Welcome everybody to Midday Magazine for this Friday, October 18th, 2024.
Have your host, James here.
We're joined right now by our new good friend, Wisconsin Rapids Fire Marshal, Brennan
Egan.
Brennan, thank you so much for being here today.
Good morning, James.
Thank you for having me.
Appreciate it.
I want to start off by saying journalistically, you know, integrity.
It's always important with these conversations.
I have none.
I respect and appreciate our firefighters so darn much.
And I was looking so forward to all week talking with you guys.
Number one, we don't get to talk to you nearly enough and we don't get an opportunity
to put a spotlight on our firefighters nearly enough.
But of course, it's also October, which is Fire Prevention Month, perfect time to be
able to conversate and have you guys in.
So thank you for the time and thank you for what you and your team do for our community.
We really, deeply appreciate what you guys do.
And with that, we're going to get into, you know, what you guys have been doing, where you've
been popping around for Fire Prevention Safety Month and some of these things.
And we'll get into that in a moment, even some tips for you.
But if you don't mind, Brennan, I'd like to get a day in the life of what it is to be
a firefighter and touch on that a little bit if you don't mind.
Yeah, certainly, James.
So for our department, we are a career department and our firefighters work a 48.96.
So their day starts at 7 a.m. and they're there for 48 hours.
And then they have four days off that 96 hours.
So, you know, we, we, our expectations of them in the tasks that they're dealt with
in those 48 hours can differentiate tremendously, you know, depending on what the call is and
things.
And, you know, in those 48 hours, those guys have requirements by training that they need
to do, you know, try to get out in the public and do some public relations if possible.
Those types of things.
Obviously, our priority is 9-1-1 calls, right?
That is our job.
And we don't know when that's going to happen, but we're always prepared for it.
So our guys know coming into their 48 or their membership knows coming into the 48, what's
expected of them and they do a great job with that.
I appreciate that breakdown.
Thank you.
Thank you for that, Brennan.
I hope that it, it, um, for one creates a little empathy for people out there, but also
understanding that what the job takes, and maybe we can encourage some more people to
be a part of our firefighters out there wherever you're listening to us.
And I, one thing that you said, and I was talking about Brennan beforehand in their pre-game
here a little bit, I've always admired firefighters have, as a young kid, always thought about
doing that and, and really respected the task, the job, the work that it takes.
But there are parts of this that I hadn't really thought much about, and you said that
right there.
And I don't know if I, or even the listeners have ever really thought about what that
is like for those 48 hours, and you don't know what is coming, and, and the mental task
that is, and what that takes, and we have done a really good job in our society of talking
about mental health nowadays.
And I think now is where the real legwork comes in with that, where, okay, we're, we're
all cool talking about it now and a raised voice.
Now what do we do?
How do we actually fix this or make this situation better?
Part of how we do that, I, I believe in the studies that I've read have believed, um, understanding
what others are going through, and, and having some of that compassion, and having more
compassion in our society.
And I don't know many jobs, and I don't know many of us that can relate to 48 hours,
you don't know what's coming, you have to be prepared for everything, and what that can
be like on the human brain and the human soul and everything.
That, that, that, it gives us an opportunity to kind of put ourselves in those shoes for
a second.
Right.
Yeah.
And that's a great point, you know, you bring up the, um, ideas of mental health, you
know, and, um, PTSD and, you know, more and more studies are coming out, and then we're,
we're realizing that, um, that saying things and speaking up, you know, it, it's not a
weakness, right?
It's actually a strength to be able to say, you know, maybe, maybe we need to look deeper
into this.
Um, and our department just started last year, we call it a checkup from the neckup, uh,
where they meet, yeah, they meet with, um, a, a counselor and, um, do a, do a session
with them and, um, it gives them the opportunity to maybe, maybe discuss some things that
they've, um, had in the past, you know, in their career or what they've seen.
Um, and our, our, our membership has welcomed it tremendously, um, we've seen some great
things with it.
