Couplings Fire Podcast

Who knew you could get inspiration for an episode from a Disney movie? Taylor's obsession paid off.

What motivates you?

After watching Planes: Fire & Rescue, we dig into this hard question that we find most people aren't comfortable answering 100% honestly. Maybe you agree, maybe you don't. Whatever your core motivation is - know what it is and use it to help you in serving the fire service.

Listen for our recommendations on how to start motivating others & where we find motivation at when we're feeling a lack of it.

Be sure to let us know what you thought of the podcast by leaving a rating, review, and by reaching out!

Follow us on Facebook & Instagram: @CouplingsFirePodcast
Send us an e-mail at: [email protected]

Who knew you could get inspiration for an episode from a Disney movie? Taylor's obsession paid off.

What motivates you?

After watching Planes: Fire & Rescue, we dig into this hard question that we find most people aren't comfortable answering 100% honestly. Maybe you agree, maybe you don't. Whatever your core motivation is - know what it is and use it to help you in serving the fire service.

Listen for our recommendations on how to start motivating others & where we find motivation at when we're feeling a lack of it.

Be sure to let us know what you thought of the podcast by leaving a rating, review, and by reaching out!

Follow us on Facebook & Instagram: @CouplingsFirePodcast
Send us an e-mail at: [email protected]

This week - we go over some of the major differences we see between males & females in the fire service.   

We're married.  We're both firefighters.  One Male, One Female.  Who better to go over this topic than us - right? ;)

We don't want to stereotype - there are definitely all ranges of each gender - but we all know stereotypes are there because there can be a lot of truth behind them.  Follow us down the rabbit hole & let's dive into this together!

In order to give you transparency - We are no longer members of the particular volunteer fire department we have served with the past 8 & 9 years.  This episode was recorded prior to this decision being made, and you will hear us speak in the episode as if we are still members of this department, even though that is no longer the case when this is being released.  Everything said on our podcast are our own opinions and in no way represent the opinions & values of the said department or any other agency we are associated with.

Be sure to let us know what you thought of the podcast by leaving a rating, review, and by reaching out!
Follow us on Facebook & Instagram: @CouplingsFirePodcast
Send us an e-mail at: [email protected]

We think it’s time to tackle the problem of seeing people on scene in the first 5 minutes not knowing what to do, not wanting to “Freelance”, and thus resulting in not doing anything or - sometimes worse - asking the officers before they do every little thing.

So, in this episode, we go over our opinions on what the first 5 minutes on scene should look like for various incident types. We also bring up the importance of creating a "First 5 Minutes" task list for your department that you can complete without asking your officer - keeping them free and able to do their job.

Also - Will we ever stop clicking & messing with our pens?? Who knows….

In order to give you transparency - We are no longer members of the particular volunteer fire department we have served with the past 8 & 9 years.  This episode was recorded prior to this decision being made, and you will hear us speak in the episode as if we are still members of this department, even though that is no longer the case when this is being released.  Everything said on our podcast are our own opinions and in no way represent the opinions & values of the said department or any other agency we are associated with.

Be sure to let us know what you thought of the podcast by leaving a rating, review, and by reaching out!
Follow us on Facebook & Instagram: @CouplingsFirePodcast
Send us an e-mail at: [email protected]

The one where we learned a lot...

Let's see if this sounds familiar:

You go to this awesome training put on by fire professionals.  During the training, you learn a great tactic/skill and think your department could benefit from adapting to or having it in their toolbox for a specific event, so you decide to bring it back and train your guys on that tactic/skill on a training night.  At the training night, your officers are absolutely opposed to what you want to bring in for one reason or another, tell you they're never going to do it, and in turn - you develop resentment against the officers or even the department as a whole.  They just don't seem to get the advantages to it and you can't figure out why.

Sound about right?

We know what you've gone through - we have too.

In this episode, we go over in detail one of these conflicts that occurred in the last 6 months and left a big impact on us.  We go over everything we learned, how we should have approached the issue differently, and also how we think the officers could have acted - all to keep the conflict from escalating the way it can and sometimes does.

Everything said on the Couplings Fire Podcast are our opinions and in no way represent the opinions & values of any agency we are associated with.

