Firefighter Podcast
The Firefighters Podcast is an award winning global podcast developing, inspiring, connecting, motivating & celebrating the world of our emergency services operators through a series of wide-ranging conversations with those within our emergency services family.
Hosted by serving operational UK firefighter & Instructor Pete Wakefield who speaks with individuals from all walks of life who share a connection with, can add value to, or can develop those within the fire sector.
Our driving purpose is to create a legacy resource for the current and future generations of firefighters & first responders
Episodes
430 episodes
#443 FireSport UK Festival of Fire Sport with Chief Fire Officer Chris Kirby
In this episode, I’m joined by Chris Kirby, Chief Fire Officer of South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service and Chair of FireSport UK, to talk about why bringing sport back matters right now. We focus on the Festival of Fire Sport and how ...
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Season 6
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Episode 444
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1:04:17
#442 Boots on the Ground at Intersec Dubai: A Firefighter’s Reflection on Global Innovation, Scale, and What Comes Next
This episode is a grounded debrief from being boots on the ground at Intersec Dubai, not a second hand summary or a glossy highlight reel. Intersec matters because it shows where global investment, policy attention, and operational think...
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59:48
#441 Beyond the Minimum Standard: The UK Firefighter Challenge Series & Northeast FF Challenge with Ben Le Fevre and Dan Watson
This episode kicks off a new series of conversations exploring the British Firefighter Challenge Series, a nationwide circuit made up of thirteen events running from April through to September 2026. From stair runs and regional challenge...
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Season 6
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Episode 441
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1:05:42
#440 Debrief: 3 floor residential Fire Massachusetts Nov 13 2019 Career Lieutenant Dies and Four Firefighters Injured
On November 13, 2019, a career lieutenant died, and four other firefighters were injured while fighting a residential structure fire. What began as a seemingly routine night-time call rapidly escalated into a complex, high-risk incident involvi...
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Season 6
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Episode 440
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35:15
#439 The Job, the Life & Everything in Between with Eternal Recruit Matt Akers
This episode is one of those conversations that quietly gets under your skin.I’m joined by Matt Akers, who currently serves in New Zealand, but whose journey through the fire service spans rural retained firefighting, aviation, Lo...
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Season 6
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Episode 439
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1:46:06
#438 Debrief Camp fire Paradise, California, USA, November 2018
In this episode, we take a deep, no-nonsense operational debrief of the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, November 2018, the deadliest and most destructive wildfire of the modern era in the United States. We walk through the incident as it unf...
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Season 6
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Episode 438
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31:09
#437 The Great Liberties Whiskey Fire Dublin 1875 with Las Fallon
In this episode, Pete Wakefield is joined by Las Fallon to explore one of the most extraordinary and misunderstood fires in European fire service history: the Great Dublin Whiskey Fire of 1875. This was not simply a large urban fire. It ...
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Season 6
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Episode 437
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1:25:36
#436 DEBRIEF: The Station Nightclub Fire 2003 Rhode Island USA
In this episode, we take a deep, minute-by-minute debrief of the Station nightclub fire in West Warwick, Rhode Island. A small ignition during a live music performance led to rapid smoke production, catastrophic loss of tenability, and the deat...
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Season 6
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Episode 436
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16:09
#435 Lucy Macleod on Identity Beyond the Uniform and the Work of Staying Human in the Fire Service
In this episode, I’m joined by Lucy Macleod for an honest conversation about identity, resilience, and what it really takes to sustain a long career in the fire service. We...
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Season 6
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Episode 435
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1:36:18
#434 Search Patterns, Nozzles and Who Wears BA with Dave Payton & Iain Evans of FIRE ATTACTICS
In part two, the conversation moves fully into the practical end of the fireground. Dave Payton and Iain Evans dig into search patterns, hose and branch techniques, and how different nozzle choices are used both in the UK and internationally. T...
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Season 6
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Episode 434
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1:12:16
#433 2025 Debrief: What Worked, What Didn’t, and What Matters Now
This episode is essentially a long, mostly uninterrupted monologue charting the slow and graceful unraveling of my internal thought processes over the last twelve months. There is no guest. There is no structure anyone would recognise as sensib...
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Season 6
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Episode 433
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1:53:40
#432 Fire Behaviour: Training vs Reality with Dave Payton & Iain Evans of FIRE ATTACTICS
In part one of this two-part episode, I’m joined by Dave Payton and Ian Evans, co-founders of Fire Tactics and two of the most experienced fire behaviour and breathing apparatus instructors to have worked in the UK fire service. With decades of...
