Episode 26 - Oxnard College Regional Fire Academy's Captain Tami Crudo
Captain Tami Crudo, coordinator for the Oxnard College Regional Fire Academy, talks about being a female in the fire service, mentoring, stress and resilience, and how to prepare to enter the Academy.
Transcript
Peter
Welcome to the Firehouse Roundtable podcast, brought to you by the Ventura Fire Foundation. My name is Peter McKenzie. I'm one of the hosts. I'm retired fire captain with the city of Ventura Fire Department.
Jason
And I'm Jason Kay. I'm an active fire captain also with the Ventura Fire Department.
Peter
And we are excited that you are going to spend some time with us at the kitchen table learning about Firehouse issues that we're trying to bring awareness to.
Jason
Thanks for joining us. As we discussed the issues of being a firefighter both on and off duty and how it affects us.
Peter
Let's get right.
Speaker
Do it.
Jason
Alright, thanks for joining us for another episode of Firehouse Round Table. I'm here with Peter as well as Captain Tammy crudo from the Oxnard College Regional Fire Academy and Tammy and both Pierre and I have a lot of history together. It's. It's cool to. Be able to have her on the. Show. So let me. Give you a chance to kind of introduce yourself to the listeners.
Speaker
You don't know you.
Tami
Good morning. So my name is Tammy crudo. I am a retired Ventura Ventura City firefighter. I actually left the city. I was there for 20 plus years, but I left the city to take an assignment out at Oxnard College. A regional fire Academy, they had a staff member who unexpectedly passed away, so they had an open slot out here and throughout my life to get to Ventura City. I had started in the college arena as a A skills instructor, and so I over the years always pondered and kept my eye open for any opportunities. That would allow me to land back in a college setting following retirement when the death happened. That made me really analyze that decision much earlier, and I ultimately retired from the city to take this spot, and I've been here since 2013 running and managing this Academy.
Speaker
Not here.
Jason
All right, cool. Well, we're glad to have you on. Let me kind of start out with what led you to want to be a firefighter. So give me your kind of your upbringing. And a lot of. Us have like the either high school or even before stories or what is it personally for? You that that got you to be a firefighter.
Tami
Ironically, this is not where I expected to go. My my dream was to be a motorcycle cop for Highway Patrol. And that is the direction I was headed. I was an admin of justice major. I was going down that route, working with recruiters out of San Bernardino to be a Highway Patrol officer. The Academy was in Sacramento. However, I had some strong hurdles, actually very high hurdles to jump over. Right out of being licensed and being. Adult I unfortunately set myself in some bad driving situations and so I needed to let time heal those. And I had already let 10, probably 10 to 12 years thinking, OK, it's fine and what they were were just standard DUI's, no injuries, no crashes. No, nothing, just driving under the influence. But it happened at 18 and 19 years old. Well, when you're going to be a Highway Patrol officer, they investigate you all the way from the driving period. And so during the process of that recruitment, I was in a small accident that put a mark on my record. So that eliminated me from the law enforcement. So I went to. Medical school. And then I started working as a medic and I really didn't have any direction. I was working with Samardino city fire. They were encouraged me to go to an Academy. I finally did. I was a walk in at Ventura Victor Valley Academy and then I came out of there and started applying everywhere. Fortunately hired me and. They said you have to move up your lock, stock and barrel and it took me about two seconds to convince my family to go north and there we headed. So I came to Ventura from San Berdino County and I've enjoyed every.
Speaker
Bit of it.
Jason
Nice how, how? What? Yeah, first of all, it's not. It's not real hard to decide to go from San Bernardino up to Ventura to move, I'm sure. Your family was OK with that.
Tami
Ohh my goodness. Ditched the motorcycles, grabbed the surfboards.
Jason
How what year did? You get hired. And where did you first get hired as a medic? And are you still certified? Or how long have? You been a medic?
Tami
Well, I went to medical. School in 1990 at Mount SAC and I came out of SAC going to work as a medic out in San Berdino City. And so that's how I got to meet. And speak with a lot of the city firefighters. And actually, that's the drive that sent me to Victorville, so I worked out there for about a year or two. I went to an Academy. When I came out of the Academy, I had to reapply to. Work as a medic, but then. Tourist city hired me in January of 93.
Peter
And did they hire you? As a firefighter or where was that when they were doing their single function medic thing too?