And, you know, like you said, just having that empathy, you know, and people, you know,
their thoughts and, you know, we want, we want to make sure that our employees, you know,
obviously cancer is a high risk for firefighters, right?
But what we're also finding is it's not just cancer.
It's the mental health aspect of this job as well.
It's just as important as our physical, um, ability to do this job.
So well said.
Yeah, and it, it creates, um, a more well-rounded employee to, you know, somebody that can offer
their services, they're, we're not building up these emotions or these thoughts that they
may have had, they can actually speak out about it and it, it's a great thing that's coming
forward with the science and helping, helping the firefighters in their careers.
It's so encouraging to hear that and, and, and it's no secret, you know, our departments
around the country are, are, are, are having a hard time filling the gaps and, and getting
enough people and, and maybe these things are part of how we get to that.
If anything, it won't hurt, uh, getting more good people into these jobs and doing this,
uh, appreciate it.
And, and the job is, and there's no pause button for that job.
So, as I understand, it's stuff's going on over there.
If you, you've got to go, let us know, okay?
That comes first.
Yep.
Uh, but I do appreciate the time.
This is all the more the reason why we appreciate the time.
Right.
Um, those 48 hours, man, you really, you're, you're on the, you're on the clock.
You're on the clock.
Yeah.
Actually, and I want to go shift right into a fire prevention month and, and, and some
of the, uh, the things that you guys have been able to do getting into the community and,
uh, you know, running into kids and going to schools and some of that.
Now, can you, uh, and let us know, uh, some of the activities that you guys have been
up to?
Sure.
Yeah.
So fire prevention week, um, is usually that the week of October 9th, uh, started back
in 1922, um, and then it's just, it's gained ground ever since.
And what we've offered, or what we do offer for fire prevention week is we go to the schools
within the school district here, um, we, our main targets are kindergartners and third
graders to try to get out that the fire prevention started early, um, with the kindergartners,
what we do is we take our gear in with us, um, we show them our gear, show them that we're
not scary, wearing all of our, our gear, um, how to be safe if something were to happen
in their home, having a fire escape plan, uh, you know, checking small detectors, things
like that.
Don't be hiding, you know, we're here to help you and to try to get that point across
to those children.
And then with the third graders, um, Wood County Fire Chiefs Association has a fire safety
trailer, uh, which is great that it goes around the entire county, um, we have it for that
week of fire prevention week.
And we put the third graders through that trailer on the one side of the trailer, it has
a, uh, like a mock up kitchen and the other side is a mock up or pretend, uh, bedroom.
And we talked about fire safety tips both in the kitchen and in the bedroom, um, you know,
because those are our two areas, you know, we're more apt to have a fire, you know, for sure
in a kitchen, you know, most fires are caused by kitchen, cooking fires, um, and then the
bedroom part of it is, you know, most fires occur at night, typically.
So when you're sleeping, right?
And how the, basically teaching those children how to, um, get out of the home safely, out
of their beds.
So it's, it's been great for us.
And, you know, between kindergarteners and third graders, um, we reached out to 650 students
this year.
Wow.
Yeah.
Wow.
And at, you know, our third graders get, um, a little booklet, a fire safety booklet, um,
that's offered through community safety net and numerous businesses within the community
donated to have these books provided for those children.
So, uh, we can't thank those businesses enough, uh, for providing those donations to give
that fire safety message to those third graders.
Great.
And our kindergartners, um, we give them fire helmets and then a little pencil pouch,
you know, just as a token of, hey, thank you for listening to our, our topic, our fire
safety.
And hopefully they can take something away from it.
I ran into one of those kids and they loved it.
They were running around all day with it, um, and, and, and that kid, like many other
girls, uh, had something spark in them, no pun intended, but they had something inside
the, and I, and I know what I'm talking about with this is as I was telling Brennan beforehand,
um, you know, as much as the audience knows, I've rambled many times and I've, I've been
an actor for instance, I was a kid, but before that, I wanted to be a firefighter and that
was the, that was the gig to me that seemed, uh, like it, it, it touched on everything
I wanted to do with my life.
