00:00:00:00 – 00:00:06:18
Speaker 2
Homeless, beaten, molested, drug addicted parents, you name it. It’s kind of happened to me growing up.
00:00:06:18 – 00:00:17:12
Unknown
Heavy stuff from our guest today, Captain Peyton Owens from DeKalb County fire Rescue in metro Atlanta. He shares his plan for how to fix what he calls a brother hood problem.
00:00:17:12 – 00:00:20:09
Unknown
He shares tips for how to master apartment fires.
00:00:20:09 – 00:00:26:22
Speaker 2
So victims for one, I don’t know the layout of this, but if we’re putting a dart gun through that window
00:00:26:22 – 00:00:30:02
Unknown
It’s episode two of the fully Involved podcast.
00:00:32:17 – 00:00:38:12
Speaker 1
Peyton, you are a I like to call you the ringleader of the Atlanta firefighting scene.
00:00:38:12 – 00:00:45:15
Speaker 1
first of all, let’s just talk about your origin story. How did you get involved in the fire service and of your roots in the Atlanta area?
00:00:45:17 – 00:01:00:06
Speaker 2
Yeah. So, the whole social media thing, it all this story ties in together, and I’ll try my best not to make it long. But I don’t even like social media. Like, it’s just one of those things I didn’t like. But
00:01:00:06 – 00:01:08:18
Speaker 2
we have to adapt to change, right? And you have to reach to youth. And nowadays you hear a lot of people complain about the youth and they say, oh, these young kids are coming in.
00:01:08:18 – 00:01:28:15
Speaker 2
They don’t know this. They don’t know that. Well, they learn different than you did. We had encyclopedias that that we can look information up. Now you pull your phone out of your pocket and you can look it up right now. So the whole millennial arguments, dumb to me because Gen Xers raised millennials, so you only have yourself to blame and so on and so on.
00:01:28:17 – 00:01:29:10
Speaker 2
So
00:01:29:10 – 00:01:44:12
Speaker 2
I really got plugged in, hard on social media last year, and it’s all for my love of wanting to push the brotherhood forward. And, that stems from childhood.
00:01:44:12 – 00:02:02:23
Speaker 2
So I grew up, very poor. Homeless, beaten, molested, drug addicted parents, you name it. It’s kind of happened to me growing up. We lived in a for LTT for a few years, public housing, trailer parks, you name it.
00:02:03:03 – 00:02:25:00
Speaker 2
It’s it’s that happened to me. You know, my my parents, you know, the product of, the 70s. My mom was 15, my father was 17. They were young, didn’t really know what to do. You know, just stuff where, father put me in the trunk of a car when they went to the crack house one time, he forgot about me.
00:02:25:01 – 00:02:49:17
Speaker 2
He remembered five days later and came back and got me, so at 16, worked a third shift job, finished up high school, went out, moved out on my own. And, my wife and I had a child earlier. I was 21. She was 19. And, we both said, hey, we got to do something different. We get we’re bringing a child into this.
00:02:49:19 – 00:03:10:18
Speaker 2
We both are the first ones in our family to have a high school education. Insurance with a job, a 400 1KA college education. So we we broke the cycle, so we thought she went into nursing. She is a DNP. She is so much smarter than me. And I don’t deserve her but known each other our entire lives.
00:03:10:20 – 00:03:31:02
Speaker 2
I needed to do something, and, 911 happened. And growing up the way I did, I wanted people to look at me the way I looked at these heroes. And so I got into the fire service, and I thought that I had beaten the odds, broke the cycle of what? My family was here. I’ve got this great job.
00:03:31:02 – 00:03:55:23
Speaker 2
The best job in the entire world as a firefighter. And to go and solve people’s problems was awesome for me. Right? And so I’m in the service for several years. 2017 rolls around. We had some stuff happen. Unfortunately, my wife’s grandparents were killed by her cousin, and, he did some brutal things, but I had to break that news to her.