Tami
Well, that that's that was the start of a lot of process for the city and and I. Was proud to be in that foundation. Roll. They had to open higher rain. You could only pick up applications in person. There was two times you could do what they had. Two events at Ventura High School Gymnasium and both events were packed. I went to event #2. They handed me my application. Chief Hamilton was the spokesperson. That day and lots of questions were coming about the room, and I had already tested for a handful of agencies, so I kind of already knew the process. But I'm casing the people around the room, many of them much younger than me. I was 30 at the time, and so someone says how many spots are there? And they said, well, there's only 6 and so you could hear a mumble. And I'm thinking, well, she. I'm a little older. I've got some life experience. I've finished my Academy. I'm a medic. I might have a chance here if if I can make this work. And so I went to the physical agility. I was able to do the the at that time. It was at Larrabee Stadium. You had to do a series of events, plus run the that little trail. And around the the steps they give you a coat and a BA. And then you had your tennis shoes and your PT gear and you would run that you had to do it in 3 minutes and 30 seconds. And boy, I couldn't get that BA off fast enough. But I was able. To do it and when they called the. Games. There was only two females in the pool that they called and me and another female who previously worked here. We both stood up and they introduced ourselves because they had called our names and and then we went on to the interviews and both of us were hired. We both went to the floor so. It was just a a great experience and I I had no question about moving up here in a heartbeat.
Jason
Yeah. Nice. Just for context for our listeners, this Chief Hamilton that Tammy is referring to is not the Oxnard Chief, Hamilton. Really, Chief Hamilton with the the chief years ago with the Ventura Fire Department. And then the Larrabee Stadium run is still pretty infamous. There's pictures around, and that was not a joke. That was serious hard physical, right?
Tami
Oh gosh, yes. Ohh my goodness, there was no joke at all.
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
Jason
So during your career as a. Firefighter and a paramedic. Did you I? Know you were really into mentoring people. In fact, I'm pretty sure you had an intern that probably stood out above everybody else for a week or so. That was me by the. Way. So I got to work.
Speaker
With you for a.
Jason
Little while, so I know you mentored people in there, but kind of how did you take that role on into to getting kind of the mentor? Mentality. I know that you've always really been into that and kind. Of what led you down that?
Tami
Well, my husband and I. Are are strong advocates for mentorship. We have a long standing history of. Helping young people be success. And up into, including bringing them into our household to get them along the right path to influence them, and then sponsoring those. That are are. Working through their. Education to help them because maybe they may may not be financially capable of getting done what they need to get done, and so. And he and I have been married. Now 43 years. And when our kids were in 3rd grade, there was a couple of boys that were our boys were. Hanging paling around with. And they were over all the time. We had a swimming pool in the neighborhood. And so a lot of the kids were swimming at our house and we. Got to kind of. See the the neighborhood pack. But these two? Boys, they really connected with ours years and years of dinners, sleepovers, camping trips, blah, blah, blah. They all ended up. Being a band of brothers and we learned more history about them to learn that their home situation was much less fortunate. When I was hired by Ventura City, they wanted to move to Ventura with us. And we thought, oh gosh, yeah, that's that's a completely different animal here. It's it's not like we're living around the corner. I. Dinner's ready. I stand out on my porch. I whistle. You guys come running from whatever St. you're playing on, and we all eat together. Live going to Ventura and taking Ventura is a completely different animal. So we approached the. Extended family they were living with. They didn't have. And and the extended family at the time was not so much into allowing. The boys to go. So we spent 2 summers with them. In fact, my first 2 summers up here, we drove down there, we picked up the kids. They came up here, they spent the summers. The second summer, the boys, they, they didn't want to go home so. I said no, you have to go. But we took him home and about two weeks later, the extended family Mail calls and says come pick the boys up today. They're yours. And so Tony and I drove down there in a. Be and we picked them all their clothes up, brought them north and there was a little bit of actually not a lot there was. A lot of. Legal legalities. We were in through court. We had attorneys. We finally got everything squared away on Christmas here in the county. And they lived with us all the way until they both. Graduated high school and then a couple of years later, they're learning themselves and they're reuniting with some of their extended families in other areas and they're. Both doing very very. Well, but four boys in a household, all in high school and everyone's in a different sport. I didn't an. Octopus couldn't keep up.
Peter
I I I love that story. In fact, your that's right where we're at. Not with bringing in to boys to help, but kids, high school sport, all this stuff. So I sympathize with that, but I'm glad you brought that story up because that that was always what I read. One of the most memorable things about you that I liked was like your heart is probably bigger than your head, right? Like it it you, you would you would do anything for anybody and that that is the perfect example of who who Tammy crudo is and I and and. I'll just share a quick story, which it's nothing out of character for you, but there I work out at a gym and there's a gal. There, who wants to be? A firefighter and. I go. OK. I should you know. I've just retired. Whatever. I need to connect you with with someone that can give you some guidance and I was thinking about. At the college and you know, and I know you're this whole mentor thing, and she's and I tell her your name. She's like, oh, I'm already. She's already. Helping me like. You know, I mean, what is she? What is she doing for you? And he's like, oh, she's telling. Me all this. This and that and this and that and so. I was like. Well, Tammy's still up to it like you haven't changed, right? Yeah. What I want you to look back at your time at the fire at the Ventura City Fire Department, and because you left early, which is unconventional, right? Most people don't typically do that. Obviously. You you you didn't jump and disappear like you. You're still pretty involved in the community. This fire service world. How did that go for you? Did you have any regrets? Are you happy? The way it played out, I mean I remember having this conversation with you when you were still at the department, but just curious on on now that it's been years and you know you have the benefit. Of hindsight, where you. Have to go. It went. Or would you like to? Do it a little differently. Or what does that look like for you?
