Battalion Chief - A Day in the Life

Hello, my name is Mauricio Seguro and this is a day in the

life

of the

battalion

fire

chief

of metro south rescue fire what is the emergency that comes from the roof lpd is reaching the let's go ahead and turn on the second alarm good morning boss thank you for leaving I do this quite nervously, we have a really good wellness program and we are held to a pretty high physical standard, we do a VO2 max which is equivalent to 12 dunks and it's everything you see on TV with the mask and everything. that and it's based on what your body can use, the way it uses oxygen, so there's no way around it.

I was a former wrestler and yes I have always tried to stay in shape but cardio is very important to us and so in this job because I am pulled in so many directions the job is really supporting everyone else for me it is getting up early and do my cardio as early as possible, do it the first thing I do, so if I can get there early and do my workout later, during the day, during the day, hopefully, they'll see that and it's a reminder for them too. stay sharp boss we're ready hey let's see the truck should be fine we deployed brush 41 with a team of three in Grand Junction I did it. um this bc square three radio we have is running third on 32 right now for a while so it's going to put that back to what it did but just in case don't worry yeah we've been doing the same thing on our shift , I think this is our last first day without oh well, okay, and we'll do it, that's all.

I'm going to finish a couple calls here, okay, okay, I'll wait to get on the platform and then I'll go get my stuff so you can get along, so I'm okay, thanks, okay, I run to all the car accidents major, uh, fire incidents, fire alarms and skyscrapers or larger commercial structures and then essentially the high-level medical examinations, so if it's cardiac arrest, that This type of thing will also appear on those calls, for which the more serious calls are usually when a

battalion

chief

will go and we just provide that overall command and responsibility for more important calls, especially calls that are going to grow beyond a first alarm.

The goal of me being there is so we can get our first officers in the companies to do the job they are trained to do. Our first officers take command initially and we'll just use a house fire as an example, but when I'm actually working and being in command. It's a lot to do, it's multitasking and there's a lot of pressure because time is urgent, so the goal for us to get there is for me to take control from an outside position and be able to maintain security and accountability, constant reevaluation of our strategy and tactics and making sure that whatever we're doing is working and so I'm essentially there to make tough decisions, like if a building seems too unsafe to search then I need to get people out so that's really my goal. and that's why I show up in a van and in most cases if I'm going to be in command I'm not going to get out of that vehicle but that's usually the goal is really safety and reassessment so check my battalion first , okay, so we do a briefing with the district chief, so it's the five battalion chiefs led by the DC, we have the EMS supervisor who met with one on our shift, we have the chief of staff and we will also have our training officers and this is how we plan and plan our day: we start with staffing, then we work ourselves on the daily events, which is the training and any other daily events, so really the pressing issues and any kind of last minute changes and anything that needs to be communicated, that's how we keep our communication as clear and concise and communicate the same message as all five battalions to our crews and then at 7:30 we have the battalion briefing , so that's when we'll go.

Get on the phone and we'll talk to my battalion, so there you go, Mr. Baker rb3, yeah, well, hey, your team didn't go to Big Water, go ahead and go to Big Water, training, so, that's a bummer. Hooper's not here but I still like doing it. I would like to meet you and the 32 this afternoon. We'll meet somewhere where we can get some water flowing. I'm 34 34. What's wrong? Joe Sims. How is your vacation going? I'm alone. happy to hear everyone's voice in this song, yeah oh my god it's really something special you're the funny guy that was funny guy again so who are we waiting for? 33 Schmidt, what's up, buddy, guys, okay, any device emits someone in reserves, no. a is your brush truck, back Josh, yeah, okay, perfect, sweet, okay, so the rookies moved in, so I'll be planning on coming down and seeing the rookie with you guys, Josh, at some point.

This morning I have lieutenant's practice, but we have. three of them are held as a clearance test and then two lieutenants practice, so look at the holes that are created. I think 14, you guys are going to fall for one of those. Okay, guys. I appreciate everything and call me if you need it. anything, okay, okay, Simon will make lasagna tomorrow if you want to come, oh that sounds good, I'll take it. Dinner, dinner tomorrow, thanks, okay, okay, it's usually this time of day, so we're done with my two conference calls. I have a game plan for the day and overall this is the first time I see my room so I can put my stuff here so here is the room it's really nice yeah it's one of the benefits of Build new stations and get promoted. a couple of times, so I have my own bathroom and I'm going to take a shower, get ready for the rest of the day so you guys can go do something else.

