Sean is an 18-year student of the fire service.  He is currently a career firefighter on the Ann Arbor, Michigan Fire Department.  Sean is the co-founder of Build Your Culture, founder of Great Lakes H.O.T fire conference, co-host of the Make Due Suburban Fireman Podcast and Unlock Your Culture webcast.  As an active member of the Mitten State F.O.O.L.S, he enjoys passing knowledge gained from his mentors and real world experiences.  Sean travels around the country providing high quality fire and search tactics training.   In this episode, we discuss the importanc ..read more

Michael Perry is a New York Times bestselling author, humorist, singer/songwriter, and radio host. Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time, one of his most popular books, reveals his experiences as a Volunteer Firefighter and EMT in New Auburn, Wisconsin. Michael is currently a member of Township Fire and Rescue, serving on the EMS side. Township provides fire protection and services to rural areas around the City of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Seymour, Washington, Union, Pleasant Valley, and Brunswick are the towns the Township Fire Department protects. Tune in as we talk about ..read more

Learn about Brad Koenig’s journey as a volunteer firefighter on the Cambridge, Wisconsin Fire Department. Koenig first became interested in the fire service when he went to the Cambridge Fire station with his son for a celebrity event and got talking with the firefighters there. He has since worked up the ranks to become the Assistant Chief. Listen in while we chat about small town fire service ..read more

In this episode, I sit down with the Alex Felde.  Chief of the Vernon, Wisconsin Fire Department. Alex has an extensive career in the fire service.  With 36 years of total experience, he recently retired from the Racine Fire Department as a battalion chief.  He has been with the Vernon Fire Department for 14 years.  In this episode, you will learn how the Vernon Fire Department operates, how the department has changed over the years, and the challenges we face in the fire service today ..read more

Learn what this podcast is about, the person behind the idea, about volunteer fire departments, and what it takes to be a volunteer firefighter ..read more

BJ is passionate about his work in the fire service, and search is one of the top aspects of the job that he is most passionate about. In this episode we talk about search culture, search tactics, and what it means to embrace search culture. We discuss the need to prioritize and focus on civilian lives. Career, paid on call, part-time, volunteer, it does not matter what firefighter you are or the makeup of your fire department. Citizens demand and deserve our very best, and it is on us to take ownership to do everything in our power to save them. That means using and training on the best tacti ..read more

In episode 12, I interview Devin Flanigan, a project manager from Keller. Keller is a commercial construction company based in Wisconsin that takes on building projects from the planning phase to final construction. While Devin has never served in the fire service directly, he’s got a unique perspective since his full time work often takes him through the process of designing and building fire stations ..read more

Mollie Kallas has been a member of the Columbus Fire Department since 2019. She joined the department as a way to get more involved with the community and wanted to be part of an organization structured in a paramilitary manner. Currently, the only female on the department, Mollie developed a special interest in technical rescue operations and now has a number of ropes and confined space trainings on her resume. Mollie works full time as a drug addiction counselor, where she has a master’s degree in addiction counseling. In this episode Mollie talks about how the skills she developed for her f ..read more

Marc Hill has an impressive 20-year public service career, holding positions as a teacher, coach, principal, firefighter, engineer, and Fire Chief for both volunteer and career departments. He's also an accomplished author, with the Amazon bestseller "Two Dark Thirty: True Stories to Inspire Teaching and Learning in our local heroes" and its accompanying workbook. Marc's qualifications include a master’s degree in educational leadership and numerous state and national certifications as an instructor, firefighter/paramedic, and incident commander. Throughout his journey, he's been recognized wi ..read more

Welcome to episode 9 of The Forward Firefighter.  In this episode, I chat with Chief Troy Haase from the Portage, Wisconsin Fire Department. Chief Haase was selected to be the Portage Fire Chief in the fall of 2000.  He has over 30 years of experience in the fire service.  For the majority of those years, he served as a career firefighter paramedic on the Fond du Lac Fire and Rescue Department, where he was also promoted to division chief. The City of Portage, Wisconsin, located approximately 35 miles north of Madison, is the seat of Columbia County.  The Portage Fire Depar ..read more