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Discover the premier and original podcast dedicated to wildland firefighting, the vibrant culture surrounding wildland firefighters, firefighter mental health and physical performance, and the wilderness - The Anchor Point Podcast... Join our global community as we delve into the captivating stories of Wildland Firefighters, shed light on career opportunities, promote fire prevention awareness, educate the public, and openly discuss the mental health struggles and triumphs faced by firefighters on and off duty. Immerse yourself in our unscripted and unedited long-form interviews, where we leave no topic unexplored.
With The Anchor Point Podcast, you'll gain free and exclusive access to firsthand experiences shared by wildland firefighters, industry experts, mental health clinicians, physical performance professionals, doctors, scientists, and the families of fire line operators. Our episodes encapsulate the entire spectrum of emotions, from the extraordinary and awe-inspiring moments to the challenging and humorous anecdotes that arise within the industry.
One of our podcast's core focuses lies in unraveling the physical and mental demands encountered while working in the field. We delve into topics such as proper nutrition and hydration, stress management, relationships, and maintaining focus, offering valuable insights and shared experiences.
Prepare to embark on an immersive journey into the heart of the action, as each episode of The Anchor Point Podcast takes you on an in-depth exploration of the challenges and rewards experienced by fireline operators. Engage in enlightening interviews and discussions with subject matter experts that provide a comprehensive understanding of wildland firefighting.
Whether you are a passionate wildland firefighting enthusiast or an individual seeking to expand your knowledge, The Anchor Point Podcast is an indispensable and trusted resource. Our episodes cover a broad range of topics, including fire behavior, weather patterns, medical know-how, equipment, gear, and the evolving role of technology in firefighting.
The Anchor Point Podcast is your gateway to a unique and invaluable vantage point on the challenges and rewards of fireline work. Whether you're seeking to expand your understanding of wildland firefighting or simply captivated by the extraordinary tales from the frontlines, our podcast is an essential resource. Subscribe today and unlock a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.
Anthony Powers Hotshot Up
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[00:00:00] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: What's going on? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. Today's episode is gonna be brought to you by Mystery Ranch, built for the mission. And if you haven't been rocking a Mystery Ranch fire line pack for your career, well, that sucks to be you. Dog Mystery Ranch makes arguably the best, the most comfortable, and the most bitching warranty in the fire game for their fire packs.
[00:00:19] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah, so you better, uh, go over there and switch up your game. Go over to www.mysteryranch.com to check 'em out and, you know, give a couple elbows to some folks, tell 'em to get the, the right gear for the job. But other than that, uh, mystery Ranch is built off of the boots on the ground and they actually give a shit.
[00:00:38] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: They actually are, what? The reason why I say that is because they, they take input and advice and in fact, Dana Gleason, who, uh, founded Mystery Ranch, he went down to South Ops and he actually tied in with a couple crews down there. Developed what pack you are probably wearing on your back that you all know and love, a k a, the hotshot pack.
[00:00:56] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So other than that, they do a bunch of other stuff for the community, [00:01:00] like the backbone series scholarships. Yeah, they're pretty cool. They're giving out a thousand dollars scholarships to anybody who, uh, wants to tell a story of Wildland Fire and what they do in the On the Lion. Yeah, it's pretty freaking awesome.
[00:01:14] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: They're doing their, uh, they are doing a closing here pretty soon. It's actually rapidly approaching. So, uh, May 31st. That's gonna be the deadline to get your story submitted into Mystery Ranch's Backbone series. So if you wanna find out more or submit your story, go over to www.mysteryranch.com and check it out.
[00:01:35] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: There's also links in the show notes and on the YouTubes and all that other stuff. So go check it out, www.mysteryranch.com. And of course, we have our coffee sponsor because we all know that the Anchor Point podcast can't come. To you live to your ears or prerecorded to your ears unless it's, uh, done in a very caffeinated state.
[00:01:56] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So the people that I rely on for my Caffe Nation is none other [00:02:00] than Hotshot Brewery. It's kick ass coffee for a kick ass cause and a portion of the proceeds will always go back to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation and some other causes that they're just, uh, yeah, they're working on it. But yeah, there might be some, uh, other stuff in the works there.
[00:02:12] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So if you want the best in kick ass coffee and four kick ass causes, go over to www Hotshot Brewery, but it just doesn't stop there. You can go over there and get your full line of wildland firefighter themed apparel and all of the tools of the trade to get your morning started off right. So once again, that is www.hotshotbrewery.com.
[00:02:32] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Go check him out. And of course, I gotta give a quick little shout out to my buddy booze over at the ass movement and that stands. The anti surface shooting movement. Homie's a firefighter up there in ak and he's doing the good deed of spreading who bearing propaganda across the globe. I dunno about everybody out there that's listening, but I absolutely hate it when I see a surface turd or someone just doesn't clean up their wreckage left behind their human excrement, and it's disgusting and that shit [00:03:00] needs to stop.
[00:03:00] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So not only is he one of my very close homies, uh, and we work together on some other projects, uh, it it's, yeah, he's got a good mission and it was all started from humble beginnings, which he, you can ask him all about Anyways, if you have it over to www.to the Fire Wild and check out the ass movement and use the code Anchor point S 10 at checkout, well, you can save 10% off your entire order through the As movement.
[00:03:28] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Go check 'em out. Once again, that is www.thefirewild.com/the as movement. And last but not least, I would like to give a little shout out to my homie Bethany over at the a w e, the American Wildfire Experience, also known as the Smokey Generation. Yeah, you probably heard of it because they are paying it back for the people that are paying it forward.
[00:03:50] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And what do I mean by this? Well, the folks that are telling the story of Wildland Fire. Yeah. I don't know if you've heard, but you should have by now if you ever listened to any of these episodes. [00:04:00] Yeah. The, uh, smokey Generation has given out $500 grants for those folks in the field that are telling the story of Wildland Fire.
[00:04:08] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It's an awesome cause, and it's only bettering the boots on the ground. So if you wanna find out more, go over to www.wildfireexperience.org and check it out. There's a ton of stories, there's a ton of, uh, content and there's shit some of. Stories are dating even back to the 1940s. It's like an uh, it's like a oral history, an oral storytelling project, and is all cataloged over at the American Wildfire experience.
[00:04:34] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So once again, if you wanna check it out and find out more, go over to www.wildfireexperience.org and check it out.
[00:04:46] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: The views and opinions of this podcast do not reflect the views and opinions of the United States Government, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Defense, the Department of Agriculture, the United States Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, national Park Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, or any private municipal [00:05:00] county or state firefighting organization, any law enforcement agency, any medical provider, or any contractor employed by any federal agency.
[00:05:28] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: What's going on? Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back. I hope everybody is doing well, and I hope everybody is gearing up for the. I guess not even shoulder season. It's, it's, it's the season. I mean, region three's already heating up and then you got a bunch of stuff going on in like, I don't know, the, the Midwest, the east, all over the place.
[00:05:47] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Like what, what the hell is going on? And we having like a start to last year where everything's popping off what seems to be pretty early, but is it going to be a banger of a season or is it gonna peter out like last year? I don't know. [00:06:00] Maybe we'll have somebody from predictive services on the show to tell us what the crystal ball for tells Ooh.
[00:06:06] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: But I do hope that everybody is doing well and I hope everybody is in shape and ready for this season. And I hope everybody had a good winter. Apologies for the lack of presence and recording. Uh, there's gonna be some massive overhauls and updates for, uh, the anchor point and all of its little projects, so I think you're gonna enjoy a lot of them.
[00:06:28] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So, yeah. There's gonna be some pretty cool stuff. Maybe a Wikipedia, maybe a forum, maybe some other stuff, some information sharing, hot list kind of update stuff. Yeah, big stuff's happening. It's pretty cool. But anyways, let's get onto it with today. So today on the episode, we are gonna have Anthony Powers.
[00:06:48] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: He's one of the co-founders of the Hotshot Up Foundation. And the Hotshot Up Foundation is a nonprofit organization. It's 5 0 1 and their mission is to support the families [00:07:00] of firefighters who have fallen in the line of duty. It is pretty freaking awesome organization and they do a kick ass volleyball tournament every year.
[00:07:10] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So if you want to, uh, go and check out this volleyball tournament and go and have a good time and support a good cause, definitely go over to www.hotshotup.com so you can sign up for the 2023 Hotshot Up Volleyball tournament. Anyways. Today on the show, like I said, we got Anthony Powers. So without further ado, I'd like to introduce my guest and awesome human, Mr.
[00:07:35] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Anthony Powers. Welcome to the Anchor Point.
[00:07:44] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: There we go. All fancy, man. Yeah, like the clap, clap in thing, you know? Nice. Yeah, it's nice clapper, dude. It's the clap. No, not, not that. Anyways, what's going on ladies and gentlemen? Welcome back to an [00:08:00] other episode of the Anchor Point Podcast. Today on the show I've got Anthony Powers from the Hot Shot Up nonprofit organization.
[00:08:08] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: What's going on, dude? What's up dude? How are you? Fine and dandy getting over the, uh, the sickness that my kids constantly pass, like around the house. It's, uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It sucks. As soon as they hate daycare, dude, it's just like, It was game over as far as like trying to remain healthy. So like there was a month that I'm not sick.
[00:08:30] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It's like a miracle. Yeah, it, I feel ya. I just woke up yesterday morning with a little something scratchy throughout and so I'm feeling the effects of that today. But, um, yeah, we're cutting it up a little bit about that. Oh yeah. It's hard to, it's, it's hard to, to get away from that when they're, they're constantly bringing home with all their little germs, but what can you do man?
[00:08:57] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Just roll with the punches, man for it. [00:09:00] Right. Yeah. So yeah, man. So I'm glad to have you on the show today. And, uh, yeah, it's been a, been a hot minute and we've been trying to like, set this thing up for a hell of a long time. Probably, what, six months? Maybe even more. Uh, I think longer. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well we, we tried last year.
[00:09:19] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And that didn't, it just didn't pan out. And then we tried again earlier this year, but, um, yeah, I'm glad to finally be able to do it. Almost didn't happen again. I know, dude, kids are having a meltdown. Right. But, um, again, like to rad when you, when you got a, a spouse that could handle that and just so she got out of the house wasn't, wasn't smooth, but it happened.
[00:09:44] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So barely. Finally it's quiet and then it's, it's, uh, we'll be able to knock this out. Yeah. So I thank her for that, for sure. Oh yeah, man, I feel you on the, uh, kids, it's, it's, it's difficult at times. Now I'm trying to like balance like the, the work [00:10:00] and like kids and Yeah. It gets pretty difficult. And especially if you have to be in like a quiet place if you're like recording it.
[00:10:06] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. I'm like, sorry honey. Yeah. Thanks for taking the kids, but I gotta record. Yeah. Yeah, you gotta have to soundproof your room. She, uh, yeah, they do. They do a lot, man. They, I can't, I can't stress it enough, but to, to be able to, uh, to have the, the job and emergency services and, and be gone, be gone all the time.
[00:10:29] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It, it has, uh, it definitely has its effects on, on home life. And for all those fire girlfriends, fire wives, fire moms, um, any type of emergency services, they, they definitely, they hold it down and, uh, they, they deserve a lot of, uh, acknowledgement for that. You know, it's, it's a lifestyle that. I'm not sure everybody understands, [00:11:00] but not a lot of
people
[00:11:01] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: can handle too, takes a, a special like individual to put up with first responder bullshit, in my opinion.
[00:11:06] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: I mean, and that's another thing too Yeah. Is like the first responder's, like, oh, you're a first responder. It must be so hard. You must carry a heavy load. And yeah, you do. But the people that are holding it down and carrying arguably the heaviest load out of that, uh, group of folks is definitely the people back at home taking care of the kids and like holding all the stuff together.
[00:11:25] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Like while the first responders at work. That's, that's a bird bear dude. Yeah. Yeah. It's definitely, they're, they are the unsung heroes. You know, the ones in the, the shadows or whatever. Like, like they say, there's always, uh, the better half, right? Mm-hmm. So without them, uh, people wouldn't be able to do what they do.
