What’s Your Emergency

Latest Episodes:

Pest Control - Lost Cousin of the First Responders? May 17, 2023

Show notes

MC has had one hell of a week, gang.

First a hot water pipe in his garage bursts, on his birthday no less, costing a few hundred bucks. Then Rory, the eldest of the MC dogs, starts having leg issues on a weekend so needs to be seen at the urgent care. There goes even more cash out the door.

Then...termites. Since we were getting ready to record when the "pest guy" climbed into the attic and did his thing, a thing neither of us had ANY interest in doing, we sat and waited. Then he climbed out with a smile on his face.

After watching MC deal with this emergency and having the responding expert infront of us, why not fire up the mics and interview him?

"Connie" is 25 and has been in the pest control business for 5 years. He has been in attics, basements, crawl spaces and, while doing so, has come into contact with every imaginable species of creepy crawly, opossum and aggressive rats. So why does he do it and keep smiling? Have a listen and find out!

This week we ponder:

What kind of training is required to work in pest control?
How does one get started?
Is MC's problem small, standard or big?
That ants and termites will battle to the death just like rats and squirrels.

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The Frank Abagnale of the EMS World May 03, 2023

Show notes

Frank Abagnale is famous for being a confidence man, a thief and is convicted of bank fraud. Before being caught he allegedly passed the Georgia bar exam, served as a Doctor and most famously logged millions of miles posing as a Pan Am pilot needing a ride from town to town. Of course in each town he made and cashed fraudulent checks and committed other crimes, many of which are now in question, but the claims are monumental. His story was told in the motion picture "Catch me if you can" featuring Leonadro DiCaprio as Abagnale, Christopher Walken as his father, Charlie Sheen as his prospective father in law and little known actor Thomas Hanks as the FBI agent tracking Abagnale's cons and schemes through the 1960s.

So why is this mentioned on WYE? Well, because a recent story broke about a man impersonating a Paramedic and we just LOVE drama here. And a good flick.

From WOWK comes a story of mystery, intrigue, and a couple of Volunteer Fire Departments a little too quick to take someone at their word. Apparently Christopher Lee Lin (or as he apparently referred to himself to remain incognito, Christopher Beckinsale, no apparent relation to the movie star) wandered into a West Virginia Volunteer Fire Department and mentioned he was a Paramedic from elsewhere. The Chiefs gave him gear, including, a $15,000 breathing apparatus, and then found out later...well...maybe he isn't who he claims to be.

This week we ponder:

How does one fake being a Paramedic?
How does one not ask around or perhaps ask for proof of said Paramedic certs?
Exactly what does a $15,000 breathing apparatus look like?
If the real Frank Abagnale made up many of his exploits, does that make him a better con man in the end?

BOLO

Picard Season 3 on Paramount

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

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Kansas City Fire Chief to resign. No the other one. Apr 26, 2023

Show notes

For those of you still in the 3rd grade, let it be known that there are 2 Kansas Cities. Not, like you know, 2 cities in Kansas, but 2 metropolitan hubs named Kansas City. And they are of course easily distinguishable by the *checks notes* 6 minute drive across the Kansas river from each other. *tosses papers*

It takes your hosts 11 minutes just to get to a decent freeway to get anywhere.

Well, this time news breaks from Kansas City Kansas about the resignation of Fire Chief Michael Callahan who has been battling issues from staffing to salary to working conditions and not exactly making friends at the union hall. The curious part about his resignation is that it comes not amidst charges of corruption, wrong doing or incompetence, but the enforcement of a residency requirement.

In addition to those shenanigans, Justin is in Indianapolis for FDIC and has some sweet swag for our listeners!

