Episode 28 - Meet the New Guys Pt. 2 - Ventura City's newest firefighters Gurshan Bajwa, Jeremy Hinman, and Stephan Parrish

Part 2 of a discussion with Ventura City Fire's newest Firefighters.  Just finished with their probationary period, five new firefighters - Gurshan Bajwa, Jon Ellis, Jeremy Hinman, Stephan Parrish, and Rocky Sanfilippo - talk about what brought them to Ventura, differences between Ventura  City Fire and their previous departments, their career plans, and the suck of 30 minute burpees.

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 discuss the issues of being a firefighter both on and off duty and how it affects us.

Peter

Let's get right.

Jason

All right guys. Welcome to the show. Today we have on three separate firefighters with Ventura City who have recently just finished their probationary year and I really wanted to do an episode that highlighted guys getting off probation and kind of their story and where they came from and kind of get to know. Each of us because as I talk to you guys, I feel like each of you. Guys has a pretty. Big story that surprises me when I kind of get to know you guys and it'd be cool for everybody who are listeners as well as in the apartment to just kind of hear where you came from. So, Jeremy Hinman, Kershawn Bajwa and Steve Parish are with us today. Let's start with Jeremy. Would you kind of give us a synopsis, a intro about yourself and where you came from and? How you ended up in Ventura?

Jeremy

Yeah. So thanks for having me guys. My name is Jeremy Hinman. I'm 29 years old. I'm originally from North County, San Diego. I lateraled from the Vista Fire Department, which is. Also North county. They go. I worked there for a little over three years. I got to the fire service after doing a ride along with my neighbor, who was a longtime captain at Carlsbad Fire and one ride along kind of got me in, was immediately hooked on. The whole camaraderie and. Just the level of the job. So after that right out of high school started doing all my fire classes, got them medical school, Fire Academy. And got hired when I was about 24 years old. I come from a big Irish Catholic family of seven kids. I'm the second youngest, have no kids right now for myself. But I'm married and my wife and I are in the process of buying a new home right now. What brings me to Ventura is my wife is from the area. She's got family, kind of all over Ventura County. But we decided to move up here once we start having kids, we would be closer to her family and I saw that once Ventura City was open. I thought it'd be a great opportunity. So I decided to apply and was lucky enough to get selected. So that's kind of what brought me here.

Jason

Yeah. Nice. I actually thought when you were telling me that you moved up here, you were going to give us a big surprise on the show and go. Oh yeah, now that we're having kids and I was going to be surprised.

Jeremy

Not yet, not yet.

Jason

And Peter, you have something in common. Did you know that Hinman was from San Diego area?

Peter

I did, yeah. When we met at the Christmas or the Christmas party or whatever foundation event we had. Yeah. So I actually grew up in Oceanside slash Carlsbad. My mom lived in one dad and the other and. It was down there that I got interested in the fire fire service. I volunteered at Borrego Springs fire. Yeah, way out east there. And my mentor was kind of a San Diego was a San Diego. City guy, so yeah. Definitely still got family down there. I like it down there. It's way too crowded, like comparatively now.

Jeremy

Yeah, it's gotten, it's gotten a lot busier since I was since I was younger, but I grew up in the. Same area, Carlsbad and then Oceanside and. And then up here.

Peter

Perfect. Well, welcome to the. Department glad to have you.

Jason

One of the things we've talked about, Jeremy, is how much how similar Ventura City and Vista were.

Speaker 4

Thank you. Thank you.

Jason

And the size of the departments and call volume and that kind of stuff is that, is that still how you feel after being here a year or so?

Jeremy

Yeah. The adjustment for me was somewhat easy cause the culture is pretty much the same you have. You still have that like old school group. Of guys who work really hard. And have that kind of like professional California mentality. So that was pretty smooth for me transitioning into this department and then call volume, you know, we were just about right there with Ventura City as far as call volume. The only difference is we transported. So I was. I spent some time on the ambulance down there, but yeah, I would say overall this should transition was pretty easy and it feels very similar demographic call volume being close to the beach, all that. It was pretty, pretty similar so. I was lucky.

Jason

Nice. Nice Gershon. Why don't you give us an introduction about yourself and what? What brought you into Ventura?

