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We talk with ordinary people living extraordinary lives. Be inspired, LET'S GO!
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Andrew Robles & Bridgetown Leather Company
Meet Andrew Robles, a firefighter, paramedic, family man, and owner of Bridgetown Leather Company. Andrew takes us on a fascinating journey through his early days in paramedic school, where, like me, he had initial reservations about becoming a paramedic. We revisit our time serving our communities, battling fires, and the emotionally exhausting trauma we faced head-on every day. Listen in as Andrew discusses his past role as a Fire Suppression Aid for the LA County Fire Department and his grueling training at Rio Hondo's wildland fire academy.
We journey into the heart of firefighting, discussing the unique challenges the job presents, from the physically exhausting days to the emotional toll it takes on our personal lives. Andrew and I share our stories, reflecting on the importance of career satisfaction, the struggle for work-life balance, and the necessity for emotional resilience in this line of work. The conversation takes a lighter turn as we explore the stress-busting activities we love and enjoy.
Andrew's life outside the fire station is as fascinating as his life within. His knack for creating firefighter shields from scratch has evolved into a thriving business, with orders streaming in from fire departments nationwide. We get a glimpse of his meticulous hand-stitching, painting, and the process that goes into producing each distinctive leather shield. Andrew's narratives, both on and off the field, offer engaging, raw, and insightful tales that are sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.
Together, we delve into the tradition and pride associated with the fire service shield, from its significance to the craftsmanship that goes into making it. This conversation isn't just about Andrew's successful shield-making business or our shared experiences as firefighters - it's about finding satisfaction in what you do, pursuing your passions, and the importance of keeping your family at the heart of it all. Don't miss this riveting discussion that takes you behind the scenes of a firefighter's life, on and off duty.
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Andrew Robles. Welcome to the podcast man. Thank you for having me. Yeah, it's been a while trying to get you on here. Actually, you and one of your, one of our friends I'll say it's Gabe. We'll see if it at that game. We're going to get you on here.
Speaker 2:Gabe, don't worry, gabe, and me also. Yes, there's three of us, three musketeers.
Speaker 1:Oh heck, yeah. Yeah, we're going to get you guys on. It'll be really good, but we're getting towards the end of the year. Thanks for driving in, man, I know you live pretty far. It's a beautiful evening out, so thank you so much for being here. My pleasure, thank you for having me. But, dude, we go back a little bit. We go way back. Yeah, I think we first met in paramedic school, right At Saddleback. That was like what, 2010?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, I was right after I got hired with OCFA in 08. I did my year of probation then kind of like a year on the floor after probation then went to med school.
Speaker 1:Can I just tell you that I did not enjoy any part of it. I did not want to go.
Speaker 2:For me, it was horrible, it was horrible.
Speaker 1:There's some people know, at least here in SoCal you can get hired as a firefighter or firefighter medic. Right, andrew and I both got hired as just firefighter EMTs. We weren't paramedics. So after a while you've been on past probation, you can at least. I think you probably had a test. I don't know if OCFA does that, but where I came from, I was just told hey, you're going to paramedic school and I was like what? Geez, dude okay.
Speaker 2:It was terrible, I hated it. It was a good learning experience for me because, as an explorer, you know. You see that I was an explorer for LA County. Wow yeah.
Speaker 1:Where.
Speaker 2:In Azusa.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was in. I was in Bill Gardens, post three. Oh dang, yeah, let's go.
Speaker 2:I didn't know you did LA County explorers. Yeah, I was an explorer and we'd have our meetings and you know the the engine would leave, the squad would leave, and you know I'd go on ride-alongs and since then I was like 16, I'm like I want no part of paramedic and like it does not look fun. I always envied the engineer. So I knew, like I know, I don't want to be a medic.
Speaker 1:Let's go.
Speaker 2:Best spot dude 100%. So I always saw the engineer and I was like that's where I want to be, that's what I want to do, and did hand crew thing. Worked for LA County and their hand crew for a handful of years. That's FSA.
Speaker 1:FSA. You're an FSA, Andrew. How did I not?
Speaker 2:know this, I've known you for years, you're such a quiet, humble dude.
Speaker 1:What year were you in the FSA exit? So people know let's do this. What does FSA stand for?
Speaker 2:Fire suppression aid. So it's basically a hand crew firefighter Hired by LA County Fire Department. Okay.
Speaker 1:Is that, and it is, I guess, the best way. For some people may know Forest Service has hot shots. That's kind of like LA County fires version right.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, so we're basically a hot shot without the hot shot qualifications. So we have ground crews, we have air crews. So there's four different camps, paid inmate camps, throughout the county and some of them have some of them are ground crews, some of them are are Halitak crews and there's helicopter station. At those camps the bowels go off. If it's for a medical aid, the helicopter will take off by itself. Go handle the. Whatever the medical aid is. Okay. If it's a brush fire, we'll all load up on the on the helicopter and fly to the fire land. Okay, we're typically there at the same time or before the fire engines, so we'll, we're just by ourselves. No water? No, nothing. Yeah, come up with a game plan, yeah.
Speaker 1:We'll yeah.
Speaker 2:We'll. We'll circle the the fire a few times, get a game plan. Look at the road. Okay, what, what can we tie into with the smart, you know, with the terrain, all that stuff? Yeah, see where we can fire off that that whole thing? Yeah, what year was that? So I was at Rio Hondo taking classes in. I graduated in 2000, 2001, 2000. Yeah, well, 2001 got hired as. So I went through Rio Hondo's wildland training.
Speaker 1:Oh dude you're a good company. Yeah, class five.
Speaker 2:Class.
Speaker 1:You're like one.
Speaker 2:One or zero? See, it wasn't even like a thing. Right right, right it was. It was like hey, which one of you guys want to do this wildland thing? And we're like I guess I'll do it. There was no application process.
Speaker 1:no, nothing, I will say that that um wildland fire Academy was by far, I think, the toughest I've ever been through. Yeah, it was very, very difficult.
