myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
Burbank Fire Service Day 2025
Step into the heart of Burbank's emergency services as we broadcast live from the 2025 Police and Fire Service Day. This eye-opening episode pulls back the curtain on the diverse roles and responsibilities that make the Burbank Fire Department one of the nation's elite emergency response teams.
From the bustling film sets to your front door, Burbank's first responders are quietly crafting systems of safety that extend far beyond emergencies. Captain Matt Garland, celebrating 31 years with the department, reveals how his team oversees safety for the city's 90+ sound stages and Hollywood productions. His fascinating insights into film permit processes showcase how deeply intertwined the fire department is with Burbank's identity as an entertainment capital.
You'll hear Vice Mayor Tamala Takahashi passionately advocate for the department's remarkable EMS subscription program—a service that saves residents from $1,500+ ambulance bills for just $7 monthly. This conversation illuminates how community-focused initiatives are transforming emergency healthcare access for Burbank families.
The episode features intimate perspectives from those rarely in the spotlight: Fire Administrator Christine Alles explains the financial backbone supporting operations, Engineer Jennifer Hoffman shares her journey as the department's second female firefighter, and Deputy Chief Dave Burke details how analytics guide future planning as the city expands. Each conversation reveals another layer of the comprehensive safety network protecting Burbank residents.
Perhaps most surprising are the specialized fire services within major corporations, as former Glendale Battalion Chief Tom Propst explains his current role leading Disney Studios' own fire department. Meanwhile, St. Joseph's RN Tabitha Kovac demonstrates how hands-only CPR has revolutionized emergency response.
Whether you're a longtime resident or just curious about how modern emergency services operate, this episode offers rare insights into the people and systems working tirelessly to maintain Burbank's reputation for safety and community care. Visit the Fire Department's website to learn more about their programs and how you can better prepare your family for emergencies.
From deep in the Burbank Media District. It's time for another edition of my Burbank Talks. This podcast is presented by the staff of my Burbank. Now let's see what's on today's agenda as we join our program.
Speaker 2:Hello Burbank. Craig Schuert here with you, as always, and we're at Police and Fire service day once again, 2025, and along with us, of course, is the honorable ross benson, who I don't know about.
Speaker 3:Honorable, but here I am. We uh are doing another podcast.
Speaker 2:Look at that can you believe that it's great? And we have our band back together again? So we of course have craig derling with us hey guys, good to see you.
Speaker 1:Gonna be back with the band. What do you think?
Speaker 3:craig, we have done this for a us. Hey guys, good to see you, good to be back with the band. What do you think, craig? We have done this for a couple of weeks, a couple of years.
Speaker 1:It's not our first time at the rodeo, as they would say no but boy, look at everything going on.
Speaker 3:This is just getting kicked off. It's, you know, a little after 9, and there's probably a couple hundred people walking through already.
Speaker 1:They start. They come wandering through before because they've got the farmer's market going on. But it's always such a great day. You know a lot of people, we say it year after year. You know, come here, come to Fire Service Day, fire and Police Service Day. There's so much to see, so much to do, and it's always a fun day. Get yourself a breakfast, get a shirt, look at some pictures.
Speaker 3:Watch some demonstrations. It's always a fantastic day and it's free. It's always a fantastic day and it's free. You know and I'm looking right around our table We've got train display. A couple of firemen maintain that we have sidewalk CPR going on with nurses from St Joe's. I see the kids down there pumping on mannequins.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the mannequins, yeah.
Speaker 3:I looked outside and the PD has a conglomerate of stuff. It's just amazing.
Speaker 1:Well, the police department's here. The airport fire department is here with some apparatus. The police department is here with demonstrations and equipment you can look at. There's a fire engine right here on the apparatus bay with, I believe Mickey and Minnie are going to be making an appearance for photo ops with the fire engine.
Speaker 3:You know that is a crown, that is one of the maybe it's. Yeah, that's a crown, that's one of the original.
Speaker 1:But it's worth noting because we are in Burbank, california. It's the real Mickey and Minnie. Yes, it is that.
Speaker 2:Come here and you know, they look pretty good for like 70 years old, don't they? So do we? That's true. Well, so I'll tell you what we're going to get some real good guests for you and talk to some people and find out what's going on in the city and in the apartments. So we'll be back with you in one second. And we're back and we have Captain Matt Garland of the Burbank Fire Department with us, who is first year actually in charge of doing this entire shindig here, and so far it looks fantastic. Ross, why don't you I know you've got a couple questions for the captain why don't you go?
Speaker 3:ahead. I do. I've known Matt. You know I've been around a couple years, but I remember when you came on. You've worked, you have gone up through the department.
Speaker 5:Correct.
Speaker 3:You've been on every piece of apparatus almost.
Speaker 5:Correct.
Speaker 3:I've been. July 19th will be 31 years Now. See the people of Burbank. Really that is 31 years. You've committed your life to Burbank Fire Department. It's one of the best departments. I know you'll say that 100%.
Speaker 3:But you know, today Fire Service Day is a very it's a big event and we'll probably see a couple thousand people come through here today. Public education is real important. Burbank fire department that's a very big thing for that, and you're in charge of fire service day this year as your first time. So far it's going real good so far but during the week you do other things. You don't just plan out fire service day. You have a very big task I do.
Speaker 5:I do so. The position is. The actual title is called FP16, fire Prevention 16, and we use numbers in the fire service to like Engine 11, Engine 12, and so I'm Fire Prevention 16, and I'm in charge of all production permitting and film in the city of Burbank. So, if you're not aware, we have probably over 80, 90 sound stages in the city of Burbank. So, if you're not aware, we have probably over 80, 90 sound stages in the city of Burbank on top of With 16 more coming.
Speaker 2:I think too.
Speaker 5:So yes, 100%, 16 more coming from Warner Brothers, the ranch, what used to be known as the ranch Right, and then we also have Warner Brothers, which has 26,. I think sound stages that is a different entity. They're such a big production over there that we actually have a captain like myself assigned to Warner Brothers.
Speaker 3:And that's all he does. His office is there.
Speaker 5:His office is on the lot. He's on the lot.
Speaker 2:And I believe Warner Brothers actually pays his salary.
Speaker 5:That is correct. That is correct Because, as we know, obviously we're trying to bring production back here to. California, but it's not cheap, and so we found ways. It's actually a lot cheaper for them to hire out a captain, pay his salary, than actually being charged for every single permit that gets thrown their way.
Speaker 3:And many people don't understand the reason. You have a captain there. Production companies change things on the snap of a finger. You shut down a production company. It can be millions of dollars for an hour, for two hours, having a captain there working with the shows and everything. They don't have to call up here and if you're busy somewhere else you go out there.
Speaker 2:But they have what's the criteria to have to have a firefighter on the set? Because you can't have 90 guys out there. There's 90 things going on at once, so what's the criteria? That somebody needs to be on the set.
Speaker 5:So the way it works is a production company and let me start off by saying we've got different levels of production companies and different levels of what we do and how they film out there. So one of them, right off the bat, is the student film. So you know we have New York Film Academy. Here in the city of Burbank there's AFI, which is American Film Institute, usc. I don't know if you've heard of that school. They have a very big film production.
Speaker 2:In Burbank.
Speaker 5:No, no, just in SC. But what happens is they'll come over here and use Burbank. They'll go to Filmingfilmcom and they'll apply for a permit and they're going to say we have six kids filming in an apartment complex but they still have to file for a permit because they're using a camera Anytime they're filming. That's something that's going to have longevity and we charge them a really really, really low rate and it's a student film. The next level comes up and we call it a temporary production location. That would be anywhere in the city of Bourbon that they want to film your production location. That would be anywhere in the city of Burbank that they want to film your house, your neighborhood. They'll apply for that. We kind of use a number around 50 and that includes, for a fire safety officer, what you were talking about the criteria for there to be a fire safety effort every FSO an FSO.
Speaker 5:Every single film has to be permitted in the city of Burbank but they may not have a fire safety officer and the biggest thing they'll do for a fire safety officer is when there's an open flame, such as candles, such as special effects, and the biggest one is a live audience. So any type iHeart has their theater over there with the old Johnny Carson where Jay Leno was NBC. So when they bring in 300, 400 people for a concert, we'll have a fire safety officer assigned. And every single firefighter that comes to the city of Burbank within their first two years needs to be FSO trained. That is a requirement in order to be a firefighter because filming is so big in the city of Burbank, so that's where we'd use a fire safety officer A lot of times. If it's under 30 or so people that are filming at a house, they're doing some interior shots.