Gurshan

Thank you. Thank you for having us. I grew up in Simi Valley. Didn't ever think I was going to be a firefighter. There weren't a whole lot of Indian firefighters in Simi Valley to look up to and and see. I've got a. Very close family. My parents came from India in the late 70s and again just firefighting wasn't a thing that that I really knew to get into. I was studied economics. I worked in finance for quite a few years and just. Kind of lost. A real, tangible impact of of anything that that felt like it mattered had a kind of along that time frame of, of struggling with, with feeling like I needed to do more, had a loss in the family and that kind of was that spark of cinematics come in and and do the things that that they. Did of oh. Being a paramedic, maybe that's that's something that can be impactful. And again, firefighting was never really on my radar, didn't really know it as. Thing went to EMT school. Kind of fell in love with it from just even working on the IT side of things started working up in Ojai on a 911 ambulance as an EMT. Just started falling deeper in love with it once. A paramedic school at UCLA and again just kind of everything I did just made me love it even more. Started working here in Ventura County on the on the ambulance and the more exposure I got of running calls. Just wanting to be deeper into this. That led me to to go volunteer over at Fillmore Fire and volunteer with the air unit in Ventura County and all of that just started driving me towards this. This goal of of being a firefighter. One day I was I was actually working here in Ventura on the ambulance and a couple of guys kind of pulled me aside like hey. You know we're we're in or we've. We've got an application process open. You should put in for it. We think you'd be a good fit here and that kind of was that that catalyst of like maybe I should let's do this. Applied was lucky enough to to get through the process and I went through the Academy and I was lucky enough to get hired along with Steve and Jeremy and and the rest of the guys. And that's that's ultimately what what? Brought me here.

Jason

Nice. Nice. I know you. And I recently discussed your humanitarian project that you. Just did your bike ride. Was it through Africa? Say a little bit about that.

Gurshan

Yeah. So I was working. I've done a a few kind of long distance charity bike rides and that put me in touch with an organization that does. Some charity rides through Africa, specifically through Zambia, and they were looking for a volunteer to help with the medical side of things and. I was fortunate enough to to go do a 10 day bicycle ride through Zambia Rd. bicycles about about close to 400 miles over 7 days, and luckily, as as the medic on the ride I. Didn't have to do anything. Too serious. Just some sunburns and some sore butts from riding, but it was. An incredible experience, it's. Very fortunate to to be a part of.

Jason

Yeah, that's awesome. I'm not gonna. Ask you about much treatment. You did for the sore. Butts, but I appreciate you. Bringing that up, OK. And also today, last but not least, we have Steve Parrish coming from his vehicle doing his interview today. So give us a. Little intro about you, Steve.

Steve

So my name is Steve. I'm 39 years old, just been here for about a year and a half with Ventura City, spent about 6 1/2 years with Cal Fire Riverside prior to that. Prior to that, I was a paramedic at Amar for about 7 years flying all over the place looking to get hired. Married 10 years, got a wife, two kids, Taylor four and Cole is 7. They just turned. Four and seven. So when I'm not at work, I'm busy at home dealing with that baseball gymnastics school just got off this morning. So I'm here in the Pasadena parking lot halfway to home. I commute from the Riverside area. So I applied for Ventura. This is the actually interesting story. This is the third time. My when I got hired, it was the third time I had applied for Ventura. The first two I'd made it all the way to chiefs interviews and it was about like one away from being hired for both those those times. So third times the charm. Here we are. One of the things that interested me about Ventura has spent a few days here driving up. North kind of one of those halfway points driving to the 49ers game, so I stay in Ventura, hit the beach up. And kind of fell in love with the city, loved the beach atmosphere. It's a cool city. The downtown area is. It's fun to. Go hang out. So initially my first time when I applied here I was kind of just I was at cow fire getting hammered with overtime, trying to find other places and I put my application in. And did the captains interview went great, met with some of the guys there? They were really helpful, very friendly. Kind of one of the things that I liked about the department. And then. Prior to my Chiefs interview, Chief Miser actually called me and talked to me personally. Prior to the interview, which is something I've never experienced in my career before. I've done plenty of interviews, been in chiefs a few times. And not one time at a Battalion Chief ever called me prior to the interview to talk about the city and kind of. Tell me all the great things about it, which is one of the things that kind. Of set me wanting to. Come here, which is why I applied multiple times after that. So that was one of the reasons why I decided to come to Ventura along with the just meeting the guys in the interview process, which. I felt like I'd. Be a good fit, same type of personality and. Kind of. The rest is history.

Peter

Steve, I got a question for you. What was your motivation for leaving for leaving Cal Fire? And you mentioned that tons of overtime and I I mean we've had people on here from Cal Fire and I think everybody kind of knows what the the work schedule is like down there that did that influence your decision to get out of there or what what what was the process?