[00:11:51] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So, oh, that's a good start to this, I think. Oh, yeah. You know, Hats off to the, to the wives and moms. Thank you [00:12:00] guys for allowing guys like us to do what we do. Oh yeah. Definitely a shout out to those folks that, uh, can put up with our crap. That's for damn sure. Yeah. Well, yeah man. So tell us about yourself, man.
[00:12:13] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So you were a hot out originally and you moved into structure. We talked about this a little bit off to off camera, off record, and uh, yeah, let's just dive back right into it, man. Get a little background on you and what you've created, what you've done. Yeah, take it away, man. Yeah. So, um, yeah, I'm born and raised in Southern California.
[00:12:35] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. San Fernando Valley, uh, west Hills, California. And, um, I got into firefighting when I was about 19, um, and took some classes at Valley College. Joined a type two crew, which was Crew 70 Monarchs. Um, and it's [00:13:00] a weird, full, full circle and I was kind of explaining that to you earlier. But, um, yeah, so I did a season with that, uh, on that crew for a season, uh, with a couple of my best friends from high school.
[00:13:15] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Uh, we all kind of went to e n T school together at West Valley Occupational had a, an older friend that we all kind of knew from the neighborhood that got into wildland firefighting and told me about it. And, uh, he was a, a buddy of mine. Um, and I was like, ah, I hadn't seen him all summer and, uh, surfing, surfing butt of mine.
[00:13:41] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: I'm like, dude, where you've been at? When I ran into him, and, and next thing you know, um, he kind of just put us on that path. Like, Hey, this is, this is what I'm doing. You guys would love it. You guys should check it out. Next thing you know, we're hiking hills with, um, you know, our local hills in, in the, in the valley here and [00:14:00] racing up the mountain together.
[00:14:01] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And that's, it was just, it all kind of fell into place. Um, got on that crew, fell in love with it, had some extremely good leaders on that crew that kind of showed us what Wright looked like and, and really kind of drove home the importance of being a good person and, and, um, and making good decisions. Um, kind of gave me some direction to what I wanted to do and next year got picked up on the Angeles on a hotshot crew, bear divide.
[00:14:33] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Worked there for like seven years and then made the jump to Dalton as a squad leader. Um, promoted to the rank of captain left in 2020, um, to work for Burbank Fire Department. I was given the opportunity, uh, and took it. That was a, uh, hard [00:15:00] decision to make. But, um, I was ready for a change professionally and I was ready for a change in my home life, uh, with, you know, being a career hotshot and, and, uh, it was, it was tough to leave, you know, cuz I, I really, I really loved that job.
[00:15:20] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Um, but in the midst of all that timeline, you know, you got married, you get married, you have kids, and then, um, you start realizing, for me anyways, I started realizing that I was spending a lot more time on cold pieces of line. And missing really important things. Um, and I had felt that like it was my turn to, to, you know, carry that other burden, the one that my family had been carrying with me, being gone all the time and doing what I, well, at least trying [00:16:00] to make a, make a change so that I could start kind of carrying some of that load and not be the one that's just gone all the time.
[00:16:08] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And I'm, I still am gone, you know, but, um, I'm a lot closer to home. Yeah. It's like 20 minutes away from where I live, so, uh, better than halfway across the country. Get the Yeah, yeah. You know, you spend a half a lifetime, you know, and serving your nation, your nation's communities in, in protecting them from catastrophic fire and, and all these different things and, and doing your job.
[00:16:37] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: For public lands and, and everything else. And it was great. It was, I wouldn't change anything of the path that I chose. Um, as a matter of fact, I miss it a lot cuz of all the I do too, man. Things that came of it I do too, you know, but, uh, but now I gotta serve the community, uh, more, more locally and uh, have a different impact.
[00:16:59] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And [00:17:00] a lot of the stuff that came from the hotshot, um, carries right over into what I'm doing today. Um, it's just a different job, you know, still putting foot in the block wasn't, it wasn't easy. It wasn't a a yeah, yeah, it wasn't a super, uh, yeah, I, I get to do that. I gotta do that still, you know? Um, very fortunate to be able to do that.
[00:17:21] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So, um, yeah. And that, it's weird now cuz like I was, I was telling you, um, being able to now take the crew out, which. You know, remembering how, you know where I came from, starting on that type two crew and now, you know, mobilizing with that crew and taking 'em out as a crew boss and, and kind of seeing myself and, and those folks, um, and trying to provide them good direction and help them achieve their goals.
[00:17:53] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Um, you really can't make that up. It's a weird full circle thing. And I'm doing, um, I'll be doing it this year, [00:18:00] uh, potentially depending on how, on how the season goes. Uh, with a buddy that started on that crew with me No shit. Which is like a really good friend of mine from like junior high. Yeah. Dude, this so similar to, it's kinda crazy.
[00:18:12] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: This is like so similar to the end of my, uh, fire career, dude. It's like wild. But yeah, I'll get into that later. That's fucking crazy. Yeah. But yeah, man. Um, so Oh yeah, very. Oh good. I'm very fortunate. Oh yeah, no, I was just saying, I, I feel very fortunate. There's something special about that full circle like scenario.
[00:18:33] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Um, it's, I don't know. It's, it's crazy. And like things happen for a reason. I'm not a believer in coincidence. I'm, you know, I, yeah. Shit happens for a reason. That's the kind of person I am. Yeah. And, uh, it's similar kind of thing happened to me at the end of my fire career. I started my career in Doyle, California, which is like middle of nowhere, outside of Susanville.
[00:18:52] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Not really. It's in between like Reno and Susanville. Right. And, uh, yeah, I know where Doyle is. Yeah, dude, I, I love that [00:19:00] station though. It is in the middle of nowhere, middle of nowhere for most, but then again, I've been at way more remote duty stations, like Powers, Oregon. Oh my gosh. Town of like 67 people, dude.
[00:19:10] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. But, uh, yeah, uh, started my career there and then. Went un messed around, did like, you know, the apprenticeship program went and did hell attack stuff, hotshot stuff, and then come all the way full circle back to where both me and my buddy Bronz and started our careers at Doyle Station and he's the captain and I'm the assistant and we have our own crew.
[00:19:32] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And it's like, it was just fucking awesome, dude. It was a great time. Yeah. Yeah. That's rad. But uh, you did bring up something pretty important there about like the work family balance and being a hotshot and then trying to balance all that family stuff and like having kids and getting married and all of the like, life things.
[00:19:51] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Right. I will say that, you know, being a hotshot or being a wild and a federal wild man, firefighter or contractor or state, uh, wild end [00:20:00] firefighter in general, it's tough. It's super tough on families, especially when you get to that point where you are married, you have kids, you got the dogs, they take, take care of all that stuff, and then.
[00:20:13] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: You have to sometimes, like a lot of people, they have to make that decision. And you and I are both those people that had to make that decision to get outta the game and go do something else. I mean, yeah, we'll still, you know, fire's gonna, that's gonna, that whole like climate, that whole, uh, career in the Fed Service kind of like made us who we are today to some degree.
[00:20:32] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: But what was like, I guess what I'm getting at is like, what was like the ultimate decision factor for you? Was it the family or what was it man, to switch it up? Oh man, it was a lot of things. Um, yeah, it was, it was a lot to do with family and, um, and just kind of, I always knew that I would regret it if I didn't [00:21:00] at least try.
[00:21:01] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Mm-hmm. You know, to, to, to make it happen. Um, not that. I mean, live with regret on things and hindsight's always 2020. Right. But, um, if I, if I, if I didn't try, which I isn't really in my, like, nature, um, I, at the end of the day, if I, if I did try and, and I didn't make it happen, I would've been content with, you know, ending my career as a, you know, as a hotshot or wherever I would've ended up.
[00:21:42] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Mm-hmm. Um, I would've been completely content. Uh, and I, I would've been able to say, Hey, I gave it, I gave it a shot. And the reason for that was to, to have a, try to have a better balanced home life, um, for work and family. [00:22:00] Um, and so I gave it a shot and then the opportunity was there. It's something that I always wanted to do.
[00:22:06] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It's just, you know, you get that, you get that bug, um, and you start, you start getting really involved with hotshot. And because if, if you, if you do it, you do it for as long as as I did you, unless you love it. Why are you, why are you there? You knows no shit. It can be a pretty miserable place to be sometimes.
[00:22:27] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Um, the job is not glamorous, but, uh, you definitely, you get immersed into that, that, that line of work. And um, you know, if you're not there for what that occupation has to offer, then you know, you're not there for the money obviously. Um, so I guess to kind of sum that up, when it was time and that opportunity was presented to me, cuz I, I was trying pretty hard, [00:23:00] why try so hard?
[00:23:01] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: To do something if when you're given the opportunity, you don't go for it. Yeah. You know, so, and, and that's kind of ultimately what I'm talking with my wife and, and things like that was like, she's like, well I wanna make sure that you're gonna be happy doing this. You know, cuz it was, there was some risk with that, you know, and, and uh, ultimately it was like, yeah, I mean you could get hurt, you could not pass.
[00:23:27] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And there's some, there's some leeway there. If you try to, you know, as a career employee with the federal agency, you got three years for your quals. And, um, I tried to leave on the best terms possible with the folks that I worked with. Um, cuz there's relationships there and that's what this whole organization, that's what this whole fire service is about.
[00:23:51] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: You know, it's about relationships and the people that, the people that have been in it long enough and the people that are coming into it will soon [00:24:00] find that out. Um, that that's what it's all about. It's about the people, right? A hundred percent. Dude. So, uh, when I, when I did, when I did make that move, um, it wasn't easy.
[00:24:16] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It, it's like, it's like you're trying, you're, you're taking a, a hockey player and telling, okay, hey, um, you might have been really good at hockey, but now you, you need to go play golf, right? Mm-hmm. Um, I don't know if that's a great analogy or unless you're Jordan comparison, but, um, yeah. Right. And, and it's, there's just a lot to learn.
[00:24:38] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So, oh, okay, I can, I can do this. It's just the firefighting part isn't necessarily the most difficult thing to, I mean, to figure out, you know, it burns, you put it out, right? Throw dirt, spray water, hot shotting, um, structure firefighting. There's. Other complexities to it, [00:25:00] and the pace is much different too, which was hard for me to adjust to because, um, everything's like a freaking ia, you know, it's just dead ass spring, a little metal, get out, it's, yeah, everything's super fast.
[00:25:14] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And, and that has to do with timing and things like that. And at first I was like, these guys are freaking crazy, you know, but then they look at some of the stuff that we would do and they'd be like, those guys are crazy. And it's just, it's just you, you got good people in positions that are good at their jobs and, um, you, you gotta build that trust, you know?
[00:25:36] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And that there's, there's guys that, that you'll work with throughout your career that you're like, man, that guy's so dialed. And he's, he's solid. But, um, that's not a good combination with you as an individual. You know? Yeah. Like kinda that oil and water kinda tries try to respect the other person. Yeah, exactly.
[00:25:56] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. They just don't work well together or whatever it is. Um, [00:26:00] but for me personally, I always try to look at the team organization cuz that's what I was brought up in for so long and just realize that everybody has something to bring to the table. Um, not everybody's always gonna have all the answers.
[00:26:15] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Not everybody's always gonna make, you know, the right calls, but that's why we're there as a team to back each other up and get through whatever that is, whatever, whatever it is you guys are dealt with. Um, just jump in, engage, you know, have a good goal and state and uh, go get out. All right. And, and, and then have the reality is sometimes you're my dog in the background.
[00:26:44] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Sorry dude. She's, she's a puppy. Um, You'll get out of it. All right. And, and, but just know at the end, at the end of the day, that sometimes you won't, you know, and you do everything right [00:27:00] and things can still go wrong. And, uh, I think that we can get into that later now, whenever. But, um, well, things do go wrong.
[00:27:11] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Uh, that sucks cuz that's the, that's the business that we're in. So. Should we, should we pause this for a second? No, you're good. Dude. I'm just laughing my ass off cuz my dogs do the same thing. They're just like, be fighting each other like, oh my God. It's like right when you have to like be quieter, like you're trying to listen and then they're just like spazzing out and attacking each other.
