Tag: women firefighters
#111, Control Your Command Climate
In wildland firefighting we talk alot about the weather. Weather has a huge impact upon our operations in the field. We also talk about the changing climate and how our seasons are longer, fuels drier and fires lasting longer and growing bigger. But we don’t often talk about the command climate in our workplace. And […]
#106, Do We Need A National Wildland Fire Service?
Currently in congress and in the Whitehouse, there is more than just talk about combining the 5 federal wildland fire agencies into one organization. There is a draft executive order floating around but more importantly there is language in the budget bill to move all of us under one organization within the Dept of Interior. […]
#105, Preparing for the Crazy Unexpected
What’s the craziest unexpected occurance that’s happened to you at an incident or responding to an incident? Was it critical enough that you had to change your plans. The crew of this type 4 engine never made it to their smoke report. Their plans definately changed and so did their local Battalion or Division. We […]
#104, Do What I Didn’t Do… If You Like Breathing
Two weeks ago, I lost my long time friend, mentor and type 1 Incident Commander to a work related illness. He died after being sick for a couple years. Those last two years for him were not good ones. And his illness was the result of our Incident Management Teams deployment to the World Trade […]
#103, Why Care About Diversity?
There is alot of talk about DEI these days. Much of it is not accurate and much of it implies affirmative action… which is not DEI. In the fire service we will work with lots of different kinds of people. Some from the big city, some from small towns. We’ll work with liberals and conservatives, […]
#102, Some Truths About The LA Fires
There are lots of emotions right now about the fires in LA. And there should be. Thousands of people are forced from their home and many of those will come back to nothing but devastation. But let us not fall into the trap of believing simple answers about why this fire is happening and why […]
#101, What We Permit, We Promote
Do you get tired of the topic of workplace bullying? I sure get tired of talking about it. But you know what? It’s still going on. It wasn’t long ago that an east coast female firefighter committed suicide due to bullying at the fire department. Actually there have been two in the last couple years. […]
#101, What We Permit, We Promote
Do you get tired of the topic of workplace bullying? I sure get tired of talking about it. But you know what? It’s still going on. It wasn’t long ago that an east coast female firefighter committed suicide due to bullying at the fire department. Actually there have been two in the last couple years. […]
#100, It’s More Than The Money
A fulfilling job brings joy and a sense of purpose, making time at work fly. Conversely, losing passion can diminish performance and satisfaction. This universal experience affects various professions, highlighting the importance of discussing job fulfillment with peers. Explore these feelings and reflections in Episode 100 of BobbieOnFire.com.
#99, What If You Call For Help And No One Comes?
The US Forest Service faces a significant loss of firefighters, primarily due to low wages, making federal wildland firefighters some of the lowest paid in the country. Listeners are encouraged to support these firefighters by joining advocacy groups and unions to help address their challenges as they prepare for difficult times ahead.
#98, How Should We Honor Our Fallen Firefighters?
The author reflects on the emotional nature of fallen firefighter memorial ceremonies, prompted by the re-dedication of the Dude Fire Memorial. They ponder the absence of traditional elements at the original dedication and express strong opinions on honoring fallen firefighters. The audience is invited to contribute to this discussion.
#97, Are You Used To Risk?
Have you gotten used to being in risky situations? Maybe things that seemed risky when you were less experienced, don’t seem so bad anymore. Is that because now you’re more knowledgable and are aware of the mitigations being taken for your safety? Or maybe it’s because you’ve done something so many times that it just […]
#96, Don’t Chase Your Reputation
Have you ever had a problem with your reputation? I have. I had long and successful career in the fire service and yet I’ve had plenty of times when people spread rumors about me. Some of those negative stories were true. But some of them were absolutely false. What should I have done about it? […]
#95,Questions Aren’t a Threat, They’re the Answer!