Tami
Hindsight, I am extremely pleased with the decision I made, but in the process in the mix, it was the most difficult decision to make because. I love the. City and I loved being on the engine company and ironically, Chief Renny at the time came and he met me in probably early October, he says. You're #1 on the captain's list, you're going to move up to Hazmat met at Captain 6 on Halloween. And I thought to myself, Oh my goodness, because I'm also in the process with this hiring to replace the person that passed away for the spot I'm in now. And I thought, Oh my goodness, cause I figured if I was I I went to Chief Randy before I applied here because I wanted me to tell him, hey, this opening is there. I don't want you to hear it from someone else that I'm considering this. And he was very supportive. Even wrote a letter of recommendation at the time. And so when I'm in both processes, both the captains process and both this Academy process I. Figured I would die on one of the vines. Well, when Chief Renny came to me and said I'm moving up to Hazmat on Halloween, I thought, wow, what a great Halloween costume. But son of a gun, what am? I going to. Tell the college. And I didn't. I chose to keep it quiet because I was getting ready for my presidential interview, and I was going to see how that goes. But when I walked into that presidential interview, I've got the college president, the college vice president. The first question out of his mouth was I hear you're a captain now. And I thought to myself, gosh, my straight up posture in my seat. Just sunk into a lazy melt. And I thought, how am I going to answer him? He says. Well, what if we offer you a job? Are you going to take it? I said well. Sir, that's going to be a conversation. My husband and I are going to really have to analyze. And two weeks later he calls me and he says, hey, we'd like to hire you. And I'm thinking, OK, Tony, here we go. Let's have this conversation. I'm not ashamed to say I was crying because I, I I didn't know what decision to make. I I I love the college arena. The educational setting, the mentoring I love the city. It was that culture, just the whole environment and so. We decided to turn the issue into a math problem and we marched it out over a dozen years and he made me promise that whatever I'm going to cry talking about this. But he made me promise that whatever the answer was. It'd have to. Be obvious and I that's what I took and I looked at that number. And I went Oh my. God, I'm. I'm leaving the city. And so I left, I thought to myself. I really hope that this goes well for me. And then I I got over here and I realized that taking an Academy is not even a double double. It's a quadruple, triple, double, double in and out burger. And it was quite a sandwich to. So I didn't have time to look back because I was so involved in the size of the sand. That it took over and I didn't even stay on my feet without walking crushes until probably 4 semesters. It took me two years to get acclimated, just in the process of Academy training to the state. The accreditation, the certification licensures. All of that was much more than I had realized when I said yes. I'll take the job.
Jason
Nice. How long have you? Been with the OC FA now.
Tami
I came here in spring of 12. I took the Academy in fall of 13, so I had to do a year of Prep to get the Academy ready. What was happening with the Academy at that time for state fire training, they were transitioning from an old curriculum to a newer curriculum. And the Academy at that time was still in the old curriculum and they were getting ready for accreditation. So I spent a year. Rebuilding everything before I jumped in so that when we were going to be inspected, we would be in compliance with the new curriculum for state fire training.
Peter
OK, I went through.
Jason
The Oxnard College Fire Academy, 9697 I was the first part time Knight Academy, so I'd love to talk to you about kind of what you inherited and then this empire, I'll call it that you've built now because it doesn't look like it. But back in 97, I can tell you that man. It is impressive out there and. Yeah. So talk about kind of where where it was and where it is now.
