Then and Now

In this Episode

To understand the fire service today — why we train the way we do, why medical calls dominate the workload, why readiness is such a sacred value — you have to look at how it all began.

EP3 traces the evolution of the job, from bucket brigades and hand pumpers to modern engines, SCBAs, and standardized training. We explore how tradition, disaster, and hard-earned lessons shaped the culture we inherit — a culture built on preparation, repetition, and trust.

You’ll hear how volunteer companies in early North America raced each other to fires, how fire insurance drove the development of organized brigades, and how communities protected their own long before radios or pagers. We follow that story into the present, where medical and rescue calls now make up the majority of responses, and where departments carry names like Fire Rescue or Fire EMS to reflect the work.

Along the way, Chief Martin Drakeley shares the moment the hall captured his imagination, and retired Captain Bill Grantham speaks to confidence on medical calls — and how theory only becomes real when you’re standing over a patient.

“Readiness isn’t luck — it’s built through repetition, structure, and trust.”

This is where history meets practice — where the lessons of the past shape the work we do now, and where every call connects you to the generations who came before.

EP3 Shownotes Include: CPAT, NFPA 1582

[TRANSCRIPT EP3: THEN AND NOW]