00:03:56:01 – 00:04:18:20
Speaker 2
Two days later, her Achilles tendon ruptured and she had to have surgery and was bedridden for 12 weeks. And, so and doing all that, I went on FMLA. This was in February of 17 and March of 17. I had not received a phone call in four weeks from anyone checking on me. How are you doing? What’s going on?
00:04:18:22 – 00:04:40:05
Speaker 2
Finally got a phone call from my company officer, but his first statement out of his mouth was I said hello. Hey, when are you coming back to work? One that’s illegal. You’re on FMLA, and two, how unethical I was. I was devastated, I hung up the phone, didn’t even say anything, I was devastated, I thought I had broken the odds.
00:04:40:07 – 00:05:03:13
Speaker 2
You know, beat life at its own game. Hand me, handed me all these things, and I made lemonade out of it. Right. And this job that I loved, that I thought I was a part of, a brotherhood was. And letting me down. And so I stayed out for six months, got my man right, talked with my wife, decided to go back and, she said, are you sure?
00:05:03:13 – 00:05:24:12
Speaker 2
I said, yes, and the reason I went back because I never wanted anything like that to happen to anyone again. So if I ever hear of a fireman out or a notice I had seen them at work, I call and check on them. I want to be that one phone call that that says there is a brotherhood. And, that’s where being a part of our local union comes from.
00:05:24:14 – 00:05:52:00
Speaker 2
I’m passionate about their teaching, instructing, Metro Atlanta Fools, our fundraising platform brothers serving brothers. And, that’s why I’m plugged in is, because I want people to know the brotherhood is alive. It’s here. It’s okay to take a picture and posted on social media. It’s okay to be passionate about this job and and to want to do it and be proud of and wear a t shirt.
00:05:52:02 – 00:05:56:05
Speaker 2
But all that being said, you got to put in the work.
00:05:56:07 – 00:06:07:01
Speaker 1
Well, first of all, mic drop and the interview right there. Can anybody thank you so much for sharing that. It’s that is heavy and beautiful and.
00:06:07:03 – 00:06:08:08
Speaker 2
Well, thank you.
00:06:08:10 – 00:06:11:15
Speaker 1
Again. It takes guts to be that.
00:06:11:17 – 00:06:12:10
Speaker 2
Yes, sir.
00:06:12:12 – 00:06:14:16
Speaker 1
And you’ve got the biggest biceps of anybody here.
00:06:14:21 – 00:06:17:01
Speaker 2
Yeah, I don’t know about that, but.
00:06:17:03 – 00:06:42:22
Speaker 1
I just think that that’s a cool example that tough guys can in. Thank you for us. When it comes to the technical part for the job, tell me just a little bit about what it means to be at Camp Tony. Firefighter. Give me a look back at the face for kind of what the Camp Tony is. What kind of building construction, how many, stations are in?
00:06:43:02 – 00:06:48:00
Speaker 1
You know, the county just what are some of the ABC? Yeah, camp fire front.
00:06:48:02 – 00:07:09:13
Speaker 2
So one, we’re we’re top tier in Georgia, and everybody should think that about their department and their station and their battalion and their crew and their shift. You know, it just keeps trickling down. You should have the best crew on the best shift in the best battalion at the best department in the best state. And so, I truly believe that about the cab county.
00:07:09:13 – 00:07:30:01
Speaker 2
We have a long, rich history here in Georgia. The metro Atlanta falls were brought in by a DeKalb County firefighter, several DeKalb County firefighters, but once specifically Bill Craddick, he brought it in in 2000, and he died in the line of duty in 2006. And he taught firefighter safety and survival and RIT. He was very passionate about that.
00:07:30:07 – 00:07:48:07
Speaker 2
And we’ve continue that tradition and still teach his class today through metro Atlanta Falls. But, DeKalb just has a long history of hard nosed, just down and dirty firefighters. Right. We’re.
00:07:48:12 – 00:07:49:17
Speaker 1
Complex.