Sometimes, we as leaders think an employees question is a threat to our authority. They may be trying to learn, but their curiosity can be squashed by how we respond. Our body language and the words we use are critical. You might not realize it but you have a direct impact on your organizations learning […]
#91, How Firefighting Changed Me – This Is No Joke
If you’re a firefighter, have you ever felt isolated from those friends and family members who aren’t firefighters? I never realized how different I was until I retired and wasn’t around as many firefighters. I would anxiously wait until some of my firefighter friends showed up for a visit. Being around my firefighter friends made […]
#89, The Presidents Budget and Federal Wildland Firefighters
Todays podcast is an interview with Riva Duncan, the Vice President of the Grassroots Wildland Firefighters Organization. She’ll talk about the Presidents proposed 2024 budget and all that it might mean for our federal wildland firefighters as well as the promised permanent changes in pay grades and job classifications. Tune in and hear the latest […]
#87, How Are Your Leadership Skills In A Crises?
Many of us are formal leaders. Some of us are informal leaders. Maybe we aspire to a higher leadership role. But all of us are leaders in some way or another. But even experienced formal leaders may not have been tested during a crises. It all depends on the kinds of jobs we have and […]
#86, KJZZ and KLCC Radio Interviews
An interview by KJZZ in AZ and KLCC in Oregon. I’m just one of 3 writers who were interviewed for the Arizona interview. Share the links if you find the interview worthwhile. Thanks for listening all. What do an Old West fantasy/mystery novel, a former transgender firefighter and NaNoWriMo have in common? Find out on […]
#85, The Nevada Burn Queen
I don’t know about you, but in my career some things just stand out like they happened yesterday. This story happened 22 years ago but it I still remember some odd details and it still makes me smile and miss “the good old days.” I made some good friends and work relationships on this fire. […]
#83, Upcoming Book Readings and Signings
If you’re in an area that I’ll be visiting for a reading or a signing, I’d love to see you there. There will be more in the future, but here is what’s scheduled for the next few weeks. Thanks for listening to the stories and and if you read my book, feel free to send […]
#82, Get Yourself Some Cheap SunGlasses…. Oh Yea!
If you’re going to push the rules, you better know exactly what they are…. even when it comes to sunglasses. And you should be really good at your job and valuable to your employer too. Today’s story is a comical recollection of a time when I pushed the rules and culture of my fire department. […]
#81, My Interview on “Life With Fire”
If you’re a visitor to my website, you already know about my book. Of course, the book isn’t on store shelves until September 5th, 2022. But the lead in information for the book is already on this site. So you probably already know that I’m not only a retired firefighter, a hilarious storyteller and a […]
#78, What Goes On Behind The Radio
As wildland firefighters, we often have no idea about what goes on behind the scenes in dispatch. If you’re not a wildland firefighter, you might not have any idea just how complex the work can be. Getting a helicopter or an extra crew on a small fire might seem like it should be a simple […]
#76, I Want Ice Cream!
Sometimes while fighting fires or just working with your crew, we have an opportunity to make a difference in their lives. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. Small things can make a difference too. If you listened to episode #64, you heard how I was able to get some of my SRV crews […]
# 75, One Thing Good Leaders Do
Leadership can be difficult. It can cause the leader to second guess themselves and question if they’re doing the right thing. Today we have two stories. The first one is a good example of both me and my fire chief not doing that “one good thing”. The second story is an example of the good […]
#74, Does Anyone Really Care?
Diversity in our firefighting workforce sounds like just another politically motivated issue. And there are some who may try to pick up the torch and run with it just to help “their side.” But the issue isn’t about politics. It’s about service to the public. How do we as fire service professionals provide the very […]
#72, My 3 Alarm Summer
In my life, I’ve experienced some pretty crazy incidents. Like all of us, many of those stressful events and emergency incidents don’t always occur on the fireground. We all have plenty of personal stress and trauma in our lives. Many years ago, it hit me all in one month. I had 2 significant emotional events […]
#71, No Matter What… Make It Sound Good On The Radio!
Years ago, I worked for a Battalion Chief who was a great mentor for me. I was a new Captain and didn’t have much support from the other officers on the fire department, let alone support from a Chief officer. But my Battalion Chief gave me some real pearls of wisdom. He had two that […]
#69, If You Think People Might Be Watching You… They Are!
Sometimes we think no one is watching us. But in reality, someone is always watching. Whether you’re a firefighter on a crew or engine, or you’re a Captain or Chief, someone is always watching you. That doesn’t mean it’s like big brother looking over your shoulder all the time. It’s just the way it is. […]
#68, What Does it Mean to Lead Up?