Tami
Well, where it was? The actual state of California and all of their academies were in older model curriculum and it wasn't in line with the nation, and the state was trying to become nationally. Standard so that I could take an Academy in Texas and bring it back to California and vice versa. And so that transition created a whole new. Book of skills and so. Where it was then the skills were not too as involved as they are now, especially with firefighter 2 curriculum. So where we took the curriculum is to all the way from the simplest hose ladders SCBA's at the firefighter one level. To Rick OPS search and rescue forcible entry and then building it right into the firefighter 2 ICS, the flammable liquids foam vehicle fire Rope Rescue system. And flammable gases fire so and hazmat. So they just. They really brought everything into a national standard. And now the testing is national. Everything. If a student goes to this college and graduates with the if SAC Pro Board, they can be hired in Pennsylvania and it would still be. Honored so curriculum wise, that's what they were trying to do back then and it. All the colleges in the state of California, I was on an Academy crew for a while. The state, they all the coordinators come together to discuss. How are they going to transform their academies. So I got a lot of mentoring from them and helping me build mine. But I think the game. Changer for us as far as facilities was the sale of the northern property to which our Academy grounds were on. They were Ventura counties props, but the land itself belonged to the college district. Well, the College district sold the land to Ventura County. And now it's Ventura County's props on Ventura County land. That move forced the college to build us a new apparatus Bay, which is now a 10,000 square foot beautiful building. Houses are 10 engines, and all of our equipment we have. A grinder that's. About 150 feet by 150 feet. So we've got a lot of training area. And because following the sale of the property, the booking props on the North End with county, so now they have their their spring academies, their fall battalion level, their interagency training. It's difficult to pick a certain day when I'm working off a semester every semester to get everything I need, so I went to the college few college meetings with the right people and I said, hey, I I'd love to use some land. And there's a field behind us. We can convert and so. We finally got approval to. Go 150 feet South. Of a fire access. Road line and about 500 feet W towards an area. We call the duck. And they said yes. And so as soon as someone says yes, then you take advantage of that, that approval. And so we I started ordering Rd. base and I worked with operating engineers to do some leveling for us. They are a they have people who are trying to learn. To do projects for the county for free, so they their labor. Excavated all of our land and then. All of the local. Road based companies brought it in. There's about 2000 tons of Rd. base out there, all compacted. It's got props on it and we've just been adding props over the last probably year and a half and now we have. Quite a facility out there. So we were recognized a year and a half ago just before the facility was starting to come together nationally recognized by a bellwether award. For being able to continue to stay open during COVID periods, if that same group would come back and see what's in our S lot, now it's the South Lot training ground and it is just phenomenal. Phenomenal. We we run our. Academy out of there. And we're self-reliant with the exception of tower use, which that's a difficult building. To get in. Constructed but we have a great relationship with county and some other agencies are using it. The Air National Guard has been here, Ventura Ventura County sheriff's have been here Ventura City with their first in-house Academy has been here. So we're really proud of. The area back there.
Jason
Nice. Nice. How many? Full time instructors do you have now?
Tami
Three, the third one starts spring.
Peter
I think it's awesome what you've done out there, but I want to switch gears a little bit on you. First off, it's awesome to hear like the fondness and the passion in your voice when you reflect back on your time with the department that that, yeah, I like that. That's awesome. I I love the fact that you feel that way because I feel a similar way like after I left it. Like it it kinda. I don't know that it changes anything, but you you forget some of the the the things that weren't so ideal and you just remember the good things, which is a good thing. So but what I. Want to talk about is women in the fire service? So you mentioned you got. Did you get hired with Heidi? Is that who you're referencing?
Tami
No, Anna.
Peter
Annie, OK. OK. Gotcha. So when you got hired, arguably there wasn't a lot of, there wasn't a lot of women at the fire at our. Fire department anyway. But what, from your perspective, was the fire service like back then? And then what's it like today and what does that look like for a woman who wants to be a firefighter, you know, just interested in your perspective? Because I'm sure you you have. You have one, I'm sure.
Tami
Well, any female that wants to get into the fire service, they have to start very young in just overall athletic. Ability. I was always a tomboy, always athletic, always riding bikes, always hiking, always working on cars with my dad. Just all of these simple things that some of the girls are not getting into. I had more upper body strength than the average person my age at the time. UM. And just my overall physical ability was higher, more along, I'll say, with the boys than the girls because of my tomboyish ways. So if a female wants to get into the fire service, they have to have come from some sort of physical daily activity in their life. Not just going and working out, they just their lifestyle is physical and active because that that long term use of muscles is what builds the stamina that you're going to need. And when I went into the fire service, strength was not an issue for me. In fact, even when I moved, moved up to Ventura, I saw an Outrigger paddling team, and I went, oh, I got to get on there. And so that just because this was part. Of my whole. Fitness through having fun. In training, but you have to be able to have the ability to to do the work that. You're going to. To that's going to require some heavy lifting, such as raising ladders, dragging hose, being patient, and being fit while wearing clothing that you have to get acclimated to. So a lot of our females, unless they're coming in with some history. We have these young females who wish to be in the fire service. Maybe they're coming in from being a barista or a cashier or retail, and they step into this course and they go, Oh my goodness, these clothes are hot. This ladder is heavy. Blah blah blah and we lose them. So ironically, we have. Lost just this. Semester we had eight girls going in. We lost. Four of them. So the females have to really work to. Build their upper. Body strength going into Ventura City, the city was not ready for females at all. The. None of the stations were upgraded. The smaller stations station 2-3 and four. They were all open area sleeping. They did create some dividers, but you you were literally it was just a room full of a bunch of beds and they had a captains. Off captain's room off, but it. Was just dividers and. So I think the respect of the guys to accept me because Annie and I were the only females in the department and the others had all been lost to injury, so they were either retired medical or injured and didn't come back. So here we are, both Annie and I, and we're trying to. Survive in a department that's not ready for us. So I would say the respect of the guys for us did a lot of help because you don't have the privacy or the. Where right now it's all independent rooms. And and and then it wasn't, so the shared use of facilities amongst both genders, it was accommodating because the crews were respectful, which was nice. You have to be relaxed. You have to be relaxed, you and as long as there's respectful behavior between all of the crew members, then there was no issue. When apex finally come in and redid the building, now we each have our own rooms. That was kind of nice because then they're now. We're not worried about who's in the shower, who's not in the shower. You just close the door. And so those kinds of things for facilities was remedied, but it it took some time. So patients coming in to allow the city to catch up with the way they were going, that was easy for me, it was not. Easy for every. One. So I would say patience and understanding and respectful behavior amongst crews is what helped me get through and I really enjoyed the the crews I worked with, my goodness, just some super fun memories even back in the days when all of us were snoring in the same room. So.