Steve

Behind that, definitely so. I've been there for about. I mean a total of 6 1/2 years. The first couple of years I was there, I was just married, no kids. And then having two kids kind of made me realize that. I need to be home more. I was working three on four off as their standard schedule, along with about four to six mandates per month. So I was working anywhere from 15 to 20 days a month, not including the summers when you're on staffing patterns, which you can be on duty for the longest I spent was 18 days at the fire station without going home, which is not even on a on a fire assignment. I was just at the station running calls, getting beat up. So that was one of the reasons why I chose to leave is for. The betterment of my family. Being able to stay home with the family and that was the main reason as to why I left and I think most of the guys that leave that place would have the same. Thing to say, what did what, what, what, what?

Peter

Effect. Did it have on your family?

Steve

So my wife works full time. She's a nurse, so she would have to call off quite a bit because I'm getting mandated every morning coming home. But almost every day I come home, I would get mandated at least one to two days. There was times where I would come into work, get a call from the Battalion Chief on day one saying hey. I know you got four days off coming up, but we're gonna mandate you on all fours. So I'd run a 10 day stretch at work and it just without having kids. It's not a big deal for me. Like my wife could do it, but wish her working full. Her having to call off it was more of a stress on her than myself and then just missing out on things like birthdays, which I know we do that here in the fire service, but it just there it was just. Not sustainable for me so. That was the main reason as.

Peter

Yeah, it's interesting you said. Yeah, no, I think it's.

Steve

To why I left.

Peter

It's good for our listeners to hear because we've had specifically like the dear Chiefs gals on and they I think one of them is Cal Fire. And so we've heard on the from from the families on the other side. Of Cal fires world. What it's like for them, it's good to hear, like someone who's young, new in their. Where and how it impacted you too? Cuz I mean it has a big impact. You do that for. 30 years. You're you're gonna have some problems right in your family and in. And your own but. But good. Yeah, interesting. Well, welcome to you as well. Welcome to Gershon. We're stoked that you guys are on the department. You guys come with some experience. You come from another department. You know, this isn't your first rodeo when it comes to the probation and. Fire service all that stuff. What? What's your guys's plan? And we asked Rocky this before as well. What are you guys gonna do? Like there's we're a small department. There's a lot of work that needs. To be done, that's. Extra some guys find like a little niche that they end up doing, but do you guys have any plans or any thoughts on you know what? Life looks like for you after once, now that probation's. Over and kind of fit in.

Jason

Well, I'm going to interrupt you. Jeremy's actually going to stay on his shift for as long as he can. That's with me. That's why I say that. So I'm. I'm.

Peter

OK, OK.

Jason

Stoked to have them on our on. Our crew.

Peter

Yeah. And I guess it's not, it's not necessarily what station are you gonna go to? Cause I I think that's not as relevant, but like, what type of you know, any plans for making an impact or a difference at the department because. I mean, you guys, this isn't like I said the first time you've been in the fire department, there's it's a very few people that do most of the work, and there's a lot of work to be done. So just question like, do you have you given it some thought if if not, maybe it it's something that you should start considering, but where are you guys at with that?

Jason

One of the things I always say when I do their annual reviews is pick something that you enjoy doing so there's not a bunch of stuff that you don't enjoy that gets thrown on your lap. So what is something like like Peter's asking what is something that you guys would pick that you're? Into or want to get into.

Jeremy

Yeah, I got something for that. I was the kind of like the lead as far as, like, cancer prevention in my last department. And I know that's a big need in every department, so that's something I would like to see kind of taking a bigger role. On here, but your city is kind of promoting that and hopefully taking over some projects as far as cancer awareness, cancer prevention, keeping our guys safe cuz that's a big that's a big thing in our our job, my senior fireman. When I was on probation died from Melanoma from work related cancer. He was only 33 years old. And that was kind of my biggest motivation to make sure the other guys were, you know, around me are safe and practicing safe practices, stuff like that, declining after fires. That was one big thing for me, and that's something I would like to see a little bit more here and maybe try to delete on that. As far as cancer prevention. Yeah.

Peter

Yeah, I think that's good, a lot of. I mean, a lot of that stuff ties in with the foundations mission as well. As far as keeping the guy safe, aware all that stuff anyway. Awesome. Yeah. Great answer, Gershon. Same question to you. Obviously you don't have like the six years of experience at another. Department, but what? Are your thoughts now that you're off probation, you, given any thought to that?