My job today was to follow him, so I'll watch him and see how. he's directing the people on his team, people within the structure, how they work in that low visibility situation and how the ability to really mix, uh, I guess it's multitasking, you know, moving the hose or doing the job. and not losing radio traffic because that's very vital to making sure that the incident progresses to completion in the best way, so we put our guys under a lot of scrutiny and you've probably seen it during some of those post actions with them like If you knew that there is a lot that we give.

We give them a lot of information, we give them strategies and techniques that have been successful for us and it is up to them to develop their style. I do a lot of development and help people along the way and when they struggle and get promoted. And you see them coming and yeah, I mean they're going to be better than a lot of us because they're better trained than us and it feels good that this place is in good hands and it's just a little bit of a part of it. of this organization as we've grown is pretty impressive, face time is important, like they have to trust me, we're on the same team and the only way to build trust is to spend time with them, so We spend time training. on station visits and I try to do a mix of everything when they are available, I try to blend into their day and not interrupt their day because I remember when I was climbing that when the bc goes by everywhere it doesn't matter how casual you are.

I try to be, everyone stands up and gathers at the kitchen table, so there are certain times when I don't sit down. You know, if they're working out, I'm not going to stop their training. Today I called the station I wanted to visit. um and they were working out so we didn't stop by. I was like, hey, man, keep doing what you're doing, but it's time to build that trust over time. You know, I think that in one of the videos with the Onboard I was talking about how it's very easy to break trust and at this level this is the first time that you're not on a platform with a crew, so you have to be deliberate and Let these guys know how much you care about them. and the people we have working here, my job is to get them home safely and help them take the next step in their career, whatever that may be, if they want to be firefighters for 20 years, what's the next step for them, proving that?

They have 20 years of great experience here, but if they want to be captains, we saw a couple of them as candidates for captain lieutenant today and it's about having that face time and giving them the support that you know, matching their effort and that's what What I'm trying to do. what to do with those visits brush 42 engine 22 chief italian netcom ops3 wildfire map page small team 31b south potomac street and east rider avenue good becca storage facility is approximately 20 feet from the nearest structure there is a portion with a fire extinguisher trying to put it in They have several colors on this one indicating 20 by 20. 23 copies, we have threatened but slow moving and somewhat small structures at this point, we'll wait until someone gets upset, that's all sir, and your profits will come out. from the east and the eighth guessing from the east also at 12. sorry three pups we're in the briarwood scene the fire went out.

It looks like a very small grass fire, like I said, they put it out with the garden hose. I'm going to go ahead and clean it up. I will move forward and take command of the offensive strategy. Now I see very small fires. Brush Motor 41 Motor 33 Brush 17 Brush 43 Doctor 36 Tinder 34 Italian Boss 3 Security 35 Love One Rehabilitation 12 Weed Fire Channel Channel 5. Commandment Come Motor 44 I Know You Suck Yeah And See If You Can Get To Those Apartments 24 okay, would you like us to update the mapping to the access point from the apartments for incoming units? I need one unit on the highway to put out the fire on the slope and the other units level one level in the grocery store parking lot and still don't have the best access in Douglas County, we are now getting a lot of calls from the apartment. complex we will have them start evacuating your complex for those new 39 commands we are going for the brush motors 39 for the command but motor 44 is going to take over this area.

I want you to go back and take the next command, press engine 39. crush engine 39 we're west in these apartments it's that driveway two tracks below you can a brush engine go down in the copy I'll take the alpha division on top of the hill here and uh like I said just give me a guy one for now I think we can defend this position I'm in the area where you have the alpha division cruiser just keep in mind the fire is under the power line we'll go ahead and wait until that we have a Team, we are getting a platform here that has some tools for us, but I like what it is doing.

These guys got it from here and then we'll start stopping him from grabbing the can and hitting this over here or yeah. Go get your can, yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess I'll get dressed, I got it. I appreciate it. I can still use the brush truck in this division just for cleaning. They have more fire there, so that will be the priority. So right now. Clean up what you can't use yourself if we need to fill your truck with brush or whatever, so you can tell me what needs you have here. Yes, we will not be our biggest risk to

life

safety and securities at risk for long.

There was an apartment complex behind us, so I had really good eyes to see if we had any kind of extension of the trees, uh, towards that, so we were watching everything go out and we were waiting for the suppression units, the way where that helps the command is especially is so it's really based on the size, the complexity and the duration of an event, okay, and this was places of a size that I couldn't see, uh, the duration, we don't know how much time they will burn out, especially if they get into something and so really your control range maxes out at five to seven, well, five plus or minus two, is what they say for a control range so many units and knowing that we were going to have a full alarm plus some, I was just giving it a chance. to give me some of those units in an area that he couldn't see, that would reduce radio traffic and I could control this, so essentially I'm a commando in a certain area, so essentially what you see behind me was my division alpha and me I just made sure that everyone was safe, that everyone was working in the black and working the flanks appropriately and that we were getting close to the actual risk values, so that's really the goal, the goal is to reduce the lag. of control so that the command is not overwhelmed and in any radio we go to see a candidate for captain and we put our guys on the grinder and when they complete it they have done something beyond and they risk their necks for the department because you know that not everyone has the capabilities or wants to advance or wants to be the center of attention, so you choose to put the focus on yourself and you know, you saw a little bit of that this morning when we were working with that lieutenant candidate.