Speaker 5:I'll do what, like Ross says, I'll spot check. So they pay a little fee, they get their permit that says they can film and then I will come by or anybody else in the Fire Prevention Bureau, all of the people that I work with and we'll do a spot check. And that fee that they paid includes that spot check we come. We just make sure that everything's on the up and the up. You know, the citizens of Burbank and the people that live in Burbank know that we film in Burbank and they're on top of it. The first thing that the neighbor will always do is they'll go right up to that production company. They'll ask who is the location manager? They know more than I do and they'll say, oh, can I see your permit? And they'll show them their permit. It's great.
Speaker 3:Talking about that. I don't know how many of our listeners or our followers are aware we have a lot of production going on in Burbank Right now. It's slow Warner.
Speaker 5:Brothers is at 90% capacity right now. One of the highest capacities in all of the studios in Southern California.
Speaker 2:That's because of the sound stages too. Yes exactly, and that's why they're building those to 16, because sound stages are needed.
Speaker 5:Yeah, 100%.
Speaker 3:And also people don't understand special effects. It has to go through. You Correct All that sort of thing. Production companies just can't be willy-nilly.
Speaker 5:Burbank Fire Department is very you know what's the word we're very specific and on top of what needs to be done and filmed in the city of Burbank. And I'll tell you right now we do have a lot of people that will see something and they'll contact me and I'll be like, yes, they have a permit, they're good to go. People that film in Burbank are very aware of Burbank and they use Film Burbank and we coincide with Gina who runs the PD side for permit, so they are the ones that actually overall issue the permit for the city of Burbank to film and we are just a small entity.
Speaker 3:So in the Bureau, what they call the Bureau Fire Prevention Bureau, and we are changing our name recently, so I don't know if.
Speaker 5:I can introduce that, yet we're going to hold off what they call the bureau Fire prevention bureau Fire prevention bureau and we are changing our name recently, wow, so I don't know if I can introduce that yet we're going to hold off.
Speaker 2:We need the exclusive right here. Come on now.
Speaker 5:We need it. Okay, I'll tell you right now. I told Ross if I'm working on Engine 11 as a captain on Monday because I'm getting moved from my spot.
Speaker 2:I'll call.
Speaker 5:Okay, we are going to be Fire. Life and Safety oh okay. So it's going to be called basically the Fire, life and Safety Division. And that may be the official title and we're trying to get away from the prevention side of things.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 5:Because what our fire prevention members do is fire life and safety.
Speaker 3:And people don't understand.
Speaker 2:They're the start of what happens, yeah, and I think that's a great yeah, great for the public to know what that is then, and also, one of your people in the Bureau does schools, another one does hospital and industrial buildings.
Speaker 3:That's correct. You guys, there's what? Six of you, or five of you?
Speaker 5:Right now we have about six or seven. We're going to be hiring another person. We actually had one inspector that just left us.
Speaker 3:You know plus. People don't understand plan checks. It goes through the fire department, everything, everything.
Speaker 5:I mean, obviously, what the general public see are the fire engines and the life safety. And again, burbank Fire Department is not one of the best, it's the best. You get a minimum of five firefighters that respond to your house on any 911 call, and that's amazing. Yes, and that's again a minimum of five firefighters that respond to your house on any 911 call, and that that's amazing yes and that's again a minimum of five.
Speaker 5:And then, like like Ross was saying, the fire prevention bureau. Every building that is being built in this city, which we know is a lot. Right now we have the Fry's lot that's gonna be building a massive stuff over there. Go down the five freeway, it's coming up right. We've got a bunch of housing over commercial. All of that needs to be inspected. Every single portion of that gets to be finalized and it goes through our assistant fire marshal, danny King, who's amazing. He's been with us for 20-something years, many, many years. Another dedicated person to this city, another dedicated person to this city.
Speaker 5:So yeah, that's basically. It's all-encompassing, besides just the EMS and the fire protection side of it.
Speaker 3:Well, I think people that aren't here that are going to tune into this podcast. They don't need to be here to learn. They probably didn't know another facet of Burbank Fire is your job in the Fire Prevention Bureau, so they could learn by listening to this podcast. Absolutely so, matt. I'm going to let you get back to running around and checking on things.
Speaker 5:I'm going to check. Oh, I kind of like this. No one's bothering me, my phone's not ringing. This is fantastic.
Speaker 3:Well, we're going to check with you at the end of the day to see if you still have black hair or gray hair and see what your feeling is on everything else.
Speaker 5:So far it's fantastic. And we've got Minnie and Mickey here and we've got the obstacle course. We've got tons of stuff for everybody to see and look at and do.
Speaker 3:And lots of tchotchkes for a giveaway.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, and I hope we have some paramedics to anybody, because I got a feeling we might get a heat stroke. It's a little bit hot today.
Speaker 5:So if you are coming, please bring your water, stay hydrated. People just aren't.
Speaker 2:I know there was a call yesterday up in the hills 21-year-old male heat stroke and it's like you're 21 years old and you're out hiking on a day like this.
Speaker 5:Well, our bodies aren't acclimated.
Speaker 2:They didn't think about bringing.
Speaker 5:They didn't think about bringing Exactly, Even though it was only 85 degrees, and sometimes it gets to be well over the hundreds here. Our body's not acclimated to that heat yet.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 5:And 81 degrees feels like 100 degrees. That's probably what it's going to feel like today.
Speaker 3:It probably will be. Well, we look forward to. I know you guys you have planned what we call filleting a car. You're going to kind of show show a little extrication demo here, coming up.
Speaker 3:And what that shows for people that aren't here is what you get when you get on scene of a rescue and somebody could be trapped inside, how you have to cut it. Now there's airbags and there's bumpers that are you know you've got to watch for, so you'll be doing that. I know the truck company is out there and I see the ladder up. I think you're going to have a fireman go to the tip.
Speaker 5:Possibly a firefighter is going to go up to the very top and maybe open up his BA pouch and pull out a plane or two.
Speaker 3:Oh, kind of cool.
Speaker 2:Let me ask you it's really not the jaws of life anymore. Is it the hearse tool now?
Speaker 5:Yeah, well now.
Speaker 2:But jaws of life is kind of an outdated term. It is. We all know it by Jaws of Life and you can continue to use that if you like.
Speaker 5:Right now we have Homatro tools and they're actually battery-operated. Which are the batteries these days are amazing. It puts out when I came on, we used the hydraulic lines and it was a lot of pounds of pressure. But these battery-operated tools are amazing. They're quick, they're efficient.
Speaker 2:They're probably quieter too.
Speaker 5:Quiet. Yeah, normally you'd hear those things over here. You will have no clue what. They're cutting up a car and it's great for the people that are in the car that are already stressed out and they're stuck and they're possibly injured. That's the last thing they want is all the braking, the crashing, the crinkling. It's going to happen. So it's a lot of. The tools that we use are modern tools.
Speaker 3:And I think I know out on you got Hazmat out here People can look at, talk to the Hazmat guys.
Speaker 5:That's correct.
Speaker 3:The airport has a class which.
Speaker 5:I've been for over 25 years. Oh, okay, hazmat specialist. I was a Hazmat coordinator for four years.
Speaker 3:You've done a lot of things in your 30 years of being here.
Speaker 5:Like you said, I've moved up the ranks from firefighter to engineer, to captain.
Speaker 3:And now look what they put you in charge of yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:But that's why we love our Burbank Fire Department, because there are so many guys that are 20-year guys that have been in Burbank. Now you can pass the knowledge on, of course, 100%, but you know the city there's, but you know the city. You know there's not new guys all the time. You know.
Speaker 5:No, no, it's great, thank God we got that new contract.
Speaker 2:The guys want to stay here now, yep, and it's a great thing.
Speaker 5:The firefighters are very helpful. We have a very young department, which is great because I think we're going to see these firefighters move up again up the ranks, yep, and they're going to make a future of Burbank as their home, their home.
Speaker 3:Well, matt, we're going to let you get back to checking on things. Thank you, captain, we appreciate it very much.
Speaker 2:I appreciate it. Thank you very much.
Speaker 5:Nice meeting you and if you're listening to this, come on out, Enjoy the day Super. Thank you.
Speaker 2:And we're back and we have with us Vice Mayor Tamla Takahashi of the City of Burbank. Vice Mayor, good to see you once again.