00:07:49:19 – 00:08:15:16
Speaker 2
Everything. So we have everything from Dunwoody all the way down to to, Stonecrest Stone mountain area, 270mi². We have 26 stations. We have about 750 firefighters, three shifts. We still run 2448. We are I think we have two quints left, so we’re phasing those out. Our trucks don’t have pumps anymore that are coming in.
00:08:15:18 – 00:08:34:03
Speaker 2
You just got two new tillers. We had the first southern TDA to be built since, like the early 80s, when they got back in the TDA game, it was here at FDIC on the showroom floor three years ago. That is the truck I ride on at station 23. Best station in DeKalb County. Best truck crew. Best engine crew.
00:08:34:05 – 00:08:59:15
Speaker 2
They’re absolutely wonderful. They’re all passenger. They want to learn, they want to go to fires. And. Look, we don’t want anybody. Stuff destroyed. But if a fire happens, we want to be the ones who show up. And, DeKalb does have a pretty significant heavy fire. Load my apartment. Our my territory has 82 apartment complexes in it, which is why we have a tiller.
00:08:59:17 – 00:09:21:23
Speaker 2
We have 107 different languages. So it’s, the number two area in the country where refugees come over outside of Seattle. And then Utah is right up there with us in Clarkston, Georgia. Vertical apartment. Yeah. So, we have everything from your garden style to your two, three split, two on the front, three on the back.
00:09:22:01 – 00:09:47:09
Speaker 2
The majority of stuff is breezeway, but we do have a lot that, that are three story and has a stairwell in the front, but you can only access the other side from from the Charlie side. So we ride our territory a lot. We hose stretch a lot. You know, getting the younger guys to be able to judge that distance, choose the right hand line.
00:09:47:11 – 00:10:18:19
Speaker 2
The right nozzle, whether it be a smoothbore fog nozzle. Yes. So I’m a fog nozzle guy straight from the start, you know, that is more so my nozzle of choice. Especially if it’s in the attic, then, I definitely, definitely want to choose, a fog nozzle, but with Sean Gray teaching me a lot of things with Ewell and things like that, you know, going down a hallway with a fog nozzle and 30 degree pattern cover covering floor, ceiling and walls.
00:10:18:21 – 00:10:42:21
Speaker 2
They do show studies. If it’s just a room and content that’s ventilated. Yes, you do push heat and smoke out, but we can, you know, effect a victim’s airway in the room next over. So, I think a fog nozzle is still a good choice if we can start getting in and compartmentalizing things first. And, that just kind of goes and starts.
00:10:42:23 – 00:10:44:19
Speaker 2
That’s a good thing.
00:10:44:21 – 00:11:02:15
Speaker 1
So I’m curious. You know, I love to get kind of, glimpse inside your brain. I love talking to people who are so passionate about this. I’d love to show you a video and just kind of let you do, like, a John Madden. And if you’re going to, you know, we’re talking about two, three story apartment buildings.
00:11:02:15 – 00:11:24:11
Speaker 1
This is a very familiar problem. The firefighters, experience. Not everybody is in New York with 100 story building. Most of America is going to be an apartment fire on the second floor. So tell me, where does your eye immediately go to this fire here. Is that the smoke? Is it the flames or what are you reading in this situation?
00:11:24:13 – 00:11:45:19
Speaker 2
So pulling up on on this, My eyes, the flames are the flames. I don’t need to look at them. They’re they’re already blowing out. My big thing is this Ave here coming up. Smoke blowing out, kind of covering up. It’s already in the attic. It’s trying to bust out of the attic, and, that’s that’s where my eyes are going to.
00:11:45:19 – 00:11:59:07
Speaker 2
Windows open. Is vented fires coming out? It is what it is. I don’t need to look at that. I don’t need to get caught up in that. I need to get caught up in where the fire is not yet, and try to get there and stop it from spreading. We see it coming out of the, the roof here.
