Fire Department Humor

Explicit content warning

07/18/22 • 55 min

We have LAFD Firefighter Paramedic Tyrone Hurst @firedepartmenthumor who tells us about his hilarious videos and characters based on LAFD archtypes that are super accurate and funny. Tyrone tells us how he came up with his characters: Captain Quarters, Bull Engineer, the Rookie, & Senior Firefighter. He tells us how low department morale, along with the exaggerated outside perception of LAFD firefighters led him to start making funny videos to help build up morale thru laughter, and show that his department is actually a fun place to work. We talk about guys who are hammers, salty, cool, old school, jokers, and sometimes thats all the same guy. Tyrone also gives insight on getting on the job, how long and hard it can be, & what it takes to make it.

Previous Episode

Chemical Burns

Comedian and actor Jon Kondelik tells us an incredible story of an incident that neither one of us had ever come across in our nearly 20 year paramedic careers. He had a unique chemical burn while leaving his hand in what he thought was a latex plaster mold being used for special fx in a student film. The mold begins to burn his hand as it hardens into solid concrete, trapping his hand in what he describes as a "deep fryer". What follows is a scramble to try and free his hand with a hammer and a screwdriver. Jon explains how panic sets in & no one thinks to call 911. Jon winds up freeing his hand and spending weeks in a burn center where they try unsucessfully to save his fingers. Jon shares his whole emotional journey while recovering from this event & all he had to overcome mentally to get to where he is today. We also get an incredible story of Danny saving a drowning victim at a 4th of July pool party that took every last trick in the book to get a pulse back.

Next Episode

GSW's with Elias Zepeda

Responding to a shooting is one of the routine calls that makes a paramedic feel like a paramedic. Getting a shooting victim to tell their story has been anything but routine. It takes bravery to survive a shooting & talk about it on our podcast, & we finally found a guest who was shot, a lot, & also likes to talk, a lot (he's a comedian). Elias Zepeda tells us how he was shot 11 times (at a quincenera) & THEN was shot again in the head a couple of years later. If you're thinking he just has bad luck, its more that he was doing exactly what people who get shot a lot do to get shot. He tells us all about what it was like to be shot each time, how he remembered the paramedics, surgery, recovery, and rehab. He talks about dying multiple times, going to prison, being in a huge gang, boxing, being bullied, gangbanging in a wheelchair, and why little dogs love him. We also talk about your state of mind while youre bleeding from gunshot wounds