Speaker 7:How are you doing what's going on? Thank you for inviting me to be on the show. I'm excited to be here. A little warm I think today is supposed to get up close to 100, but I am so thrilled to see how many folks are here today. This is just really. This is Burbank.
Speaker 3:That's it. This is Burbank. This is a a yearly thing. The second week in May is a standard thing and I've been doing this since just when it was a fire department. But now you got police and fire. You got people. See, everything is. We've seen already probably a thousand people walk by us. They got you know, tons of displays. So what do you think this is, vice mayor? Your fire department is the best.
Speaker 7:Is the best. We are so proud of our fire department and we just got a new EMT truck for the fire department last year. Our new fire chief, Danny, has got that for us and now we have more coverage for our emergency health services. So super excited about that and our fire team is amazing. Our EMT team is amazing. Very proud of our department.
Speaker 3:Well, you know I'd like to bring up right now and I know you push it quite a bit is the EMS program. Yes, and I know you're a real big advocate of that. Yes, people don't realize. Either $7 a month or $82 for a year if you call 911 and Burbank Paramedics respond. If you call 911 and Burbank Paramedics respond, you will not be charged for the transportation from your home or anywhere in the city if you're a member to the local hospital, usually St Joe's, and nowadays that ride is a $1,500 Uber ride.
Speaker 7:Oh, easy, easy. So fortunately, my family, we had to use it recently, so we've used the services and we know firsthand. And what happens is that they actually bill your insurance and then, when your insurance covers whatever it covers, and then the rest of it is covered by your $7 a month. So if you get, if you take a 911 call and they come to your house and you need a trip to the, to the emergency room, they'll take you in. But you do have to sign up ahead of time.
Speaker 2:Yes, so you do have to go onto your BWP account and sign up, and that covers not only you, but everybody who lives in your household.
Speaker 7:Everybody in your household, every single person, for one fee, absolutely.
Speaker 3:What a bargain. I remember when they started Mike W Davis actually was our fire chief that put that in and they collect about a million dollars and that helps pay for our paramedic program.
Speaker 7:Absolutely People don't realize.
Speaker 3:these guys need to go to school and maintain not only the equipment but the rigs, their meds, all that, yes, they get reimbursed but it's a great fee, you know. Burbank did that many years ago. And yeah, I tell you, you know, you dial 911, you're guaranteed to see somebody within three to five minutes.
Speaker 7:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And you cannot beat Burbank paramedics and fire department. Yeah.
Speaker 7:Yeah, and I know 87 or $85 is, you know, can be an extra fee on what you're already paying for BWP, which I know is tough and you may never use it. Hopefully you never need it, but if you need it it is really nice to be able to just say, yes, take me to the hospital and not have to do that math in your head while you're in an emergency situation trying to figure out whether you can afford a trip and whether to take your own car or have them take you.
Speaker 3:And you don't have to carry any cards, you don't have to show them any ID. They do that when they talk to you and they get your information and it's kind of automatic.
Speaker 7:So that's one thing I know you advocate.
Speaker 3:Yes, and last year I remember you said you wanted the fire department to push that out a little more so we get more citizens to do that. I remember you wanted to. You know everybody in Burbank should be part of the service.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I wanted to have everyone automatically signed up. I'd hoped that that would be like more of an opt-out versus an opt-in. But, unfortunately, I guess, it's not legal to do that. I mean, it seems unfortunate that it's not. But yeah, so it is a voluntary program. You do have to go there and sign up for it, but I do know that.
Speaker 3:Yes, excuse me, I'm sorry, you can do it online, oh, yes, yeah, you don't have to come to the fire department or come here. You can do it all online.
Speaker 7:Yes, yes, you do, yeah and I do know is putting more information out about that and making sure that folks are, at least you know, in the little leaflet and BWP leaflets coming out.
Speaker 3:Right and I know you're in the middle, or you started budget session last week and you guys saw the fire department didn't ask for a lot. They want to up some programs and nowadays, with everything going on, Well, last year they approved the fourth paramedic van.
Speaker 7:Exactly.
Speaker 2:It was only part-time, but it made a big difference. Yes, we're not bringing Glendale and Pasadena as much because of that.
Speaker 7:Yes, exactly. So we share services with Glendale, pasadena and LA even, and so what happens is, if any one area is overtaxed, the other areas come in and step in, but that both takes away from those folks' resources and it's extra money and paperwork and all that stuff. So it's just better if we respond. It's also faster if we respond too, for pulling an EMT unit from LA it takes longer, so it's better for us to have it in-house. And then also our folks know Burbank, so it's better for us to have our folks responding to these.
Speaker 3:So yeah, I've used the service and I know the guys that are paramedics are stellar, top notch. I mean when you're in the middle of a medical emergency you don't want to have to worry and these guys they'll get you to St Joe's. I think they say that golden window is a 20-minute. If you are down and they can get you into a hospital within 20 minutes, they can save your life from almost anything.
Speaker 7:If you are down and they can get you into a hospital within 20 minutes, they can save your life from almost anything. Yeah, you know, and to that point, when they bring you to the emergency room with the EMT van and all that, they have a direct link to the nurses and the staff there so they can let them know exactly what the level of your situation is, Whereas if you go through the emergency room on your own, you're going to go through their triage process which is great.
Speaker 7:It's still a great process, but you're going to get much more expedited and more targeted service if you're able to go with them through that and having St Joe's here, I think I grew up.
Speaker 3:I wasn't born there, but I've been there many times. My son's been there, born there. Two of my kids were born there. It's a great service.
Speaker 2:Let me turn the page a little bit. Get off fire and talk about another one of your pet projects Electric bikes.
Speaker 7:Oh, electric bikes.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's move on to that I know we've got that coming up pretty soon too. On the council, I've actually been looking at an electric bike myself. Wonderful Engineer.
Speaker 3:Will you sit down with me in a minute?
Speaker 2:So what do you think about? What's coming up on the council? What's going on?
Speaker 7:With electric bikes, right? Yes, so electric bikes is an emerging technology. It is a vehicle that has been around since before cars, far along the bikes themselves, right. But adding the electric part to it, especially at the level that the electric assist is now, is an emerging technology. So we're adapting to it, trying to figure out how to best manage it so that folks have the accessibility to use the e-bike switch which is, by the way, the highest-selling vehicle class in the country is electric bikes. But there's multiple versions of electric bikes. Some of them go faster than others and there's different uses for them, and so commuting, but also playing around in the park. So we have to figure out the best way to allow folks to be able to use electric bikes for their commuting or for their getting to the store or whatever, but also recognizing that when they go fast in certain areas it can also be dangerous.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, last week I responded to an accident 15-year-old kid up on Kenneth flying down out in the back of a car. Parents show up and the police officer said, you know, their hands were raised. Well, he wanted a bike. So we gave it to him. No helmet, nothing. He ended up out at Holy Cross. The bike was one of these. I mean it could get up to higher speeds.
Speaker 7:Yeah, especially downhill, they all can go pretty fast.
Speaker 3:Climbed in the back of a car and ended up on the hood. I mean it's going to happen and we just got to regulate it.
Speaker 7:Yeah, and those kinds of behaviors too, even with regulations, are going to be tough, because kids are going to make choices that sometimes are not you know, they're still growing brains but, at the same time, if there's an awareness around it and an education and understanding that these bikes are not toys I mean, bikes are fun but they're not toys, they are a vehicle, and so it's important to treat them with respect and to treat ourselves with respect when we're riding them.
Speaker 3:Yep, okay, well, I appreciate you stopping by. You got a couple of thousand people to shake some hands with.
Speaker 7:Yeah, I got to go around and say hi to people in the 97-degree heat. Well, I'm glad you stopped by here real quick and again, happy Mother's Day for tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Thanks for being part of our podcast.
Speaker 7:Yeah, my pleasure. Thanks for having me. Thanks, thanks again. Take care, bye-bye.
Speaker 2:Okay, ross. Hey, we have another guest. Why don't you introduce her?
Speaker 3:We sure do. We have Christine.
Speaker 4:Alice.
Speaker 3:There we go. I didn't want to mess that up, but a lot of people don't realize the different jobs within the fire department, the fire department and the police department. Most of the departments have a department administrator. And what does that department administrator do? Well, christine, you are in charge of the books. You do the reports for the chief when he has to address council. When things go to order, you're the bean counter, kind of right. You know fiber bank. Just you know. A lot of people don't know the different. You know parts of the fire department.
Speaker 4:Oh sure.
Speaker 3:You have an important part.