Peter
Let's talk about some of your favorite cruises. Throw some names out there. I think everybody will get. A kick out of that.
Tami
John Duff. I absolutely love that guy. He was a very difficult captain, but he was such a mentor to me. I really enjoyed working with him. McPherson and Jack Hansen and and. County, there's not a day that just belly gut laughing would happen in the cruise. Heidi. Oh, my gosh. Just fun. Fun times to be with and fun to work with. 72 is getting our tail ends kicked out at the avenue when she was a captain. Just it, there were a blast to work those crews those days, Hoffman and and Wynell. A lot, a lot of fun, yeah.
Jason
High expectations, all those crews you just mentioned, they all have really high expectations, but they're willing to do them with you and train with you. That's that's what I still.
Tami
Oh, got Westbrook. He was one of our rookie was mine and Heidi's rookie and.
Jason
Like about it?
Tami
Oh my gosh, I had. The funnest time in that crew, so. He gave him the most dirt but. That's OK. It was a lot of fun.
Peter
Tammy, I gotta so in the obviously with the what the foundation is doing is we're trying. To promote mental health. Awareness. Some of the issues surrounding the fire service and mental health. Just out of curiosity is is, is this a conversation that happens at in your Academy and the trainings that you guys do? Is that a a topic that's addressed?
Tami
Stress and resilience. They have to learn that the fire service it's it's not just putting out fires and driving around on on, on beautiful pieces of equipment. You are literally. Taxing your body. You're taxing your body to the extreme in some days. And just on the standards on others, but the extreme could take you into your last. Day of work. And depending on how the department runs with their coverage or their staffing, you know they they say, oh, well, you you're only signed up for 10 shifts a month. Well, no, no, that's the schedule. But you're actually signed up for more than that because there's coverage that happens with vacations. In sick leave and time away. So for every day that someone on your on the department is away, someone that is there is covering. So you end up working additional shifts. If those additional actually they do all the shifts that you work are going to run into your family time. So if you're not a weekend worker then then maybe reconsider. Or if you're not into missing birthdays or Christmases or holidays or whatever events are happening then. Maybe a another career should be your choice because you are going to be away from your family. The hours you're gonna be away from your family, the environment, you're gonna put your body in, and then just the unexpected. Directed calls that you're going to run that's going to leave an impact in your line of thinking, whether it be a, a, a side's death or the the rescue and save of an elderly person in a room. All of these calls affect you. And then when you're. You're missing time away from your family. You're you're running these calls that have a a lasting imprint in your mind that starts to wear on you over time. But you have to have a solid support system at home in order to maintain your mental. Money and your ability to just come back in and have fun and enjoy the job.
Jason
I'm glad you guys addressed some of that stuff early. It's good to hear that it's not just blown over and we're trying to change the second up generation to let's talk about it and let's know that this stuff is going to happen. I think that's half the battle just going into it with it, the mindset of how to deal with that stuff.
Tami
Well, we even we even teach the financial means behind it where some young people go in and they they haven't matured yet enough and they're hired into these higher paid positions and then they. They they they don't set themselves up financially, and now they're having to work coverage just because of the behavior of earlier spending. And that puts stress on them. So stress can come in the form of calls. It can come in the form of being away from your family. It can come in the form of creating a financial situation that doesn't work for you.
Jason
Yeah, absolutely.
Peter
That's awesome that you guys are doing that cause. I think that that financial piece is just as important. Right, because. It's not about the big 4x4 truck and the boat that you buy right after you get hired, there's there's more important things to do to set yourselves up.
Tami
Exactly. Exactly.