This week we discuss:

Why Kansas City can't take a break and let someone else in the news
How you need to be careful what rules you demand be enforced
Why you should find out if someone at the table is teaching at the conference you're dissing
How part of MC's famed beard is gone

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Stump the Patrons Apr 19, 2023

Show notes

As you may have heard, hosting a podcast isn't free anymore. When we first started podcasting over a decade ago, you just recorded some audio, uploaded it to the Library of Congress and posted a link on MySpace or the Community Bulletin Board (Remember those!?). To make sure the show can be heard on a variety of platforms at the same time we needed to pull together some scratch every month. As more of you began listening we needed to get more bandwith, yada yada yada, it got expensive for a couple of civil servants telling war stories. Instead of charging a subscription to listen, we decided early on to let you the listeners decide what you want to send to the show to keep it going. These folks are our patrons.

From time to time we post comments, photos or videos to the patron website and have recently enjoyed doing a live chat with as many as we can get to just sit down and have a talk about what's going on in our lives.

However, we decided there needed to be something else, something more, to give our patrons other than just our remarkably clever phrases and humor: Doubloons.

This week, we turn the WYE Radio gameshow Stump MC on it's head and turn the microphone to our patrons for some listener competition!

Justin has pulled 3 headlines from the WYE universe and let's see how careful our patrons are paying attention to the world around us all!

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Giovanna Vittori, PTSD and Bullying Apr 12, 2023

Show notes

EXPLICIT CONTENT AND PARENTAL WARNING

This episode uses adult language and discusses addiction and suicide. Parental discretion is advised.

If you're new to our podcast you may be thinking we have it in for the Kansas City Fire Department since we seem to gravitate towards stories surrounding strange goings on in that organization.

Then this happens.

We just this week learned the results of a lawsuit filed in 2018 by KCFD Paramedic Giovanna Vittori who had been reassigned due to a traumatic incident. While many of us applaud the organization for taking this step, what happened next turns our stomachs. The supervisor she was assigned to, according to the lawsuit, terrorized Giovanna by constantly reminding her of the event and "trying to make her deny it happened."

The guys discuss the clearly marked line between good fun, hazing and bullying (no it isn't) and they can't seem to escape how something that started so positively ended so poorly. You see, even though Giovanna won the case in the end, it didn't happen until after her apparent suicide. She was found near a fitness report that had been reportedly altered by the Department and an eviction notice. We will never know the demons others are facing.

Justin shares a lyric from a song that seems appropriate:

You've got your hunger

and some problems that are real,

and you're dealing with some demons

who are driving you insane,

and I've seen them drag you screaming

down the hallways of your brain. - The Devil Makes Three "Chase that Feeling"

While the song mainly addresses addiction, the symbolism of being dragged away by demons seems accurate here. She was reassigned for a good reason, then everything went wrong.

We like to say that no one knows what we are going through but some of us seem very fast to assume what others are going through.

On our minds this week:

Being able to look back and realize we were not our best in the moment
Creating neighborhoods of commonality we can feel seen in
How easy it is to destroy those around us if we simply ignore reality
Why so many things could have saved Giovanna, but didn't

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Nashville Metro Bodycam as it Happens Apr 05, 2023

Show notes

EXPLICIT WARNING - This episode contains descriptions of a shooting from a Police video and expletive language. Parental discretion is advised.

By now you've heard the news out of Nashville about the shooting that killed 6, including 3 children, at Covenant School.

This week the guys watch the body cam footage provided by the Metro Nashville PD. In the video linked HERE we watch as 4 year Officer Rex Engelbert goes from putting his vehicle into park to engaging the shooter inside of three and a half minutes. Shortly after that we see the footage from another Officer, Michael Collazo, as they rapidly redeploy after hearing shots fired.

Watching this video isn't easy and perhaps listening to us critique it isn't easy either but this is the closest you'll get to being on the line for an active shooter before being there yourself.

We at WYE are proud to vaguely associate ourselves with these brave Officers and know full well how foolish we sound days after the fact from the comforts of our homes. We also know how important it is to share real life experiences, not just the same drill over and over and over again. But judging from what we saw, that training is paying off.