[00:27:31] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: I get it, man. It's all good. But anyways, man, so yeah, continue on. It's one of those being a first responder, if you're, it doesn't matter if you're wildland or if you're structure or paramedic or l e o whenever you're called to something, usually it's somebody's worst day or there's aner, there's obviously an emergency or else you wouldn't be there in the first place.
[00:27:55] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Right? So Right. Let's continue down with that topic that you [00:28:00] brought up there and uh, yeah, let's get into that. Cause that's a deep subject, man. Yeah. Um, it's, I mean, whether it happens to you, Like somebody personal in your, in your, um, in your unit, your department, your agency. Um, it affects everybody. Um, if, if it, you know, the right, it's, it's a, it's a difficult thing to talk about.
[00:28:33] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Um, it, when bad things happen, it, it's almost like it's really easy to, to be like, oh, well what were they doing? You know, they should have never been there. And all these things. And the longer you stay in the business of, of what, you know, these first responders do, it's like there's, there's a risk, um, that's associated with, with everything that you do.
[00:28:55] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And there's risk walking out of your house every day, leaving your house, [00:29:00] you know, you can be robbed. That's something that's been going on in our area here more recently, you know, and that's a crazy thing to think about. When I leave and it's like, man, my family gonna be all right. There's all these, there's all, you know, the, the world is not a very nice place.
[00:29:15] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: No, it's not. And now being a father and yeah, now being a father and, and, and being, having to be responsible for children and it's like, man, it's not that you worry about it happening every day, but you think about everything that's going on in our world with school shootings and all this crazy stuff.
[00:29:32] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And it's like, it's, you see it on the news and it's like, yeah, well it happened to, it's, it's almost like it, it happens so often now. It's not, you don't even have the shock factor anymore. And that, not to sound like insensitive to that, but it's like that's the world we're living in these days. You know?
[00:29:50] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And it, those things, when they happen, it's always a reminder. Like, I was in Vegas the other day for a, a union thing, and you know, we're landing in the [00:30:00] airport and we're looking at the parking lot of. That mass shooting that happened at the Route 66 from the Mandalay Bay, the concert. Yeah. You know, it's just, man, it's just crazy.
[00:30:10] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And so then, then you think about the job and, and, and, and, you know, police, dude, those guys, the things that people say about him, and I just, I kill for 'em all the time, you know? And, and there's gonna be bad apples and in anything. And, and sometimes people make mistakes and whether it was, you know, freaking malicious intent or whatever that's, that's on that individual, right?
[00:30:38] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Mm-hmm. Um, I, that's at least how I try to look at these things. Um, but it's just, it's sad that, that we're in a place in society where we can't, you know, just like look out for one another when those things happen. And, and that's, that's unfortunate, but, um, It just sucks when bad things happen with people that you [00:31:00] work with because they're not just coworkers and they talk about like, oh, you're fire family or your work family.
[00:31:06] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. I know that they're, you know, you have your own personal family, but these are people that you grow to know. And again, it goes back to that rel those relationships and it just sucks when they're gone. Yeah. You know, I just, I lost, uh, a, a good family friend of mine just lost their father a couple weeks ago and I was late, I wasn't able to be there for the service, but I showed up after with my kids.
[00:31:32] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: My kid had a baseball game and I just found myself looking for that person when I'm there. And then it, it's like, oh, duh. Like, cuz I'm here for him, you know? And once, once that person's gone, they're gone. Yeah. And you don't get any of that time back and you see the, what the family's going through and all that.
[00:31:49] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And then when it happens in the fire service, um, It's, it's really easy to have those old feelings come back [00:32:00] when maybe a friend of yours that you knew, um, you know, died doing what they love or whatever. Or not even like what, it doesn't even have to happen on the job. But when it does happen on the job, it's just a reality check.
[00:32:14] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Um, that we work in a very dangerous profession. And, um, even though you try to do everything right and, um, you try to manage and mitigate every single risk and hazard that's out there, manage the risk and mitigate the hazards, um, it, it's still, you're, you're never gonna, you're never gonna be safe, right?
[00:32:40] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And, and for those folks that think that you will be safe, I'd love to have a couple beers with those people and talk with them and have them convince me that. Firefighting and any regime, wild land structure, whatever it is, is a safe environment to operate in. It isn't, it's very [00:33:00] violent, unpredictable arena of work.
[00:33:03] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Oh yeah. And, uh, and we, we are asked to operate in that and make, and, and put all these different, you know, plugs of, uh, of things that, that to, to make sense of it all and, and, and go out and carry forth a mission and accomplish that mission the most efficient way possible and be as safe as possible. Um, but we all know anybody that's been in the, in the, in the game, it's not a safe environment.
[00:33:38] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It's not a safe job. Um, it's dangerous. Yeah. But also at the same time, man, I mean, you become vehement, like maybe not when you're like fresh in the game. Right. Like you're that first through third, even arguably like a fifth year firefighter, you're still kind of like, I don't know, almost delusional about how risky this job is, I [00:34:00] wanna say.
[00:34:01] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: But you become a point where you become vehemently aware of how dangerous it is, but fuck man, that's at the same time, it's invigorating. It's like, that's like the stuff that just I think drives that kind of personality type. And we love it. As risky as it is, it's like, how else do you explain it, man? I sounds an adrenaline addiction.
[00:34:27] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Well, yeah, there's that. That's what makes it fun. Right? Right. That's what makes it fun. I mean it because it, and you try to do everything and, and put, put, you know, the benefit of operations in your, you know, to be successful. Nobody wants to go in and put in all this work to be unsuccessful. Um, I don't. I don't like doing that.
[00:34:49] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: I don't think anybody does. I like doing things the right way. And uh, but yeah, I mean, it, it's, it, if you don't, if you don't thrive in those situations, then [00:35:00] you won't be successful. Right? I guess that's one way to look at it. And then on the other hand, there's always like the uncontrollable things that, you know, you never saw coming or you just had no control over.
[00:35:16] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And that's nobody's fault. You know, that's, that's nobody's fault. And then the bad thing happens and then, then you're stuck having to deal with that situation and seeing that happen sucks, you know? And you just try to do the best you can with what you got. Oh yeah. It's hard, man. It's like you're sitting there witnessing the horrors of humanity and it's.
[00:35:45] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Sometimes it's, it's, it's hard to deal with, you know, I mean, especially when it's those uncontrollable things, and especially when you're like trying to do, uh, everything to mitigate or transfer that risk or move it around or like, take away every hazard. It's like shit happens [00:36:00] at the end of the day.
[00:36:00] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Sometimes Shit happens, man. Yeah, it's, it's funny, we get in conversations about like risk transfer and all that, and shared risk and all these different things. Like I, some of those, those terms just kind of rubbed me the wrong way because at the end of the day that, you know, and I, it's nothing, and I mean, you got command and control, right?
[00:36:26] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: We talk leadership, staff or whatever. Um, command and control. The, the people that are in command, they're not in control at all. They, they make decisions. They ask, they set objectives and they tell people to go out and carry forth those things, but they're not in control of what happens. And then something changes.
[00:36:46] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And how often does that message not get communicated back to those folks that are in command and at the levels that it needs to? Right. And so that's where, that's where you're gonna have those mishaps on, on why didn't you get that, you [00:37:00] know, whatever it is, logistics, whatever. And then, um, it, it, that's a, that's a fickle system.
[00:37:09] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Um, and you're always behind the curve it seems like on, on the ever expanding incident. The rapid, you know, just take a fire for example. They're burning faster and getting larger. And the last fire I was on, I was on, I was a division on a fire that was like 17 miles. You know, I think if I remember the, the map, it was like 17 mile drive from one end to the other.
[00:37:39] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And that's, That was not a direct, as the crow flies, right? It was like, took me 35 minutes to get to the other side, to get around through a city. And so it's like, how am I supposed to be in control of all these different little subdivisions and things that are going on? I'm not in control. It's like a [00:38:00] all vore mentality, man.
[00:38:01] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: You just can't keep up with it. Yeah, no, it's, it's, you know, and that was, that was day one, you know, and it's like, yeah, sure, I'll help you guys out. Go in there and working with a trainee, you know, who was gonna go out there and deal with it on his by himself. And it's like, well, there's only one way for us to deal with this.
[00:38:18] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: We're gonna split it up and you take this side, I'll take this side. It was his first day there too, you know, and it's like, I don't know what we have, who's been here yesterday, you know, and asking the folks in the morning. And then thankfully there was some guys that were there where I could get some kind of, where can we meet, where we can make sense of what's going on today, you know?
[00:38:37] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: All right. Cool. Let's go meet there, let's get out of this icp or, you know, fire's rolling down the freaking hill. I'd turn around, I'm like, well, that's our division shit to get out there. We should probably go engage, figure this out. Right? Yeah. It was a short, it was a short-lived thing, you know, but yeah.
[00:38:55] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So then you go out there, you try to make sense of everything and you try to make good [00:39:00] decisions and, and to have the best outcome possible. Right? And, uh, and we're good at it. We're good at doing that, but you gotta build those rapid trust relationships. And trust is a very, very, uh, it's hard. It's a, you know, implicit trust.
[00:39:21] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: You'll help people talk about, you know, uh, do you really trust that person? Probably not, but trust would validate or whatever. Mm-hmm. And then trust and verify, make sense of it. And then when you, yeah, and then you go out and then you accomplish some things together and. You get the job done. Right. That's the, that's the whole, the whole goal there is maybe not, maybe not trust everybody.
[00:39:47] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Like, uh, it's not a perfect world, but, oh, blind faces, man. The people that are there. Yeah. Go out there and realize that the people are there that are there. Like, don't build the barriers. Don't, don't come across as [00:40:00] that freaking cocky person that's not approachable. Just don't be an asshole in general.
[00:40:05] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: You know, I've been that guy when I was, ah, you when I was younger in my career and, you know, three years on a hot shot crew. I thought I knew everything. Oh, who you's got, you know, and just being a jerk to people. And it's like, that's, you know, that was just culture earlier, you know? And it, I was in that transitional phase of hotshot cruise.
[00:40:26] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It was like crews didn't talk to each other, but then it was like, wait a minute, that guy's cool. Like, I'm gonna go say hi to that guy, that person, you know, like, what are you doing? Talk. And, and that wasn't even really a thing. On, on my cruise. Um, but there was that going on still, that old school mentality.
[00:40:45] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It it's a, yeah. Yeah. And I think it's in a much better place now. Like people, you see the overhead, they're buddies and they're saying hi in it. That's, that's a good thing. Oh yeah. A hundred percent. That's a cool, that's a good [00:41:00] thing though. I think, uh, that like over the course of like when did you start again?
[00:41:04] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Your career, your fire career? So in 2004. Okay. So you're about the same, I guess, generation of firefighter that I am. Um, so I started in 2009 and I think that you and I were in that li that unique kind of timeframe with, uh, wildland firefighting where you got to see like the tail end of the old school and that transition into what we have today.
[00:41:27] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And like some of it's good, some of it's bad. Yeah. Some of it's indifferent, you know. But, uh, it's definitely changed. Yeah. But that's a lot of things that have changed. That's not just like crew mentality and the stuff that we're talking about here with like attitudes and that, like reducing the toxic environment and the chest pounding and all that bullshit.
[00:41:44] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Honestly, it's bullshit. And, uh, it, it even includes like fire behavior and fuels. Because I was talking to Ron Boer couple episodes ago and he was saying that dude, like the fire regime has changed so dramatically from when [00:42:00] I was a hotshot and I was like the captain and the, you know, the, the superintendent and stuff to, nowadays what I'm seeing now, it's night and day different.
[00:42:08] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And I don't know if you've seen a change in that fuel regime as well, cuz I know you've seen the change in, you know, I guess operating and people, but Yeah, I, I, I think I've seen Yeah, man, pretty dramatic change in fire behavior as well. Well, I, I remember when Ron was like when he had ful in. We, we worked a lot with Fulton, um, on the lp.
[00:42:35] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: I can think back to fires in their neck of the woods, um, up in like Inyo, Kern and LP fires. And uh, yeah, it always seemed like, uh, and, and those back then were like the mega fires, you know what I mean? Like thinking like the, the zk, the Zika two, um, [00:43:00] the day fire that, that came over and those were, those were like mid two thousands.