Speaker 4
Hi I'm Austin folk, an engineer with the Ventura City Fire Department. I'm also on the board of the Ventura Fire Foundation, an organization that supports firefighters and their families. The foundation produces this podcast as part of our mission, I worked with the foundation because I was witnessed to the help that it was able to provide. My family, the foundation, needs your help first. Please subscribe and rate this podcast on your podcast platform. This helps us get a higher ranking and more visibility for the show. Second, if you support the podcast and the foundations work, please consider donating. Every dollar helps us support firefighters and their families. There's a link in the show notes where you can donate through the website at www.venturafirefoundation.org. Thank you for listening.
Jason
So you kind of you kind of touched on this a little bit just now and and it made me curious what. How how many people do you have applied? Do you always have two full semesters? Are they are the Academies 2 full time academies a year? How do you run that? And then also, how many applicants do you get and? What percentage do you usually get in?
Tami
So we usually have 75 to 100 people apply, we have 40. Seats for this last round 87 applied, we invited 50 to orientation correction. We invited 48 to orientation. We decided to put all eight on the wait list so that it was over the summer. When we we did this application. Window and we came in, got. Immediately out of the chute orientation. Five were no shows, so I think maybe they apply because they thought, hey, you know, I'd kind of like to go to the Academy and then they decide. No, that's not for me. They self select, they remove them. Selves from the. Process. They don't even show up to orientation. So now we exhausted our entire wait list at orientation. So we come in. With a full class on day one. Injuries, lack of fitness level, financial ability and only one higher has taken our Academy. There are 25 right now.
Jason
OK.
Tami
25 so out of the 25, regrettably, I believe will probably graduate 21, so four of them are on the bubble because of performance and academics. So I'm convinced we're going to have a 21 member graduation stage.
Jason
And you run two full time academies. Every year is that. Right. How long is that now?
Tami
We try to run 40 seats every year, so it'll be January to may and then August to December.
Jason
And what's the schedule?
Tami
The schedule is 0600 to 1730 Monday through Thursday, so they come in at 0600. They have PT till 7:30, they have hygiene and then at 8:00 it's set up for Academy drills. Then at 1600, it's a breakdown of all Academy drills. They go into the Academy classroom, we give them their exams, their daily exams. It's an unstructured release on a lot of days, many days they're out of here somewhere between 5:30 and 5:45. And then they come back the next morning and do the. And saying.
Jason
I remember going to the Academy and when I first I I had my associates degree in fire. I had my EMT. The next step was going to a college fire Academy, and I remember going in there thinking this job is pretty cool. I'm not totally sure of the technique and the technical side. And when I graduated. I I felt like I could go do the job now. That was the difference.
Tami
Oh, absolutely. And that's what we want to graduate. We want our graduates to be ready for not ready for the fire service, but ready for that next Academy. Their behavior, their demeanor, their performance level, their study habits, their discipline and their ability to perform and get through that next Academy because it's much more stringent than ours and not as tolerable as ours. Because we're a college course and washing out of an agency Academy is very difficult to overcome.
Jason
Yeah. And I I tell you from first hand perspective, when you have somebody come across. An interview panel and they said they watched out from an Academy. You definitely have to. Make up for that. It's, it's.
Peter
They're having.
Jason
Tough to get through that.
Tami
Backstroke to come up with whatever reason was their recover. How did they recover from that? And now what's their new drive? That's hard to do for a lot of people.
Jason
Yeah, resiliency. Yes, absolutely. Do you have a a perspective on the changes? So I guess what I'm getting at is when you got hired, it was probably even tougher than when I got hired, which was you're talking about one and maybe 60 to 100 or more applicants get a job and now it's very different. Do you know why we're having? Or in your opinion why we're having less applicants? For that hard work, blue collar type and it seems like you guys are still full at the Academy, you're still getting lots of lots of applications out there. But I feel like the application numbers are going down in the fire department in general from your end at the be kind of the beginning of that process or towards the middle, I guess of the process. Do you have any opinions on why that's?
Tami
I do. I don't know if they're statistically backed, but I do know that when I got my application back in at Ventura High School at the auditorium there was a couple of 1000 applicants for six positions. And so the the stats to get in there. And being hired was not as they are today, but I think the opening in the fire service is the a generation retiring. And there is so many the volume of the generation that is retiring, the younger people cannot keep up. I may have 87 applicants. I can only take 40 and the 40 that it get in here, they realize and only 60% our our pass rate is a 6040 from from. Start to graduation and it's just because of the demands on the body that that the young people are not. Used to, I think there's a I don't want to say a different work ethic, but the younger generation then had a different analysis. Of hard blue collar work or. Get your hands dirty, work, and then the young people today so. We're struggling with. Mechanical aptitude with actually mechanical aptitude and fitness is our two strongest. And so I think as the trades are now being reinjected into the high school level, that's going to bring in some more mechanical aptitude and then it's going to prep more people with that mindset mentality and they're going to get into. Food shop, industrial, automotive, construction, whatever it is. And then they're going to bring that into the Academy and then put it into the fire service. That's where our talent. Coming when you put paramedic on top of that, now that's another animal because we can promote fire Academy, Fire Academy, Fire Academy. But then you're going to have to go out and go to medical school and work to get that license work as a medic so that they can get the experience they need to be considered as a paramedic. Firefighter on a three person company, so I I think that the opening is the generation of retirees and the the retention is just a change in behavior in the younger generation.