Speaker 2:I think it's gotten tougher since I went through. Oh really, yeah, cause we were just trying to figure it out, right?
Speaker 1:right right.
Speaker 2:We were hiking and taking tasks and whatever, and I don't know any different oh dude every day it was.
Speaker 1:It was either you know some arduous 10 mile run, yeah, or it's just this circuit of push-ups, set-ups, pull-ups and sprints with you know four-inch hoes and then tower runs yeah, Do it for like four hours. It was great. This was like. This went from like January till June, Right, I'll tell you this, though, you come out in shape, yeah.
Speaker 2:You come out of freaking style. Definitely a butt kicker. Um, probably the most tired, maybe not the most tired I've ever been. But the thing with that is it was new. I had never been put under that stress where, like you're hiking, your legs are tired, using muscles I've never used before, um, and so it was a new experience. So I got, went through Rio Hondo's um wildland training, okay. Then got hired with their, their type two hand crew through the college. Right, that's road runners, that's road runners, yeah, um, and then basically backed up Dalton. When they would go out on a call on a fire, we'd go back up their station, um, or we'd get you know type two work assignments, um, around around the state. But so did that for a year and then, um, then got hired with LA County in 2002. Okay, so I actually turned 20 in their in their Academy, yeah.
Speaker 1:That Academy's um. That was tough. That's no joke. That was tough.
Speaker 2:They dropped a lot of candidates out there, yeah, and it was in Santa Clarita, um, at camp nine, um, so elevation, it was tired, thin air, all that stuff, um, and I lived in La Puente, and so our training was up there in Santa Clarita, so I just stayed there all week.
Speaker 1:What, how, what's the drive time, like how long is that? La Puente to Santa Clarita?
Speaker 2:With no traffic. It's like an hour and 10 or something like that. It's not too bad, but I'm not going to do that every day, five days a week. Staying there before traffic starts is not a big deal, but coming home is like two and a half hours. Yeah, passing through Pasadena, all that.
Speaker 1:After just being, you know, ran and hiking on your 10s and 18s all day. Yeah, oh, that's rough dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I would have stayed too, I would have stayed, yeah, so I stayed there and then after that Academy, I actually got stationed in Santa Clarita at camp nine, so I kind of never left and then, uh, I just continued staying there. I would just come home on my days off. Um, I actually considered getting mail there, because guys who, who live far, they were staying there with me and they would get their mail. I'm like God, it's not a bad idea. I'm smart.
Speaker 2:I'm basically here most of the time, yeah, so, um, yeah, then it was at camp nine for two and a half years. Dude, you're on the helicopter right. How rad was that. It was amazing, it was so cool. It was so cool.
Speaker 1:I I'll just say allegedly I may have taken a ride on one of those helicopters a few years back.
Speaker 2:Oh really.
Speaker 1:Um, some class had to help teach. I'll just leave it at that. I was up there, um, and they I, you know took a ride, and that was the most incredible. When he was like going over the ridges and back down, Do you just felt like you're floating for a second?
Speaker 2:It was wild. Yeah, they would do that, Um. So I guess they're hiring requirements. You need to have a certain amount of flight hours and in order to get those hours, a lot of times you need to have you need to come from military. So a lot of the guys were, um, like Vietnam vets, those kind of thing. That's what they racked up all these hours. So these guys were crazy.
Speaker 1:Well, they got some skill. Yeah, they got some real skill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they got skill and uh, it's cool to watch it when they're performing those skills, when you're in it, like it's a whole other story.
Speaker 1:I was just saying how crazy is that? Um, a Vietnam vet who's been through like this shit, right, and he's flying, you know, our little punk butts around and we're all stressed out Like we haven't seen anything compared to what that guy's probably been through, right? Yeah, you know it's and he's flying you in. It's like I'm not going to say it works.
Speaker 2:I'm just going to put them told, it is what it is, man. Yeah, that's wild, it's. It's a good experience for sure. Yeah, you know being 20, 21, 22, you know, doing that kind of stuff, my buddies are still working at Tillies, you know, like right, right, Right.
Speaker 1:And it's a job that's given you experience for what your future goals are. You know you're learning a lot of first teamwork, your work ethic, working hard. I would say that for me, in my career started in the Forest Service. That taught me a lot about hard work. That taught me a lot about um being gritty in my work, working as a team member, but also working with all types of people.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:As Forest Service gets a hot like, you get all range of people and you got to be able to work with them. So there's a lot from that time in my life that I'm very thankful for. At the time I was like dude, this sucks, I'm getting like. I think I was like a GS three or four, which was like seven 54 an hour.
Speaker 2:It was a terrible pain. How do you remember that? I don't, because it was so shocking. I don't even know what to get paid right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, because I remember, um, I just remember everyone's like oh you know the pay, this, that. But I thought, look man, I need the experience and as either that or join the military, I can't afford to pay for school. So I got to figure something out and I did that and I remember, looking at the pay, I was like yo, this is radically low. Like I'm getting paid $7.54 an hour to pound dirt and risk my life.
Speaker 1:Like this is crazy, but it ended up being such a fun time. Yeah, you know, it is what it is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, huge learning experience. You learn how to work hard, no-transcript work around different people when you get tired. Some people have different thresholds when they're tired and like shorter fuses or whatever, and we just learned how to navigate that Different backgrounds and stuff. So it kind of prepares you really well for the station. Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, Absolutely. I remember being on probation from the department I came from and you know kind of just be like oh, this guy screwed up and he forgot to put the cheese out during lunch. And it's like dude. Last year I was eating a brown bag out of the dirt and you're going to bitch about cheese right now, Like come on, man, you guys got to make. You got air conditioning and internet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sometimes I hear guys complain.