[00:43:06] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Mm-hmm. And those were all like, big, big campaign fires that, that had, you know, major, you know, acreage days where, where, where fire would, would blow out. And, uh, now, and, and that was, I don't wanna say that that was rare because I didn't fight any, I didn't fight fire before. Those ones, but at the time those were like the mega, mega fires, you know?
[00:43:32] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It was like, man, we've never seen anything. Do, you know, things like that happen before in this area or whatever. And um, and now it just seems like it's, it's ha it's, it's, that's the norm. You know? That that is the, that new fire behavior is the norm. And, uh, yeah, and, and what's, what is it's not, [00:44:00] it's not maybe just that the fire regime, if, if they say, if that's the term that, that we're using in here, um, fire climate regime, fucking, whatever you want to call it.
[00:44:11] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Fire behavior. Yeah. It's, it, they're getting, they're getting bigger, faster, and they're being, they become more catastrophic. Right. And they're, they're taking it. But then again, like a lot of communities have encroached into an area. Um, that they necessarily weren't before. Mm-hmm. The wooey. And so that's Yeah.
[00:44:32] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Oh yeah, man. I mean, it's everywhere. So, well, where are people gonna go besides out? That's like the whole thing. And then everybody's dream out, a little slice ahead and out in the, you know, invert eye or in Trucky or wherever, you know. Yeah. Take a look out, a window on a flight. Just jump on a flight from northern California to Southern California and on a day when there's not a lot of cloud cover, and, and look what's under, you know, look at that Elevational [00:45:00] platform, what air attack looks at, and it's like, it's everywhere.
[00:45:03] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Oh yeah. You know, there's, there's, there's communities and sprinkled all over a very, uh, a very aggressive landscape, you know, that loves fire. Oh yeah. And, and, Um, that's, that's the reality of it. And it's like, well, maybe, maybe this canyon that you wouldn't have been so worried about fire ripping through.
[00:45:28] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Uh, now we are, because there's a lot of value there now in homes and lives and, um, that we're trying to protect people's livelihood. So it's, it's a, I don't see it getting any better. I mean, this year we've gotten so much rain, right. And so, oh, we're, I don't know. I don't know what fire season's gonna look like.
[00:45:51] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: I don't, I don't like making that guess. Everybody wants to play The crystal had super dry ears. Yeah. We were talking about it like [00:46:00] you're still gonna need the starts in the right spots and, uh, and the right weather to, to push that thing around and, and, and help it go where it needs to go. But, um, it will never be out.
[00:46:13] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. Never be out of a job in, in the west. Yeah, that's 100% sure. That's 100% certain. But yeah, I mean, it's not uncommon for a fire to go 500,000 acres now, it seems like that's, that's the part that baffles me and Yeah. It's freaking gnarly. Yeah. But yeah, with these mega fires coming into the whole, I guess, picture and that whole, like, I don't know how we do business.
[00:46:40] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: I mean, it's, it's bound for that unforeseen thing to happen, and that's unfortunately part of the job, like we're talking about earlier. And so let's, let's kind of move that into like your inspiration of why you started hotshot up and like your motivation behind that, because you've seen some of this shit happen firsthand [00:47:00] and you decided to create a nonprofit Yeah.
[00:47:01] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Behind it. And I think that's fucking honorable, man. It's awesome that you do that. So let's talk about hotshot up and what it's all about. Like what the whole idea behind it is. Yeah. Um, so. You, you said a couple things. Um, I, so I'm, I'm the self-proclaimed president of this nonprofit organization, not shut up.
[00:47:26] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Right. I, I didn't start it myself. Um, I, I kind of, I've been managing it. I've been, I kind of took the ball and ran with it, but the, it was a collaborative effort. Collaborative effort, um, back when I was on Dalton and in, in 2016. Um, and I, I've kind of talked about this before with some other folks, but, um, so it's the repetition.
[00:47:58] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: I'll apologize, but for those that [00:48:00] haven't heard, in 2016 was when we, we had some friends that. Uh, lost their homes on the sandfire on the Angeles, and that was a Santana wind driven fire. And kind of like what you said, like the mega fires, right. Like a 500,000 acre fire, mega fire. Like that's, that's a norm.
[00:48:22] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: That's almost like a normal fire today, right? Yeah. We feel like we're getting those all the time. Yeah. It feels like we've adapted that to normalcy now. Yeah. Right. And, um, and that, so the people are, are dealing with these things and they're being asked to go out and, and, and make sense of these things.
[00:48:44] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Um, and they don't have the re the resources to do it. Maybe. Um, I know that there's a lot less crews that are available, but, um, not to get too far into the weeds on that, uh, back to the hot shut up [00:49:00] thing, um, that year was a busy year. And SoCal. And Sandfire, was it ripped? Um, it basically started on the north end of, of the, the Angeles, uh, back country off the 14 in Soad Canyon.
[00:49:17] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Ripped over the top Santa Clara divide. Went all the way to the front country within two days, up and over the, the crest there, not the crest higher highway, but the Santa Clara divide. Um, and then burnt down into, uh, Pacoima Canyon. And then it, I mean, it was impressive, man. You watch this thing burn all the way across and then it got hung up and then the onshore winds started surfacing and this thing just did a 180.
[00:49:50] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Turned down right down the other way. Just burnt. Yeah, just right underneath. Everything had just burned within like a two hour period and then it just started racing the other way. And then it [00:50:00] ripped back up Pacoima Canyon towards Bear Divide and Camp Nine. And ultimately I think it was Big Bear that was up on top and they started dragging fire on the top and then brought it back down to Placerita Canyon.
[00:50:17] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: But you're talking about a very large footprint of some, some good country on the, the west end of, of the, what they used to call the Los Angeles River Ranger District. Mm-hmm. Which is now called the Gateway on Angeles. Right. And so I, that's where I spent my whole career on that side and on the east end of the Angeles, on the Baldy side.
[00:50:39] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Both impressive places to, to fight fire, especially with, uh, with Santa Ana conditions. Um, but. During that time, um, there was some residents that were at Bear Divide, friends of ours that burnt down. And, uh, they lost, they lost it [00:51:00] all. And during that, also that same time of year, we had been fighting fire.
[00:51:06] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: We were kind of sistered up with a, with a crew. Um, and one wanna say it was the season before, uh, with, uh, with Hotshot and it might, um, what was it? Horses, meadow. Hotshots. Um, and that's when Frankie was, had his battle through cancer with cancer and, and ultimately he ended up passing away. Um, and that we, we, we were on a project one day and we were all kind of bummed out about all this thing, these things that were happening.
[00:51:44] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And we just were like, well, let's do something about it. You know, let's not just. Talk about how bummed out this is and, and, you know, let's, let's try to, let's try to make something positive out of all this bad, which is something you kind of just do [00:52:00] as in the fire service, right? Like you said, you show up on a bad day and you try, it's not your problem, but you try to help with that problem.
[00:52:09] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. You gotta, you're every once in a while. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and it, and it, and it's like sometimes you, you know, in, in, in these circumstances it's uh, you know, you start feeling for those individuals and back to those relationships and that, that, you know, accomplishing things together, um, you, you, that's what brings that bond closer.
[00:52:34] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Um, and that's the, that's where we were like, well, let's, let's do something. And, and so a bunch of the guys on the crew and this one, this one Cat Efrin, super cool guy. Um, he actually works for an Alaska now, uh, Anchorage Fire Department. And, uh, hi. His, his wife was originally from Alaska. And I always used [00:53:00] to mess with him and be like, dude, you're gonna go be an Eskimo now?
[00:53:02] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And yeah, he loves it up there, you know, and it's, it's so rad. And we, we actually had a, an assignment to Alaska in like 2018 or something like that. Nice. It's, it's a rad spot. It's cool, man. It's way up there. The sun didn't, yeah, the sun never went down. And the, the mosquitoes were heinous, but I'm not gonna complain about our assignment.
[00:53:24] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: We had it pretty sweet where we were. Um, but, uh, you know, it, it. He, he was like, Hey, what do you, what about volleyball? Because that's something we always used to play at Dalton for our 6 0 1, you know, and at the end of the week on a Friday, which would've been like a Wednesday, I think, I think we had Thursday, Friday, Saturdays off on a four 10, which was very, so the very sought after schedule these days, which has been taken away from folks and they're pretty upset about it, but people are pissed about that.
[00:53:56] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And I wish them the best to Yeah. You know, and that, that's, that's [00:54:00] another thing that was, that was good for the, the people. Right. And I don't know what the agendas are and I just, I don't understand it. But, um, hopefully it, whatever it is that they're doing, it's gonna work out for the better. But, um, so we, we would play volleyball and.
[00:54:20] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: You know, have a couple, uh, sodas after hours and, and, and we used to call it slam Jam, right? And so guys, alumni would come, you know, they'd come and we'd play volleyball, and that was always just a good way to end the week and blow off some stress or whatever. And we'd wouldn't worry about work. And some of us would be grumbling about work or talking about whatever.
[00:54:40] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And, uh, but we play a little bit of volleyball. And so we said, okay, volleyball, what do we do? Beach volleyball tournament, boom, let's do it. Right? And then so every, here's the guys with great ideas, and me and you were talking about how was that guy earlier, right? About having a good idea about something and then not being the guy to [00:55:00] carry it out.
[00:55:00] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So, uh, I ended up kind of just saying, all right, and, and, and a couple other guys. We all just kind of jumped on it and, um, to make it happen. And I just, I keep driving the spike here to, to keep it going. Um, And so that first, that first tournament, that first event that we had, I think we had maybe like 13 teams or something, 12 teams, I don't remember.
[00:55:27] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: But, um, what we wanted to do, we couldn't do because we weren't a nonprofit. And that was right in the infancy stages of the US Hotshot Association. And so I reached out to some friends of mine that were on the board with them and still currently on the board. Um, superintendent, uh, Mike Gallari, um, at the time, um, he was retired but involved with this.
[00:55:56] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And then, um, Stan Stewart Super was [00:56:00] Pad retired. Um, he's re he's, he's passed since then. Yeah. Um, and, but talking with those guys and telling 'em what we wanted to do and, and, uh, I I talked to quite a few of 'em. Still do. And, and, uh, and they, they agreed to saying, yeah, let's, you guys, we'll figure it out.
[00:56:24] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: You know, Stan, Stan wanted to do whatever we could and, and we were there to, to say, Hey, yeah, we'll we wanna put this on. Let's use your organization as the, uh, the umbrella and the, the entity that will receive donations. And then you guys can turn around and whatever money we raise, we'll raise money and give it to the families that lost their homes and give it to the family of Frankie to help out with whatever we could to the guys from Horseshoe.
[00:56:54] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And um, and that's how we got the ball moving with Hot Shot up [00:57:00] and. Every year it was just like, oh, who are we gonna do it for next year? And still working with US Hotshot Association. And then Eric Marsh Foundation came in, um, they wanted to, to be a part of it. And so we brought them in and then, uh, then Covid hit and that, that took some, some of the wind out of our, cause we couldn't do this event anymore.
[00:57:22] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. So that's when talking with, with a buddy of mine that, who is my, the vp, his name's Ryan. He, he also worked on Dalton with me, and then now he works for Ventura County Fire. Um, and, uh, that's kind of where this whole thing started. His, his, uh, his family helped to fund the first, the first, uh, they actually funded the whole thing.
[00:57:51] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Oh, damn. Um, the first event. Yeah. They funded the whole thing because his family has a big background in charity. And really like, believed in what we wanted to [00:58:00] do. And, um, and so that's, that's kind of how the whole thing was born. And then in 2020, um, because of Covid, that's when, when me and him started chatting and decided to turn this into its own nonprofit.
[00:58:18] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And aside from the event, um, and the event is one thing, the organization is another. Um, that's kind of like our flagship event, right? Like our intentions are to continue to do that, provided that people wanna still support and people wanna come out and play volleyball and, and have a good time while doing it.
[00:58:36] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Um, yeah. It's like a community component of it and then like a community c Yeah. And it's a, it's a, yeah. And it's a great place for, for people to come out and it's at the beach and just kind of like kick your shoes off, you know, guys that wanna play volleyball and get all jazzed up on the competition.