Great work Officers, first round is on us when you're in town.

This week we discuss:

How methodical Engelbert is when forming his team, gathering intel from the woman outside and grabbing keys to the building
The hand signals and physical indicators of team movement
Just how fast we've become as a professional in addressing this kind of threat
Why it was so important for NPD to release this video so quickly

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FDIC 2023 Mass Casualty Response Preview Mar 29, 2023

Show notes

FDIC 2023 in Indianapolis is rapidly approaching and your favorite co-host is excited to be presenting for the 8th year in a row. No, not that one, the other one. Sheesh.

Justin, our Fire and EMS expert is back presenting Mass Casualty (MCI) response for first in firefighting companies and shares a few new elements of his presentation that the New York Times called "Please stop emailing us random things to review."

Specifically, they discuss the fact that there isn't always safety in numbers, especially when trying to evacuate an emergency and the guys discuss the stampede in South Korea that reinforces that reality.

You can catch Justin's presentation on Thursday the 27th at 330. If you're in Indy and spot him, make sure to use the code word "Jason's hair" for a free beverage.

Also, stick around for the end of the show for a "Kansas City Special" featuring Tom Jones. Not a euphemism.

This week we discuss:

The importance of anticipating egress when responding to an emergency scene
Why setting up casualty collection early is a priority
How and when most people will exit a building in an emergency
What. The. Hell. Is. Going. On. In. KCFD?

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Stump MC Returns! Mar 22, 2023

Show notes

You know what's great about batch recording? When you realize it's the day of the week where we're supposed to publish a show, but don't have anything in the hopper...unless we totally do!

That's right, a few months back, we recorded one of our favorite schticks here at WYE Radio, "Stump MC"!

What questions did HM ask MC? Beats us...it was months ago!

Maybe MC will actually listen to his own show in order to see if this show can stump him again. (Because odds are he remains light on doubloons.)

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Kansas City, Missouri - Getting in MO Trouble Mar 15, 2023

Show notes

When we mention Kansas City, there's a good chance your mind immediately tracks to the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs or even Big Jim Slade, former tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs, but lately your feed may include the 2 stories the guys are tracking this week and think of just one Kansas City Chief: The Fire Chief.

First from the Kansas City Fire Department: the Paramedic seen on camera chasing, and then hitting a patient with the laptop computer used to document patient care has been reinstated. I can hear your questions already, but the local union claims he deserves his job back for two reasons. First, this apparently happens all the time and others don't get fired and, second, it was self defense.

Then your hosts cross the globe to...*checks notes* the Kansas City Fire Department where a Firefighter who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter has been sentenced to probation and, wait for it, the union wants his job back as well. From the same folks who brought you "everyone else is doing it" comes an explanation that there wasn't a proper investigation completed prior to the termination. For those wondering, the driver was doing 51 in a 35 and blew through a red light, killing 3 and it turns out this wasn't the first time this employee had been speeding, according to the Department.

Once again it looks like the hardest part of this job is showing up in the morning.

This week we discuss:

How and when self defense turns into assault
The difference between an assault and PD witnessing an assault
When doing 51 in a 35 is appropriate
Why Jason has a massive new game in the studio

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Stump the Angry Captain - Weiner Edition Mar 08, 2023

Show notes

Justin and Jason are pioneers in podcasting. You know it, they know it, and the world knows it, mainly based on the evidence presented in the title of this week's show.

That's right, Justin is called the Happy Medic and his father, retired Fire Captain Jerry Schorr, is known as...wait for it...the Angry Captain. No joke. This week Jerry is in town so we have to fire up the mics and get him to play America's fastest growing internet game show featuring fractions of doubloons as prizes: Stump WYE.

Jason is quizmaster this week and he has 3 questions for this retired fireman that he was sure would stump him. Did he? Listen in to find out, as well as learn what the heck this show title even means.

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