Speaker 1:You know the municipal side. I'm like it ain't that bad. Yeah, it ain't that bad boys.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in comparison I got to the floor with our department now and it was the workload was way less. Yeah, so, coming from the hand crew, it's busy work all day long. It's working out, hiking, running, cutting line, project work, you know, peeling off the wax off the floors, reapplying every week, that kind of thing, you know. And then I get to probation and I do an eighth of that and they're like, oh my god, you're like the hardest working rookie, you're a rock star.
Speaker 2:I'm like, all right, just pull some weeds out of a planner. But yeah, no big deal, yeah.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I remember in the, you know, forest Service they would have a bunch of materials delivered because we'd make and build everything and it was, you know it was to make cement or whatever and there's big pile of rocks I got. They're like yeah, why don't you rake that pile of rocks to the other side of you know the driveway?
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:Took a few hours to do that, moved everything. Got back down at lunch they said cool, good job, why don't you rake it back? I was like what Are you freaking serious right now? Yeah, that's that busy work. Yes, dude, I'm not down with that. I think that's so stupid. That's a waste of time. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Our work was. It wasn't like that. It was actually good work. It was hard work, but it was good work. We'd go jackhammer out concrete, you know porny slabs, built retaining walls, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:So it was good A lot of good skill I'm sure that you use in your everyday life. Now, yeah, because I didn't learn any of that stuff growing up. Yeah, me neither. Then they're having all the material delivered, like, yeah, we're going to pour our own cement and we're going to, you know, do the own footing for this, and it's like, well, what you know? So it's pretty cool. I learned a lot from there, which sounds like you did for yourself as well. So from how many years again, you say you do so.
Speaker 2:I did that for six and a half years. So from oh, six years, oh two, to 2008, when I got hired with Orange County. So I gave myself five years. I said if I, if I don't get hired in five years, I'm going to go look for something else. I'm going to something else that packed my resume. I'm going to be an EMT. I'm going to go do this, this or that, but the problem is they paid just enough. Yeah.
Speaker 1:They paid just enough. No, I know, I know exactly.
Speaker 2:You're a union member, you have insurance, you have all this stuff and I'm like I'm really going to, I'm really going to stop contributing to my retirement to go be an EMT somewhere or whatever.
Speaker 1:But isn't that? It's funny you say that, but isn't that? Think about jobs outside of what we do, our profession as firefighters. We're government workers. Okay, so we all know that government workers not federally, but at least you know, city and statewide typically get paid. Okay, you're not going to be rich, but you won't be poor. You know what I'm saying. You'll be comfortable. Like, like you get dude, you get just enough where it's like they don't want you to leave.
Speaker 1:You're like ah man, I don't know, because of retirement and this and overtime, but I think about that. In the private sector sector, how many people probably get comfortable, right, because it's like, well, this is good money, you know it's paying the bills. I got, okay, health insurance, but are they really happy? I think about that sometimes, even for myself. You know, I'm like ah man, because I'm working on my master's degree now I do have a lot of other stuff on the side that do and, but there's a lot of me I'm like, ah, but the fire department pays, you know. So it pays me enough, right, you know it's not, it's not amazing pay, but it's good pay, right? You know it's funny, you bring that up. I think about that. A lot of people, where people get stuck and comfortable, where they don't want to take a risk and go after the things they want to do or start the business they want to start because they're in a job they may like a little bit, but well, it pays enough. And I got health insurance, yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, I seen that on uh during my time in training, where I would drive home every evening and I'd see the same people stuck in traffic every evening. I'm like, oh, I have a two year stent, but you got 30, like you know, 30 plus probably you're going to be on this 91 freeway for 17 years.
Speaker 1:I thought this same thing when I was in training that I would be done. You know, we're on the four 10 schedule and driving home it's like dude. These people got to do this for three freaking years. I got two years and I'm talking about to lose my mind. Yeah, no wonder the divorce rate so high yeah.
Speaker 2:Man, that's crazy. Yeah, I don't know how. I had a really like when I pulled up to my driveway. I had to like, take a second, okay, I'm home, just relax, debrief for a second, you know, turn all that stress off, what I have going on at home, all this stuff, leave my, leave my work phone in the car and then just come home and be present, you know, and just kind of leave it. You have to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, that's. That's something I've been working on, I would say, earlier on in my career. I only have 16, 17 years on total, but I wasn't good at shutting that off and I think I got caught up in the whole fire department thing where it's like give back, pick up as much overtime as you can. You know fire department, fire department, fire department and. But there was a lot of times, you know, in my younger years I didn't realize how much of the job was affecting me internally. That's how the sample was going crazy. But to see what we see on a shift basis, whether it's, you know, the craziness of the fire, the violence of people hurting each other or someone stuck in a car we got to cut them out or calling somebody dead, doing CPR on somebody delivering babies, seeing people with limbs missing, cuts, wounds, it's crazy, right. And then it's like go home, be a go home, be a father, husband, son, uncle, and it's just like wait what.
Speaker 1:I just worked two wild shifts, you know, and I had. I really had to take a step back and kind of do the same thing where. Now for me, when I come home from shift, I always tell myself put a smile on your face like you're home, whatever happened at work. You leave that work and come home, be present with family, and because the reality is, you know, this is a great job, we're fortunate to have it, but at the end of the day, they're not going to be there when we die.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Like once we're retired say we retire early medically or we retire after 30, and they're going to say, hey, great job. Oh yeah, here's your cake and ice cream and bye. They're going to give you a retirement badge and they're going to fill your seat with someone younger and cheaper.
Speaker 2:And then they become oh, what's his name?
Speaker 1:Right, that guy, what's?
Speaker 2:his name. That used to work here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think about that all the time. Dude, right, the emails we get about the retired firefighters passing away and this is not to be like mean or cold hearted, but I'm like, okay, I don't know where they are, right, I mean, I never I hate to say this but I never read them. I delete it right away. I'm like whatever, and that's not that you know what I'm saying, but it's like I don't know them. I have no tie to them Besides the fact that we worked for the same fire department and I see that a lot in our fellow firefighters. They get wrapped up in this whole like I'm a fireman and I want to say nobody cares.