[00:58:54] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It's pretty funny. Um, guys get into it and it, it's good, it's healthy competition and, and, um, [00:59:00] and so shoot, I mean, last year we had, I think 30 teams, um, 30 and uh, I think we had 36 person teams. Yeah. Are you, um, this year we're floating, uh, we still got spots open and everybody likes to wait till the last minute.
[00:59:20] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Um, it's April 15th, so if you're, if you're coming sign up, it helps us out with the planning and logistics and everything. Um, and then we get people that sign up last day. I don't like turning people away, but we do have a max capacity at 32 this year. Um, it's at a new location. It's at San uh, it used to be at Sandpoint of Ventura State Beach,
[00:59:44] Anthony Powers: but that place got hammered with, uh, the winter storms and the surf, and took out volleyball courts and there's the sand's all jacked up.
[00:59:52] Anthony Powers: So we actually moved the event to, um, Harvard Cove Beach, which is, uh, [01:00:00] located at 1990 Spinnaker Drive in Ventura. It's, it's a good spot. Um, there's a c there's, uh, the people that lease out the courts there. Um, it's a private, private leasing, um, it's called Ring Con volleyball or Harbor Beach Cove Courts.
[01:00:19] Anthony Powers: Um, I tag 'em in all of our stuff for, on Instagram or whatever, and, uh, they're. They're, they're giving us an awesome opportunity to have it there. They, they take care of their courts there pretty well. And, um, there's the Harbor Cove Village, which is right across the street. And, uh, we got some local, uh, local business gonna be doing the catering for us.
[01:00:43] Anthony Powers: Um, some Mexican food and some Greek food, which is kind of hell yeah. In the theme of our event, um, it's Margarita Vi Villa and the Greek restaurant. I forget the name of it, but, um, I don't have it on hand, but they'll, they'll be there. [01:01:00] The owner is is, is gonna be doing the ca He was all, he was all over it.
[01:01:04] Anthony Powers: He was stoked to, to, to want to do it. Let's run, dude. And, but it's gonna be a little tighter this year too. So interested to see how it's all gonna pan out with how many people come. Um, but it's a good time. I don't want to, I mean, I could go down a, a list of folks that are helping us do that, but I think I'll do that in a minute.
[01:01:24] Anthony Powers: Um, but the. The event has our mission in, in turning this into a nonprofit was like, well, what are we gonna do? We don't want to, you know, be stepping on people's toes, you know, with the US Hot Hotshot Association or Eric Marsh or Wildland Firefighter or anything like that. And, and now crossing over from the, the, the wildland side to the structure firefighting side, I'm like, well, what, let's just do it for just firefighters, you know?
[01:01:54] Anthony Powers: Um, any firefighter line of duty, death, um, can be where [01:02:00] we can have an impact and support and, and how we do that. Um, throughout this, you know, annual year or whatever, we, we'll choose who we do it for cuz uh, we do have our normal everyday jobs and family, right? And so I, I can't dedicate. Existence to this, although sometimes it feels like I do.
[01:02:21] Anthony Powers: Um, I could play you there, bro, for as much time as, as I, yeah. For, for as much time as I can dedicate to it. Um, we will, we will pick a line of duty, death, or a several line of duty death firefighters annually, and we will raise funds to support their family to do what they wish, um, with those funds. And so, um, we're not generating, you know, millions of dollars here.
[01:02:51] Anthony Powers: It's, it's, it's, it's more than just raising money. It's about that community and, and, and bringing people together. Um, [01:03:00] because when all this, when, when these bad things happen and the agencies come in and they do what they do, um, and if you've ever been to one, and I'm sure you have, you see all that's great of the fire service, right?
[01:03:13] Anthony Powers: But then. When it's all done, it goes away. Then, you know, I, where we come in is kind of just like, Hey, we, we heard about what happened and, um, whether we know that person or not. Like this year I didn't, I didn't know those people. I can talk to you a little bit about how we chose who we chose this year, um, but, uh, and who those people are.
[01:03:37] Anthony Powers: But, um, it's also just to kind of show that like the fire service is, is filled in, in of good people and we want to go out and we want to do good things and, and we want to create awareness of, um, of these incidents so that people don't forget. And then just give them those families that, that day and let them know that [01:04:00] like, we care and we're gonna do something about it.
[01:04:04] Anthony Powers: And, and if we're able to raise a little bit of coin to give them to do what they wish with it while, while bringing our community together. Um, and that's plenty good, right? It's all, it's all, uh, it's all good stuff. Oh, yeah. It creates an opportunity for, for fire departments that come out and for them to meet outside of the, the fire ground, you know?
[01:04:30] Anthony Powers: Yeah. And like a, a low stress, the only stress is what place you're gonna get in the volleyball tournament, right.
[01:04:36] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: That are your kids running around. They're,
[01:04:39] Anthony Powers: yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's what's good about Harbor Cove too, is it's in the harbor so that the water's super, super mellow there. Um, it's gonna be, it's gonna be good.
[01:04:47] Anthony Powers: It's gonna be a little tighter, so people might not be able to bring like the full get up that they, that they're, you know, it's, it's a good time on the Sandman. Like people, people have fun. But, um, it's just, it's a, [01:05:00] it's a good environment for, you know, fa fire firefighters to bring their families to the beach.
[01:05:06] Anthony Powers: Take a day, honor some of our fallen brothers or sisters. Um, You know, give them that day to, to, and the families that day to show that, you know, even though we're in southern California, we're paying attention and, uh, and we, we want to create awareness for those that, that paid that ultimate sacrifice and a line of duty, death, doing the job that I love, doing the job that they love.
[01:05:34] Anthony Powers: Um, and everything that we talked about earlier, that's the reality of the job that we do, is that sometimes people don't come home. Yeah. And, um, and so that's
[01:05:47] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: it's side note onto when people don't come home and it's, uh, organizations like yours that exist for these reasons. And they're important because a lot of people don't like to talk about the, uh, ugly truths and when people don't come home.[01:06:00]
[01:06:01] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Unfortunately, yeah, sometimes there's, there's a lot of financial hardship, a lot of burden that's placed on the families. It's, I hate saying it, but death is expensive. It's ridiculously
[01:06:12] Anthony Powers: expensive. It's Yeah. That it sucks. It's, it stacks up, man. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, and we try to, we, we, we try to make, like we set a goal, you know, we we're realistic and we're, we're a, we're a small fish in a big pond, you know, and I'm still learning a lot about the impacts and, and, and, um, everything that the organization can do.
[01:06:42] Anthony Powers: Um, so we, we set a goal for each recipient at $10,000 and, uh, that those funds that we'll get distributed to the families to do as they wish with it, you know? And, um, so that's, that's the other side of it is [01:07:00] trying to help out financially. Um, but then the other side of it is showing those families that.
[01:07:09] Anthony Powers: The community is, is, is able to come together and we're doing it in this fun way. Yeah. We're not just sitting here like asking for a handout, you know? Yeah. We're actually trying to like create a good event that's healthy and a good environment for people to come and enjoy themselves. Um, all while, you know, paying our respects and, and honoring those fallen just goes to, that's the goal and the mission.
[01:07:37] Anthony Powers: Aha. Shut up. Love it,
[01:07:38] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: man. It just goes to show you that firefighters, they're very well known for taking care of each other. That's for damn
[01:07:43] Anthony Powers: sure. Yeah. We do our best. You know, I'm, um, yeah. I don't even know what to say about that. Do you know the community? We, we could be doing each other, we could be doing [01:08:00] less.
[01:08:01] Anthony Powers: We
[01:08:01] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: could be, and luckily we're, we're not, you know, so there's.
[01:08:05] Anthony Powers: There's ways to move the needle for financially, you know, financial stuff like the GoFundMe and all that stuff. That's a huge platform. And it's easy. It's super easy. You click a button, you, you boom, send money. Yeah. And that, and then you did your part, you know, we're, and that, that's all, that's awesome.
[01:08:25] Anthony Powers: That's, that's the way to move the needle. Um, we're trying to do it on a different level. Um, if the, if the needle's, if, if, if the needle's already moved financially, like, okay, well we can, we can raise some coin. But, uh, then again, we want to create, like I said, in an environment, in, in a community where people feel positive about going and, and participating in, in what we create, which I, I think, um, these events aren't, they don't just [01:09:00] happen.
[01:09:00] Anthony Powers: It's a lot of work. Um, and that's why we only do this, you know, one a year or maybe, maybe, we'll, we're, we're trying to start looking at maybe doing like some smaller stuff here and there. Um, but this one, this one's a lot of work and, um, and we don't have a lot of people doing it, doing the work, so, oh, yeah.
[01:09:21] Anthony Powers: Um, that's where that, that's why it's, it's tough to do a lot of things, but we're, we're starting to at the, the more that we're around and, and the, the longer, um, that we stay in existence in doing what we do, um, the goal is to have more people take notice and start to utilize us, and that it's there for everyone now, now that it, now that we are an official 5 0 1 , um, nonprofit organization, it's, it's not, it's not mine.
[01:09:52] Anthony Powers: It's not, it's not my, my bros, you know? Yeah. It's everybody's now. It's everybody's. So if people want to use it for something, They [01:10:00] can use it. And that's, that's I think how we'll help move the needle for things. You know, like, and there's others out there and we, we all know who they are and what they do.
[01:10:11] Anthony Powers: Um, and they're awesome. We're, we're another one. And, uh, we're available for anybody as long as it meets our mission. Right. And that's our mission is supporting line of duty death firefighters. Yeah.
[01:10:27] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And that's the thing, man. It's like there's, in my opinion, man, I think that more is a good thing. That's, I think that organizations like yours and whatever other Firefighter Wellness Fund Sure.
[01:10:39] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Or Wildland Firefighter Foundation or Eric Marsh, all those folks, they have like, there can't be enough of 'em in my opinion. They're, everybody's doing their part. It's just like little different flavors of that part. And I, I love that about the fire community. But, uh, as far as supporting like firefighters in general, I think that's huge because you're one of the first [01:11:00] organizations that actually like, come out and say, yeah, this is open to everybody.
[01:11:03] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: At least to me at least. I mean, yeah. Do they, you guys support everybody. That's, that's another thing that's critical. You know, I mean, there's other show organizations out there that do it too. Yeah. But you can, you're the person who kind of said the quiet part out loud. I, I'd like that. That's
[01:11:18] Anthony Powers: cool.
[01:11:22] Anthony Powers: Yeah. I don't, I don't, um, I don't like, I don't like lines in the sand, you know what I mean? Yeah. Unless it's the volleyball lines at our tournament, like, I just, it's, it's, it's, uh, I, I'll spend more time tearing down barriers guaranteed than I will creating them.
[01:11:44] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: That's the way it should be, man. Honestly, it, it should be that way.
[01:11:47] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah. But speaking of barriers too, I mean like you, you personally are involved with other organizations trying to move that needle on a lot of different fronts. So if you wanna get into like [01:12:00] the grassroots and diffy thing, man, if you can, I'd love to hear about like how you guys all came together and like are trying to move the needle even
[01:12:07] Anthony Powers: farther.
[01:12:10] Anthony Powers: Yeah. Um, I will let, let me, um, so if we're gonna, if, if we're gonna get into that, I want to thank some folks too and since, cuz we started talking about hotshot up and I just want to let people know like who we're doing it for this year. Um, so this year's, um, hotshot up 2023. We are honoring Colin Hagan from Craig Hotshots.
[01:12:42] Anthony Powers: Uh, Colin, unfortunately on the big, uh, swamp fire in Oregon, um, he was 27 years old. He was struck by a tree and he perished [01:13:00] and, uh, died from that tree strike incident, and it was a pretty raw deal. Um, from what I understand about it, uh, it seems, and like I told you earlier today, like I got an email from his mom and, uh, I hope she, when she hears this, it, it, that was, you know, I haven't responded to the email yet, right?
[01:13:22] Anthony Powers: But, so she wanted to donate $150, uh, to pay for a team's meal. That's plain because she noticed that we had a Mexican food caterer, and that was Colin's favorite. Cuisine. So she's like, oh, I want to and do this. And then she asked me for a t-shirt and she's like, I'll pay for the, and I'm like, you don't have to pay for anything.