Speaker 4:Yeah. So I think most people are familiar with the fire suppression and EMS aspect of the fire department, but behind the scenes we have our administration staff, and so my role at the fire department is the fire administrator. I oversee budget and finance and provide administrative assistant to the chief in various areas, including our accreditation process, staff reports to City Council, preparation of various memos and correspondence with council, the City Manager's Office of the public, and I also oversee our administrative staff, including our Fire Prevention Bureau clerical staff. So there's a whole other side to the fire department in terms of, you know, interacting with the public for fire prevention, emergency management and then our administration section as well. So I'm hoping the public can get to learn a little bit more about those areas.
Speaker 3:Well, that's exactly it A lot of people don't realize. You know, everybody sees the fire trucks, you see it at a fire. You see the paramedics hard at work. But there is so much to do scheduling and ordering, and you know, you just don't get a fire truck dropping out of the sky or a new piece of apparatus that comes with you, from you and a different chief and so forth. Now how are you enjoying it? You were previous to this, weren't you? For the city council?
Speaker 4:So actually immediately prior to this, I worked for the police department. I was a senior administrative analyst there and then before that, I worked for the city manager's office and then, prior to that, I worked for the finance department, but I actually started with the city at the library department, really. So, yes, I started as a clerk and then jumped onto the analyst track, which I'm so fortunate. I've had the opportunity to work in various city departments and really grow in the city and learn from my colleagues, and now I feel that I'm continuing to grow in municipal finance and so we'll see what opportunities come up down the line, but so far I'm really enjoying my time at the fire department. It's a great place to work, not just for, you know, the things that I do, the day-to-day job, but the people that I work with. They create, create such a warm atmosphere and they really embody the mission of the fire department. So I really admire them for that and I'm very fortunate to be working for the department.
Speaker 3:Well, I know the city is very fortunate to have you, like you said, move up from different departments to where you are now and that fire administration job is a pretty important job. Your office is literally between one chief and another chief.
Speaker 4:True, yes, it's sandwiched between the chief and the deputy fire chief's office, and what's great is that I get to work with the division chiefs so I get to learn a little bit about every aspect of operations.
Speaker 4:And yes, there's a lot of preparation that goes into the budget every year to planning for replacement of equipment and apparatus and also emergency needs that come up throughout the year. We always have to be prepared right. We don't always want to be going back to council and asking for money. We're also cognizant of the fact that the fire department is the second largest general fund department in terms of budget. The fire department is the second largest general fund department in terms of budget. So we have a responsibility a financial responsibility to maintain our budget, to look after our funds and make sure that we're providing a high level of service with the allocation that council has given us. So we always want to be prepared. So I enjoy working with the chiefs coming up with creative funding solutions. You know we have so many federal grants that we receive as well, and we're always pursuing these external funding opportunities to make sure that we're continuing to provide a high level of service to the community.
Speaker 3:And you are. I mean I always say to a lot of people not too many times you can dial the three-digit number 911, and you are guaranteed to see somebody at your front door. You know either a fire engine or fire truck or paramedics or whatever emergency you need, and that just doesn't happen, I mean. So you have a very important job within that chain of operations and so forth and working with some great people.
Speaker 4:Yes, yeah, our administration and staff jokes that we're third responders just because we're in the background. And you know, ultimately, like what we do, it does trickle down and affect operations, right. So it's great to be kind of part of that larger mission in that way. And yes, working with my colleagues, that's one of the best aspects of the job. You know you can love what you do, but it's like that work environment as well that just makes it even better. So I've learned so much in my so far. I've been here for one and a half years in the fire department and looking forward to learning much more. And again, I have some great mentors in the department working with the chiefs, so I'm really enjoying my time here.
Speaker 3:I know we're going to get Dave Burke on here, who is now our deputy chief, and we've watched Dave go through the ranks, you know, and quite a few. We've had Matt, you know, matt Carlin, who's in charge of today 30 years, he said he's. You know you come here and time flies when you're having fun.
Speaker 2:They say Let me ask you a question here. So you've got a department in the department, what perception did you have of the fire department before you came in? That was not like, okay, this is what it's like, and found out it's not. Is there a perception that you had? That is not a perception. And also let me ask you this what is the one thing that you've learned since being in the fire department that, oh, I had no idea about this and that people want to know about?
Speaker 4:So I will say the public safety departments.
Speaker 4:Like before I even went to work for the police department, public safety was a little bit of a black hole because the administration staff in either department my feeling is that we don't always have the opportunity to work on citywide projects or interact with staff in other departments.
Speaker 4:That's something that, internally, I think both departments are trying to improve upon because it's better for staff to network and have those connections. But coming to the fire department, I only knew about the fire suppression activities and the EMS activities To learn about all the other services that we provide to the community, like hazardous materials response and the regional coordination that we have as well. The fact that we operate within Area C and work with all these Verdugo cities and all the agreements that we have with state and local agencies for automatic and mutual aid. All the agreements that we have with state and local agencies for automatic and mutual aid. That was eye-opening for me, just to see how integrated we are to fire suppression and response. You know, within the area, within the region as well, and how much of an impact we make. So that was eye-opening for me.
Speaker 3:So I'm curious you've been through a couple of different departments. You've been through with a couple of different departments. What do you recommend if a young lady is interested, not to become a firefighter but to, you know, a career path? People probably had no clue what you're doing and you've shared with us. And so if anybody's listening and has a daughter, you know, and maybe a relative in the fire service, there's an administration job that hopefully you're not leaving soon. But I mean every department has a department administrator and I mean it's a goal somebody could work toward.
Speaker 4:Right. I think the crux of what I do is within finance. So if you are familiar with municipal finance, basic aspects of accounting, budgeting, I think that's a stepping stone to step into this kind of role. But there's so much more that can be done in this type of role. When you look at comparable agencies or larger agencies, there are administrators that actually go out on strike teams on larger incidents and they help with these administration teams, manage, you know, the finances for a larger incident. So there are more learning opportunities for roles like this role and you know, perhaps in the future this role will grow into something like that. But there's a wide breadth of tasks and administrative experience and knowledge that one can bring into the fire administrator role.
Speaker 3:Well, it's so interesting listening to you and, like I say, I happen to have worked with the department administrator for many years and people don't know and I'm glad you got to share with us. You know, what do you think? I know you've been around the fire department here. You've been here for the previous fire service. Can you believe how many people are coming out in love?
Speaker 4:I know this is great, even with the heat. It's great to see the turnout um, and we're very appreciative of the support that the community shows us um.
Speaker 3:So you know we hope to to continue that and to grow our relationship with the community um, but it's great to see um everyone out here yeah, and I always say you know, when we have raging fires or we have an earthquake or something, people want to bring stuff to the firemen cookies and fruit. They don't realize there's a whole group of people that are just as important as those guys that are out fighting the fire like your job. You probably don't think of it that way.
Speaker 4:Right, I think you. I think even at City Council, when the Chief gave an update back in January after the windstorm event, he mentioned obviously our firefighters that went out on strike teams to assist with the Eaton and Palisades fires, but also our clerical staff who fielded all those calls and those concerns from residents when they were calling in to see what was happening. Would there be potential evacuation orders in Burbank? How could they donate? How could they help? So yeah, we you know staff in our admin offices we had to also be kind of that front line and interfacing with the public during that kind of emergency. So I think both sides of the house are active anytime some kind of emergency arises.
Speaker 3:Now I'm going to ask you quietly. You've done police, You've been over on that side of the building. Now you're at the fire side. Come on, tell me. I see you're wearing Burbank Firefighter's shirt.
Speaker 4:You're going to get me in trouble? Well don't.
Speaker 3:I want to just what's your favorite so far.
Speaker 4:Well, I'm here now, so I'll let that be my answer.
Speaker 3:Well, there you go. It's a great department. I've been around here 50 years with these guys and, like I said, people don't understand. You know, every time something needs to be ordered, you're the one with the sharp pencil. So I want to thank you, greg, absolutely.
Speaker 2:No, nice to meet you, nice to meet you, nice to meet you. And I did not actually know what you were doing and hopefully you'll get on a strike team maybe We'll see.
Speaker 4:We'll see what opportunities come up for me to continue to grow in my role, but now I'm very appreciative of the opportunity to work for the fire department and to continue to grow within the city of Burbank. It's a great place to work.
Speaker 3:Isn't it?
Speaker 4:I mean, and I grew up in Burbank as well, so it's really nice Go to one of the schools here. I did so. I actually went to George Washington Elementary.
Speaker 3:John Mayer Middle School, and then I graduated from Burbank High.