Speaker 1:You realize the average system doesn't give a crap about your badge, your uniform or your latest equipment that you have on or whatever it is. And so I've learned for myself the importance of being present at home and picking up less over time and making sure I don't bring work home and making sure I'm open emotionally, not shut down like we're at work, cause that's right. It's true, we have to go from call to call to call and we, over time, learned to just shut it off. You just go to the call, run it and do your thing. Someone died. Hey, it sucks, man. Sorry, load up guys, we want to get lunch.
Speaker 2:It's wild dude. Yeah, I think I'm along those same same lines, but probably what's what I'm looking for? More advanced or like. So I Like compartmentalize everything. Yeah, so I have my work. Like, whatever happens, happens at work, yeah, put it in my box, then I go home, then I don't open it, you know what I mean. And so, like, when that's with everything like Personal, family stuff or whatever, like everything every, every time I've been hurt or Stressed or whatever, it goes in this box and I and I completely keep it away from my home. Yeah, yeah, so it's good to keep it, you know, keep work at work, at home, at home. But at the same time, you guys got to make sure that you're Sharing a little bit and getting some of that stuff off your chest. Yeah, you know, that's something I struggle with, because I like I come home and I don't tell my wife anything how was work, that was good, right, you keep it general.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know, I feel you.
Speaker 2:I got, we got up once got twice.
Speaker 1:Whatever you know, it's helped me those. Typically when I get home I Will if I don't have my boards with me at work. Usually I should take my RV to work most of the time because my surfboards and skydiving rigor in there. But I usually will come home and it's go for a run or go surf. That's kind of like my time to like diffuse a little bit.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:And once I put in that kind of like to get my heart rate up, work hard I always feel better after run and I always feel amazing after surfing.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:That's just kind of like my thing, where it feels like it makes me come back to being equal.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, I'm like, okay, I'm good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, I got. I worked out that stress a little bit and I'm fine. No, I don't know what that is for other people. I've just noticed for myself like that first hour home for me is kind of crucial. Yeah where it's like all right, you need to get some movement in and get get some that stress out from work.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm and then I'm just feel way more relaxed, I feel more present, I don't feel as anxious. That's something I've learned through. You know, I use that Counseling team, international international, that we have at work, so I found a therapist to them and that's what they actually suggested. Like hey, you, I noticed when you talk about after you exercise or surf or do something you like in the morning. You always feel better. Maybe that's the best thing to do when you get off. Mm-hmm you know, I'll just make you better, yeah, so.
Speaker 2:I don't know, it's probably I should do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got. How many kids you got a lot of kids do I got?
Speaker 2:I got a probably a small amount for being Hispanic Mom and I'm an underachiever. I have three. Okay, yeah, I have pretty good.
Speaker 1:Nowadays it's expensive and we're in soco.
Speaker 2:Yeah, dude, being you know single income, you know my wife stays home and she she handles everything at home and I'm super thankful for that. But it you really have to live within, within your means, for sure, you know, because you still want to give your kids like options and and you know experiences and stuff. So, like my kids, they're into music. You know my, my daughter, all my kids at one point have have had piano lessons. My son has piano lessons right now. My middle daughter, she, she does saxophone right now and yeah, and yeah, which one?
Speaker 1:which sax you know? Okay, Cuz real quick. Here is.
Speaker 2:Sam too was the yeah. Maybe that's it, I don't know. It's like the basic one, I know it's, I know it's gold, it's so funny cuz I can't picture her playing saxophone.
Speaker 1:Just look on my grave. Of all things, why not like violin, dude, that's boring. Okay, no, it's not boring, I take that back, yeah no, she's really good, she has that ear so okay.
Speaker 2:So my oldest she started when she was five and so or six, I'm sorry. And then my second daughter, she started hearing piano in the house because they're two years apart, okay, when she was four years old. So she's heard music pretty much a whole life. And so now she, when she started playing piano, she started doing the Suzuki method, which is kind of like my ear, yeah, I think. And so she just picks up really quick. So she picks up like she got like a little record, like a plastic recorder from from school and she was messing with it and she was just jamming all these little songs. Just she like just messes with it, and then she can kind of hear the different sounds and she can make out a whole song, you know that's so good that, yeah, that you're doing that with your kids.
Speaker 1:You got started early because it's so good for their cognitive yeah, ability for their future. You know, because music, that's how I was raised. I was raised you music and singing the car, my mom oldies and piano in the house, take piano lessons and Dude that.
Speaker 1:For me that's like. I've always loved music. It's kind of been one of those things where it's always gonna be a part of my life and it's so unique because there's so many people who aren't musicians, right, and so they look at you like whoa, whatever. But I've found so much connection through music with other people. A guy at work named Wes Miller. I help him with his stuff when he goes on tours and then just playing at church when I was a kid with my mom and other people. It's just pretty. It's so rad to do that. Now they say it's supposed to make you good at math, allegedly, and I suck it. So I don't know where they got that one from.
Speaker 2:My kids do really well in math, not because of me they got that from my wife, for sure. They got it from mom dude but they seem to get it with math and stuff. So I don't know if it has to do with music or just they just got my wife's jeans, but they do well in school. I don't know. I never did well in school. I was a terrible student.
Speaker 1:Terrible student. That's why I find it so interesting. I'm going after a master's degree right now, because I hate school. I hate school, dude, but I understand the importance of it now. I just I get it. It is what it is, dude. You have a business that we need to talk about, and this business is pretty much making leather products. Right, leather, helmet, shield. Is that? The only thing you make is leather?