If you google “Leading Up”, you’ll find a hundred of books on the subject. But for this retired fire chief, it’s a relatively new term compared to when I started reading about leadership and attending leadership courses in the 1970s and 80s. But I susggest you read up on the subject if you haven’t already. […]
#67, Home Safety Tips From Two Knuckleheads
I used to tell my firefighters that if it weren’t for people’s mistakes, we wouldn’t have jobs. There’s a lot of truth to that statement. People make mistakes and end up having to call 911. Thanks to my friend Ann, today we get to hear a couple stories of mistakes that could have had tragic […]
#66, Hi, I’m Bobbie and I’m a Knucklehead
If you’ve listened to many of my stories, you’ve probably heard me refer to my beloved co-workers as knuckleheads. Well, we’re all knuckeheads sometimes. In this weeks story I’ll prove to you a few times that I was certainly one. The easier and quicker we are to admit it, the better it is for us. […]
#64 – Leadership, Little Things Have a Big Impact
Often times in life, it’s the little things we do that are remembered. As a leader, we have to be aware that what we say and how we behave can have a big impact on our employees. And how we make our employees feel about us as their leader will effect their job performance and […]
#61- Drive Through Service at the Fire Station
Firefighters will recognize what might seem like unusual or unique situations to the public becomes common place for emergency responders. The public might not realize just how often weird things happen. But for firefighters, that’s our bread and butter. Poor decisions and whacky behavior is what gives us job security. if everyone behaved maturely and […]
#60 – WTF, (Where’s The Fire?)
If you’ve listened to many of my stories, you know that there is always a surprise right around the corner. If you’re a firefighter, you know how surprising some of the calls we all respond to can be. You NEVER really know what you’re likely to find once you arrive on scene. No two calls […]
#58 – The Cost Of Erratic Human Behavior
This week’s title could fill volumes of books about how “erratic human behavior” costs society in so many ways. You might think fighting fire is a pretty straight forward operation. I think it used to be simpler. Or maybe it seemed that way because when I held positions lower down in the organization I didn’t […]
#57 – These Are The Good Old Days
Romanticizing the past is pretty normal for all of us. I hear myself doing it when I’m complaining about changes to the neighborhood where I grew up. Sport Bitching (Episode #28) done in moderation can be cathartic if it isn’t taken to extremes. But in the fire service (both wildland and structural) talking about the […]
#55 – If You’re Feeling Overwhelmed, You’re Not Alone
Today feels weird and disorienting to me. Well, It’s been feeling weird and disorienting for a few weeks. The images above probably give you the topics that are making me feel odd. Tomorrow is the 19 year anniversary of the attacks on New Your City. You may have listened to some of my stories from […]
#54 – Ode To A Firefighter and His Ham Sandwich
About a month ago my good friend Mark Sigrist passed away. He worked for the US Forest Service for many years and was an experienced firefighter and Operations Section Chief. When I first became an Ops Chief myself, Mark was the senior Ops Chief on my team and mentored me in his own classic style. […]
#53 – California Fires-Raking The Forest
There’s more to the discussion about California wildfires than just raking the forest floor.