Gurshan

It's yeah, so. I mean, for me, I don't have. That kind of coming. In and bringing what I had from another department. But at least so. Far just raising my hand for everything, trying to. Get get as much exposure trying to learn as much as I can and you know anything that comes up just trying to be. A part of it there's there's a ton to do around here, and so I think kind of touching on what. What Captain Kay said is is trying to find those things that you do really enjoy and that I think I'm out. Of place where? Let's go find those things that. We really enjoy. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Peter

There is a little bit of a trap in that like in doing and raising your hand for everything. You can you can quickly dilute. Your efforts and or get taken advantage of because everybody will dump everything on your lap. So my advice always is like pick one or two things and like focus and become an expert at those things versus the guy that does everything and you know. And because that has a cost to your family. And your days off as well, but.

Jason

I have a question for you, Jeremy. What specifically were you applying to other departments as a lateral? What other departments now that you're on probation, you could be totally honest and and you know, was it kind of like all around Ventura that you were applying in this area or North and South or or was it just Ventura and? How did that go?

Jeremy

No, it's funny. I I'm not from this area. I don't know anything about Ventura County, Oxnard or Santa Barbara. I just looked up Ventura City when I saw the the job application. And saw that it was. It was on the beach and that was the biggest thing for me. I grew up surfing and you know, I grew up in the. Option and my wife's originally from Simi Valley and I told her I'm not gonna live in Simi Valley, but I'll live in Ventura and. Once I saw the job application was open. I was like that's a no brainer beach department. And then when I started to learn like oh, they have an ocean rescue program, they run calls in the beach. That was that was kind of the hook for me. And just after completed probation, I joined the Ocean Rescue Academy. So it's kind of all fall into place.

Jason

So that's another thing you're volunteering for is the ocean rescue. Team that we have in Ventura. Gerson. I know it's common to apply to a ton of departments to try to get on. I also know that I saw you at AMR for years before you. You ended up working here. Had you applied to a bunch of places that were you focused on this area?

Gurshan

It was again I, you know, being a firefighter was not not really on my radar. I I kind of had a different path that I thought I was gonna go on once I started getting more exposure to the to firefighting kind of. That being, in a sense, the. The furthest from you know in in the world of EMS that we can go as being a paramedic and allowing me to do the most that I can in that role. Fire kind of presented itself as the right the right Ave. So I had only applied to a handful of of places, but nothing very like aggressively I I loved working in Ventura. It was. There's something special about this city and. The kind of geography, the demographics, it's a really kind of a unique place and and it was definitely my top choice. I had kind of put applications in in other places, but nothing that I that I was really passionate about aside from here.

Jason

Nice. And I know that we don't have ambulances, which makes it attractive to a lot of. Guys to come up or guys and girls to come up and work for venture city. How much him and how much did that affect your? Decision on on wanting. To work here. Was that something that was? Just kind of an aside.

Jeremy

That was probably number two. Number one was the beach #2 was no ambulances. I unfortunately was transporting the ambulance during COVID and that was probably one of the hardest times in the career because you are waiting at the hospital for 3-4 hours of all times and that was I was getting old. So your pump shifts or your engine shifts. Were like sacred, so when I. Learned of that Ventura city. We didn't transport and I'd be on the engine full time. That was a no brainer for me so I do miss the I do miss the ambulance from time to time. If you have like a good partner like Gershon or someone where it's fun, stand up all night and running calls like that was a good time but it was a. Lot less sleep, so I'm happy. I'm happy to be here. Yeah, I know that.

Jason

You know staying. Up all night is fun when you're early 20s maybe and running calls and then when you when you get. Married and have a. Family or get a little older. It's not as fun anymore. Sure, Sean. Another. Question for you. Tell me a little bit about your finance background. I know you and I had spoke a little bit about that and and exactly what that is. And I think you went to school for that, right? You have a degree for that. And and you ended up working in that field. For a number of years, and it wasn't. Completely separate from. The medical side of the fire department. So talk. A little bit about that.