I, I wanted to do good work.
I wanted to be able to, uh, to help others and be there for others.
And that really got me, uh, on a lifelong love of not only appreciating our, our emergency
workers and our firefighters, specifically, um, but also understanding that, um, this
is a job that not everybody can do, uh, and, and, and hopefully getting more and more
people that can do the job, interested in it, uh, it certainly is something that, you
know, when you're taking these things, yes, we want to spread the safety for, uh, you
know, and, and the understanding of how to be able to be safe.
But also hopefully creating some, maybe future firefighters, uh, it, it's a great work
that you guys are doing out there and, uh, appreciate that.
So, uh, Brennan, uh, one of the other things we wanted to talk about today were, uh, fire,
about fire prevention month, uh, is certainly some tips and some things people can keep in
mind when it comes to this.
You touched on earlier that the majority of fires do happen in the kitchen, uh, and there
are other places too, uh, when it comes to putting out smoking, uh, smoke alarms, I think
this is one of the first ones people wonder, a lot of places you move in and they already
have one installed.
But where you put your fire, uh, fire alarm is, is kind of, is key to so much of this.
So, to our audience, um, you know, where is the best places to be putting those fire safety
alarms?
Yeah, certainly.
Um, the best places to be put in smoke detectors and smoke alarms, um, is each bedroom,
um, in a hallway, um, is a great spot, um, every room in the house is ideal for smoke
detectors, you know, your living rooms.
Um, obviously the bathrooms and the kitchens, they do make special smoke detectors, um,
otherwise it sets off, you know, when you're just cooking some might, you know, even just
boiling water, sometimes it'll set those off.
But, uh, yes, the ideal places is every bedroom and the hallways, uh, in your basement, carbon
and oxide detectors are just as important, especially with the winter season coming up
here.
Everybody's starting up their furnaces, um, carbon and oxide detectors are just as important.
But to get back to the smoke detectors, yes, bedrooms, hallways, living areas are ideal
spots for those.
It's a great note about the, uh, carbon and oxide detectors too and, and, you know, testing
these at least once a month is always a good idea too, uh, making sure those batteries
are fresh in there.
Yeah, definitely, um, testing them.
And we recommend every time daylight savings is to replace those batteries, you know, yes,
check your smoke detectors monthly, but daylight savings times, you know, when, uh, next
month here, we're falling back.
That's a great time, a great reminder to, uh, replace those smoke detector batteries.
And again, in the spring, when we spring ahead an hour, go ahead and replace that battery
again.
Uh, the nice thing is a lot of the new batteries or the new smoke detectors have a 10-year
battery in them, which are sealed.
Um, so you don't have to remember to replace the battery, but, you know, we still recommend
just monthly testing that smoke detector to make sure it's still working for you.
You just made my dad so happy that's when he changes his, so he's gonna feel so good
about that.
But, uh, it's a great, I didn't know that about the modern smoke detectors.
That's really cool.
Really smart of them to do it that way.
It is.
Yeah.
And they're, you know, I think they, with the technology, they're finding that people
weren't replacing those batteries like they showed up.
So having that 10-year sealed battery, um, really helps tremendously keep people safe.
Yeah.
And the kitchen, uh, a number of things can really help keeping the fire, fire safety
up and keeping these numbers down as far as the amount of fires we have.
Uh, they, they mentioned it always unplugging countertop appliances.
That's another good idea.
That's a great idea.
Yep.
Anytime you're doing any cooking in the kitchen to is making sure that you're, you're
staying in the kitchen with that cooking, you know, anytime you're doing on the stove
top or, you know, don't leave your residents with the oven going.
Things like that that can help, you know, if something were to happen, you know, you
are readily right there to be able to, uh, kind of eliminate that, that issue that you're
going to have.
As a side note, too, uh, if they're unplugged, they're not, uh, sucking your electricity
bill or anything.