[01:13:43] Anthony Powers: Like, we're doing this for you. Like, that's so, um, I'll, you know, I know. And it, and so if you think about like, you know, the family aspect of that, and they're just good people and everybody I, I talk to from the soup, from Craig and his sister Emily [01:14:00] has kind of been my point of contact for this whole thing.
[01:14:04] Anthony Powers: They just seem like super wholesome down to earth good people, you know? And, and when I, when I get an email like that, um, that tells me that what we're doing is important and it's, and it's good. And it, val it validates the effort, right? Um, and so that's, you know, from Colin Hagan, Craig Hotshots, and, and, and this is for them too.
[01:14:28] Anthony Powers: And, uh, and, and anybody that knew 'em, um, that's. That's how we pick who we we do it for. Right? It doesn't have to be someone in California or, or anybody, anybody in the nation, right? That's, that's what the volleyball tournament is for. Um, and we can do this for other things, for other people, right? Um, but that's always, it's always gonna be in line.
[01:14:56] Anthony Powers: The vo turning will always be in line with [01:15:00] that, you know, firefighter, line of duty, death. Um, that's, that's who we'll choose annually. Um, the other individual, his name was the, everybody called him his Max. Um, his first name was Vill Max Una. Um, on January 31st of 22, he was responding to an outside fire, which I believe was a, a dumpster fire that was outside of a building.
[01:15:33] Anthony Powers: And forcing entry into the adjacent structure to check for extension where he was actually shot by the building occupant owner. Oh, shit. And because yeah. And died on scene. Uh, he was 47 years old. Um, wife, kids, the whole thing. Um, everybody knew him as a good dude. Both these guys, you know, everybody spoke extremely highly [01:16:00] about these people and they're missed.
[01:16:02] Anthony Powers: Um, and so this is a, this is kind of a weird one with Stockton, right? So, um, when I found out that this happened, I was taking a class at Red Helmet Fire Training, um, in, in Rancho Cucamonga. And his friend, everybody knows him, is his ex, um, I'm not gonna use his whole name, but he's, he's pretty well known in, in the structure firefighting world.
[01:16:32] Anthony Powers: Um, he showed up that morning. I think it, I wanna say it was like a day or two after it happened, and it, it might have been the, it might have just, it had just happened, so it might have been the day before it happened. And, and when he introduced himself, it was like, oh, from Stockton. And everybody, like, everybody in the class was like, oh.
[01:16:52] Anthony Powers: And like ki you know, everybody pulled back and was like, oh man, like, how you doing? You know? I was like, what happened? You know, I didn't [01:17:00] realize what happened yet. So look on my phone later. And I'm like, oh, crap. And I hear, I read the, the news article and everything and I was like, ah, this guy's going, going through a hard time right now.
[01:17:13] Anthony Powers: And, and so he was walking home to his hotel or whatever and, uh, I saw him walking and I, I pulled up beside him and I was just like, Hey. And I asked him, I was like, dude, you need a lift, you know, give you a lift to where you're going. And he, and he told me like, No, I'm good to walk, walking, good walk would be good for me right now.
[01:17:36] Anthony Powers: And I'm like, all right, dude. Just immediately knew it. Yeah know.
[01:17:40] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Just
[01:17:41] Anthony Powers: immediately knew. Yeah. I'm just like, I'm not gonna pry into that. And then, you know, my intentions weren't to like talk to him about this or anything. It was just check on, check in on him, see, you know, see if he needed a freaking ride. I don't know how far he is gonna walk.
[01:17:54] Anthony Powers: Yeah. And, uh, and so he, he, I told him, I said, Hey, what's [01:18:00] your number? Give me your, your phone number and I'll text you later and maybe we can grab a beer or something, you know, and, and, uh, just kind of put myself in his shoes and, and thinking that maybe he could use a buddy just to listen, you know? And, uh, so I, I text him later and sure enough he was, he was at the bar and I was like, where you at, dude?
[01:18:23] Anthony Powers: I'll come meet you, grab some dinner. And, and so I get there and I sat, I sit down next to him. We end up having, I end up drinking a beer or two with them and, and getting a burger and we just kind of cut it up for a little bit. You know, I tried to be a, a, a friend to him, um, even though I was kind of a stranger, we had some common ground in firefighting, right?
[01:18:47] Anthony Powers: So that's easy. And, uh, so then it wasn't until a couple months later when I, when I, when I talked, when I reached out to him and told him that I, I run this nonprofit organization and [01:19:00] I'd like to honor his friend, and he was just like, oh, I don't know if I'll be able to get anybody to come play volleyball.
[01:19:05] Anthony Powers: You know, Stockton's a pretty hardcore structure fire department, but, um, they burn a lot. And, uh, you can check out their videos on YouTube or whatever. Those guys are always going to fires. Um, but. Yeah. And he was, he, he talked to a couple of his buddies and I got into a group text with them, and they were all super stoked, you know, on, on what we're doing and how we're, we're honoring his friend.
[01:19:31] Anthony Powers: And, um, so for the brothers at Stockton Fire department and, and, and the brothers and, and family and sisters for, you know, from Craig Hotshots, we're, we're doing it for them. Um, because we understand, you know, what, what that's like. Um, and knock on wood, and thankfully it hasn't happened to me directly with someone that I've worked with on the same crew.
[01:19:58] Anthony Powers: Like I do know what it's like to [01:20:00] lose a friend in, in, you know, in the fire service. Um, the longer you stay in this line of work, the chances of you knowing that person go up exponentially, right? Oh yeah. And so, um, Yeah, it it, and it's happened and, uh, it affects, it affects you on different levels. Um, so that's, that's why we do it.
[01:20:27] Anthony Powers: And, uh, I want to thank some people, my family and, and Ryan's family, um, who have always obviously supported us since day one. Um, are some major sponsors this year. And someone I'd like to recognize is that like a leg, like legacy sponsors is like Mystery Ranch. Those guys are freaking rad. Lucas, dude, you're freaking rad.
[01:20:54] Anthony Powers: Everything you're doing, um, with grassroots and, and everything else. Um, [01:21:00] hats off to you, dude. You're an awesome person, dude. He's killing it. And, um, yeah, and just a good, like a friend. You know, like we didn't, we, we, we never worked with each other, like directly on the line. And if we did, we didn't know each other then.
[01:21:16] Anthony Powers: But I just respect that dude a lot for everything he's doing. Um, also the California Community Foundation, which is an extension of the, the Walker family and Ryan Walker, um, is, is the VP of this that Ventura County firefighter, um, who worked with me on Dalton, uh, did standup duties. He's rad. He's a really good friend of mine, and his family is always supporting us year after year and doing this, um, Ventura County Firefighter Union 1364, those guys wrote over a check they do every year.
[01:21:55] Anthony Powers: Um, another friend of mine who's always supported us, his ans [01:22:00] Lalo, the dma, he, he's an ex hotshot, he runs a tree trimming service called the Tree Service Kings. The guy's. Freaking the best in the business. He's massive now. It's crazy. He started his own, like, started his own freaking empire with a pickup truck and a chainsaw.
[01:22:18] Anthony Powers: You know that. That's right. And, and he funded his, he funded his business from hot shotting and now he's like, he's huge. It's, it's crazy. It's crushing it to see everything he's done. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and he's always, he's always in support, good family, friends. The Corey's, um, they run Thrash and Supply Co, which is like a motorcycle.
[01:22:40] Anthony Powers: They always donate gear and they always sponsor a court. Um, Lanson and, and, uh, and Courtney Corey, um, thank you guys for getting behind us in, in what we're doing. Um, Marianne Stark runs a tax service for firefighters, [01:23:00] um, and first responders. And she's located in Laverne. Her husband was an ex Dalton hotshot.
[01:23:08] Anthony Powers: And retired Anaheim firefighter and her whole family, all of her sons, they're all firefighters for different agencies. She always sponsors a court. Um, since day one. Those are like our legacy sponsors, right? Um, also we have, uh, firefighters First Credit Union. That'll be their second year. Uh, nfi, this is their second year sponsoring it.
[01:23:32] Anthony Powers: Nphy Wildland in in Lonzo. Um, hey Max.
[01:23:37] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Yeah, dude, he's rad. He's
[01:23:38] Anthony Powers: a cool dude. And, uh, he comes out every year sponsoring a court, um, and also paying the way for two teams to come in and, and for, for guys that have joined his, his, uh, his union and are supporting his fight for federal wildland firefighters in conjunction with Grassroots, right?
[01:23:58] Anthony Powers: The fact that those two guys [01:24:00] are working together is awesome. Um, I wanna give a shout out to the Burbank Firefighters Local 7 78. Earlier this year we did a clay shoot for, to celebrate 25 years of the Monarchs Type two hand crew. Oh yeah. Which is the one that I started on, um, before I became a hotshot.
[01:24:19] Anthony Powers: And, uh, we were able to raise some good coin to apply to this year's. So, I mean, we're, we're looking really good as far as financing. The whole event's gonna be funded and anybody that comes to our event is basically putting some money towards the cause. Right. Um, so shout out to them. Uh, we also have, uh, prep and Defend who's coming in with the sponsorship.
[01:24:45] Anthony Powers: So, I mean, this list is just, it's crazy to see this support. Right. Um, they're gonna come in and sponsor court prep and defend as a another. X Texas Canyon Hotshot, who now works for LA County and he runs his own [01:25:00] podcast, is a good man. You've probably heard of it or seen it. I, I've been on, yeah, I've been on his podcast before.
[01:25:04] Anthony Powers: He's gonna be there sharing his, his business and, and trying to help people take control of their destiny in the fire service. And I'm just running down this list here. Um, and then obviously a big shout out to the, the beer. The beer, Foca, topa, topa. They're with us at everything. It seems like they're always stepping up to do things with us.
[01:25:27] Anthony Powers: Um, and so thank you to them. And then a newer, um, brewery that's in a Fillmore Red Engine brewery. Um, those guys will be on site as well. Um, we, we got a lot of folks coming out this year, which is great on the support side. And, uh, so the more people that come out to the event and support it, the better.
[01:25:49] Anthony Powers: And it's all going to good cause and gonna aid us in our efforts. On supporting our mission for the future. So I just wanna thank everybody, [01:26:00] thank my family for getting behind me on this thing and supporting it every year. Um, because it's without them, you know, they're always jumping in or making sure it's helping me get things ready to go.
[01:26:13] Anthony Powers: They're there, they're helping out the event and, uh, and just holding it down. So it's, uh, it's pretty rad to get this kind of support, um, year after year, you know? Uh, so I can't, I can't thank those guys enough. Oh yeah, man. So I had to, I had to get that out there. Talk about since before we moved on, um, you know, everybody that we've supported in the past, um, and all the crews that come out.
[01:26:42] Anthony Powers: I hope you guys continue coming out. Um, and we'll see you April 15th, 2023 at Harbor Cove Beach. Hell yeah. For this year's Hot shot up. Sweet. Well, shameless plug. Anyway, it's open to the public coming
[01:26:58] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: out. So question for you though. Uh, [01:27:00] where can we go to sign up? Like where do we find more information about your website and everything?
[01:27:05] Anthony Powers: Right, right. Yeah, so just, uh, the website's easy. It's hotshot up.com, so www.hotshotup.com. We do have some spots open still. Um, our max capacity is 32 teams. Um, first come, first serve. We got about, I think 18 signed up right now. So if you guys haven't signed up and you're planning to just get it done, sign up already.
[01:27:33] Anthony Powers: You can pay for the entry fee later. Um, you get your tournament, play your meals, some, some beverage tickets and some sweepstakes giveaway stuff will, will be given in that entry fee. Um, so yeah. And obviously on Instagram, if you guys wanna follow us, it's hotshot underscore up on Instagram and the same on Facebook.
[01:27:59] Anthony Powers: I, [01:28:00] I'm not a crazy, like I do my be I do a lot of the social media stuff. I do my best to make sure it gets on Facebook too, but I don't have the time to, so if there's anybody that wants to join our board and be our social media person and that we could use some help so's
[01:28:17] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: the same man. It kinda sounds like you guys need a little bit of, uh, some volunteer work, man.
