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
455 episodes
#468 YOUR UNIFORM IS FAILING....and you know it - Claire Wilford from First Tactical
How much attention do you actually pay to the uniform you wear every day?The trousers that don’t fit right.The seams that go.The fabric that fades.In this episode, im chatting with Claire Wilford, Head of European Sales...
#467 Artificial Intelligence & Large Language Models for First Responders with Jurga Zilinskiene MBE
Recorded in collaboration with the Blue Light Show, London’s leading emergency services conference and expo, this episode explores what Artificial Intelligence and Large Language Models actually mean for first responders, beyond the noise, hype...
#466 Mental Health, Purpose & Why So Many Suffer in Silence with Warren Shepherd & Lee Ralph from Freedom in The Fire
In this episode, I sit down with Warren Shepherd and Lee Ralph, the firefighters behind Freedom In The Fire, a movement built around one simple idea - creating space for real conversations about mental health. From sitting ...
#465 IFIW Australia Ep05 Steve De Blauwe - Hose Management & Building a System for Interior Firefighting
In this episode of the International Fire Instructors Workshop Australia mini series, Steve De Blauwe, Station Officer and CFBT instructor from Belgium takes you inside the reality of interior firefighting and why so much of what we’ve been tau...
#464 Brad Dicks Redefining High Performance without Burnout
In this episode I sit down with Brad Dicks, FireFit world record holder and Firefighter Challenge World Champion to explore what it really takes to perform at the highest level.On paper Brad is operating at the top of the game. But this ...
#463 Dr Mark Spencer on Forensic Botany Hidden Evidence & Solving Crime Through Nature
This episode takes you into a side of investigation most people never even realise exists. I sat down with forensic botanist Dr Mark Spencer who has spent over a decade supporting police forces and forensic teams by using plants, pollen, soil a...
#462 DEBRIEF London Luton Airport’s Terminal Car Park 2 fire October 10th 2023
A fire involving a single vehicle at Luton Airport’s multi storey car park rapidly escalated and spread through closely parked cars leading to the full structural collapse of a large section of the building. In this episode we walk through the ...
#461 Why Silence Is Killing Our Culture with Graham Goulden
This conversation cuts straight to one of the most uncomfortable truths in emergency services: the biggest risk to our people is not always the job, it is what we tolerate around each other. Graham Goulden is a former police officer with Police...
#460 Fire Spyder: A New Answer to High-Rise Firefighting with Thomas Jonkers
High-rise firefighting has a problem we don’t talk about enough… getting water onto the fire floor fast enough when it really matters.From delayed internal attacks to compromised stairwells and unreliable rising mains, crews are often fi...
#459 Are we at risk of losing our sense of humour - A conversation about Humour, Trauma & the Psychology of Leadership with Sonia Pawson
Humour has always been part of emergency service culture. It builds connection, relieves pressure, and helps people process some of the most difficult situations imaginable. But in a modern environment shaped by increased scrutiny, policy, and ...
#458 DEBRIEF: When Smoke Took the Building - Twin Parks High Rise, Bronx, New York, January 2022
In this incident debrief, we break down the 2022 Twin Parks high-rise fire in the Bronx, where a single apartment fire escalated into a mass casualty event that claimed 17 lives, all due to smoke inhalation. This episode explo...
#457 The Care Gap, Ten second Triage & Why We’re Not Getting to Patients Fast Enough with Dr Phil Cowburn
Phil is a Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Pre-Hospital Care, with over two decades of experience and a background that spans ambulance services, air ambulance, and national-level major incident response. He’s currently a Medical Director a...
#456 We Need You: Firefighter Cognition Under Heat
If you’re a firefighter and you’ve experienced a challenging incident, particularly involving search and rescue, you can take part by contacting Dr Catherine Thompson directly via email at thompsc1@hope.ac.ukThe only requirement f...
#455 Have we been alerting firefighters the wrong way ? - Blake Richardson from EASE ALERT
In this episode I sit down with Blake Richardson, CEO of EaseAlert and the son of a 22 year firefighter to explore what may be one of the next frontiers in firefighter health and safety: how we alert crews to calls. For generations ...
#454 IFIW Australia Ep04 Chief Jason Caughey - Commanding the Balance Between Aggression & Safety
In this episode of the International Fire Instructors Workshop (IFIW) Australia mini series, Fire Chief Jason Caughey of the Laramie County Fire Authority explores one of the most debated topics in the modern fire service: the relationship betw...
#453 Tradition & Reform: Navigating Change in the Fire Service with Beci Newton
Beci Newton is a Station Manager in the UK Fire and Rescue Service and an experienced fire behaviour instructor as well as other disciplines joins me for a conversation about our past, our present and our future, and how we are evolving the ide...
#452 IFIW Australia – Ep03 James Mendoza Large Volume Gas Cooling & The Home Depot Fire
In this episode of the IFIW Australia mini-series, James Mendoza, Captain and Training Officer with the San Jose Fire Department, takes us inside a major large volume fire at a Home Depot in 2022. With a background in education and microbiology...
#451 Challenge Season: Legends, Disruptors & the Rise of the British Firefighter Series with John Gregory
In this episode I sit down with my good friend John Gregory, one of the original trailblazers of the British Firefighter Challenge as we head into a challenge season that is bigger an...
#450 IFIW Australia – Ep02 Ed Hartin Fireground Sensemaking & Decision Making for Station Officers
In this episode recorded live at the International Fire Instructors Workshop 2026 in Australia, you’ll hear from Edward Hartin as he explores fireground sensemaking and decision making for the station officer. Drawing on more than fifty years i...
#449 London Fire Brigade - A UK Fire Brigade on a Global Scale with LFB Commissioner Jonathan Smith
London Fire Brigade protects one of the most complex urban environments on the planet. The resident population of London sits at around 9 million people, but that number is misleading. On a typical weekday, when commuters, tourists, and transie...
#448 IFIW Australia - Ep01 Karel Lambert Air Consumption During Tunnel Firefighting with IFE
This mini series opens a door into the International Fire Instructors Workshop 2026 in Australia, a gathering that for nearly two decades has been built on closed room conversations, honest challenge and the exchange of experience between some ...
#447 Hard Things, Endurance & Bum Butter - an Adventure with Scott Butler
In this episode, I sit down with Scott Butler, a serving UK firefighter who has quietly built a life around choosing difficult things on purpose. Scott shares the pivotal moment in 2006 w...
#446 Debrief: Bethnal Green, London, July 20th 2004
This short debrief episode examines the Bethnal Green Road fire of 20 July 2004, a commercial premises fire in East London that resulted in the deaths of two London firefighters, Billy Faust and Adam Meere. Crews attended w...
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#445 Managers Enforce Rules, Leaders Enforce Values with Chris Case
I sit down with Chris Case, a firefighter who spent 25 years in Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service before making the leap to Canada and becoming Fire Chief of C...
#444 Debrief: Old Albert Mill, Whitworth, Lancashire, May 15th 2009
On this episode of we take a slow, deliberate look at the Old Albert Mill incident in Whitworth, Lancashire, from 15 May 2009. This is a structured incident debrief built directly from the original accident investigation report, with lar...
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