So I mean, I get to win, win right there for that.
That is right.
Correct.
Uh, and, and while this may seem like a simple one, it's really important in, in, in
so many, uh, stats that I'm seeing come down to people forgetting to turn their oven
off or something.
I'm sure that everything is off in the kitchen before you leave it or before you wrap up
for however long you're going to be in there.
Yes, definitely.
Um, you know, and just staying in the kitchen while we're cooking is so important.
Yes.
Vital.
That's a great note.
Yeah.
Uh, that, and as, uh, I'll say this, uh, especially coming from an Italian household,
we are so known for rambling and moving around the house and everything, that's a really
good note.
That's a really good one.
Um, when it comes to the rest of the house, uh, there are certainly, uh, other, you
know, every other room has its, uh, fire dangers to them.
But are there anything that's, anything that stands out, like, oh, this is one I see
a lot of and people really could use to be more on point with this one.
That's a tough question.
Yeah.
Tough question.
You see a lot of houses over there.
Um, you know, the kitchen is kind of the biggest one, um, big thing is keeping things
away from your furnaces, you know, your water heaters, especially if they're gas appliances.
Combust the walls away from there, um, helps eliminate that fire danger in your house
as well.
You know, um, and, uh, if you are able to really lock down, okay, I know this room, I
know the kitchen is, is safe.
I know that I'm doing my job here.
It certainly doesn't mean that it can't happen anywhere else, but it does take a little
bit off your plate.
It does take a little bit off of your mind and you're, again, coming back to mental
health, uh, of feeling safer and, and so much of this is about that is, is feeling safe
in your own home, feeling good about these things, um, when it comes to laying your head
down at night, that's where the carbon dioxide and some of those other testers come into
it are really good to be having up to date.
Yes, for sure.
Um, and another slogan that the National Fire Protection Association NFPA, they have
a great website too.
They offer materials, um, to help keep you safe, um, with fire and every other div
regard as far as it comes to fire prevention.
But one of the slogans too is, uh, close before you doze.
So making sure your bedroom door is closed before you fall asleep, um, that way if an incident
would occur in the middle of the night, uh, it buys you time, right?
We know that fires with the materials that are burning, they, they burn hotter, they
burn faster, um, we have less time to get out of our homes with, um, the new materials
that, you know, things are made out of.
And by closing that door, it buys you some time, right?
It gives us the ability to, to hear that smoke detector, um, and then find our way out,
have an escape plan, have two ways out of your home, um, is a, are great things, you know,
in practicing these with, um, children, you know, your grandchildren and everybody, having
a family meeting place, you know, and just, this is a great month to just practice those
and kind of re reiterates or, um, read, kind of go over them, you know, rehash them
a little bit and make sure that they're, make sure that they're fresh, especially with
little kids, we all know what it's like when you're a little kid, it's squirrel, you know,
you get distracted really easily and everything, it's, it's never bad to go over those, um,
if I could, uh, this is where I wanted to wrap up was making an escape plan and making
sure that you have that intact in your home, uh, this is something every single home should
do, even if you live alone, it's something that you should have in your head, um, when
I was a kid, we had a lot of stuff growing up going to happen and everything and one of
the things we went through was having a fire safety plan, uh, you know, having a good
escape plan. Well, thankfully, uh, growing up never had anything happen, but as a grown
adult, uh, I was at my parents house and a fire happened. And that same plan we had from
like 11, 12 years ago or whatever, uh, all of a sudden popped in all of a, we talked
about this months afterwards. It stuck with us and, and sure enough, we all felt safer
about our afterwards talking about it. Like we felt you're never going to feel necessarily
in control, but you felt a little, but a little more prepared for this as it was happening
because you were immediately brought back to, oh, I remember when my dad told me this,
or I remember this thing or some, even a decade later, that plan came into play. You
just never know. And it's, it's that great glass in case of needed kind of thing. Hopefully
you never have to do it. This is the only time you ever do this plan. But if you want
it in there, just in case, yeah, definitely, um, create that fire safety plan with your
family members, or even if you're, like you said, if you live alone, um, just, just going
through it, you know, having two ways out of, out of your place of residency is, is great,
you know, we all, we're creatures of habit, right? We always do one way, right? But having
a backup plan is a great way to help save ourselves and keep ourselves safe. Um, having
a meeting place is another wonderful thing once everybody gets out. Um, that way when
the fire department shows up, everybody's in one area, we can go up to you and say, you
know, is everybody out of the residence? Yep. Everybody's out. We're all here. Yeah. That,
I mean, that saves so much time for us, you know, and everybody's in one spot. It makes,
it makes our job knowing that everybody's out of the residence. Everybody is safe, much
easier. Um, a great note there. And, and just to piggyback on it, if you have animals,
uh, having something key, including them in the plan is a, is key to this. You're going
to be worried about them in that moment. So you might as well include them in the plan.