Gurshan

A set of economics got into we got a job working with Kaiser and I worked as a financial analyst and accountant, just kind of in that role for you guys with Kaiser for about 7 years. And then I worked for a few nonprofits in the LA area doing kind of financial analysis, reporting, budgeting, forecasting. Models all that stuff kind of working in a lot of that kind of economic side and. Do it after that actually started a medical clinic with my sisters. They're both. They're both doctors. And having worked on the administrative side of things, I kind of knew how to run or at least work the the finances and the operations side. So we had a pretty successful medical practice for a few years. Sold that as. We all kind of moved into different areas and different different venues in our lives. And ultimately kind of brought me here. So having a little bit of that, that healthcare finance side of things has been has been a good perspective. To have. It's been it's been kind of nice to to kind of, especially with our open enrollment recently, I was asked to be a part of our our Safer Board as a treasurer. So they're definitely places where I can. Take a lot of that. Previous experience and kind of plug it in to to our world here and. You know, so often we're we're kind of focused in on on the calls and the firefighting and and kind of the exciting things and at least from my perspective, it's nice to have a, a little bit of of experience kind of pulling from a different world that I can at least kind of hope to to make this place a little a little better if I can.

Jason

Nice. So as the new guy on on the show today, not a lateral, is there anything? And I know putting you on the spot, but is there anything that surprised you about the fire service? And then I'll ask these. Other guys specifically about entire. City, but is there anything that surprised you? In general about. The fire service, or about Ventura Fire Department that you completely weren't expecting.

Gurshan

Well, I mean, kind of Jeremy touched in on it a little bit that the previous life of working on the ambulance and running calls and you know an average call taken you know at best an hour between call time, transport time and hospital time. The first thing that I kind of loved was the fact that I could sometimes get back into my bed and my sheets still be warm. But on that token. Trying to figure out what what makes a successful career, that's been kind of the most surprising. The the hardest thing is it kind of making 30 years through this is. It you know. What capacity? What really defines that successful current kind of being able to look around and and see different versions of it? Maybe it's an answer that I'm still trying to find. But it not necessarily being just longevity of of doing our 30 years or or getting to that that retirement date and making it through. Trying to find a trying to find a path to to be to be truly successful in it, I think has been a surprise and it not being such a straightforward path.

Jason

Yeah. You wanna enjoy that time? Right, not just thrive. I mean thrive. Not just, not just get by.

Peter

Absolutely. Yeah. That's an interesting concept on like, what makes a successful fire service career cause. It's actually a really good question cause it's so much like what could be a really good career for you could be a terrible experience for your family, right? Like so there's so much like balance that has to come in where you're balancing the competing interest in your world like cause the fire department. You know, if you let it will take. Keep taking right? Like it'll. It'll like Steve was saying, like you. You it'll put you to work 20 plus days a month if you. Let it right. Or if you volunteer too much and then your family's at home suffering. So I think balancing family and career is a big.

Speaker

Of it.

Peter

Because if you sacrifice one one too much versus the other, like there's some real consequences to that, you know, you could be struggling in your personal life and getting divorced or your kids not knowing who you are or, you know, the the the flip side is you could suck at your job. And if you're never around and you know, that doesn't really define success. I think I think everybody struggles with that. I don't know the answer to that. If I had to look. Back, what do you think Jason's been doing a long, long enough.

Speaker

The new term.

Jason

The the new term that we keep hearing is work life balance. I don't even think that was a term like 5-8 years ago now everybody's talking about work life balance and how many overtimes do you pick up now that mandates are so plentiful.

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. To 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 fans. There's a link in the show notes, or you can donate through the website at www.venturafirefoundation.org. Thank you for listening.

Peter

Steve, I'll I'll hit you with the question now that you're off probation and you come to the department with some experience from your other from Cal Fire. What? What are you? I think we were talking, I don't know how much you caught. We were talking about like, you know we we're a small department especially compared to Cal Fire where you came from. There's a lot of stuff that needs to be done. There's not a lot of. Necessarily volunteer, not really talking about the whole volume told thing, but what are your interests? What do you what do you see? How do you what kind of impact do you see making now that you're not on probation, you're going to be here for a while? Hopefully. What are your kind of? Where's your head at with that stuff?

Steve

So I've kind of throw my name in the hat for a few things I know initially. After probation, they were. Recruiting people for the mentor program I wasn't selected for that, but now I just got the e-mail from Chief Henderson about a week or two ago that I'm going to Hazmat, which is something I've kind of always been interested in my previous captain from Cal Fire, who was kind of one of my mentors, was an old hazmat. Captain, we're tasmac actually with Chief Henderson for a few years, I believe. And he's kind of caught my interest to that. So I'll be going to Hazmat come spring here. We're kind of waiting on the class dates, but myself and two other firm gonna be going to hazmat. So that's something I'm kind of interested in. It's something I've always like. I said, wanted to do my whole career. Expand my horizons a little bit. And do that and also I've got about seven years in the fire service almost 8 now and I'm kind of. The trying to put my hat in for the engineering position, so I'm gonna start prepping for the engineer test and as soon as I'm eligible, try to try to promote.