It doesn't stop at any level with this department, very good right now I have a system, it's a horse chestnut system, it's eights,but you know it's like the Ohio State Buckeyes so it's a helmet decal just to recognize the efforts that are above and beyond the Job Description and you know, the attitude and the effort in this job For me they are everything. We can work on everything else, but you have the right attitude and you put in that kind of effort. You have to recognize it and it's an easy way to say it. Good job, you know, without getting too soft a medical response, so we sit around talking every now and then, I think I think they do it to me on purpose, we just sit there and chew the bat and tell war stories and start to try to be newbies. so it opens up a little bit so we know who it is and then the process of that, the truck and the doctor got a call and they left me with the dishes so I'm cleaning the dishes and I tell them watch me clean the bathroom some more late too so yeah we can still do the dishes and like I said I think sometimes most of the time they are really good about it but I think sometimes it's a game.

I think they really planned this kind of thing. I think it's pretty common for us to get calls after dinner, so I tell them this isn't the first time I've had to do this, but I'll do it. do it willingly, the fire department is different from the private sector. I came from the private sector knowing that I wanted to be a manager or company officer at an older age. I had a plan. I wasn't really sure I wanted to be a battalion chief and I think the closer you get to it, the more the decision making and self-doubt becomes super competitive, so in this department you have to go through at least that first.

The time I started, you had to be in five years. and then you could test for lieutenant, so he had been a firefighter for eight years. The test for lieutenant was able to promote to lieutenant and then the next step is another development process, another task book, essentially we have at each level, so the task book for lieutenant then I made a captain task book, I did that and It was about eight years, eight and a half years of being a company officer and then at that time I made a task book for my battalion chief, so I was lucky enough to have tested myself at each level. once he did very well in all three oh, the most challenging part of the job is that what a cage fight is is the time management because you have five teams and administration and those kinds of things that take you in many directions and Well You know, making time for all of this and trying to put in that kind of effort is a serious challenge, plus any staffing issues, that's the hard part because the whole part of this job, like the ongoing calls, is fun. . to do a little bit of that today, luckily we didn't have closed door meetings with people that you know needed some redirection or training and that with time management and that's the hardest part of this job, getting to this position is a a lot of work, it's a lot of work, it's a lot of responsibility and you know, realize that it's not about you either, like the higher up you go, it's less and less about you and more and more about making sure that they have what they need, like said.

It's whether you want to be a 20-year-old firefighter or you want to be the head of the department. It's my job to give you everything I can to help you get there and those are difficult conversations sometimes. Yes, I can give you. You have the worry about criticism, but I will also give you a pat on the back when you are doing the right things and patience, yes, you don't get here overnight, so this battalion chief position is changing and I just part of this new evolution and I hope I'm doing it right, man, like I really do.

Good morning um I didn't get any calls last night so I said that may or may not happen but the battalion chief's job never stops so around 11:30 we had a tower that was having mechanical problems and they had to call me and we had to resolve a reservation situation and they had to make a change from last night, so when I was Talking a little bit about those administrative pieces, it's one of those things that, at any time of the night, and usually , when you get a call like that in the middle of the night, you hope it's not bad news like an accident or something. but that's what we do, we handle all those problems and do what we can once again, is support the guys, like find where the nearest reserve unit was and make a plan to get them back in service as quickly as possible possible and we are here. for 48 hours and sometimes that happens at inconvenient hours and we're lucky that it wasn't three in the morning but 11 o'clock so we slept a little less because of that but overall we slept through the night, we had a couple of calls from this station probably saw the doctor go in for one or two medical exams and then the second day starts for us, so I'll get on the treadmill here in a little while, I'll get on the treadmill and then we'll have another district head.

Conference call with battalion chiefs this morning at 7:30. And that one is more or less planned for the day like yesterday, but we also do some operational work and watch some videos, one of the bosses would leave the discussion and so on once. Again, keeping us all on the same page tactically and administratively, our district chief does a very good job. It takes a lot of teamwork at that level to ensure that boots on the ground can truly serve citizens, so I appreciate you following me today. and I hope this was fun and educational. If you haven't subscribed to our channel and you liked what you saw, please subscribe.