00:11:59:07 – 00:12:24:10
Speaker 2
So for me, this is a fog nozzle all day long going in and dropping rock and. But because in an attic, if it’s if it’s starting to burn through as we get there and I take a smoothbore up there, that solid stream is going to go through that hole and water the grass and, you know, as this aerial ops, this area right here spraying the line, and it’s just going to shoot out.
00:12:24:12 – 00:12:47:06
Speaker 2
And we’re not we’re not getting the conversion that we need. And in an attic, could there be life of there? Absolutely. Firemen could play the game their favorite game. What if they’re second favorite game is I would have but I would want to go up, drop sheet rock and and get, 30, 45 degree fog up in there and create create more steam, smaller water
00:12:47:06 – 00:12:53:21
Speaker 2
droplets, get in there and put this thing out and keep it from spreading, which when it looks like they’re doing, they’re getting good conversion.
00:12:55:01 – 00:13:06:04
Speaker 1
Tell me about, What monitor what you’re using monitor in that situation, Brown or Decker either. Either. Neither.
00:13:06:06 – 00:13:16:10
Speaker 2
So victims for one, I don’t know the layout of this, but if we’re putting a dart gun through that window and we’re talking thousands of games and a lot of RPS.
00:13:17:03 – 00:13:40:08
Speaker 2
And we hit a victim with that, or we knock down loose debris or a cabinet, a dresser, and we blow it into these, these victims and hurt them. That’s we’re not doing our job. And so if we could get a crew in there and start putting water and clear search and put a line in place to hold the fire back, clear a search, and then if we needed to go to that gun.
00:13:40:08 – 00:13:48:17
Speaker 2
Cool. But, we we definitely. I don’t like putting that gun through a window until I can confirm there’s no victims inside.
00:13:48:21 – 00:13:50:12
Speaker 1
What’s one of the biggest mistakes
00:13:50:12 – 00:13:55:17
Speaker 1
that you see young firefighters made of a three story apartment?
00:13:55:18 – 00:14:29:16
Speaker 2
Is clearing the structure first. Like, we get so small to a flame, we go to a lot of apartment, to fires in the cab. Just like Chicago’s great at high rise. We’re great. We’re we’re we’re probably one of the best. We are the best at apartment fires in the southeast. No doubt we go to a lot of them, and we cut them off early, but, getting the the rest of the victims or potential victims, residents out of their homes and cutting that thing off in the attic, lot of common attics and apartments.
00:14:29:18 – 00:14:40:13
Speaker 2
And people want to go to see the fire instead of getting something open and a breezeway, cut the path of clear the structure and then going and start and trying to take that fire.
00:14:40:15 – 00:14:54:22
Speaker 1
What kinds of water mapping discussions do you have over time? Why don’t you close with strong grace and sort of the school of thought? You mentioned, you said 30 degree angle.
00:14:54:22 – 00:14:59:07
Speaker 2
Was that a 30 degree fog? Yeah. You know.
00:14:59:09 – 00:15:04:01
Speaker 1
Tell me about an angle of attack. How does that come into play head on?
00:15:04:02 – 00:15:27:16
Speaker 2
Like, we don’t stretch draw hose lines for sure. I’m not a big slowing as you’re going. I think it can slow you down, but, we want we want that line charge, and I want a direct hit on attack. Conditions warrant. We start seeing fire fingers or snakes, whichever you call them in your region.
00:15:27:19 – 00:15:49:05
Speaker 2
We got to open that. We got to open that barrel up. And, you know, we know that there’s no cases of firemen that’s died with an open belt in a flashover because it can’t flashover. Right. And so, getting to the scene of the fire as quickly as possible with that nozzle, I don’t care which nozzle you use.
00:15:49:05 – 00:15:52:02
Speaker 2
Get to see the fire.
00:15:52:03 – 00:16:05:06
Speaker 1
So looking at the other end of the equation, tell me about water supply. Is there some time you can remember where the hydrants either failed or you have low pressure? Or tell me about supply issues.