Peter

Gotcha. Gotcha. Yeah. Hazmat definitely opens some doors for you. What questions do you guys have or you know about the department or or how this works or the foundation or you know from your fresh perspective like coming into our world? You know, what are your thoughts? Like what? What? What? It's kind of an open-ended random question, but any anything come to.

Steve

Mind. So I I think it's a great thing like just seeing what the Fire Foundation has done for people like Clapper's family after he passed away, where I came from, we didn't have anything like that where a larger department. So we have like a Benevolent Fund and all that stuff, but nothing as personal as this, that. Kind of leans towards Ventura firemen. That's something. That's one of the reasons why I left such a big department as well. You work with guys that you know their name on a piece of paper, but when they show up to work, you've never worked with them before. I like that intimacy where, like. Guys like Gershon and Jeremy, like I I see them almost every day or every week. And you know everybody that you work with and that's awesome because you can show up to work and get things and come, you know, their families and know their kids what they're into. And that's something I didn't really have coming from Cal Fire other than like the time that you worked for. But it was such a large. Department. That's one thing that. Going to push me. Out of that as well.

Peter

Yeah. Gotcha. No, that makes sense. We definitely have. You definitely know the people you frankly sometimes know them better than your. You know, your own family. Yeah, interesting. Any any memorable experiences from probation? Any good stories or or things you guys want to talk about?

Steve

Well, I mean, the Academy was entertaining. Yeah, the the mukes workouts. Yeah. The the beat drill and. Well, I I remember our our.

Peter

Alright, let's talk about those. Yeah, let's. Let's hear about the. Much worked out.

Jeremy

Yeah, there was probably like now in me and in my mind there's three workouts that like stick out. And there's one it was running a mile and turnouts with the A. With a van blasting mariachi music behind us that was like the that was like the pinnacle right out of 30 minutes of burpee straight was a big one. But yeah, the Academy was really physically demanding and really tough and people had told us, like, hey, it's going to be hard, but it was. It was. It was worse than that. And uh, but it was fun. We all bonded over it. There was that we started out with 9, but we all got super close because. We were suffering, but once we made it out of it, we were like we felt super accomplished and achieved and we kind of have that, that badge, badge of honor that we we made it through a mukes. Academy, you know? Yeah. Yeah, who?

Peter

Was it his car that was? Was it his car that was playing the mariachi? Music or he fan this?

Jeremy

No, it was just beater. It was like a beater. White van from I don't know where he got it, but we would all jump in and go down to the beach and do workouts. But he used it as. PT, We'd push it around. You know the drill grounds. He'd put weights in the car. We'd have to push it around while he's playing mariachi music. But it was it was definitely memorable.

Peter

That's pretty funny, Steve. What about?

Steve

You. Yeah. Same with Jamie. The the two workouts that stand out for me. Like you says the the turnout. One mile run with four BA everything and then I remember the first workout was that, that burpee workout. I'm older. I'm I got hired. I was 38 years old, going through the Academy. All these guys are younger, Jeremy and all those guys. Like I remember 30 minutes of burpees about halfway through thinking to myself. What the hell did I get myself into? My body's old.

Peter

Were you guys doing them in? Were you doing them In Sync or just at your own pace?

Steve

Well, we were at our own pace, but he was watching us, he said. We don't just don't stop. If you want to go and slow down a little bit, you can. Slow down. You just don't stop.

Jeremy

Yeah, that's insane.

Steve

So that was, yeah, it was that.

Peter

Was wrong. Go ahead, Jason. I know you had something to say.

Jason

No, I was just gonna ask him the same thing. I was gonna ask him specifically about the academies or anything that surprised you. And I know how physically demanding it is. And a lot of times lateral academies are not physically demanding. And Gershon, you went through the County Academy, right? Or is there anything that surprised you in there? I know that's pretty physically demanding, too.