Jason
That's a good answer. I I couldn't agree with you more on all those points. And I really look forward to the trades getting back in there because I feel like so many of the times we can only get so much training and whatever we're involved in to get into the fire service plus paramedic for for our agency anyways and then you have somebody else come in with a completely different trade and you end up totally. Helping each other and and kind of having that cohesion and.
Tami
There's a tremendous amount of construction in our Academy out of need because we cannot afford to hire instructors to rebuild props. So we have to rely on our cadets to.
Speaker 4
So on. That's huge.
Tami
Rebuild props so. We had to infuse construction drills just so that they would understand the difference between. A big nail and a little nail and. Something we take. For for granted. But that's when we started learning, Oh my goodness. You know, the mechanical aptitude is to even hit the head of a. You know, so all of that is helping by these trades coming back into the high schools. I I was looking at your block party the other day walking around and I ran across the Ventura Unified School District Booth and I stopped there very quickly because they were the trades booth. And so I picked up a trade flyer and. Looked at that and I said son of a gun, uh wood shop, metal shop auto shop. Up construction. Public safety. I'm thinking now we are finally talking because we've got to have our youth return to the mechanical aptitude. Of our former so.
Peter
Yeah, that's good. Tammy, I want to, I want to switch gears on you again. I want to tap into your, I guess, organizational knowledge of the of the Ventura City Fire Department. So we. One of our. Goals is to document the histories of the people that used to work at the fire department, right? And ideally we're talking about the people that happened. Before us, before you. Because I mean. Quite frankly, they're.
Tami
Dale Becker's left. I just read from McPherson.
Peter
Yeah, I I saw that. Yeah, because quite frankly, they're starting to die. And I mean, obviously everybody ages and dies. That's. That's not the point of the question, but. Who do you think we should have on the podcast? Because we have a limited window of I want to capture the stories of how it was. 40 years ago, you know, like a long time ago, before we were all at the fire department. But if you had to think of like the old time because you were there, arguably 10 to 20 years before Jason and I were there, we're probably more like 20, but. Who should we get on the podcast? Who are some of the stories that you heard about that you think, man, we need to get this stuff? Documented because if. The honestly, the stories are going to disappear because when I was at the fire department, we literally just.
Speaker
They are.
Peter
Had the generation before. Maybe if somebody was like close to retirement, they could spit out some from the, you know, the the, the, the generation. Before that, but. Just interested in your take. On that, who should we? Have on the podcast.
Tami
McPherson is a great historian and has played such a role in our our Academy. Me and is still out there and attending events. Dave Hilty played large roles in in our department with the transition to when my group was hired. All of us happened to be medics with the exception of one person. So even though we were applying for a firefighter. And we all had medics. We or five of us had medics. They asked us to to retain that while the city lobbied for paramedics on fire engines, so all of that lobbying, all that history, McPherson Hilty they were played giant roles in that in the history of just. Getting that process started and and how we were able to convince the city manager at the time to buy in and and the ambulance company to agree to. Before me, though, I I don't know the the lifespan of those before me, but certainly Mike Vaughn would have a lot of history of the department. I don't know where. I think he's pretty active. If he's still out there. And then uh Mike. Maher. So all of these are people that have a lot of history. I just don't know where they're at in their retirement because they have been retired for a number of years, but they would be good candidates. But I think my number one person would be somewhere along the lines of McPherson and. For Danny, because they were very involved in the transition of the department from going from one firefighter department to a firefighter Medic Department.
Peter
Yeah. Awesome. Awesome. Well, yeah, for sure. Well, we we we've tried on some of those names, but we'll keep trying for sure, but.
Tami
Which I think was the best move.
Jason
Yeah, awesome. I remember being with you and Captain McPherson at the time when you were an engineer with me and you looked at me and you go, you know that. Guy's going to. Be the next Battalion Chief for sure. And I go really how do? You know, and lo and behold, within, I think six months he was promoted to Battalion Chief and then went. All the way to the top. So he's.
Tami
Yeah, he he is just incredibly sharp, incredibly sharp.
Jason
It's hard to match your brain.
Tami
And anytime I would have an idea, I would bring it to him and he would shoot so many holes in it, I would think to myself, well, why did I even think about? But the idea is that that he didn't shoot so many holes into I was. Able to fix those holes. And go. OK, this might actually work.
Jason
Right. Yep, Yep. It definitely made you think.
Tami
So he he definitely thinks out-of-the-box and he comes in with suggestions or statements that are is a total Sidewinder. And it makes you think about, OK, I need to fortify this or get rid of that.
