Stories From the Road: First Responder Stories
Camaraderie. Courage. Commitment. Join host and former firefighter/paramedic Phil Klein as he delves into the heroic and heartbreaking stories told directly by the men and women who work the front lines every day. Whether you’re a first responder or simply interested in the lives of first responders, Stories From the Road presents a captivating, weekly perspective into the unique world of public service as only those who have experienced it can share.
Episodes
“One thing I kind of regret doing, looking back now, is when everyone’s asking, 'Hey, are you good?' is saying, 'Yes, I’m fine.'” - Firefighter Brian
When Firefighter Brian joined the fire service in July 2021, he was living his childhood dream — helping people, running calls, and finding family in the firehouse. But one clear, sunny day, a single call changed everything.
Brian responded to a serious...
**Listener Note: This podcast was recorded in November 2023, and as it happens, there have been changes in Chief Ashley's career. This podcast is in no way representative of those changes.**
"It’s not coming in with a chip on your shoulder and feeling like you have to prove something. It’s not being something that you’re not. It's really accepting who you are, what you bring to the table, and proving tha...
"And I looked at my Lieutenant and the time and I said, 'How is this so normal? Like, we’re that desensitized to this. There's a human life on the other end of that headline—somebody that we share this career with—and we just don’t care.' And he goes, 'Yeah man, welcome to the fire service. It comes with the territory—just part of the job.' And that statement, that sentence, is the part t...
"Life leads you in directions you never expect." – CEO Jillian Crane
In the wake of 9/11, more than 800 children lost a first responder parent. From that unimaginable loss came a mission of hope – the First Responders Children’s Foundation. What began as executive Al Kahn’s simple idea—to give those first responder families a Thanksgiving together—has grown into a national movement of compassion, education, a...
“You know, I went from one of the most hated professions in the country right now – being a police officer – to the second most hated which is being a porn star. And how dare I work in the sex industry? So luckily, I was prepared for it in that aspect – I know what it’s like to not be liked for what I do.” - Lieutenant Bella Lexi
From the moment she saw an episode of COPS at 14, Lieutenant Bella knew exactly what she ...
“Let’s not mince words: no matter what, as a first responder you may not be having trauma in your personal life, but you are part of everybody else’s trauma that you respond to.” – Captain Heather
Every call starts the same way — the radio crackles, the adrenaline kicks in, and instinct takes over. But what happens at the end of the shift when the uniform comes off? When the person behind the badge carries the weight o...
“I never reported the things that were happening to me. I wanted so bad for people to respect me as a deputy sheriff, as an operator, as a narcotics investigator, and I realized that it was just not gonna happen.” – Former Deputy Bridget.
Serving as a law enforcement officer inherently brings its own set of challenges and, for the 13 percent of full-time law enforcement officers who are female, those challeng...
“I made the conscious decision that I wanted to put my family first, and that is – it’s so important in our profession that you do that, because you need to give your best at home and, you know, do your best to leave work at work, because your family at home needs you. When people said, ‘Oh, you’re crazy! You’re leaving all that money on the table – you’re leaving all that!’ I said, ‘You know what, I never had it. […]...
“And the instant thought I had was, ‘I hope we don’t have catastrophic injuries. I hope we don’t have any deaths, because we are now on an island. The people to the west of us are being hit by this, people to the east of us are gonna be hit by this. To the south, to the north - they’re all being hit by this. We are on our own.’” – Coordinator Mindy
It’s been three years since the derecho swept through Iowa an...
“It was a hard pill to swallow. And […] it was one of these deals that if you was gonna retire, you know, you got that retirement date, you go have your little retirement party and everybody pats you on the back. You get that proverbial gold watch and everything, you know, ‘Good job!’ and, you know, ‘Enjoy your retirement.’ And, like I say, I walked in the door […] that day and people never seen me again. I never walk...
“I don’t care how long anybody has been doing this – when you hear that, it just creates something in you that is almost a feral response. You know, I don’t think that it’s something that you can even control – even if you are the most calm, salty, old-school firefighter and you’ve done it a thousand times – when you hear that, it just creates a reaction in you that’s just visceral.” – Captain Kara
The fire d...
“You know we asked – I asked – ‘Hey, if you can send anybody from that other service we can get some mutual aid, and then if you can clear anybody out [of] the hospital, we have multiple children kind of on the ground ejected from a vehicle,’ and we – I – knew it was serious.” – Paramedic Josh
A sea of red taillights laid out before them, Josh and his colleague quickly realized that the New Orleans East inter...
"In 2023, less than five percent of career firefighters are female. Despite all the efforts that we put in to make the fire service more diverse, we’re still at that. That’s only a one percent increase in the last 10 years. That’s not very good. So, it is still history, and it’s still important. Representation is extremely important. I didn’t even know females were firefighters until I was in my 20s – like I just...
“So, I never complain about anything anymore. I’m not sure I was really much of a complainer to begin with, but I don’t complain at all. I’m willing to roll with the punches with change. I am trying to create. I don’t feel like I’m the most creative person, but I’m trying to be better at it. […] So, if I could tell people what to do, you know to help them recover, I’d say find a routine. I think routine is something w...
“So, upon my arrival on that day, I stopped in the middle of a five-lane road and said, ‘This looks like a good place to be. I’m gonna stay here.’ I walked in to find uniforms, matching of mine, looking for command to say, ‘This is what we need to do.’ […] At that time that I finally got there, the kids had been moved from the high school into a church that was just a few blocks away, and we were trying to get the kid...
“. . .but it was the moment that I recognized I am not taking care of myself. I’m not taking care of my daughter. [...] I’m serving the population I wanna serve, but I’m doing it in a way that’s hurting me and hurting my relationships.” — Cop Shrink Deana
For 12 years, Deana the “Cop Shrink” has answered the calls of over 100 federal, state, and local agencies in need of therapy for their first responders. These men an...
“They hit him with that Narcan, Mr. Blount jumped up like, it was like a Halloween thing. The guy jumped up on the %*^# gurney and is throwing — he’s in withdraw — and he’s throwing up against the side of the wall like a fire hose. And I’ll never forgot, the nurse goes, ‘Would you do that in your house?’” – Detective Vic
You’d be hard-pressed to make up a story involving a cast of characters known as Portuguese Elvis...
"Like with first responders: 'Oh, what was the craziest call you've been on?' Like we don't wanna talk about that. We want to tell the fun stories. We want to tell, ‘Oh, this one day this happened, and it was funny!' Where I think a lot of people in our profession, they always forget to tell those fun stories to the regular civilian, and I think it's pretty important." – Officer...
“This is all right at the beginning of fire season, and my symptoms really escalated from that point on. I started being paranoid, a startle response, it was crazy. I thought I was going crazy.” - Chief Linda
The mid-September Saturday in 2015 seemed harmless enough. It was forecasted to be cloudy with low winds and high humidity – a reprieve from a hectic, relentless fire season. Linda had been the duty ch...
“Seconds later, a male subject partially came out at the top of the stairwell. He was sweating profusely; his eyes were wide open with this glazed look literally staring straight through us. And at this point we’re yelling, ‘Show us your hands! Show us your hands!’ and he had no visible reaction. I mean no facial expressions, I don’t remember his eyes blinking, no body movement. I mean, literally, just staring strai...
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