Gurshan

Yeah, the kind. Of touch on that. I think the part that was. The worst for me was coming from the the county, county. They had like a trainer who would do proper recovery runs and recovery workouts that would kind of on the days that we get kind of broken off, we'd we'd have a chance to recover with stretching and workouts. So that the day following our burpee workout 30 minutes burpees we get together and like Captain says, hey, we're going on a recovery run today and this might be hard for the the listeners to to picture, but his body wasn't made to run long distances and do pull-ups. I can keep going, but there's certain things that his body just just doesn't excel at. So we we start on this recovery run and he was like 6 miles and each you know each point we'd stop and. Do different different things and at 1.1 of somebody's nose started bleeding and just like Nope, get after it. Like what's wrong with you? Like, let's keep keep going. And that whole time I'm just sitting there, like, cursing everybody who said this was a recovery run. That was that was. That was the worst of it, but it definitely I do appreciate bringing us together and it it helped us as a group bond cause we we had that that kind of passion towards the suck, if you will.

Jeremy

Yeah, yeah.

Jason

I can. I can see where you're coming from with. Same with me. I used to. I used to run and it's never a very long distance and it's always a super hard workout. But some body types are different than others, right? I want to change subjects a little bit and ask you guys specifically if you ever listen to our podcast or you know what the foundation is all about. You know, we focus on families and mental health a lot. And I think this is kind of something new in the fire service that's being brought up and talked about a bunch. Is there anything I'm going to start with Gershon, because you're you're not Privy to a ton of the. History of the fire service. And running calls for, say, 10 years like the other two guys or so have been. Is there anything that's scares you or surprises you when you when you talk to the, to the guys on the foundation board, any of that long term PTSD stuff? Is there anything you're doing specifically for yourself or that you worry about when it comes to that stuff? Is there anything we can do or provide as a? Foundation that would help with that.

Gurshan

Yeah, I think there's there's a few things coming from there. You know, the finding productive, good outlets to really utilize our time. And like you mentioned, really are making the most of our days off. You know, it's so easy to just kind of get caught in the. Grind and and then all of a sudden. You know whether. It's whether it's a, a four day or whatever. You know, with mandates, whatever version of a, a short segment of days you have off or you know you kind of turn around and you question where those days off went because they kind of just end up in a box. There it's trying to find ways that are productive, I think. Is one of the. Shows, but trying to kind of touching on that the the successful longevity of a career and what that means. I've been pretty fortunate to be assigned on to our day support company or Medic Truck 105 now and I mean and. You know, for I've worked in EMS for about 7 years prior to coming here and working those 24 hour shifts thinking that that that was the answer, right? I have my big chunks of days. And being able to sleep every night and kind of go home at the end of the day with, you know, we do our. 4/10 hour. Shifts a week I've noticed in myself a pretty significant improvement in that and so trying to trying to hope and see if if there's versions of this that we can have 4th when we get, you know, I'm I'm fortunate to be. Early in my career and assigned to to a unit like this, but at least for those guys who have been here for 1520 years and finding a way to to be home every night for their families and and have some regular sleep, I think has been a a pretty significant thing for me and trying to look down to the future of what that means for our fire service and and the changes. To to be able to start to to, you know, have that regular sleep, work that through in in terms of our mental health as well. I'm curious what what the future holds for us, but it's definitely something that I've been fortunate to experience here.

Jason

Yeah. Good for you. For noticing that early on. So would you say that given the opportunity, would you stay on a 40 hour work week? Is that your preference at this?

Gurshan

Honestly, you know, I I think a few months before or a few months ago I would have had a completely different answer for you. But the last three months I've been been on this and I've noticed significant improvements in just how I feel, but then also talking to the the rest of the crew and I think the thing that was most surprising to me is when I do choose to go work at 24. Even the nights that I have a a good night where we might have one wake up or you know, two or even sleep all night, I still feel the effects of being at work, you know, not being in my own bed, sleeping regularly. So yeah, I think if I had the opportunity to, I would, I would love to. To stay on this schedule.

Jason

Interesting. Yeah, interesting. Steve. I I want to hear about your last department and kind of compare and contrast between what you guys had as far as a peer support. Team versus Ventura City what? We could learn from them and. Maybe what we do better. Than other departments. So tell me. A little bit about that and. If you have any. Experience specifically with any mental health stuff. Or or family issues that we usually talk about on the podcast. Or with the foundation.