Speaker 4:Well, craig and I are both and college you're at where?
Speaker 3:At UCLA, oh, fantastic, yeah, a Bruin, huh.
Speaker 2:Very hard to get to that school.
Speaker 3:But you know it's funny because my son went to Burbank High. I'm a Burroughs guy, but you know what Our schools produce? Some fantastic people. Yes, great schools yeah, and you are a perfect example of a product of our school. And now look what you're doing. I mean people, 100,000 people, rely on what you do.
Speaker 4:And you know it doesn't feel like work because I feel like I'm giving back to the community I grew up in. So again, I just count myself very fortunate to be able to work for the city and for the fire department.
Speaker 3:Well, you know I want to thank you so much, for I know I pulled you away from talking to Courtney and you were a little shy to get on do a podcast. Podcasts are pretty easy, aren't they? This is fun.
Speaker 4:Podcasts are pretty easy, aren't they? This is fun. This has been really fun. It's just like talking to people that's all yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, you know people will listen, except we have 200 million listeners.
Speaker 3:Well, the people that will get to listen to this probably had no clue about a fire administrator. You know, again, they see a fire truck going down the street. They don't think about your job. And local graduate of you know Burbank. You know, stay right here. I always find people that have graduated from here, from our schools, are great city employees. You know where every street is. You know what goes on. This is your backyard, you know, so it's.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it definitely helps to have that advantage of being familiar with the community but also caring and loving the community that you grew up in, right, yeah?
Speaker 3:And that's don't you get that? You know I was talking to Courtney and she said the same thing. Today, fire Service Day, this is community, just great seeing all these people happy. Come see what the fire department does. Normally they don't get to see this Only time most people interact is either they've been involved in a medical problem or a fire or something they don't get. You know that firemen live here. Firemen buy their own groceries, but there's everything else that goes with it.
Speaker 4:It's true, most people interact with public safety on what's often like the worst day of their lives, so it's great for them to come out and experience the department in a positive way. I'm so happy to see families as well, because you know, these kids may be inspired one day to pursue a career in firefighting or on the administration side, and it's great exposure for them as well. So I hope it inspires them.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, it does, and you know I always love to see our firemen that are applying. You know we have that. You know you can't hire a relative within the city Nepotism. You know nepotism law. But you know the people that we hire are top-notch guys and you know you work with them.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, and they go through such a rigorous testing process as well. And the department we're very proud of the fact that we facilitate our own Firefighter Recruit Academy very proud of the fact that we facilitate our own firefighter recruit academy. So there's so many stages that these candidates need to go through before they become an official firefighter with the burbank fire department. So it means that we ensure that we get the cream of the crop yep, exactly, and we do.
Speaker 3:I mean they're great. Yeah, they're great. Well, I'm gonna let you get back to enjoying. You know what's going on here. I appreciate you coming on over, thank you.
Speaker 4:Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Thank you very much Very nice chatting with you, nice to have you on the air.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Okay, ross. Well, we have another guest and one of our great paramedics in the city. Why don't you introduce her and start the conversation?
Speaker 3:You know I am so happy we have with us joining us Jennifer Hoffman. I've known Jennifer since she came on Burbank Fire Department. She is the second female firefighter for the city of Burbank. She has been a fireman, a firefighter, and then she. I remember we talked about her love and blood. That's a joke between us. She never wanted to be a paramedic because that was not in her realm. We talked about it but then she was a paramedic and have been and still are certified. Yes sir.
Speaker 3:And now she is just promoted to the rank of engineer.
Speaker 2:In some cities. And what does an engineer do?
Speaker 3:We're going to ask you. Some cities call them chauffeurs.
Speaker 2:That is pretty much what I do but you are, but at the fire you're actually the one running all the equipment, the hose lines everything else.
Speaker 9:We have a lot more responsibility than just getting there safely to the call. We obviously have to think about considerations for where we put our rigs and incoming resources. We don't block other resources. So those are the first things, and we have to provide enough view of the structure for our captains. So we've got a lot of considerations where the hydrant everything going through your mind at once. Once you arrive on scene, it's your job to learn and know how to operate the pump. So when they start pulling hoses off, it's your job to get them connected, get them water, depending upon the different lengths of hoses, different sizes of hoses, they all run at different pressures and you have to be able to calculate that in your head quickly and get the right pressure to the right hose line so that they can have adequate water for the fire.
Speaker 2:And as an engineer and you're down at station 15 right now at Verdugo and Beachwood, Since you are driving the rig, you have to know every street in this city. Yes, sir, you have to know every, and down there there are some strange ones by the ranch area. Yeah, there is so you have to know every street in advance.
Speaker 9:For me. Currently I have some comfortability being at 15s. I've been at 15s at least the last five years riding an ambulance RA-15. So I'm very familiar with my first 10 streets. I know all the streets of Burbank. But there's times where I may look up and yeah, that's down that road and I go this way, but in 15th District it's like the back of my hand. So that helps out as well. It relieves a little bit more stress than you can think about other things.
Speaker 3:I'm bringing in your other half, I don't know. Come on over. This is your gorgeous son, cody, paid, paid, I'm sorry. And your other half, lillian, and you support her.
Speaker 9:I remember before she came on and it's kind of neat, it is, yeah, you need a lot of support, and when I got my pinning the other day standing up on that stage, I said you don't get into the profession, you don't get a promotion without a village of people behind you, and that's kind of what this job is all about. So now that you know, when you work your way up the chain, you throw it back down and you take people out and you help them learn how to do the things that you didn't previously know how to do, and that's how we make each other better and our department better for our city and I remember you and I talking about paramedicals.
Speaker 3:You've seen anything and everything.
Speaker 9:A lot of stuff. Yes, sir.
Speaker 3:A lot of stuff and it's task-oriented. Get through a task. You have a job to do and all the blood and the guts and whatever else you got to go through that. But you have a life to try to save and you've done that many times. I know that for a fact and in your new job as an engineer, that's a real important job. The next step is captain. But doing what you're doing, raising a family it's a lot.
Speaker 9:It's a lot yes, sir, but it's a great job to have. I wouldn't trade it. I have a family that supports it.
Speaker 3:And I'm happy to say, are, you know, the second female firefighter for Burbank and you've been an excellent example to so many others. We now have a new fire female firefighter, which is great and it's nice to see.
Speaker 9:Yes, sir, and Kelly Kelly was the first Kelly Morris I'm sure she's been on the podcast or people have heard her name and and she had, you know, left big shoes to fill for me and I just saw her at my pinning the other day. It was great to reconnect and I remember the days we rode the RA together and it was really fun and I enjoy. I enjoyed having her there to kind of ask questions and get me through, you know and help me out. So in the early, early years.
Speaker 2:Did you have to, really, did you have small little battles to get things done for yourself? I mean sleeping quarters or all those things? No, the Burbank.
Speaker 9:Fire Department's been great. I've had no curls and even if I did, I probably wouldn't talk about them on the air.
Speaker 2:But the guys are great. Nowadays we look at girls and guys and say you know what? Anybody can do anything. It didn't used to be that way, so you kind of blazed a trail for the next generation. I hope so.
Speaker 3:Well, I know you guys want to get back to enjoying Fire Service Day. Jennifer, I know you've always been so sweet to me. You've said hi to me on the fire ground or wherever we are, you've always waved. I appreciate the friendship.
Speaker 9:Of course we're here for the community and the friendship. That's what we do, it's who we serve. Thank you, guys.
Speaker 2:We appreciate it. Congratulations on the promotion. Thank you, sir. All right, have a good one guys. Okay Ross, we're back with a very special guest, somebody who's been very helpful to my brink over the years, battalion Chief Dave Burke.
Speaker 3:Well, not any longer. Battalion Chief, that's the thing we get. To introduce him as Deputy Chief for the Burbank Fire Department, really, I did not know.
Speaker 2:Congratulations, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 6:You know what?
Speaker 2:I'm very happy for you. Thank you, sir. You really deserve that. Thank you.
Speaker 3:Thank you very much you grew through this fire department.
Speaker 8:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3:And now you're the second man, kind of the one in charge. But you know, danny kind of runs the department but you run the day by day and I don't think people realize the importance of a deputy chief. I mean, it takes a lot to run a fire department.