[01:28:21] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So I mean, can we just reach out through the website for volunteers or
[01:28:26] Anthony Powers: Yeah, yeah. We have our, our email that's set up there. It's just the, the normal, uh, at Gmail it's hot. Shut up. 5 0 1 C3 gmail is our general inbox. Or they can reach out on Instagram. Um, it. Yeah, you're, you're looking at him on the guy, you know, who does, your people are always asking me, who does your Instagram?
[01:28:49] Anthony Powers: I'm like, I do. And they're like, oh, you're pretty good at it. I'm like, really? Thanks.
[01:28:53] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: I don't, no idea what
[01:28:54] Anthony Powers: I'm doing. I just put music. Yeah. I just put music and pictures and, and whatever. But, [01:29:00] um, yeah, it seems to, to work out. Yeah. You know, the, the word's getting out enough to, but I, I know, I know there's probably some unturned corners that, that and things that I don't, I guess I'm not really, uh, educated in, uh, it's everybody, man.
[01:29:17] Anthony Powers: I try to be as active as we can, but that's, social media is what it is. It's free advertising. Hater's gonna hate. Right, right. Yeah. It is free advertising. I don't know how to get that blue dot, that blue check thing. Everybody was like, you need to get the blue check. And I'm like, I've, I've applied for the blue check and I, I, they keep telling me, I.
[01:29:38] Anthony Powers: Not, I don't get
[01:29:39] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: it. You don't qualify for it. Yeah. They keep doing the same shit to me. Yeah. I got one on Twitter, which is weird because that's like my least active platform, so I dunno how the hell the shit works. It's funny, but uh,
[01:29:51] Anthony Powers: yeah man. Yeah. Well life's not all about freaking dude.
[01:29:55] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Social media is not real place.
[01:29:57] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Like the internet is not a real place. [01:30:00] But luckily I can, we can host these conversations on the internet, which is has
[01:30:04] Anthony Powers: a very specific Yeah. And then we're gonna put it on the internet and then we're gonna put it on there when we're done so that people push it and say they like it. Perfect.
[01:30:15] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Well Anthony, man, I appreciate you coming on the show and kind of given the background story about you and like the brains, one part of the brains behind, uh, hot Shot up and, uh, looking forward to, uh, seeing how your, uh, volleyball tournament goes this year.
[01:30:29] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It's definitely a cool cause and, uh, I'm super into it, man.
[01:30:34] Anthony Powers: Yeah. Rad. Yeah. One day I, I gotta get up north to go to the, uh, talk with the guys from the Vertical drop. And, uh, man, I've been wanting to go to that thing freaking for like, the past five years and I, I would've actually gone this year, but they're, um, I, I can't, I can't bail on Easter cause it, they're doing it the weekend of Easter and my, [01:31:00] I know my wife has, uh, plans with the family, so, um, I won't be able to make it this year, but hopefully next year or maybe we can coordinate something for the future.
[01:31:10] Anthony Powers: But, um, I really just wanna go hang out with those guys cuz I, I know a lot of the North Zone, uh, crews and stuff go and hang out at that one. And I'd love to go run into some of the, my old friends that, you know, I'm sure there's some people that I've run up to that Oh, yeah. Run into that. Haven't seen in a really long time.
[01:31:31] Anthony Powers: Well, and uh, I always hear that, that's a good one. So shout out to those guys. It's a good event,
[01:31:35] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: dude. It's fun. If you
[01:31:36] Anthony Powers: can make it to that event. Yeah. You've, yeah. Obviously you've been Yeah, yeah, I know all
[01:31:41] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: those guys. Like, I know a lot of the Silver State and, uh, black Mountain folks, so I worked around here in Creson City, so it's kinda like second nature.
[01:31:48] Anthony Powers: Yeah. I mean, you, you live right up there, so that's rad. Um, but you, you asked me earlier about when we were talking about Lucas and about like grassroots and [01:32:00] ify and a lot, right? Yeah. Like
[01:32:01] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: I, you're like, I didn't know you were like at, well, at first I didn't know you were like really good and tight friends with Max and Luke and, uh, now you're kind of like, kind of involved loosely with, uh, grassroots and NFI as well.
[01:32:16] Anthony Powers: Yeah. I, I try to be as, um, so it's a weird thing and, and I talk with Max on the phone. And I talk with Lucas on the phone. Um, and it's kind of weird with this whole, like in the US Hotshot Association and the way that I try to stay involved with that thing, with, with, you know, everything that they're involved with.
[01:32:36] Anthony Powers: And, and it's not, it, it's like where does hotshot up fit in in that? And I don't know if it, I don't know if like it's a, if it's the perfect, you know, puzzle piece, um, or if it's even a part of that puzzle. But, uh, I guess it's just like the, the direction on where [01:33:00] things are going. And I guess my, my history and, and, and work exp experience and everything that kind of culminated to what I'm doing now with this organization and, uh, everything that they're working for, like, I believe in.
[01:33:18] Anthony Powers: Right. And I wanna support it any way that I can. And so whether that's me just helping them get the word out to our, you know, small, little, you know, nucleus of social media followers or whatever, I just believe in like cultivating and fostering like good working relationships and, and I believe, like I said, in what they're doing, um, I think nothing but good will come from it as far as like helping the people, right?
[01:33:50] Anthony Powers: Yeah. Because at, at the end of the day, um, I'm just tired of seeing like, good friends of mine get the short end of the stick. Um, [01:34:00] it, it, it's not that it like financially, whatever. I mean, just today in age, like in this day and age, we shouldn't be compensating anybody that takes on as much. Risk in the line of work that they do and be compensating less than somebody that's flipping burgers.
[01:34:25] Anthony Powers: And that kind of pisses me off, you know? And, uh, it, it, it, it, it bothers me in the sense that, like, it, it's, it's a, it's a job that is extremely important. It's a very dynamic in, you know, unforgiving environment in these, these are real people that are trying to make, you know, do in an economy that is not friendly to any.
[01:34:56] Anthony Powers: I mean, I, I feel for those people, you know, and, and it's, [01:35:00] until those things change, like it's, it's always gonna be difficult for them to advance in their personal lives, you know? And it's like, People don't, well, you don't, well, you gotta move from Cal. I remember I had a chief tell me that you gotta, you just gotta get outta California.
[01:35:19] Anthony Powers: It's like, I don't wanna get outta California. This is where I, this is where I wanna live. This is where I like working. Yeah. I, yeah. I don't, I don't want to, you know, I don't want to move outta state to somewhere that I don't want to be for the job that I like to do. It's the other way around, you know, like, I, I want to work where I want to live and, and be compensated appropriately for the job that you're doing.
[01:35:50] Anthony Powers: And, um, and so it's not just the money side of it either. It's, it's the retirement, the health.
[01:35:59] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It's [01:36:00] a litany
[01:36:00] Anthony Powers: things, man. Yeah. It's all those things. It's all those things And, and, uh, the mental health and just like the health of, you know, Everybody that's affected by that individual. And it's like, yeah, you're gone six, seven months out of the year.
[01:36:18] Anthony Powers: And that's why there's so many, you know, divorces and, and I mean, let's be real, like there's firefighters taking their own lives. For what reasons? I don't know. But I know it's, that's gotta have a little bit of something to do with it, you know? Oh, yeah. Um, and that's something that people don't like talking about.
[01:36:38] Anthony Powers: Oh, bring that up. Suicide. Oh. Oh, that's a real freaking thing, dude. And it's, it sucks. I think one, I I hear about that. Yeah.
[01:36:49] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: If I don't mind me interjecting there. Um, I think the most profound thing that I've ever heard from a clinician was the concept of normalizing suicide. [01:37:00] Like talking about it.
[01:37:02] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Normalizing it in a sense that like, as it, it exists, but it's always been perceived as like the elephant in the room. But it's a very fucking real thing. But we need to normalize it in a context of, yeah, it is an option, but it shouldn't be your first.
[01:37:18] Anthony Powers: I just don't it for someone to get to that point in their own, to where it becomes the
[01:37:23] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: first option. Yeah. It
[01:37:25] Anthony Powers: sucks, man. Yeah. And is it, is it cross people's? Like, if it's ever crossed your mind, um, man, I talk to somebody, please. You know, like, don't, don't let that plague your thoughts with, um, as it being a viable solution because it's not a good solution.
[01:37:49] Anthony Powers: It's not. And, and I'm not, I'm not a mental clinician. I'm not a psychiatrist. I'm not that. But I will be someone that listens and have been somebody that's listened to some, to someone that [01:38:00] has brought that up, you know? And did my best to communicate that. Like, hey, you're talking about some pretty serious, you know, you're saying some pretty serious statements here and like, um, I, I need to know if these are like legitimate things, you know, if you're just kind of popping off gas right now, because first of all, you're a friend of mine, second of all, like, I need to do something about that other than just let this conversation, you know, end with me and you.
[01:38:34] Anthony Powers: And, um, and then that person assured me that like, no other people know about it. You're not the only one. And I, I've, you know, I've been there and, and tried to help and just be a good friend and be a good listener and not try to solve their problems, which is something I should try to do in. Own life with like, like marriage and everything.
[01:38:57] Anthony Powers: It always, well, you're fire, you're a firefighter, [01:39:00] right? What do we do? We try to solve everybody's problem. Yeah. Your professional problem. Not solve that. Not solve help. The problem. Yeah, exactly. And then, and then, um, but not, we're not gonna solve every problem and just be a good listener in your marriage and stuff like that.
[01:39:16] Anthony Powers: It's, it's like, how come you can do it here, but you can't do it in your own? That's communication 1 0 1. Right. Um, so I get it. You're full all the time for my wife that I'm not listening, but that's, that's how it is. Right. And, uh, she's always, and she's always right. Oh yeah. Sometimes I'm not listening, but, but that's a, that's a to not to make light of this situation or discussion, but it's like, it's it's so true.
[01:39:44] Anthony Powers: And, uh, it just sucks that that has become such a, Normal thing. And, and you gotta ask your yourself why. And if people are finding themselves in a very [01:40:00] dark alone place to, to, to think that that is the only option or whatever, there's so many avenues for help, but if, if, if they get pushed to that point, they're, they're not gonna, they're not gonna seek that out.
[01:40:14] Anthony Powers: Um, and so how, I'm not saying that money's gonna fix that and paychecks aren't gonna fix that, but there is, there is a, a certain, there is a certain aspect and flow of how things have gotten to that point. Right. And, and maybe if they can take a look back at like, oh, why are people leaving these agencies in record, record numbers and why are they seeking, you know, success elsewhere?
[01:40:43] Anthony Powers: And how do you retain the folks that you still have? Um, And like I said, hats off to those guys that are, that are just going to grind it out and, and because that's, that's who they are and that's what they want to do. You know, like I, I would've been right there with them. [01:41:00] I, I wouldn't have had a choice.
[01:41:01] Anthony Powers: I don't know what else I would've done. Go swing a hammer or, yeah. Could've jumped back in to, I did a little bit of construction when I was doing seasonal time, you know, and like early on in my career, um, do that or maybe try my hand at, at starting a business or something, but I'm not, I'm not an educated man, you know, I, I didn't, I don't have like, college degree and I started looking at those other things, like, what else would I do?
[01:41:28] Anthony Powers: You know? I was, I really enjoyed that job and, and that's why I miss it so much. That's why I try to stay involved with it as much as I can and, uh, and that anything that's gonna help what, what grassroots and what NFI. Is, is, is pushing for, I mean, that's who's representing the, the people. The people that are still there.
[01:41:55] Anthony Powers: Right. And I have friends that'll, that are still there and the conversations that I have [01:42:00] with them, yeah. Some of those challenges that, that I was facing when I was there, they're getting worse. And so now there's, there's less qualified individuals with less experience being promoted into positions that maybe they shouldn't be in, but the job's there and they're gonna take it.
[01:42:17] Anthony Powers: Um, and now they're making the decision and they'll, they'll get there. They might not have all the experience to, to lean on, but they're gonna get it one way or another because they're, they're being put in that position to go out and make those decisions. Right. Yeah. Um, and that shouldn't be taken lightly.