Um, if you have dogs or cats, having a leash near the door always is a great one, uh,
or both of those exits or at least one of those exits is a great idea. Um, and, and,
certainly with other animals having a carrier or something like that nearby, uh, these
are a part of your family. You're going to care about them in these moments, uh, just
as deeply. So having them a part of the plan isn't a bad idea either. Um, and, and, and,
and again, going over these plants, it doesn't have to be October, it doesn't have to be
fire prevention month to do this. No, and it doesn't have to be ultra, while it is serious,
it doesn't have to be ultra serious. You can, you can enjoy this with the kids. You can
enjoy this with your family or just doing it yourself and everything. Um, and, and again,
coming back to the mental health part of this and, and such, hopefully you never need it,
but having it in the back of your mind and the front of your heart is only going to help
you going forward and help you feeling better about it. Yeah, for sure. Um, you know, and the
kids, children enjoyed doing these things. Yeah, they do. Yeah. Having them draw, you know,
what they think is the appropriate way and then maybe helping adjust that as needed. Um,
and then practicing it. You know, once you have it in place, like you said, James, like
practice it. Mm hmm. Go through it and it just builds that muscle memory. So if something,
God forbid, something were to happen, you, you're ready for it. That's a great note. Uh,
Brandon, you killed it today. You did a great job, man. I really do appreciate it. Unfortunately,
it's such a good job. You're going to have to come back. You're going to have to come back
sometime. Uh, it not just in October. I want you guys on more of the, I'm more on the
year with us and everything. Uh, courage, uh, if people want to find out more and be able to
reach out to our local fire department, is there a way to do that, Brandon? There is. And you
can, the city's website, Wisconsin Rapids, um, on a link there, you know, under the departments,
our fire department website, we have things that we can offer you. Um, you know, even calling
the fire station to speak in myself, um, regarding fire safety tips or anything of that nature,
uh, national fire protection association, NFPA website offers, like I said, great resources
for people, um, especially for fire prevention. Yeah. So yeah, anytime you need to just give us a
call, um, we'll gladly help you out in any way we can. Yeah. Any questions or anything?
There are no dumb, there are no bad questions, anything like that? Reach out to them. Uh, please
ask. And certainly to anybody out there that is thinking about becoming a firefighter or learning
more about that, uh, please reach out into a wheel and you always need more good people involved
in this, uh, volunteers and above. Uh, Brandon, stay safe out there. Say hi to the rest of the
team for us. Thank you again for everything you do in the community, putting up with my questions
and joining us today. Thank you. Thank you, James. I appreciate the time, um, and I welcome
coming back again. Looking forward to it. Uh, and looking forward to another week of Midday
magazine. We send a big thank you and shout out to our scheduler Pam Hilke doing the amazing
work she does week in a week out. We appreciate your Pam. Appreciate all your listeners out there.
Thanks so much for joining us. We'll be back with more Midday magazine here on 975 FM 1320 AM WFHR. We
are locally grown radio.