Speaker 10:Yeah, for sure, for sure, and I think I can't start without saying it's really based on the good work of our people first, right. So what we do day in, day out, night in, night out, is respond and handle emergencies, all-risk emergencies, and that's really on the backs of our men and women that are serving in all of our fire stations and all of our fire stations Additionally, all of our administrative staff, our fire prevention staff, our mechanics, our analysts, our executive assistant, our clerks. We're pretty deep in the number of people that are committed to the mission of this agency and that's why we do the things we do and we do it so well is really because of those people.
Speaker 10:My position is really at the top of all those people and I supervise multiple divisions that oversee all those people and really empower them to do the things that they know how to do and need to do and do, like I said, day in, day out, night in, night out. The three operations battalions are the A shift, b shift and C shift, and so there's three battalion chiefs that each run each one of those shifts. I supervise those gentlemen, I supervise our fire prevention bureau, and who runs that is battalion chief Jim Moy. He's the fire marshal also supervise our EMS division that's run by battalion chief Pete Garcia, and I also supervise our training and safety division that's supervised by battalion Chief Pete Garcia, and I also supervise our Training and Safety Division that's supervised by Battalion Chief Trey White.
Speaker 3:Well, that's one. I don't think a lot of people realize this. Last couple of years things have changed. You guys, we didn't have EMS, you know, chief, and we've added a couple of Chiefs which you need to when you bring on more. You and I know, but you have been in all those positions. You were fire marshal when you were in charge of the Bureau, so you had that experience. You know the studios darn well.
Speaker 10:Yep, I was on there for a while.
Speaker 3:And then you've been on the line as a platoon chief and now as the deputy chief to make the decisions, and all. Now I've got a question for you, yep, to make the decisions and all. Now I got a question for you, yep, you replaced a great deputy chief that I worked with for 30 years? I think, yeah, mark Hatch.
Speaker 10:Yep, he's something special, what a guy.
Speaker 3:Those were some probably hard shoes to fill.
Speaker 10:Yeah, you can't fill them.
Speaker 3:You can't. I mean I still Mark was and still is.
Speaker 2:But you bring your own perspective of the job also, which is really good.
Speaker 10:For sure. It's funny that people will come in with a challenge and I won't have the right answer and I'll say what did Mark do? And then I'll go okay, and then I do it my own way and I should have done the way Mark did it.
Speaker 3:So I'm curious. Here's a tough one. I'll make a really tough question. Okay, now Mark retired as deputy chief. You're now deputy chief, yes. Is there a retirement date, or are you going to be in that position for a while?
Speaker 10:Well, let's put it this way, I'm going to be kind of slick here. I came on the same class with Mark. Oh, okay, yeah so I know he looks like 10 years older than me and acts like he's much older and I I I'm going to get a copy of this and send it to him, but we did come from the same class and we had the same years on, and so, uh, retirement is in my future. Um, when I would? I would say sooner than later.
Speaker 3:And I know you just recently had a hip replacement.
Speaker 10:I did.
Speaker 3:I need one very, very bad.
Speaker 10:I suggest you do it as soon as possible.
Speaker 3:You know, and you came back. I mean pretty quick.
Speaker 10:Yeah, within a month.
Speaker 3:That's just amazing now. But we have a fantastic fire department. I don't care what anybody says. You know you dial 911, you're guaranteed to see some fantastic people. For sure it might be the worst day of your life and it doesn't matter to them. They're going to treat you with the best treatment that is available to mankind.
Speaker 10:Absolutely Like. We're so fortunate In Southern California, california in general, the fire service is so professional and so great. But I'll specifically talk about Birdman because it's where I work and, like you, talk about the strength of our organization and you can't say it enough, it's our people and if you look around at every single uniform that's in this place and there's a lot of people that are off-duty here, that came in off-duty, that are not working today, that are firefighters or support staff, and they also come here and they all care about this department, they care about the people they serve and they're amazing people. And you're right, ross, when someone calls 911 and we go out the door, you're getting the best of the best.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you know you don't get put on hold when you dial Burbank's 911 service. You talk to a human when it gets transferred our Verdugo fire system. A lot of people don't understand. We're part of a communication system that does 14 cities dispatches for about 14. And I mean when Burbank gets busy, yesterday was a good incident that they were real tied up. I mean they came from Glendale, pasadena like boom. I mean. There's no question. In fact there was too much rolling and the chief had to say thank you for coming you know I guess most people don.
Speaker 3:People don't realize rescue cushion. Not every city owns one Correct. Burbank handles hazmat Right, Glendale has hazmat, but Pasadena has heavy use air USAR. That means a rescue cushion. Correct, they use that. They put that on the freeway yesterday.
Speaker 8:If needed, yeah.
Speaker 3:And and then I guess Glendale 29 has a cushion that they started responding. It's just amazing and a lot of people.
Speaker 10:There's no city lines anymore. Yeah, the fire service probably really does that, really really well, compared to a lot of different departments. You could argue law enforcement, police do it well, water and power do it well, but I think fire has led the way for a lot of years, just because in California, with earthquakes and wildland fires and floods, oftentimes you do not have the resources in a particular municipality or jurisdiction to handle the emergency that has emerged and we need to rely on others, and we've done this forever. And so the system in California has gotten well developed and well used and it functions really well on us sharing resources and asking for help and departments giving help. So we see it on a day-to-day basis.
Speaker 3:And it is seamless, totally seamless, 100%. Greg and I listened to Verdugo and we have for many years the dispatchers over there. They're top-notch.
Speaker 10:Yeah, they are.
Speaker 3:I mean, yes, it's computer aided but it takes a brain to talk and put stuff out. And they are just top notch and they can work. An incident in Burbank, lundale, pasadena, it could be Brush, it could be something at the airport and it's just, it's a great team.
Speaker 10:Yeah, and it's amazing, they're really amazing. So when you listen to the radio and and I listen to the radio, obviously, on duty, all day long, but I also listen to the radio when I'm off duty there are certain things I need to listen to and you hear very professional people on the Verdugo side, on the dispatch side, but they're humans and amazing, amazing people. If you go into that dispatch center and you talk to the people, from the top to the bottom, they're amazing people that are committed to helping people and when you hear them, they're almost robotic on the radio and there could be multiple incidents going on a fire, a USAR, resources being moved around amongst the cities, regional requests for equipment, and they are the same day in, day out and you never hear their voice tremble at all. They're on point. And then when you go over there and you talk to them and you see the human side of it, you're really amazed that they aren't robots over there. They're really good, very professional people that are committed to the mission to help.
Speaker 3:Well, they're treated very well. I mean they're treated just like firefighters. Their workstations are fantastic where they think about that, and now they have a dog that stays in, cooper, the dispatch dog who lives with one of the dispatchers. But you think about it when you're handling some of the calls, you're talking. You can take a call from a screaming mother that their baby's not breathing and the stress that they're dealing with and they have found good old Cooper comes sitting next to you. That dog can tell.
Speaker 8:For sure.
Speaker 3:You know when they're stressed out and just having that dog there.
Speaker 10:Yeah, you know, eases a lot of tension and is good for them, I know you've gone over there.
Speaker 3:I've seen you a couple of times gone over there and visited.
Speaker 10:For sure, we go over there.
Speaker 3:And you know we can round this out. Go ahead, greg.
Speaker 2:I want you to jump in your DeLorean for a second Go 10 years into the future. We have the Fry's project 777 front. We have the stuff, Plus we need 25,000 more housing units for SP35 purposes for Burbank. Where do you see the fire department? We have six stations. There's another 30,000 people. What do you see in 10 years? Are we going to have to add stations or equipment? What's it going to have to have? We're lucky enough to have four paramedic vans, but what about everything else?
Speaker 10:Burbank's going to expand in the next 10 years For sure that's a great question when I came on the job and it's going to be 31 years here shortly. You don't look it, buddy, yeah, thanks.
Speaker 10:I started with the feds before that, when I was 18, so it's been a little longer. But long story short, the way we did business and the way we looked at what our downrange needs were were well-intended and well-thought-out, but they were really anticipating, based on expected need. That hasn't changed. But what we do now is things are based more on analytics. We know there's going to be needed changes. There's going to be changes that we'll need to do in the future and it will need to be based on analytics. Things like how many more calls we are going on, how much our resources are committed and unavailable for another call.
