest of my life and I'll use them, apply 'em somewhere, right? It's made me who I am today. And I think that's something that's a good selling point to these young folks that are trying to get into fire is that it's going to make you more mature, it's going to make you responsible.

It's going to like push you towards a direction that's gonna be very beneficial to your life. Maybe I'm biased cuz I had firsthand experience and that's what my belief is. But I don't know, what are you guys thoughts on that? I

Like literally no such thing as a stupid question. Unless it's something that I already just told you. Yeah. Three seconds ago. Yeah, exactly. But you know what I mean. But I think nobody in this room, nobody in the state would, you know, you could, everybody's approachable. Yeah. So that's what I just respect the most about Nevada bm. Hell Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: yeah. Well guys, we're rolling to the end of the show. Definitely wanna say thank you once again.

Appreciate all you guys being out here and telling, uh, the world about the Nevada engine programs and yeah, it's definitely changed me. It's definitely been a fun time working with a lot of you guys, so it's been fun, but at the end of the show, always give the opportunity for shoutouts to homies, heroes, mentors. Started off, man. You know, I just, everybody that's still doing the job, everybody in this room, you know, including you for doing your time.

Um, you know, everybody that's still grinding, grinding through asses and elbows all the way through, man. Mm-hmm. Um, rocky times, but, you know, we're getting through it. There's light at the end of the tunnel. I'm super optimistic. Yeah, absolutely. And, uh, you know, hang in there and keep doing the good, good work and keep fighting the good fight. Oh, yeah, Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: yeah. I

Oh yeah. Yeah. Tough losing to fuels people. Yeah. Boom. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Come on Labunski, you're over the line. I know, man. Donny, Lisa, Lisa, Sarah from

And if you haven't talked to your friends in a while, your homies just, yeah, give 'em a shout and check in. Cuz man, that's, uh, something I've learned over the last couple years is really important, both for myself and others, but, uh, Yeah, and just plug it again if, if you're interested in, uh, talking with anybody about BM Nevada, Nevada fire info.org, and we'll, uh, be happy to chat with you. So thanks. Anchor Point Podcast Host, Brandon Dunham: Oh, yeah. Well, thanks guys. Appreciate it.

Let's move on to the next one. Thank you. Thanks. Yep. Thanks later guys. And boom, there we go. Ladies and gentlemen. Another episode of the Anchor Point podcast is in the books with my good friends, Austin Lee, out of Winnemucca Truet Anderson, out of Elie, Ellie Cria, out of Elco, and Chris Weaver out of the Carson City District, BLM in the state of Nevada here. Guys, thank you so much for being on the show and sharing your insight.

And, uh, guess, uh, shedding a light onto some of the little things that the, uh, beer of line management does here in Nevada with the engine program. One of those things that are pretty damn unique is that hover fill operation that's, uh, Yeah, yeah, I've done it a ton of times. It's really effective. Yeah, it's super cool.

But if you, uh, have some, uh, info that you want to be answered while you can reach out to those folks, I'll, uh, drop some information in the, uh, show notes and like, uh, I believe that was, uh, cria saying that, but if you wanna find out more, go to Nevada fire info.org and you can get a wrap on everything. BLM fire. It's pretty awesome. So hope everybody's doing well. Hope everybody's geared up and ready to get some for the, uh, 2023 season.

It looks like it's, uh, off to a mediocre start, but we'll see what the, uh, future holds. I know we don't have a, uh, crystal ball, but I wish we did, but then it wouldn't be fun. Anyways, special shout out to our sponsors. We've got Mystery Ranch makers of the finest damn packs in the fire game. Go over to www.mysteryranch.com and check out the backbone series. You got until the end of this month, May 30th, first, 31st to submit your story. To get one of those $1,000 scholarships.

We've got the Ass Movement, my boy Booze, running the Ass Movement, the Antier Shooting Movement. Get, uh, 10% off your entire order over@www.thefirewall.com and check out the ass movement while you're there. And Anchor Point, ask 10 is the code that you're looking for at checkout. So we have Hotshot Brewery, of course, purveyors of Kick ass Coffee for a kick ass.

Cause if you want to, uh, go get some schwag or some coffee or some other tools, the trade to get your morning started off right, go over to www.hotshotbrewing.com and check it out. And then last but not least, Not really a sponsor, but I totally love her mission. We've got the wildfire experience, the American wildfire experience, aka a the Smokey generation. So if you have a story, it's compelling, submit your story, you have an opportunity to win one of those $500 grants to tell your story.

Pretty awesome. Go to www.wildfireexperience.org and check it out. Y'all know the drill. Stay safe, stay savage. Peace.