Speaker 2:helmet shield. That's what it's evolved to. So initially it started off making whatever people wanted and I would just figure it out and I would get practice and get good. And for one of our firefighter cadres, back in 2016 or so, they asked me for some shields for their cadre, and so I made them and I kind of posted on Instagram. And then a guy from Riverside County hit me up like, hey, can you make me a shield? And so I made him a shield, and he's a pretty influential guy over there and, before you know it, his whole crew and then his battalion, and then, like, everyone's ordering shields and so, yeah, so it's got to the point now where, like, that's all I have time for. Yeah, so someone people hit me up for you know, a knife, sheath or a bow or suspenders, and I'm like, do I? I just can't, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I would imagine, because most people have the Phoenix Fire Helmet right, the ones that we have. So it's gotta be just kind of like a cut and paste, besides changing who they work for, maybe, if they have the numbering on the front or you know the rank or whatever it's gonna be. Some have their last names, I don't know, but yeah, it just becomes more efficient so if you're working on one thing you can be.
Speaker 2:You can make it as efficient as possible. So, but if you go from a shield and then someone orders suspenders, you're like, okay, let me put all my shield stuff away and get out my suspenders stuff, and then you know. So you can kind of make it almost like a little assembly line, right, you know, kind of.
Speaker 1:Dude, I still have your. You made me like a key ring thing for my belt for work. I still got that one. Really. Yeah, I still got it. I've actually I'm gonna be real with you, I've lost it a few times and then it's just ponied over to my station and I'm like, oh, it showed up, like cool. So I'll say like I still have the key one you made Awesome, dude, thank you, that's thanks to your stuff.
Speaker 1:But you've made me a shield. I've known, dude, you've got shields in Orange County, LA County, City, Riverside. Oh, what's the farthest you got? You have to have East.
Speaker 2:Coast, yeah, tennessee Really.
Speaker 1:So anyway, I had this couple of skis that I almost used and I loved it. I easily shot it down the whole time there was shooting catches.
Speaker 2:I shot it off of a mountain there and then they got ready to shoot it down. So, and then I shot it down again is, if they want like the number cut out in the middle, because then you got to stitch around the number, or if they want like a passport, then it's all just additional work, but so that's stitching.
Speaker 1:Is that hand stitching?
Speaker 2:Everything's hand stitched, hand sewn, hand Woo and everything. So, yeah, so the way it's yeah, dude, that's tedious, yeah, it's super tedious and it takes forever. It takes about five and a half hours to make one shield, you know. And then putting in time. So every time I put a post out, so I hardly ever post, because every time I do a post I get like three or four or five orders. So I'm like we really have to look at our books and be like, okay, where are we at, you know, with our progress and you know, can we post? Because every time we do it, you know, we get a handful of orders.
Speaker 1:still, which is a great problem to have, by the way. Like that makes me very happy for you actually, cause I'm sure there's some people who wish like they could put something up, and people come after them, so that means you're doing something right, right, right.
Speaker 2:It just takes a long time and I just got tired of the cheap shields. You know you go to a fire and they just curl over and, like the department, issue ones. They're not even leather, they're like pleather or whatever. They're like dude. Yeah, I get all my leather from this place in Irvine that he's a distributor from his company. His last name is Sipisi and Sipisi means tannery, so he's from Turkey.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:And so his family owns a tannery in Turkey and he's just like the US distributor. So, yeah, I took our shield, our department issue shield to him. He's looking at it and he just starts laughing. He's like I don't even know what this is. Like this is. I can't even tell you what this is. Wow, you know, so like it. So everything we use is top grain, high quality European leather, hand stitched, like all that stuff, so hand painted. It's super tedious.
Speaker 1:Is this a family ordeal too? Does your family help you out with things behind the scenes?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my wife, she does most of it actually, so, yeah, so I was doing the shields and talking about like work, life, work, family balance. You know, I would go to work, work my two shifts, three shifts, whatever I'm working, come home, then work on shields, and so I'd be in the kitchen, I'd have a handful of oars at the complete over my two days off and my kids would be watching TV and they'd be like Dad, can we go to the park or can we do this? Can we that? I'm like no, I can't, I have to. At the Finissey Shields and I just felt I felt bad, you know. So I'm like you know what this is. My kids are only small ones. You know, I'm not gonna that's a good point I'm not gonna do this, you know, I'm gonna just kind of stop making shields and enjoy my kids. And, yeah, so I kind of stopped and and then, well, I guess we didn't finish our conversation about med school, so just to cut back real quick, no, you're kidding, it leads to this, I promise.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wasn't successful in med school and so you know, start, start, continue doing leather work after med school. While I was doing these shields, I decided to go back to med school. And so I told my wife, I go, hey, I'm gonna send her a post saying that, hey, I'm not doing shields anymore, I'm going to med school, whatever. And she's like, well, I'll just do them, you know. And I'm like she's helped me in each of the processes but has never made a whole shield herself, okay. And so I'm like, well, yeah, if you want to go for it, you know. So she basically picked up the ball and just kept going with it. That's so cool, yeah. So now she does. What a good woman. She's amazing, that's right. She is amazing, so, and she's so much better than me.
Speaker 1:So much better, dude, you're melting my heart right now, dude.
Speaker 2:She is funny, she doesn't let me sew anymore. You know, like she like also something. Like she'll go like she'll be working on a shield and then she'll go do something and I'm like, oh, I'm going to just help her out, you know, and just sew the perimeter of this fire, this helmet shield, and then she'll come back and she'll be like she'll be inspecting it, like these stitches aren't, like, you know, all in line or whatever, and I'll just do it, and.
Speaker 2:But she has very good attention to detail, you know. So she wants everything to be perfect and even like the font, like oh, she's like, I don't know, maybe a little bit crooked, what do you think? I'm like this is straighter than straight. She's like no, but I don't like this little speck, you know, and I'm like, just trust me, it's fine, you know, but she has that attention to detail, so she's more organized, she does better work, and you know, bro, she loves you straight up.
Speaker 1:That is love and action right there.
Speaker 2:That is so rad but it's cool that it's also kind of like it's a family ordeal.
Speaker 1:She's helping you out. It's only made you better. You know that's pretty cool man.