00:16:05:08 – 00:16:07:20
Speaker 2
So, yes.
00:16:07:22 – 00:16:09:16
Speaker 1
Do you respond in, in rural calls.
00:16:09:18 – 00:16:29:12
Speaker 2
So I don’t but I do like a part time where, have shuttled I’ve done shuttle operations. I actually have a video of me pulling up on a old, Freightliner mid mount, and, we drafted from the swimming pool and hit it with a deck gun. Thanksgiving of 23.
00:16:29:13 – 00:16:31:08
Speaker 1
What was the key to making that happen?
00:16:32:09 – 00:16:34:20
Speaker 1
How did you how did you get water from the swimming pool?
00:16:34:22 – 00:16:59:11
Speaker 2
Drafting. Right. Yeah. So we just pulled in the backyard and, through two sections of, hard suction hose over and. No, no, no, no, I put a little strainer on it, but tied a break to it there, and it was just there to cap it down. And, we went about it that way. But, we do have a barber and complex in the cab where we don’t maintain their hydrant.
00:16:59:11 – 00:17:15:19
Speaker 2
So once it gets into that private property, it’s up to them. And to save money, they do go to the entrance and they’ll turn down the, the valve coming in. So there’s not as much pressure. And that does cause problems.
00:17:15:21 – 00:17:18:17
Speaker 1
How do you overcome pressure?
00:17:18:19 – 00:17:45:11
Speaker 2
So we, we had a wonderful, wonderful. He was a captain or firefighter all the way through. Captain ended up making, par seven at our department, which is. And, shift chief. Bill Smith, God rest his soul, he, he was huge on water supply and, was huge on getting water to that that the engine second and engine better be getting a water supply.
00:17:45:11 – 00:18:17:04
Speaker 2
And we had issues in the past where that second engine wanted to bypass that assignment and get in there. Hydrants fail. And so. So, Chief Smith made sure that we knew how to get a water supply. So we have a hydrant that fails. Wasn’t good. We have worked over the years to make sure we know how to one get some three inch to that first engine from that second one sitting there, start nursing and then that buys us some time so we can grab a second hydrant, reverse layout and pump it.
00:18:17:05 – 00:18:18:16
Speaker 1
To use and take those.
00:18:18:17 – 00:18:20:04
Speaker 2
Yes, sir.
00:18:20:06 – 00:18:21:22
Speaker 1
And some people say I don’t need a new take.
00:18:21:23 – 00:18:47:23
Speaker 2
So, so we have, we only carry, our five inch intakes on the front bumper of the seat man side and the seat side. So we don’t have any intakes on our driver panel because we want that free and clear. Unless a line has to come off right there. We carry three cross sleighs. But but yeah, I do like a lot of the new stuff that’s came out.
00:18:47:23 – 00:18:55:11
Speaker 2
We don’t really other than just a, sports adapter, a 45 degree turn down. We hook right to that.
00:18:55:13 – 00:18:58:09
Speaker 1
What do you miss? If you don’t, they’re going to take.
00:18:58:11 – 00:19:23:21
Speaker 2
Water all right? Yeah. It’s, It’s, it’s just one of those things that that you need it. Well, why would you not, you can be on your side. You can. You can on the driver’s side. Hook up and you can be ready. And that hydrant opens, you can press or you can turn whether it’s manual, electronic or whatever, and have that and that water intake coming in right then.
00:19:23:21 – 00:19:27:02
Speaker 1
So very interesting.
00:19:27:04 – 00:19:53:10
Speaker 2
So one on one problem I do see is, newer drivers that switch over from tank water to hydrant pressure and opening that intake valve and taking it in, it’s, you know, we still run TPMs. I know a lot of people use pressure governors and they rely on that too much to relieve that pressure. But we’ve got to have drivers that think so as you’re opening that you need to get back on those lines.
