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 involving crews operating above the fire, deteriorating conditions, wind-impacted fire behaviour, and critical information gaps. Early reports of life risk shaped decision making, while building construction, access limitations, and changing fire dynamics steadily reduced options for crews committed inside.

In this episode, we break the incident down using a 4D debrief framework, focusing on the timeline, the drivers behind key decisions, and the factors that contributed to a fatal outcome. Drawing from an 80-plus page investigation report, we translate the lessons into clear, practical learning that can be applied by firefighters anywhere in the world. This is a respectful, tactical debrief designed to improve understanding of fireground decision making under pressure, and to help prevent the same sequence of events from repeating elsewhere.

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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, London, and multiple countries. Matt’s lived and worked across very different systems, cultures, and tempos of the job, and that perspective runs all the way through this conversation.

What we really dig into though isn’t tactics or titles. It’s life. The pressure to stay busy. The way hustle culture sneaks in and convinces you that exhaustion equals progress. The idea of horizon happiness, always chasing the next milestone while missing the moment you’re actually standing in. We talk about parenthood, time, and the realisation that your kids won’t remember the late finishes or the extra emails, but they will remember whether you showed up.

Matt speaks openly about the fire service shaping his identity, the differences between rural and urban firefighting, and the privilege of doing this job when it’s kept in the right place in your life. He also shares some very honest reflections on personal struggles, including alcohol, and how travel, community, and becoming what he calls the eternal recruit helped him reset and rebuild.

The conversation takes a deeper turn when Matt talks about a health scare that led to him receiving a pacemaker, and the emotional weight that came with that. We explore identity loss, mental health, and the moment he realised counselling wasn’t something to be ashamed of, but something that helped him move forward. There’s no self pity here. Just perspective, responsibility, and resilience.

This episode isn’t about chasing more. It’s about recalibrating. About keeping passion without letting the job consume you. About remembering that you can survive without money, but not without people. If you’ve ever felt like you’re running flat out but not sure toward what, this conversation might slow you down in the best possible way.

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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 unfolded, the early warning signs, the rapid fire growth, the evacuation failures, and the brutal reality that most of the devastation occurred within the first four hours. This is not a dramatic retelling. It is a structured breakdown of how fire behaviour, weather, infrastructure, and human movement collided at speed, overwhelming systems and removing options for both responders and the public.

In the second half of the episode, we translate those lessons directly into a UK Fire and Rescue Service context using the LACES framework from National Operational Guidance. Lookouts, Awareness, Communications, Escape routes, and Safety zones become the lens through which we ask hard, practical questions about how we would manage a fast-moving wildfire or Rural Urban Interface incident in the UK. This episode is about recognising early warning signs, understanding when the job changes from firefighting to life saving, and taking lessons from one of the world’s worst wildfires that can genuinely help firefighters make better decisions on the ground.

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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 was an incident where tens of thousands of gallons of high-proof whiskey escaped bonded warehouses, flowed through the streets of Dublin, ignited, and turned parts of the city into rivers of fire. More people died from human behaviour and misunderstanding of risk than from flames themselves, making this feel less like a Victorian era blaze and more like an early hazardous materials incident played out with nineteenth-century tools, leadership, and limitations.

Together, Pete and Las unpack the fire’s wider context, from the structure of the Irish fire service and leadership under pressure, to crowd behaviour, media portrayal, and the forgotten victims whose stories faded from public memory. They explore whiskey’s central role in Dublin’s economy, the cultural stereotypes of the time, and how tribalism, misinformation, and curiosity turned a disaster into a secondary tragedy. This is not a nostalgic retelling. It is a professional case study in leadership, public safety, and human behaviour, with uncomfortable lessons that still resonate in modern firefighting, crisis management, and community response today.

Get the book HERE

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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 deaths of 100 people in less than six minutes. Drawing on investigation findings and eyewitness accounts, this episode focuses not on spectacle, but on how smoke, time, and human behaviour combined to turn a familiar venue into a fatal trap.

This is not a story of slow response or obvious mistakes. Fire crews arrived quickly and in force, yet the outcome was largely decided in the first minute. The episode explores the uncomfortable lessons around exit blindness, crowd behaviour, sprinklers, and prevention, and reflects on what this incident still teaches us today including how relevant those lessons remain for the UK fire service and beyond.

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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 talk about being more than one thing, how busyness can become a coping mechanism, and why balance looks different for everyone. Drawing on Lucy’s experience across operational firefighting, trauma excellence, leadership, and academia, this conversation cuts past surface level wellbeing talk and gets into what actually helps people stay human under pressure.

We also explore Lucy’s work around connection and psychological safety through her book Lucy and Blue. Blue is not just a wellbeing dog, but a bridge, helping lower barriers and create space for honest conversations without pressure. Lucy shares what working alongside Blue has taught her about presence, trust, and meeting people where they are. This episode is about purpose, belonging, and the quiet influence that comes from showing up consistently, human to human.

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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. This episode challenges some deeply held habits, looking at where traditional search methods can introduce risk, how water application actually changes conditions, and why understanding flow and movement matters more than sticking rigidly to a single method.

We also tackle a question that rarely gets discussed openly: at what level should we expect people to stop wearing breathing apparatus, and should watch commanders and sub-officers be spending more time on BA across the UK Fire and Rescue Service. It’s an honest, experience-led discussion about leadership, credibility, and decision making at the sharp end. If this episode resonates, make sure you follow the links below to learn more about Dave and Ian’s work with Fire Tactics and to reach out to them directly for further training and insight.

Contact Dave HERE Iain HERE

FIRE ATTACTICS HERE

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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 sensible. Just me talking through what 2025 actually looked like, what the podcast quietly became, and the ideas, questions, and mild existential spirals that refused to leave me alone this year.

If you’ve ever wondered what’s really behind the podcast, what I actually think about the fire service, leadership, culture, success, failure, or life in general, this episode might be useful. There are a few practical tips, some mental hacks I’ve leaned on, a handful of lessons that landed the hard way, and a look at what I’ll be focusing more on in the year ahead. I’ll also fill you in on what we’ve been up to along the way. Think less “highlight reel” and more “director’s commentary with questionable decisions and occasional clarity.”

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