Speaker 2:What's coolest about it is that our kids see it and so they ask us to help with shields. But if I'm not even good enough, my kids are definitely not good enough, you know. But they're like little entrepreneurs themselves, you know. They make like little rainbow loom bracelets and my one daughter's like super crafty, and they'll make a bunch of product of something bracelets, necklaces, earrings, whatever and they'll go with friends around the neighborhood and sell at the door and make money and then, you know, have a piece of party with their friends and stuff.
Speaker 2:So it's cool. So they're seeing that and they're kind of taking initiative and doing stuff.
Speaker 1:You're setting a good example. They're seeing mom and dad work, you know which is good, you know. They don't seem like they're lazy kids from everything I've seen, you've told me and your kids being involved in music. I'm always like man, you're doing it right, you're raising them right, my friend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I never did any of that stuff growing up. It's just, I guess if there's anything to say about myself is that I'm a good listener and so I take what guys at the station tell me, so I listen to their advice and I take it to heart and stuff. And I never played instruments growing up. I someone said hey, man, you should probably put your kids in music because it's good for their brain. I'm like okay, like yeah, and then that's pretty much it, yeah, so, yeah, so super proud of them and that's cool, but what year did you start doing the show?
Speaker 1:You said it was 2010,. Right, or 11 when we got up done at Meg School.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the way I got started is I got off probation in 2009, and I wanted to make. I wanted to buy a custom Scabbard, so I had an axe, I wanted a Scabbard, and so I was looking around and I want my name on it, and so I was looking around and it's super expensive. If you want anything custom, it's just, oh yeah especially now with inflation dude.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but back then I mean, I was a bottom step firefighter, you know, like not making a lot of money. So I'm like there's no way I can afford this, you know, and I'm the kind of person that if someone's doing it it means it can be done. Oh, absolutely, absolutely, yeah, I mean. And so it just takes a little bit of education and, you know, just figuring out how things work and whatever. So I'm like, well, I can make a Scabbard. If someone can do it, I can do it. And so then I just Googled you know how to make? Or I Googled like Leather Supply Company, you know, and it took me to a place called Tandy Leather. There's one in Bowling Park, there's one in Costa Mesa also.
Speaker 2:But I went to the one in Bowling Park and I just talked to the sales rep over there and just picked his brain and all this stuff and he set me up with this box.
Speaker 2:It's like a beginner box and it has, like your basic tools, some little projects like a key fob, a checkbook cover and a couple other things, and I was at 64s at the time and I would go up there to the loft at night, you know, after dishes are done, all that stuff and everyone's kind of winding down. I'd go up there and I'd just tinker and I'd just instantly fell in love with it. And guys around the station would be like like hey, like what are you doing up there, you know? And they'd come up and they'd see that I'm working on leather and they're like, oh man, can you make me this or can you make me that? And I'm like, oh sure you know, like, oh, give it a shot, whatever. And it's funny because ever since then I've never not been back ordered. Wow, yeah, I've never not had an order list and just other than Instagram I don't really advertise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, it speaks for itself it's funny how sometimes I try to tell people I can't even explain how things just hit. And even with this podcast, right, because we don't advertise. I mean, we just have what? A YouTube, instagram and Facebook, and I pretty much predominantly post everything on Instagram and just you know, let it go into the ether. Right, we have our host site and it just it's taking on life of its own. I couldn't even tell you why people are downloading around the world.
Speaker 1:I'm just like, okay, like this is something that we record and do out of my home and it is what it is. But, dude, if you have something good going it, just people will gravitate towards it. Man yeah.
Speaker 2:It seems like that's happened for you. So my thing is I just try and make the best shields out there. Yeah, I'm trying to make it very best. You know, like that's kind of something that's been instilled in me as a young kid my grandpa, you know, before he even knew I wanted to be a fireman he goes, he goes. Whatever you want to do, just be the best at it. If you want to be a, he's like I don't care what you do, he goes. If you're a garbage man, be the best garbage man you can be. You know all this stuff, so I really took that to heart and so with the shields, I'm like okay, like I'm tired of the ones that just look like crud.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it feels, terrible.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's horrible. Like I'm gonna make a shield and it's not gonna fold over, it's not gonna crumble, it's not gonna do any of these things. And yeah, and it's just been trial and error, I make a shield and I just, you know, ask for feedback and you know, how does it work? And you know, and guys would send me in-service pictures and I would be inspecting it and I'm like, hey, man, it's like it's kind of the top is kind of curling a little bit. Like you know, am I seeing this right? Like, oh yeah, like I had to make it do that because I wanted it to curl and it wouldn't curl and I had to like literally bend it over to curl. I'm like, okay, you know so, but like my heart stops a little bit. I'm like dude, like am I making something that is failing? Yeah, so, yeah, it's been trial and error. I think we have a pretty good product right now.
Speaker 1:Now you're because you've made me one, got my engineer's shield over, but how many layers of leather do you do? Cause it does seem very. It's sturdy and thick, but it's not. It's the best way. It's not a bad thick, like it's not overdone, it's like it's perfect. So is there like a stack method you have?
Speaker 2:Yeah so it's three layers and combined they're about just over a quarter inch thick. So if like any thicker than that, it just looks weird Too much, it just looks like too much of the front of your helmet. Okay, so it's a front piece, the middle piece which has the wording on it, and then the back piece, and then they're all glued and stitched together. Okay, yeah, and the stitching that we use is like real thick, like one millimeter inch thick stitching, so it's kind of predominant. It gives it like that look, the certain look that I've kind of as I guess, has become mine. Yeah, and so like the font, the stitching, all that stuff.
Speaker 1:So and you also put a. I believe you put a stamp of American flag on there. I love that, bro, my man dude, america, baby, that's how I know it's your shield.
Speaker 2:I was like, oh yeah, I don't know that shield. I've only had one person asked to not have it, Okay, and I kind of like almost didn't want to make it Right, like, hey, bro, like this is our country, bro, yeah, the shields come with American flag and you feel like it. Then I guess, no, you have.