Jason
All right, Tammy. Well, how do we apply to the Oxnard College Fire Academy and what are the prerequisites if we're if we're looking to get in?
Tami
We have application Windows that open up twice a year. They open in September for spring academies and in March for fall academies. The prerequisites to get in is EMT's and then the completion of a minimum of two fire science. Classes which is. Fire Protection organization, which is kind of like just a general fire service class, but then fire behavior and combustion and what fire behavior and combustion covers is fire control one and two, the Academy starts off at fire Control 3 so. We have to have that Prereq completed. However, someone who comes in with just those prereqs. And no other class or experience from explorers or other fire service education, they tend to struggle a bit because they're being introduced to everything as a brand new. So strong advisories I would say would be an apparatus and equipment class. Or a tactics and strategy class so that you're prepared for the tools and equipment that we're going to be introducing you to. And then you're also prepared for the incident command at the firefighter 2 level that we're going to push you into. Tactics and strategy and then apparatus and equipment. Everyone that comes in that we've been bringing in, they've completed the prereqs plus more. So usually we allow people who are in progress with courses to apply, but there's so many people ahead of them that they end up. Rarely getting on the list, but they do get in so and then they once we. So with the September application right now, we're going to have our orientation for the Spring Academy mid-october and in mid-october then they will be advised. And everything they should expect, both physically and mentally, and then financially and. Bring these items in. On day one and from day one, it is a fast moving train until graduation. I think the challenge for a lot of folks is that when they get to orientation, we show them a potential calendar. And one of the emphasizes that we do at orientation is the mandatory instruction that cannot be missed. So I could I could miss it. One days of drill, but I'll get dropped from the Academy because the state says if you don't attend this then we cannot give you a firefighter one. So the reality of going, OK, I'm going to attend this. Class I've got my pre Recs, but I also have to clear my calendar for the Academy that I'm attending so that I know I'm going to be able to attend all the instruction the states required. Me to attend.
Peter
Awesome, Tammy, this has been great. Is there anything you want to share before we wrap it up or?
Tami
I know I'm just very honored to be here and the city was such a great place for me and it helped me be here and then having city here the other day for a couple of training sessions. I just I I couldn't be more honored. And I pinch myself every day. I'm. I'm. I'm very happy camper.
Peter
Well, you're definitely a part of the the the family, no doubt even the retired family, which I'm a part of now as well, which is shocking. To me. But. Anyway, you're awesome. We think you're doing a great job and we're we're honored to have you. Like we want to document your story so people, you know, 100 years from now can go. Who's Tammy crudo? So very good. Anyway, thank you for coming on. Appreciate everything you're doing.
Tami
Well, thank you very much gentlemen. It's good to see you guys.
Jason
Yeah, you too.
Tami
Go train Ek.
Speaker
That was a.
Jason
Really fun podcast for me personally. Kind of going down memory lane with with Tammy. I worked with her for a. Bunch of years. She was my preceptor for just a short amount of time when my normal preceptor was off. Having it having a kid. But yeah it. Was cool to reconnect with her. I I kept thinking about. What was her grocery bill with four? High school guys in her house. And and teenagers. Going through the house, but what a what? A giving and huge heart she has for mentoring and to take this Oxnard college that I went through myself, the the Fire Academy through Oxnard College and to make it what it is today and when I go back for training over there on the fire department it. Is just a. Completely different world. It's it's awesome to see the.
Peter
Yeah, for sure. I just out of curiosity, who was? Your preceptor was it? Why now?
Jason
It was Tom Weinel and then when he had his youngest, youngest kid, I went to Tammy for a couple.
Peter
Gotcha. Gotcha. So the thing that sticks out in my memory about Tammy is she literally would do anything for you, like she had. That her heart. Is ginormous like she would. She didn't care. She would just do it like. I'm sure she probably didn't. Just. Have four people, four teenage. Boys at her house that she was feeding it. Was probably them, and like two of their friends. Each you know. That's just the type of person she was, but it's good to good to see her, good to reconnect, and she's still at it. Like I said, that ran into that person at the gym who she was. Helping and I was like it's. Good to see she's still doing her thing.
Jason
You know? Yeah. And it's crazy to hear that only 60% of the people who get into the Oxnard Fire Academy actually. Graduate and then they gotta go on to the to the paid Academy with whatever agency they get hired with, and it's even you know what? There's another percentage of. Attrition that happens through that, so that's.
Peter
It ain't easy.
Jason
Those are good numbers. Yeah, it kind of brings you back to being proud of being a firefighter.
Peter
As claps out, I would say it's it ain't for everybody or something along those lines, right? Yeah. All right.
Jason
Well, thanks Peter. I appreciate it. Have a great week.
Peter
Yeah, likewise. Thank you.