Speaker 10:There are a lot of metrics that we have to take into account as we determine what we're going to need in the future. Make no mistake about it we're going to need in the future. Make no mistake about it, we're going to need more in the future. But it has to be based on data, analytics, things that are on paper. Mathematically you can say, okay, we need this, this and this because of this, this and this, and fortunately the fire service in general has realized that and as we look down range, we are really relying on being accurate and looking at our data, looking at our response times, looking at how much our resources are committed, being agile enough to recognize we're seeing a trend where our RAs are now being committed this amount of time and are unavailable for another call. We have this response times have extended and being quick and recognizing that quickly and then being able to ask and forecast that hey, we need to make changes here. This is what we need, from stations to people, to resources.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, it's really. People see fire trucks, see fires or see a paramedic at an accident. They don't realize all the stuff that goes on to make that all work and you being a deputy chief, to make sure and to keep that class one status too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3:You keep things running even keel yeah.
Speaker 2:I have to explain what does class one status mean, because Red Bank worked hard to get that and they have it on the rig Class 1, it's just not showing off. It actually does mean something.
Speaker 10:Yeah, for sure. It's the ISO and it's basically the way that they rate a fire department's ability to handle emergencies, specifically fires an insurance services organization, and there's a criteria where they come in and evaluate the department and Class 1 is the highest and it is a big win for us to be a Class 1 and maintain a Class 1. There isn't a higher classification, I remember the work that went into it.
Speaker 10:The Burbank Fire Department is the highest class and there's not a lot in the United States that are Class 1. Burbank is one of them. It's something to be proud of and it's something that we do have to work hard to maintain.
Speaker 3:Um, and that's one of my jobs, along with everyone in the fire department, to help maintain that well, you know, I think, of all the different positions you have been in for craig and I, I got to thank you. You know I want to thank you on on the podcast you have been. You know when we've called you or text you, you've gotten back to us. It's been in the middle of the night or the next day. We kind of push you. Sometimes you don't have all the facts and figures or what started the fire, you don't know. But we appreciate your position. Just know that my Burbank does appreciate everything you do, and so do our readers because that's who actually wants the information.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I appreciate you. You do, and so do our readers, because that's who actually wants the information.
Speaker 10:Yeah, no, I appreciate you saying that and you guys have always been very supportive of the fire department and we can't thank you enough.
Speaker 3:All right, Well, thank you, Dave and don't retire before the end of the month. And Deputy Chief.
Speaker 10:Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, thank you guys All right, Thank you. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah, fantastic, thank you guys. All right, thank you.
Speaker 2:Okay, ross. Well, we have somebody a little bit different from a firefighter here. We have an RN from St Joseph Medical Center, providence, st Joseph Medical Center, one of our great advertisers, tabitha Kovach, who's a registered nurse. Welcome to the show, thank you very much. Ross take over.
Speaker 3:Tabitha, you know I have been out with your team with our Sidewalk CPR. That's what you're here today doing. You team up with several nurses to teach Sidewalk CPR. People don't know it's no more. You know, jumping on compressions, throwing in their mouth, Correct. And let's talk a little about that place called SJMC, you know, or Providence. Now there's that TV show that everybody's watching, the Pit. The Pit and you know, I know they use part of the old ER.
Speaker 3:Yes, I remember when the first building was built over there I photographed for the hospital. But St Joe's is an amazing place. Yes, I know a lot of people. Some people had I've lost a family member there, but life goes on. But in case of an emergency man, you're going to be taken care of and sidewalk CPR can save a lot of lives and it does so. Explain to us just. You know how it's changed and your mission coming out. You probably saw 500 people today Not all of them doing compressions on people.
Speaker 6:So we now only do hands-only CPR. We've stopped providing breaths to people. We've learned that that time we're taking out of compressions is actually pretty detrimental to mortality.
Speaker 2:So we want continuous circulation throughout the body until advanced life support Is that because the beating of the heart helps the oxygen in the brain, the oxygen, the blood. Yeah, helping the breathing really doesn't help, because if you're circulating the blood, then that does the same thing.
Speaker 3:Correct, okay, you can do CPR. I like that.
Speaker 2:There you go. Actually, I'd use the old Lucas device over here and plug that thing into the wall, huh.
Speaker 3:Well, that's, you know you could probably talk about because that's new Burbank's, got it a couple of years ago, but that saves some guys' backs.
Speaker 6:Absolutely, and it allows them to focus on different aspects of the patient care. It frees up their hands to establish an airway and to start an IV and be able to administer meds a lot faster, so that they've progressed their patient care further by the time they get to me in the ER.
Speaker 3:How long have you, let me ask you, how long have you done that job? Because that can take a toll on your life. But I know nurses, and especially trauma nurses or ER nurses you've got to have a loving for life. I mean, it's a challenging job when people don't make it and some of the things you see is just heartbreaking. And you probably have seen it because I know what goes over to St Joe's.
Speaker 6:I've actually been in emergency medicine for almost a decade. I was an EMT before I ever became a nurse. I was an ER tech and I've been a nurse since the beginning of 2021. So I was a tech through the pandemic and a nurse through the pandemic as well, and I still love my job just as much as I did, you know it's a calling it is.
Speaker 3:People say, say, like firefighters, who wants to wake up at three in the morning to go pick up somebody that fell out of their bed and has to go to the hospital? They call grunt runs or whatever you know. But these people are living a lot longer. You know, I have relatives that are living a lot longer. Now St Joe's, as we know, as I know. Some people say well, why isn't it a trauma center? People don't understand. It was at one time, many years ago, long time ago. But it takes more than an army to be an authorized trauma center. You have to have a full medical staff. You can't call somebody and say, hey, we've got somebody coming in. You've got to be prepared to go and that's why watching these TV shows it's kind of like watching any other tv show. There's a lot of drama there, yes, but you know how team members work and everything. Good friend of mine, angeline camp, and I tell you, talk to anybody that can control and she's amazing, didn't she?
Speaker 3:yeah you know, and I've called her and text her on questions and she's still to this day, even now she's retired or semi-retired. But I will tell you, you guys do a hell of a job. Thank you you know coming out here today and teaching people.
Speaker 2:And you were talking about TV shows. Have you seen the Pit?
Speaker 6:I have seen the Pit.
Speaker 2:yes, how about Code Black? I have not watched Code Black. Okay, Are there any shows you've watched that you think you know what they pretty well have captured? What goes on, I think?
Speaker 6:we all agree, the pit has actually done a very good job, reflecting emergency medicine.
Speaker 2:And we all love Noah Wiley in that role from his ER days.
Speaker 6:Yeah, of course there's still dramatization, but it's actually been the most accurate so far, I guess, since ER. Really yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, it's funny. I was watching a couple weeks ago. I'm addicted to it, like a lot of people. They brought in a patient and I happen to have fatty liver disease and varices or whatever.
Speaker 3:Varices yeah, and they had on the show a person that it had. What it is is veins running up your esophagus to your brain and I have bulges, minor bulging, so they've gone in. I've been in your gastro department many times, Dr Fisher, a great doctor, and he said I'll be in, in fact, the end of the month to go in and just medicine nowadays. So I'm watching, you know, on TV and they bring in somebody that had blood everywhere.
Speaker 6:And they don't shy on use blood. But it that's what. Honestly, in that situation it's pretty accurate, um, and it requires a lot of resources. Really fast, it requires immediate blood from blood bank. I mean.
Speaker 3:It requires a lot of team, um, teamwork, yeah, and those situations can go so bad, so fast and we have such an incredible team well, st joe's has been an advertiser in my burbank for many, many months michelle hoker from your communications team and we run articles all the time and I guess I just heard recently they got to tear down one of the buildings because earthquake safety and all that and how do you raise funds for that and so forth?
Speaker 3:People don't realize we have a great hospital there, folks. I mean we hear when people Well they say thanks for the hard text.
Speaker 2:St Joseph's is the Cadillac of hospitals and stroke.
Speaker 3:Now People don't realize the time when somebody is cared to on stroke and the medicines. You can put one of your own doctors there at a stroke and it was fully functional in six months and to me that's in St Joe's is one of those and that was one of the big reasons of building the new ER, so you could do, don't have to go to the basement, you know, and you can bring CT scans and all that it just. You know St Joe's. Like I said, we're so fortunate. Uh 501. You know Buena Vista, or Buena Vista in Alameda For the team, for the nurses. You know everybody looks at paramedics out there in the field, but when that box shows up at your back door it's your show.
Speaker 6:Yes, sir.
Speaker 3:It's literally your show. As a lifelong Burbank citizen, I love it. I had two grandkids and my son, you know, was born there. Wonderful, it's just a great hospital and you probably your team that you work with even out the camaraderie with all the doctors and nurses. It's incredible.