Speaker 1:You've made a name for yourself and I've seen your shields around, even doing training with different departments. Excuse me, but how many shields would you estimate you've made since you've started? Oh man, you're thinking over 200? Oh yeah, well, over 200. Okay, let's go. What do you think? Over 600.?
Speaker 2:So, so when I'm making the shield, I put that center medallion in the middle. So I punch out a hole. The shields completed, sewn, all that stuff. The last thing is to put the medallion. So I punch out a hole to put the medallion in and that, since it's glued together, that punch out has all three layers. It's a punch out of all three layers. That make sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so they're glued together and I put that thing in the jar. Oh, you saved them. Yeah, so I have a mason jar. Oh, okay, right on, I have a mason jar and it's like three quarters of the way filled up, and I started doing that probably three years ago, okay, something like that, and before then I mean I wasn't even keeping track, I don't know. Well, I'm probably at a couple thousand, a couple thousand shields, and I mean, when they take five hours to make, yeah, I mean it's a big deal.
Speaker 1:But that's also a lot of your product in, you know, being used in our profession, which I think is pretty cool, right? Yeah, the shield is something very important, has a Long-standing history and culture in the fire service.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of tradition behind it Right now have the helmets changed, since you know, the fire service was founded, the fire brigade and you know Boston, new York, yeah, you know, I mean most of them still kind of have that traditional you know helmet. But now we have the newer style, which we still have the shields, we still have our badge. There's a lot of meetings, a lot of pride behind it. You see, some departments let personnel kind of Personalize theirs a little bit, even put like logos of. You know, if they're Irish, put the. You know what is it? The Shamrock. Thank you, what's up. What's up? Thanks for help me on the shamrock on there, or some I've seen like Some helmets have like their favorite football team on there, like their logo and all that stuff. So it has a lot of meaning to it. I think it's special, so to know that you've made thousands.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:They're across the country. Is it possibly international? Not yet, no, yeah, okay, hopefully one day one day, yeah, probably. Mexico with the Mexican, but to know that you have that many shields out and it's in our profession. It's something that means so much to people and has, you know, rich heritage and tradition is pretty amazing actually.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cool. A new tradition that's kind of started is is it's been going on with other departments like Riverside County, but with our department, when a probationary firefighter Finches, finches his or her probation, they get issued at their helmet shield. And so what crews are doing is that they're ordering a helmet shield from me and they're presenting it to their rookie. That's cool, you know, as a like a ride of passage, like hey, welcome to the family, and stuff so well, and it comes from their crew, which has even more meaning right instead.
Speaker 1:Of just, you know, I'm not the talk trash and our chiefs, you guys are lazy, but it was kidding. But you know it'll mean more than just the BC that comes by and the BC has a lot to do. He's got a whole battalion. It's not very personal, right? You don't have that connection whereas it's your crew who's trained you, right. They've taught you to become a well-rounded firefighter, someone who works hard, not just in the station but on duty, fires, rescues, whatever it's gonna be.
Speaker 2:So for it to come From them and it's handmade and it's coming in, that's something sturdy they're gonna have until they, you know, promote or whatever and keep, that's huge man and it's the forethought, you know, like the department will send, send you a shield in the mail, yeah, and say, hey, this is for so-and-so and or the BC will have it, you know, just still in the wrapper to give to the right, you know, to the, to the rookie. But the forethought of Contacting me, you know, month out or whatever, and say hey, want to get this shield for my, for a rookie, is that's the meaning behind it.
Speaker 1:That's pretty cool you know, yeah, that's really cool. Hopefully more departments adopt that and do it, because you know it means something to pass probation.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of work that goes behind sure there's a lot of stress, especially with our personnel who come from different departments to work out another one, you know, and now they have families and a morgers of where there's a long stress boy, lot of stress. So it's cool that, like you said, they have the forethought. There's meaning behind it. Yeah, something to him. So is this something you think you could probably do full-time?
Speaker 2:I would have to it would have to be somehow make it more efficient. Got you, because right now it's. It's like handmade, yeah, but it's, I see what you're saying.
Speaker 1:There's only so many hours in the day, right?
Speaker 2:You know, mean well, you gotta think about right, think about the shield that we're talking about.
Speaker 1:that just generic, like they give people when they they get hired right, it's cheap, mm-hmm, it's done. It's probably done by a machine Stamped right.
Speaker 2:But think about the hand-to-hand.
Speaker 1:But think about the handmade, the way you do it. It takes longer, but the craftsmanship that comes from that and how much sturdier it is and how much honestly they look way more beautiful.
Speaker 1:Yeah it sounds weird to say, right, a hose, a shield is beautiful, but yeah, they look really. You're kind of like dang dude, that looks really good, thanks. So I get what you're saying and it's like, yeah, maybe you could get machines one day, but I feel like it's gonna take away from your brand and what you've made right home style, made by hand, almost old-school style, work that has its own art and craftsmanship, right, you know?
Speaker 2:yeah every shield is, you know, touched by our hands and right, and, you know, molded and fit on perfectly. And you know, you know, there's nothing, really nothing, machine about it, it's, it's we do laser in the the font I Used to hand paint it in and it was just Not as clean and crisp as I wanted it to be. So we laser it in and then we paint that, hand paint that laser ring. Oh, so that's just to kind of get it Perfect. You know, and I even I've gotten complaints that hey, they look, they look too perfect like, like I want to have some blemishes, because yeah yeah, I'm playing it's too good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're like you can't make firemen. I.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they look at it like. They look like it's made by a machine. Yeah, I want something that looks like it it's not perfect, like it's made by hand. I'm like well, was, I can assure you was made by hand. Like sorry, I'm perfecting my crap, guys. Yeah, yeah, my goodness, yeah, I can't make firemen happy.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, you know you're also a part of a Organization that you started with Gabe mm-hmm, which I don't want to go too crazy into it. I just want to hit on real quick before we end, because what you guys are doing is pretty phenomenal. You're giving back to the community. You're helping those who want to become firefighters, at least from what I can tell. Yeah, so once you talk about it's called the Orange County Bumperos. Right, you got the hat on, yeah.