00:19:53:13 – 00:20:14:13
Speaker 2
Those guys are own guys and gals. As firefighters are on and be able to reduce that pressure as it comes in and then start opening that line back up once your pressure regulates coming in. Because and those firefighters on in that nozzle take a beating even with 50 PSR nozzles now and and reduce nozzle reaction.
00:20:14:15 – 00:20:20:01
Speaker 1
You know anything about low pressure solutions and just that whole conversation.
00:20:20:03 – 00:20:46:22
Speaker 2
So I like it. If they could make a fog nozzle it’s 25 because I’d I’d be all for that. It’s just it’s better if we can reduce what we’re pumping these lines and take nozzle reaction off. They move into the seat of the fire quicker. And, with that nozzle reaction, if you don’t train on it all the time and you can’t move this nozzle forward because it’s so much pressure pushing back on you, what ends up happening?
00:20:47:00 – 00:21:15:02
Speaker 2
There’s there’s one way to alleviate that. And it’s gate back on on your bale. And then your driver sees that he’s working his rear end off and you know, he didn’t know you get it back. So he sees reduced pressure. He pumps it up and so if we could get some lower pressures and know that we could pump these things a little lower and get the same volume of water and lines could flow and go, you could open a line up and hold it in one hand and move it forward.
00:21:15:04 – 00:21:16:21
Speaker 2
That’d be great.
00:21:16:23 – 00:21:22:02
Speaker 1
That’s awesome. So tell me, this is how we met. First was on social media.
00:21:22:03 – 00:21:22:13
Speaker 2
Yes, sir.
00:21:22:16 – 00:21:24:23
Speaker 1
Started posting things you say?
00:21:25:01 – 00:21:27:22
Speaker 2
Yes. I’m so excited about it.
00:21:28:00 – 00:21:31:15
Speaker 1
Please explain why you’re excited about.
00:21:31:17 – 00:21:56:03
Speaker 2
So, excited. And the Thursday as, Because being as plugged in with social media as I am, I love sharing people’s videos of the great work that they do. And we all share a lot of our stuff as well. But I like to highlight when firefighters do great things. I’m a huge component of vertical ventilation, a huge component of going through the front door and attacking this thing.
00:21:56:05 – 00:22:19:09
Speaker 2
Huge component, searching viable space for. Yes. And and, when you post these videos, you say, man, these guys did a great job. Atta boy. The trolls come out, and I get there’s a lot of bots out there and people just are trying to beat their chest or drive people to their page or be the one, one guy that you know knows more than you do.
00:22:19:13 – 00:22:44:11
Speaker 2
And it’s all good. But it’s also, disheartening to to see this. And what where people lack is that they think because what they do in their department and their bubble, that that’s the only way to do it. And going on the roof works in DeKalb County, but it may not work in rural Georgia, where they only have engines and they have four engines show up.
00:22:44:11 – 00:23:09:04
Speaker 2
But there’s only six people, you know, manpower. And I get it. Or maybe out in, the Phoenix area. And I’m not saying they don’t go vertical. I just know the the building construction roofs are different with these clay tiles and things. It may be harder to get up there. Not these tiles. All. And so, searching, like, maybe it doesn’t work.
00:23:09:06 – 00:23:35:08
Speaker 2
And where you are, it works for us. Doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Just means you need to train on it or, get outside your bubble and see that there’s different tactics. And just because your SOGs, your SOPs are your way of doing things where you are doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. And that’s why I love what you guys have coming out, going around and talking to people and showcasing their and highlighting that.
00:23:35:10 – 00:24:05:12
Speaker 2
So maybe we can at least start having the conversation that it’s okay to have different tactics. They work as long as it keeps the citizen safe. Number one, and the fire goes out number two and then keeps us safe. Number three mission always. You know, mission always. Firefighter second, it’s Chief Mo Butler, but mission always. Right. And, our safety comes third.
00:24:05:14 – 00:24:16:06
Speaker 2
And, it doesn’t matter what your tactic is, as long as it’s safe and does those things in complete submission, then it’s okay. Keep keep running that tactic.