Be sure to let us know what you thought of the podcast by leaving a rating, review, and by reaching out!
Follow us on Facebook & Instagram: @CouplingsFirePodcast
Send us an e-mail at: [email protected]

On the podcast this week:

We start off by recapping some current events (at the time we recorded this in February), including the large car pile-up in Texas.

Then, we get on to our main topic & go over Taylor's experience at the 2021 Les Lukert Conference in Kearney, Nebraska.  Put on by the NSFSI (Nebraska Society of Fire Service Instructors), this conference is geared towards training & leadership and held every year at the beginning of February in Kearney.  The NSFSI brings in national level instructors (including Mike Dugan, Jim Duffy, Billy Greenwood, Mark VonAppen, David Mellen, Jake Hoffman, Brandon Fletcher - just to name a few) to this amazing, small conference.

Some of our favorite aspects of this conference is how small it is, the welcoming atmosphere, & the true 1-on-1 culture that comes with that.

This year, Taylor took 4 classes - and we touch on the highlights of each one:
HOT class - Fireground Fundamentals with Jake Hoffman & Squad 5 Training
Classroom - Just Culture for the Fire Service with David Mellen of Valor Fire Training
Classroom - Fully Involved with Mark VonAppen
Classroom - Shaping your Vol. Fire Department to Fit Today's Expectations by Brandon Fletcher

Go ahead and put the 2022 Les Lukert conference on your schedule now! Contact us for more information on the conference.

Everything said on the Couplings Fire Podcast are our opinions and in no way represent the opinions & values of any agency we are associated with.

Be sure to let us know what you thought of the podcast by leaving a rating, review, and by reaching out!
Follow us on Facebook & Instagram: @CouplingsFirePodcast
Send us an e-mail at: [email protected]

This week, we go over our thoughts on Long Call Operations & considerations volunteer departments should take while running these calls.

We'll go over 3 main fires:
- The "Big Grass Fire" from the last episode (8 hours)
- The "Converse Fire" structure fire a few years ago in our town (12 hours)
- The "Co-op Grain Bin Explosion" - a call we had last Halloween (48+ hours).

Considerations we discuss are: food, hydration, sleeping considerations, creating shifts, missing your day job, & using mutual aid.

Everything said on the Couplings Fire Podcast are our opinions and in no way represent the opinions & values of any agency we are associated with.

• Be sure to let us know what you thought of the podcast by leaving a rating, review, and by reaching out!
• Follow us on Facebook & Instagram: @CouplingsFirePodcast
• Send us an e-mail at: [email protected]

Back for part 2!

In part 2: We're looking at some more of our favorite trainings we've done in house, what we found has worked well, what we found that HASN'T worked, and how to keep your firefighters engaged during practice.

Want more information on any training we've mentioned? Reach out!

Everything said on the Couplings Fire Podcast are our opinions and in no way represent the opinions & values of any agency we are associated with.

Be sure to let us know what you thought of the podcast by leaving a rating, review, and by reaching out!
Follow us on Facebook & Instagram: @CouplingsFirePodcast
Send us an e-mail at: [email protected]

Join us as we dive into our department's in house trainings & how Chris as the training officer, along with his training committee, turned our ideas in to reality.

In part 1, we'll be figuring out what your department should be training on and where to put your focus, how to turn your ideas into actual practices, and go over some of our favorite trainings we've created.

Want more information on any training we've mentioned? Reach out!

Everything said on the Couplings Fire Podcast are our opinions and in no way represent the opinions & values of any agency we are associated with.

Be sure to let us know what you thought of the podcast by leaving a rating, review, and by reaching out!
Follow us on Facebook & Instagram: @CouplingsFirePodcast
Send us an e-mail at: [email protected]

This week, we talk on our top tips for the New volunteer firefighter.  

Everything said on the Couplings Fire Podcast are our opinions and in no way represent the opinions & values of any agency we are associated with.

Be sure to let us know what you thought of the podcast by leaving a rating, review, and by reaching out!
Follow us on Facebook & Instagram: @CouplingsFirePodcast
Send us an e-mail at: [email protected]