Rebuild:LA Episode 048 - This Ain’t Your Dad’s Fire Service with Battalion Chief Andoni Kastros (ret)

The American Fire Service is in the midst of a rapid transition period that many have described as a crisis. From a massive brain drain happening in departments that are losing many seasoned firefighters to retirement, as well as a fundamentally different generation of firefighters coming up through a traditional system not known for easily changing, the fire service is facing challenges it’s never had to navigate before. At the same time, wildfires are increasing in complexity and frequency. The Palisades and Eaton Fires made it clear that the age of mega fires is upon us. Is the Fire Service in 2025 capable of taking on these new, deadly challenges? We asked an expert in firefighting training, who has taught firefighters all over the world, this exact question. Cameron chats with her friend, and MySafe:LA collaborator, Battalion Chief Andoni Kastros, or Firefighters' Inspiration, Readiness and Education (FIRE), to learn about the state of the American Fire Service.

Resources:

• Firefighters’ Inspiration, Readiness and Education
• Firefighter Engineering Magazine and Books
• FDIC
• Mastering Textbook Series