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Season 6
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Episode 432
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1:07:57
#431 The Psychology of Rescue with Dr Lynsey Mahmood PhD
In this episode, Pete sits down with Dr Lynsey Mahmood, PhD, a behavioural scientist and applied psychologist whose work bridges academic research and real world fire and rescue op...
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Season 6
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Episode 431
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1:37:52
#430 Never on a 10: Leadership, Accountability and the Fireground Reality with Bob Palestrant
Today’s conversation is with Bob Palestrant, a firefighter, emergency manager and author of
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Season 6
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Episode 430
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1:46:39
#429 Building a Fire Service at the Roof of the World: Everest Fire and Rescue - Fire Aid Nepal
This episode is being recorded from Lukla in Nepal, the gateway to Everest and the Khumbu Valley. A place where life happens at altitude, infrastructure is limited, and when something goes wrong the community cannot rely on fast backup arriving...
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Season 6
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Episode 429
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1:13:16
#428 Closing the Gap Between Fire Science and the Fireground with Matt Davis
This episode goes deep into the reality of fire behaviour as it actually shows up on the fireground, not the simplified version many of us were taught early on. Matt and I talk about how modern fuels, building design and ventilation have change...
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Season 6
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Episode 428
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2:05:15
#427 The Duty to Remember with Alan House of the Firefighters Memorial Trust
This conversation with Alan House pulls us back to the foundations of who we are as firefighters. Alan started his career in the 1960s, rose through Hampshire Fire and Rescue, and has spent decades preserving the story of our service. As part o...
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Season 6
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Episode 427
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1:59:49
#426 Collaboration Over Tradition: Dave Berry and the Rise of Tactical Firefighting UK
Inside the Lancashire Tactical Firefighting Summit: A Four-Part Series on Modern Firefighting.The final episode brings the series home with Greater Manchester’s Tactical Firefighting Training Lead Dave Berry. Dave is one of the founding ...
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Season 6
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Episode 426
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50:12
#425 Droplets, Energy and the Future of Container Training with Lucas Garden
Inside the Lancashire Tactical Firefighting Summit: A Four-Part Series on Modern Firefighting.In episode three, Fire and Rescue New South Wales instructor Lucas Garden takes us deep into the evolution of modern fire behaviour training. H...
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Season 6
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Episode 425
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52:10
#424 From the Service Strategy all the way to the Branch: Unified Fireground Thinking with Gerard Mann
Inside the Lancashire Tactical Firefighting Summit: A Four-Part Series on Modern Firefighting.In episode two, Station Officer Gerard Mann of Fire Rescue Victoria builds on Dan’s analysis by shifting the focus to how a fire service thinks...
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Season 6
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Episode 424
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1:11:26
#423 When Doctrine Fails: Standards, Strategy and the Reality of Fireground Performance with Dan Stephens
Inside the Lancashire Tactical Firefighting Summit: A Four-Part Series on Modern Firefighting.In part one of this mini series, Dan Stephens breaks down the findings from his cumulative inspection of all three Welsh fire and rescue servic...
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Season 6
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Episode 423
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2:04:34
#422 Health Span over Life Span Staying Operational to 60 with Chris Ward of Fit Fire Rescue part 2
In part two Chris Ward moves from the personal story into the practical blueprint. This is where the conversation shifts gears and gets straight into the habits, behaviours and systems firefighters need if they want to stay fit for the jo...
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Season 6
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Episode 422
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1:34:18
#421 Health Span over Life Span: Staying Operational to 60 with Chris Ward of Fit Fire Rescue part 1
In part one Chris Ward goes deep on the truth about firefighter fitness, long term health, and the realities of staying operational into your sixties. From the early days of joining the service to the shock of pension changes, chronic illness, ...
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Season 6
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Episode 421
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58:28
#420 International Mens Day at South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue
This episode is a rare role reversal for me as I step into the interview chair for a live recording at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service during International Mens Day 2025. Speaking with Station Manager Gary Devonport, I explore mens ment...
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Season 6
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Episode 420
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58:16
#419 Forging Fire: Building Teams That Last with Dr. Johnny Torgeson
In this episode I sit down with Dr. Johnny Torgeson, a US Army veteran, fire officer, educator and author of Forging Your Team: Demystifying Team Development for First Responders. Johnny brings an incredible mix of military precision, academic ...
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Season 6
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Episode 419
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1:49:26