Speaker 2:Orange County. Bumperos started, and Really start in 2020, but the idea started back in 2017. Okay, 2016. I mean Gabe and I were both at working in Buena Park at the time. We go into these houses and we have similar upbringing, and we go on these calls and we see these kids and their eyes are like this big, you know, watching the fire engine go by and watching us up with our gear and everything, and, and then we get to these houses and and we see the family situation and we're like man, these kids have no chance, like you can tell they. They look up to us and and they'd probably want to be a firefighter, yeah, but they have no guidance, they have no Nothing. So we're talking like man. How can? What can we do to make to help these kids out?
Speaker 2:You know, and it's orange kind of on barrels, but it's not for Hispanic, that's that's there's other Bombayer associations out there, yeah, different departments and they have different goals or missions, more centered to the Hispanic culture, hispanic people. Ours is is just, if you need help, we're here to help you. So if it doesn't matter what race, gender, anything, we want to help if you need it. So, yeah, just, it's expensive to become a part, become a fireman, you know, I mean college, firetech classes, academy, emt school, paramedic school, all that stuff.
Speaker 2:And we have explorers, cadets, who you know, our cadets love, love the job, want to be firefighters the age out right, and they don't have the money to take the next step. You know they don't have money. Go to EMT school, college, fire Academy, then I'm just, you know, working for their uncle and the kind of dream is the dream is lost there. So our, our mission is to kind of build that bridge, that gap, help them out. Yeah, we have a like a mentorship program as well. We'll help mentor. Yeah, we just Raising money to help low-income kids go to college, fire academies and get EMT's and how many have you Sponsored so far?
Speaker 1:this say as a whole, as far as EMT and paying for classes or college fire. How many?
Speaker 2:So we've been. We've been a non. We're full-fledged nonprofit. So we've been a nonprofit for about a year and four months and we've we're in the process of picking some candidates right now, so that the checks of the checks are to the schools already. So so I'm counting them, even though we haven't picked them yet. We're at 19.
Speaker 1:Wow, excellent that's a lot for that. Short of made it amount of time. We work hard. Wow, we work hard. That's excellent man, that's you. Yeah, that's really huge I am. So I kind of set up this bridge program with the cadet program at our current department mm-hmm where, as long as they have the prerequisites done and and they're a cadet with you know where we're at I they will get first pick. They'll have a slot in the fire category where I teach at. No way, yeah, set that up like three years ago.
Speaker 1:Really Got one yet why, I don't know. I have no clue. I would did all this work to do it. No one's done anything about it. Where we're at, dude, I'm just like so in your talk right now, I'm like I might need to switch this to OCD about barrels. So we're going to have a conversation. I'll get you, we could switch that over and we could keep those slots open for the people you pick and who know, because that's huge.
Speaker 1:I think it will impact a lot more lives and create more opportunity, which is huge Because that's the biggest hurdle right Getting a fire academy. So I have those slots saved, but they're saved.
Speaker 2:They haven't picked one person in three years, dude. Well, we have a website orangecannibalbarrelsorg giving Tuesdays coming up. Hey, let's go, baby. If anyone wants some tax write-offs for the end of the year coming up, look at that, visit our website. But yeah, it's very fulfilling, very fulfilling.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I would say I'm very, I'm just proud of you and Gabe dude, and Lee.
Speaker 1:And Lee and very impressed with what you guys have done, because it shows you don't need to be some chief or captain or whatever you think or rank, because I could care less about your rank. I just care about who you are as a person. Are you a good person, are you doing what you need to do? And you guys all of you work hard, but you also give back. You have your own families, so it should be celebrated and should be respected. So thanks.
Speaker 1:Well done, man. Keep that stuff up, dude. I think it's huge. Let's have that conversation and see if we can maybe add you to that bridge program and see what we can do. And also I think you guys should be a part of First Responders Night of Hope coming March 8, 2024. You're truly a concert worship message.
Speaker 2:Let's go, baby.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah, you got quite a few sponsors, but I think we should put your name on there. Ok, you're giving back to the community. I think that's pretty cool. Heck yeah, we'll talk about it. First Responders Night of Hope, march 8. Let's go, but anyways, andrew, thank you so much for coming on a podcast man and just hanging out. I told you this was going to be easier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was super nervous. Yeah, I know you were. You know what I was thinking on the drive over here. You know how you go to an interview where there's for firefighter, engineer, whatever, and you're super nervous and you get it's like five minutes before the interview and you're like, ok, just push it down. You got to power through this and go, you know, shout yourself. That's kind of how I had that same feeling coming in here. You know I was nervous. I was talking to my wife the whole way up here.
Speaker 2:Oh, dude, you're a good man, and yeah, so it's definitely a lot less nerve-wracking than I thought it was going to be Heck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude, I'm going to keep getting a couple pictures of you right now. You did great dog. Why don't you look towards Sam too real quick? Yeah, anyways, dude, right on man. Seriously, you did a great job. You have nothing to worry about. Hopefully, you can tell Gabe how easy this is. Yeah, I tried to everybody, because we've had a few people come on that were really nervous, and it's just a conversation. I get it. We got cameras, there's lights, microphones. Just be yourself.
Speaker 2:Actually that's what sells people is when you just be you. That's it. Yeah, I actually forgot the cameras were on. A few times I looked over, I'm like oh, but hey, dude, we do a.
Speaker 1:Let's go on three. Are you ready? Yep? One, two, three, let's go. Bye everybody. Thank you so much for listening in. If you liked what you just listened to, please do us a five star review on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify. Please follow us on YouTube, on Instagram and on Facebook. And a big shout out to Stephen Clark, our sound editor. He's a huge part of this team that is unseen. It's eight, nine barbers. Our first sponsor. Look good, feel good, be great. It's two locations Orange, california, and Long Beach, california. Book your appointment online eight ninebarberscom.
Speaker 1:Bye everybody.