Speaker 3:It is Well. Thank you for what you do, thank you for being here teaching sidewalk CPR and I know if anybody is interested, interested. You guys do it not only here at Fire Service Day, sometimes down on the Paseo they've done it, they've gone different places. They could always check the fire department website. They kind of put that out. So again, tabitha, I appreciate you coming on air with us and what you do.
Speaker 6:Absolutely. Thank you very much, I hope not to see you anytime soon. Not either.
Speaker 2:Ross another guest. Why don't you introduce him?
Speaker 3:Well we are. I'll tell you we've had some fantastic guests on today in the Burbank Fire Department. We just happened to have somebody that came from Glendale Fire Department retired as a battalion chief, I believe several years ago we won't say how long ago, is that how long ago? And Tom is now the chief over at Disney Studio.
Speaker 8:Captain.
Speaker 3:Captain, excuse me, a lot of people don't realize that Disney, like Warner Brothers, has a fire department as a fire department, the volunteer. But you know they do the same thing. You know inspections and building checks and everything. And you have been. You just like you said just keep going. You know, you're like an ever-ready bunny. And then you also for years did the burn relay. I remember being involved with that, with you for many, many years 23 years.
Speaker 3:Now that ranch building isn't there anymore, that's right, that kind of changed. Isn't that how that whole? Tell us what's going on at Disney and what you're loving.
Speaker 8:Well, thank you Ross. Thank you for having me. I did a 35-year career in Glendale Fire, retired and then had the great opportunity to work for the Walt Disney Company. I'm assigned to the Burbank Studio Campus. Our fire department consists of four paid fire captains covering all the Disney lots, including Burbank, glendale and over in Los Angeles, and then we have our fire chief that leads our team. We do have, as you mentioned, a volunteer corps. We have now about eight to ten volunteers that have signed up and are actively involved that we can access during large emergencies or incidents that we need additional resources that maybe Burbank Fire can't supply.
Speaker 3:And you were telling me earlier, you have a new piece of apparatus, right?
Speaker 8:Yeah, we just ordered a new engine. Our current engine is like a 1989 Ford and we've been in need of a new engine, so we just ordered that. It's supposed to be arriving in November, so hopefully you can come and see that, but that'll be exciting to get the new piece of apparatus on the lot.
Speaker 3:And people don't realize. Even though you have the Disney campus I mean the building and so forth and the offices, you have stages there you have a big piece of property, a big responsibility, and people don't kind of understand. When an alarm goes off, yes, Burbank is responding, but that first initial size-up comes from you guys.
Speaker 8:Yep, that's correct. Our studio lot is 51 acres. We have seven sound stages. Not huge, but we do have a lot of activity there and fortunately I believe that with my past experience in fire service, that when we do have an emergency I just roll into action like I did before. When Burbank does respond, I'm familiar with most of the responders, they're familiar with me. So it kind of makes it seamless when they come in and need to take over and jump and do what they need to deal with. But I can provide them access, I can give them some direction on utilities, egress, different gates to use. Just try and make it easier for them.
Speaker 3:And when you were at Glendale you were in charge of, you were a platoon battalion chief, as I recall, and that's where I think you and I met each other many, many years ago and I think we've shared it on today's podcast. There's no city lines anymore. If you need a rig, you can get Glendale, you can get Pasadena.
Speaker 8:And the fortunate thing was working Glendale with a lot of these Burbank personnel. We worked seamlessly there as well, so getting to know these folks here in Burbank was a great help, and now with Disney, when they come in, it's just seamless as well. I know most of the responders that come in at least at the captain or the chief level, and it just assists our interaction with them to run a lot smoother.
Speaker 3:You know it's well. I know you know the rigs these guys train and you know if you need to send something a Glendale guy to a Burbank rig, it won't be unfamiliar. They know They've trained together. They do brush responses together. You know I listen to the radio all night long or 24 hours a day and it's real seamless. And when they're going responding to a piece of Disney property property you know, and Craig and I are usually water flows and they don't need to roll everybody. You're there pretty quick and and keep doing it for a while.
Speaker 8:Well, yeah, you know it's fun and it keeps me busy. It's exciting work. It's a great place to work. The Walt Disney Company is an outstanding employer. I enjoyed it. It's interesting. You see unique things that I wouldn't have seen otherwise, and it just makes it fun every day to go to work and see what's going to be happening there.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, many, many, many, many years ago I was a fireman at Warner Brothers when it was the Burbank Studios and people, you, you know I can go watch a show. Now, no fun watching the show, because you know, you know how they're doing it and how the effects are and everything. And, like you say, when you leave working for a municipality like glendale, you go work on a studio and everything is controlled. I mean you shut off a valve or you, you know it's totally different, but it's a totally different perspective filming.
Speaker 8:Yeah, yeah. One thing I realized quickly is municipal fire department is a lot different than a corporate environment. You know there's pros and cons to both, but there is specific procedures and ways to do things. On the street a lot that you're really not going to mess things up, you knowidentally have a fire alarm go off during a corporate executive meeting at a high level that you really don't want to have happen. A lot of communication, a lot of things coordinated, but it's still a fun, great environment.
Speaker 3:Like you say, where are you located here in Burbank, working with Burbank Fire as you do, and you know the surrounding area so well. It's super Well. We started off. We talked to Matt Garland, we talked to some nurses from St Joe's, we talked to the fire department administrator, dave Burke, in his role. Now we're gonna end it with Captain from Disney. A lot of Burbank has people don't realize We've got studios here. Disney has their own, warner Brothers has their own, airport has their own. So it's all encompassed.
Speaker 8:It's a great team and we do get great support from the city of Burbank Fire Department. I work closely with them. They come often to the lot, some as a casual visit, some as official business, but we follow under their jurisdiction and authority. So we want to make sure things are done right and safe, to keep them happy and to make sure that all of our cast members go home safe each night to their families.
Speaker 3:Well, you just said it, you work with Mickey and Minnie, literally Literally. You've seen Mickey and Minnie doing many, many things, but it's kind of different over there, just the Disney psychology and how they operate versus you know, warner Brothers, how they operate as a rental lot, you know and so forth, and it's kind of neat that I don't think a lot of people that follow my Burbank podcast do you know they drive by the studio. What goes on inside? They have no clue.
Speaker 8:Yeah, and it is a closed lot where other studios have tours available. Disney Studios does not allow people just walking off the street for tours, but if you are a member of their official fan club, the D23 Club, then they have tours available to that group and organization. But other than that it's a closed lot. So, yeah, a lot of people drive by and wonder you know what's going on in there, and there's a lot of great stuff happening every day there is, and we are, the media capital of the world.
Speaker 3:I mean Glendale's, a near close, but I mean here, with all of our studios, and Disney has been home here since the 50s. If I recall right 1940. I remember when Walt Disney chose to set up shop here. And you guys own a big place. How many acres? 51. Wow, that's a big piece of property. Well, tom, we're wrapping up. You are a gentleman to stop by and give us a little update and brief on the Disney Fire Department. Stay healthy and stay high to the mouse in the house.
Speaker 2:Thanks for all the work you do. Thank you, Captain, we appreciate it. Well, Ross and Craig, we've done it Now. Craig, I know you weren't in the interview today but you were here, I wish, Dealing with all the people coming in and showing them all the great stuff that we do at my Burbank, and you've done it yourself and everything. So we appreciate that. Wish we could have got you out a little more on the show Me too.
Speaker 1:Sorry I couldn't. I'm glad you were here. I'd be here in the middle part, so Ross, what did you learn today?
Speaker 3:I learned a lot. I learned a lot from our administrator, Christine, and everybody Talking today. Burke is always a pleasure. We got to talk to some different people and what a fantastic day. I saw smiles, Never heard a kid crying out here. We were kind of lucky to be in the fire station, where it was at least 30 degrees cooler than out in the back lot, and you know what a great day. 2025.
Speaker 1:How many of these have we done? Oh, we've done a few, yeah.
Speaker 3:Fire Service Day 2025 is in the books and we've got to thank the Burbank Fire Department for allowing us.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Every year. They always use a great place here and very accommodating, so we thank them. They're gracious hosts.
Speaker 3:Yeah, danny, we want to thank Danny Alvarez. I know he wasn't on headset, but Dave Burke was Pat Garland, who did a great job this year his first year.
Speaker 2:He did a great job, and just everybody and everything. So that's it for another year For Craig Durling and Ross Benson. This is Craig Sherwood saying thank you once again for watching and listening. Hit the Like button, Subscribe, Like, Follow, Subscribe, Do all that stuff. We appreciate it and we will talk to you next time.