#52 – Sleeping On The Job, Life At Fire Camp
Scenes from Fire Camps Living and sleeping at large wildfires can be challenging. This year with the Covid virus it’s even more challenging. But this week’s story is about sleeping in a busy fire camp. I’ve also included a few pictures from a fire camp for those of you who might not have ever had […]
#50 – F Bombs Away
Today’s story is about different communications styles in our work environment. I can’t tell this story without using the actual colorful language that you might hear around the fire ground. So I apologize if my language offends anyone. If you have tender ears, you might want to bypass this week’s story. For those of you […]
#49 – Don’t Have the Fish
Folks everywhere are stressed right now with the threat of Covid virus and everything else going on, so I thought I’d tell a couple of stories that should make you laugh and distract you from the news. As I’ve mentioned in my earlier stories, the public doesn’t really know what goes on at the scene […]
#46 – YOU Can and Should Protect Your Home From Wildfire
While I’m comfortably sitting here on my boat writing the introduction for this week’s story, thousands of firefighters are working hard to extinguish major wildfires throughout the southwestern US as well as Utah and Nevada. Before the summer season is over, thousands more will be deployed to large fires across California, Oregon, Washington and the […]
#45 – The Hardest Part of Fighting Fire Is…
In my experience, the public and even firefighters themselves have a miopic view of the challenges facing firefighters on the fireground. They see the obvious dangers from fire. They don’t realize that sometimes there are other equally dangerous pitfalls awaiting us. There are critical challenges we have to deal with on fires that go beyond […]
#43- Hilarious Hijinks at Fire Station Knucklehead
After the last week of social unrest and violence, I thought I would lighten the mood a little with a short story of life around the fire station. I am definitely not calling all firefighters knuckleheads but… well sometimes we can be a bit immature. It comes from working hard and often under stressful conditions. […]
#40 – Burning by the Seat of my Pants – My First Controlled Burn
Among older and retired firefighters, I often hear about the “Good ‘Ol Days”. “Why by god… back when we could… bla bla bla.” There are lots of things that were pretty cool about the Good ‘Ol Days. Back then we could ride on the tailboard of a fire engine. That was fun. Of course firefighters […]
#34- Smoky Pig
As I write the introduction to today’s story, the United States and really the whole world is captive to the Corona Virus Pandemic Anxiety Syndrome or CVPAS. (I had to make up an acronym since I’ve spent over 40 years working in government.) I’m not suggesting we don’t have anything to be concerned about. On […]
#33- I Swear, I’m Not an Arsonist!
In my career I’ve had some unique experiences. One of them is the number of times I’ve been nearby when a fire has broken out. In a previous story you might have listened to the time I was near a fire start in the city of Sacramento. Well, I’ve had many similar experiences when I […]
#32- Hawaiian Luau on the Fireline
Around 2000 I was assigned to a large fire in the northern Sierras as a Division Supervisor. On this particular fire I had multiple 20 person fire crews as well as many fire engines working for me. This story is about one of those fire crews who were from Hawaii. They were a great crew […]
#31- Ants Hate Me
No really… they really hate me. Or maybe they just love the way I taste. But regardless, I’ve had some bad experiences with ants. Especially in my first 6 or 7 years of firefighting when at least once a summer I’d have an episode of being bitten or stung or just attacked by big red […]
#30- Hey Baby, Ya Got a Nice Bumper
How we react to tough and challenging situations at work can determine our successes and failures. It’s not always easy to know how to respond to bullies and negative people who can have a direct impact upon our lives and careers. Sometimes we’re dealing with a boss who is the bully and sometimes we have […]
#28 – Sport Bitching
In the fire service I’ve often said that the worst thing that can happen to a well functioning crew with good attitude is having no fires or no emergency calls. Even though we always had lots of work to do around the station or out on projects, the attitude would sink into the toilet when […]
#25 – Overdressed in California
As I’ve often mentioned on this site, you never know what’s going to happen in the course of your day, week, career or even your life. Today’s story is about a time when I was minding my own business and thought I was going to have a nice evening having dinner with an old family […]
#24 – Into the Darkness, Saving the Boy in the Abyss
In life you never know if you might be called upon to help fix a bad situation. You might not have any expertise to resolve it, but you’re it! You’re all there is. In this week’s story I’ll relate an experience when I was a responsible for rescuing a young boy from an abandoned mine. […]
#22 – Trusting Your Gut
During our lives we’ll have many instances when we have the opportunity to listen to the little voice we hear coming from the back of our mind. We often want to make decisions based on clear facts. You know… Just the facts mam nothing but the facts. But in reality our decision making is a […]
#20 – Lost in the Pines!!!!
Back when technology wasn’t exactly at our fingertips in the fire engine or command truck, we used old fashioned maps to find our way to emergencies. Having a hard copy map in your hand was always comforting but there is lots of room for human error. And if you’ve listened to more than one of […]
#16 – Flying Bodies
When we see a multiple fire engines, police cars and ambulances at the scene of a minor accident, it’s easy to criticize. Since we don’t know what’s going on, we assume all those resources are unnecessary. The problem is we really don’t know and they don’t either until their arrive on scene to see what […]