00:24:16:08 – 00:24:22:09
Speaker 1
What’s the tactic you’re looking forward to seeing? That’s an episode that you want to see. The series?
00:24:22:11 – 00:24:43:06
Speaker 2
I would just, I’m always it’s always funny seeing West Coast and East Coast firefighters. You know, I feel like we have that, that battle, no matter what it is. If it’s, rap with Biggie and Tupac or, you know, firefighters, what’s a tanker? What’s a tender one has the wings. One doesn’t. Depends on where you are.
00:24:43:08 – 00:24:51:10
Speaker 2
If you say, tender has wings, you’re wrong. But it’s okay. Yeah. My.
00:24:51:12 – 00:24:53:13
Speaker 1
Yeah. Tell me why that’s wrong.
00:24:53:15 – 00:25:17:23
Speaker 2
It’s just a, a verbiage thing for me, right? Tenders. Tenders are on wheels and and tankers fly, tankers fly and, water out west. We don’t really have wild land around here. And, a tender is just that is tendering that engine. So, it’s, a verbiage thing for me, but yeah, just, you know, I know the East Coast is huge on ladders.
00:25:17:23 – 00:25:44:18
Speaker 2
You look at, fire from Boston or anywhere in Massachusetts. There’s six ladders on every side of the building, all at different angles, all at different heights. Then you go a little more west, let’s say Texas, and you may see a ladder. And Boston guys will see this one, this one video of this fire in Texas where they have a ladder and you’re like, oh, you’re wrong.
00:25:44:20 – 00:26:10:18
Speaker 2
Well are they you know, the two stories with, converted attic on the East Coast needs all those ladders. They’re chopped up, a newer construction house in Texas where there’s a boom of residential. It doesn’t need all those ladders. Big open space. It’s, I want a slab. You know, there’s no basement, and it’s easy egress on that.
00:26:10:20 – 00:26:14:02
Speaker 1
And we’re. Peyton, is there anything we didn’t cover? Okay.
00:26:14:04 – 00:26:41:08
Speaker 2
No, I just, Man, I can talk about this stuff all day, and, I just want people to be passionate about the job. If you if you decide you want to take the oath, whether it’s volunteer or paid, you still, we were not drafted. There’s no fire service draft. So if you’re choosing on your own to serve the citizens of wherever it is, give it 100%.
00:26:41:10 – 00:26:58:17
Speaker 2
I had a mentor tell me one time, I don’t care what you do in life. You’re a ditch digger. Be a ditch digger, but be the best ditch digger out there, you know. Have pride in your work. When you’re done digging that ditch, it should be symmetrical. It should be smooth. And, you know, don’t just throw dirt it, though.
00:26:58:18 – 00:27:08:20
Speaker 2
Throw dirt. Know why you’re doing it. And it’s the same thing in the fire service. Love your community, love your your station, love your department, and love your brothers.
00:27:08:22 – 00:27:11:07
Speaker 1
Amen to that pain. Thank you so much for coming on.
00:27:11:10 – 00:27:13:11
Speaker 2
Yes, sir. Well, thank you for having me.
00:27:13:13 – 00:27:18:10
Speaker 1
County. And what’s, what equipment do you want us to bring? To play with.
00:27:18:14 – 00:27:43:00
Speaker 2
All of it. So, my personal opinion, the blitz fire is probably by far the best, best, best piece of equipment you guys have have made the blitz fires are awesome, especially the one that oscillates on its own. I love that, I love the angles that they get down there. Almost shooting straight ahead doesn’t move. You know, strip mall fires.
00:27:43:01 – 00:27:45:23
Speaker 2
Wonderful. I’ve used them several time. I’ve has.
00:27:46:01 – 00:27:47:11
Speaker 1
The strip mall fires.
00:27:47:13 – 00:28:12:04
Speaker 2
Taking those windows out and setting up unmanned. I can put it there as flow and water where I need it to flow. Water. Don’t have to sit there and have someone, monitor it because it’s not going to move. That thing’s not going to have once I pointed at locks in is good to go. I can use that firefighter somewhere else instead of just using my manpower to babysit a monitor.