Steve

So we didn't have like a a fire foundation like we did here in Ventura. We had a Benevolent Fund, which was kinda. It's not as personal as we have here at Ventura City. It feels like we have people. In the peer support team that check out and reach out on us all the time just to see how we're doing and that's something that we didn't really have at cow fire other than just your own crew looking out for each other, seeing how you guys are doing here. It's like we have a team that's assigned and if you have any issues or there's a bad call, they'll pull you into the office. We can have a conversation about it, which is something we never had. Like Cal Fire, it was just kind of you and the boys at the station, after all. Talking about it, but that's it's something that I think is a great thing here and I think it's something that a lot of. Departments should should. Look towards and and maybe pick a few. Pick you guys brains about. What you do here? I think it's a great thing and we got to experience it initially when we got hired her with Flappy and he passed away. And what what the foundation did for his family. It was awesome and I think that departments need to kind of take note of that.

Jason

Nice, nice. Jeremy. Same question to you. With Vista compare and contrast, and I know they're very similar to us, do they have a peer support team and did they? Do kind of the same things we do.

Jeremy

They did? Yeah. Unfortunately. Like I said, we had Andy Valenta. He died at 33 from work related cancer and that kind of. Expedited things as far as mental health and. Helping each other out, peer support and the auxiliary auxiliary. Sorry really got involved, so that kind of. Expedited things. So there was a pure support team. In place and. And then experiencing again with clap saddle. It was huge not only for the firemen, but for their families, for their kids, their wives, those I have those two instances where I just saw because you hear about it, you're like, oh, we're a we're a family, you know, we're we're a fire family. But those two instances where I like really. Saw it and I saw everyone kind of rally around each other and help each other out. So. Yeah, I'm just. I'm happy that I've. I've been lucky enough to have two departments that that both really prioritize. Peer support and mental health.

Jason

Nice. Nice is. That's about all I have for you guys. Is there anything you guys want to bring up that we haven't covered or Pete or anything you want to talk about that we haven't covered or just? Or just kind of want a. Round table with everybody.

Peter

Not for me. Yeah, I think it's it's it's encouraging to see, like new firefighters, like thinking about the things that honestly, I never thought about till I was. Like well into my career. There, that's encouraging that, that that to me shows like the fire service is changing, it's slow and painful as it takes to change the fire service, but we weren't having these conversations like about your sleep or like you're brand new. You're aware of that stuff you're we're talking about it. Those are good things. Yeah, it's encouraging to see. Some of the things that you guys are stuff we're even talking about is good. It's increases my optimism. For addressing some of these issues that are that frankly mess, a lot of people up, especially later in their career so.

Jason

Oh, Gershon, you're probably the first Ventura City employee to speak Punjabi, right? Has a second language. So we we got some diversity in the city now. That's cool.

Gurshan

That's right.

Peter

Did did you get? Did you get the? Bilingual pay for that.

Gurshan

Yeah, I did. Yeah. It was a little bit of a little bit of a a battle. And I do I have to shout out to Captain Deruso. He really he fought hard for that one and and got me got got me that test.

Peter

Oh, nice, nice.

Gurshan

But it's great to to be able to flaunt, you know, growing up, being the youngest of of three, have two older sisters, and I felt like their Punjabi was always great. And I was always the one who could speak in and get it. But had they always make fun of me for having my accent and. And so now I'll just flaunt that around that guy. Excuse me, I'm a certified bilingual Punjabi. The translator for the city of Ventura. You guys can can come down. It's it's a great. It's a great thing to have at home.

Steve

Well on that.

Jason

Note, if there's nothing else that. You guys want to bring. Up. I just want to say welcome. I appreciate you guys taking time out of your day to come on the podcast and support the foundation in that way and let us know if there's anything you guys need and I appreciate you being here.

Jeremy

Yeah. Thanks for. Having us? Yeah. Thank you for having us.

Speaker

Well, these last.

Jason

Couple episodes have been fun. It was cool having Gershaw and Jeremy and Steve on the episode this time and hearing just where they come from and and why they choose to be with Ventura Fire Department.

Peter

Yeah, it's good to see some some young energy, some fresh ideas hopefully being or, you know, coming to the fire department. I think it's it'll be exciting to watch these guys careers and kind of where they go.

Jason

Yeah, definitely. Don't forget to like and subscribe to our podcast. And don't forget about giving Tuesday that just passed and our link is still up. We are a nonprofit. We'll take, we'll take the donations. I appreciate that.

Peter

Yeah. And then also, we are taking the month of December off. So we are going to take a break for the holidays. As far as releasing new podcasts, but we will be back in January, keep an eye out for some new episodes come January.

Jason

All right. Have a good holidays. Peter, talk to you soon.

Peter

Thanks you too.