00:28:12:06 – 00:28:34:21
Speaker 2
And it because it’s doing what it needs to do. I was on hazmat for several years and, I’ve had fuel spills, fires where we’ve used the blitz fire school dating, throwing foam foam through it, throws that nice blanket down. You can kind of control the speed of how fast it goes back and forth, how far, you know, just like a fan.
00:28:34:21 – 00:28:38:00
Speaker 2
And, it’s just great. Great product.
00:28:38:01 – 00:28:39:09
Speaker 1
If you use the foam.
00:28:39:10 – 00:28:40:15
Speaker 2
We have.
00:28:40:16 – 00:28:41:07
Speaker 1
Schools.
00:28:41:08 – 00:28:41:21
Speaker 2
Yes, sir.
00:28:42:00 – 00:28:43:04
Speaker 1
Interesting.
00:28:43:06 – 00:28:57:00
Speaker 2
We have, you know, it’s got the low pressure setting, for us. We’ve found the low pressure setting works better throw in foam with it, but, yeah, it works great. Now. Nothing against any manufacturer but
00:28:57:10 – 00:29:02:07
Speaker 2
but they’re also, they’re also like a Cadillac, old.
00:29:02:10 – 00:29:10:15
Speaker 2
They’re 27ft long. They weigh 27 pounds. So they’re, they’re hard to use. I mean, they are not.
00:29:10:17 – 00:29:18:19
Speaker 1
Yeah. What? So tell me about a problem. Like, why would you ever need one attack? You might be able to get them. Go tell me why even.
00:29:18:21 – 00:29:38:09
Speaker 2
Yeah. So you can scoot back further from your structure. And we’re talking about a strip mall fire. We’re always worried about, that that, partition wall up top may be falling off. And if I can’t get down past that 45 degrees, you have to get pretty close in order for that angle to get inside that strip mall fire.
00:29:38:11 – 00:30:00:05
Speaker 2
But if I can scoot back and have it at a better, straighter angle, I don’t have to worry about that collapse on. And, you know, we’ve seen that several times, in the past, just last year, you know, Houston had a line of duty, death, six feet from the building, some material falling on a firefighter.
00:30:00:07 – 00:30:33:18
Speaker 2
We all seen burn, right? The Detroit documenting documentary years ago. And the firefighter that struggled with, with being paralyzed after that collapse and was just so close. But if we can scoot back and be a far away, if we’re defensive, then then, that low angle definitely helps on that. Hazmat. If I need to bank it off or something and drop that foam, then sometimes I need that low angle because, you know, tanker fire.
00:30:33:20 – 00:30:43:08
Speaker 2
Right? And stuff going to burn down low. And, that 45 is going to shoot right over, and I’m just going to do the rain down method and waste my foam.
00:30:43:10 – 00:30:53:13
Speaker 1
Okay, cool. So we’ll bring down a truck full of what’s fires. Yeah. Camp. And are we going to eat, Jason’s. You can take that. Jason’s. No.
00:30:53:15 – 00:31:16:07
Speaker 2
No, no. So barbecue’s always good, but we’re going to get outside the city a little bit. Come over Athens, Moore, where I live, and, mama’s boys probably going to have to be me. The spot. So mama’s boys over in Athens is great. They do biscuits, biscuits and gravy, French toast. They do a peach marmalade on their fridge.
00:31:16:12 – 00:31:18:01
Speaker 2
French toast.
00:31:18:03 – 00:31:19:12
Speaker 1
I mean, it’s good stuff.
00:31:19:15 – 00:31:21:06
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely.
00:31:21:08 – 00:31:24:18
Speaker 1
Peyton, thanks so much. Thank you, sir, and it was a real pleasure.
00:31:24:20 – 00:31:26:14
Speaker 2
Yeah. Thank you so much for having me.