[01:42:34] Anthony Powers: Um, that's a privilege. And, and it's a serious, it's a serious, you know, leadership position when you're out there making decisions for the fate of your. That are entrusted to your care. Yeah.
[01:42:47] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Literally lives
[01:42:48] Anthony Powers: are at risk, man. Um, yeah, yeah. In, in all kinds of different things. Financial, you know, equipment and all this in a, like we said earlier, in a [01:43:00] very freaking gnarly environment.
[01:43:02] Anthony Powers: And, um, it just, they, the recognition, it's time, it needs to happen and, and Max and, um, from NFI and, and Lucas from, um, grassroots and everybody that is supporting them in this, this coordinated effort that, and it's been there before, right? Not, not to say like, it all came from somewhere. And that's kind of where I started getting into it a little bit into like the, the history of all that and some of the folks that I know, cuz I'm kind of like in this like, middle, middle, generational, you know, Of, of like these founding forefathers, if you will.
[01:43:43] Anthony Powers: And it's all because from the hotshot and the hot shots, getting involved and being involved with all these things, and there are some different entities that, that came before these, right? And if he's been doing their thing and, but now they actually have Max [01:44:00] who's, it's his priority and they have someone representing but wildland fire and he's got Yvette, you know, who's doing awesome things for them.
[01:44:09] Anthony Powers: And, um, and so now they're kind of both pulling from the same end where they were both going for the same thing, but they're, it's like, you know, one of them's on one flank and the other one's on the other flank, and that's great, but where are they tying in? Right? And so now it's, it's like, no, now, now they both have some, some coordinated things to, to work towards together, and they're, they're both anchored in now working towards the same thing.
[01:44:36] Anthony Powers: Um, instead have coming from different. Different directions on it. Yeah. It's like we lineation like Yeah. Is Yeah. Established command even that's, that's what's important. Exactly. Exactly. Right. Yeah. And, uh, they both have, they're different. They both have their different lanes and so like, how did I get roped into that?
[01:44:58] Anthony Powers: I don't know. I think it's just [01:45:00] through relationships and, and, um, and friends, you know, that, that I stay in touch with. Um, Shane, you'll, he's probably gonna hear this and Shane all fine. He's like this mastermind, retired mastermind, you know, behind this whole thing. Like, but me and him talk and he cares too.
[01:45:20] Anthony Powers: A lot of us that are no longer there still care. We still give a shit, you know, and we always will. And we, we want to see people, we wanna see people moving in the, you know, moving, moving it in the right direction to get it done. Yeah. So that's, that's the goal.
[01:45:38] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And I think at the end of the day, even like you, I mean, you're pretty far removed from like the federal, wild end context, but I think the important thing is, is to have supporters like you outside of federal service, because in all honestly, if this goes through, I think that the rising tide's gonna raise all shifts.
[01:45:57] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Cuz now state departments have to compete with their [01:46:00] wildland programs. The contractors have to compete with their wildland programs and all these other third like party or like tertiary kind of fallout things that are gonna, uh, happen. I think it's gonna benefit a lot more than just the federal wildland firefighters.
[01:46:14] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: I honestly do.
[01:46:18] Anthony Powers: Yeah, I think so. I think, um, I mean at, at the end of the day,
[01:46:26] Anthony Powers: At the end of the day when these things happen, whether it be a fire or a hurricane or tornadoes or earthquake, right? We haven't had one of those in a, well, knock on wood, we know it's common. Um, guys just have one in la We all just gotta be. Yeah. Well, it, we just gotta, we just gotta have, we all gotta be working together, man.
[01:46:48] Anthony Powers: And that's, that's what it comes down to. Not, not everybody's gonna have the, uh, the expertise in everything, but a lot of people are gonna show up and are gonna be able to do what they can do [01:47:00] to help out that situation. And, and when you look at like, some of the major events, um, in Wildland Fire is just a great, um, example of that.
[01:47:12] Anthony Powers: But there's so many different things where, where people come together for, to complete the objective of, of helping, helping people out and, um, That's, that's kind of what it's all about. It's like, but you know, we've been all the way to the moon and back. Right? And then, uh, but for some reason in our new society, uh, people have trouble going across the streets to introduce themselves to their neighbors.
[01:47:42] Anthony Powers: And that's a, that's a reality of, of what's going on in, in our, in, you know, shame on covid, you know, kinda suck. Watch out. That's gonna come. The disclaimer, right? It did. It, it, it separated so much. Um, and it's like, uh, man, like how do we, how do we get [01:48:00] things back? What, I don't even wanna say normalcy, like what's normal before, but like, um, it'd just be good to start moving things towards a good direction.
[01:48:12] Anthony Powers: And this is what we're solving the world's problems right now, right? Like, we talk about stuff like this at, at work, at the coffee table and stuff, but it's, it, as long as we as. As long as, you know, people care enough to look out for one another, then we'll find ourselves moving in, in a good place, in a good direction, and then just continue to keep looking out for one another and, and, uh, hopefully all of the efforts that we put forth will, will put us in, in a good position to move on to the next phase.
[01:48:50] Anthony Powers: You know, whatever it is. And the people that follow us and move into the positions that we hold and the jobs that we do will be in a, in a good [01:49:00] position to carry it forward. That, that, that's really all it is. We all, we only have so much time on this earth, so yeah. Might as well do some good while we're here.
[01:49:10] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: But yeah, man, with that being said, uh, I think that it's important that we recognize the fact that it's our jobs as firefighters to build upon the foundation that was laid before us, right in the service. So I think that grassroots and NFI and what you're doing and all of this, like, is all interconnected with the community and speaks volumes, man.
[01:49:29] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It's, it's our job and we're gonna keep pushing that needle.
[01:49:32] Anthony Powers: We're gonna keep doing it. Yeah, dude, it is, I'm, I'm excited to, to see how, how all this, uh, all this kind of, I don't wanna say concludes because I think it'll just keep, keep evolving and, and moving, but it's just, it's cool to finally see some traction and, and some people actually in some positions have to answer some que [01:50:00] and they, a lot of the times they get answered politically right.
[01:50:02] Anthony Powers: Cause that's, that's what they do. Yeah. But it's, it's cool to, to see it get to that level and, and have a direct, direct line and, and, and kind of, you know, cut the crop, let's. Let's iron out some things and, and get something done. Right. And, um, and how, what is your, what, what is your direction, you know, to the, to the leaders and the, the, the policy makers?
[01:50:35] Anthony Powers: And how are you gonna fix and, and do your, maybe not fix, but how, how are you gonna do your part to, to ensure that there is some change moving and, and, and, uh, developing a new climate for the next 20, 30 years? Because ultimately, like, that's what needs to happen, right? And a lot, you look at [01:51:00] Mel and you look at like, all those people that are retiring and the gap that's gonna be, you know, even just in training, this got brought up to me the other day, like the Mel buildup in the, the, that call it like, they're not baby boomers, right?
[01:51:14] Anthony Powers: But like, All that big mill buildup, right? And then you look at like the implications of like covid and that training gap that got shut down for the two years. And all these people now are not going to, they're not gonna be able to promote within those next levels. They're gonna retire, right? Because they're gonna time out.
[01:51:36] Anthony Powers: And so now because of that, that big training freeze and all that, they, they'll never move up to that next level. Now there's just this huge gap of, of, of qualified individuals to be able to move into these positions. I mean, there's, there's freaking, there's, there's land, there's, there's areas down here that don't have battalion [01:52:00] chief position staff.
[01:52:01] Anthony Powers: You know what I mean? Oh yeah. And
[01:52:03] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: that's another thing too. The people that did stick around and are still there and have those slides, they're bailing and jumping ship, go into different, um, yeah. Agencies, man.
[01:52:14] Anthony Powers: Yeah. So I mean, how do you, how do you fix this? It's called a mass exodus or whatever. I don't know.
[01:52:21] Anthony Powers: It's what it is. But you got, you gotta gotta, you gotta figure something out that would do at some point. People gotta answer to that, you know? And the people that are in those positions, they're gonna, they're gonna be held accountable for what reason? Well, in this, in this example, things should be going uphill.
[01:52:47] Anthony Powers: You know, the ramifications and the, the consequences should be looked towards uphill, not going back downhill, down to like those first year dudes that are gonna have to now [01:53:00] eat it. Right? And they had nothing to do with it. So there's this mass hiring going on, and that's great. And you're filling seats and that's good.
[01:53:08] Anthony Powers: And I'm not, I'm not there. I'm not, I'm not here to talk about like, You know, my opinion is my opinion, that's it. I, I can't solve those problems, but I am gonna support those that are looking at the bigger picture because I agree with what they're going after. Cuz ultimately, at the end of the day, like some of those things I wish would've happened when I was still there, you know?
[01:53:33] Anthony Powers: But when I look at, like, a lot of guys that, that did leave, um, and where they're at now, I know that they're in a, a, a place where they feel healthier. Um, at least mentally, you know? And I think that's important because, uh, you gotta take care of yourself first if you wanna help anybody else, right?
[01:53:59] Anthony Powers: Absolutely, [01:54:00] man. If you're not in a, if you're not in a good place, then you're, no, you're gonna be detrimental. Yeah. You're no good to anybody.
[01:54:08] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So. We'll see how it quite, uh, pans out though. Yeah, man. Uh, I mean there's a big broad topic and we can talk for hours on this one, but, uh, I do gotta take off here in a little bit.
[01:54:21] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So maybe we, let's get you back on the show, dude. And like, let's, let's really dive into this. Like get, I don't know, maybe we can get grassroots and Max and you and everybody on the show. That'd be kind of cool to like really talk about it.
[01:54:34] Anthony Powers: Yeah, that would've been, I think that was the goal for Greeno, right?
[01:54:40] Anthony Powers: There's this idea guy. That's me. No, it was good. I think it was beneficial. I know. I wish I, I wish I would've been able to go up there and hang out. Hey, you can't control the weather, brother. Busy busy, man. Life's busy. Yeah. Yep. Uh, thanks for, thanks for the invite, dude. I appreciate it. This was, uh, this was [01:55:00] good.
[01:55:00] Anthony Powers: And uh, anybody that listens to it, thanks for listening and if you guys are interested, reach out to us. Like I said, this, uh, this organization's there for ev everyone and anyone that wants to do something, um, it's yours just as much as it's ours, so. Oh, yeah.
[01:55:20] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Well, I appreciate the, of what you're doing, man.
[01:55:22] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And yeah, we'll, uh, I'll be, I'll be sure to include all the links in social media stuff inside the, uh, show notes. That way you can have some access and ease of access to, uh, the, uh, hotshot Up foundation here. And uh, yeah. I love what you're doing man, Anthony. Right? Thank you for being on the show. I appreciate it.
[01:55:40] Anthony Powers: Thank you. You have a good day, dude. You too, man. See you guys later, bro.
[01:55:50] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And boom. There we go ladies and gentlemen. Another episode of the Anchor Point podcast is in the books with my good friend Anthony Powers from the Hotshot Up Foundation. [01:56:00] Now they are a kick ass cause and I am all about having these, uh, organizations exist as we definitely need it as a community.
[01:56:08] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Doesn't matter if, uh, you are stepping foot in the black as a contractor, a bed, or a state, or a parky, it doesn't matter. These folks are out there making a difference for the people that have unfortunately paid the ultimate sacrifice for our careers. And it's a hell of a thing that these organizations exist because without 'em, no, it's not like we make a lot of money.
[01:56:33] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: So, uh, it's our families are gonna suffer and we never know when our ticket is going to be punched. With that being said, kind of dark, but if you want to go out and support a good cause, you can go over to www.hotshotup.com and you can find out more about the nonprofit that they're doing, the work that they've put in and the, and the in honor of section of their website where they have all of their past events and who, uh, they've been [01:57:00] dedicated to.
[01:57:00] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: It's pretty impressive stuff and in fact, this year's Hotshot Up tournament and this year's, uh, hotshot up foundations in honor of is going to go to Stockton Fire Department Captain Max Fortuna and Craig Interagency, hotshot Colin Hagan, who both passed in 2022 in the line of duty. Uh, I know this topic is really hard and, uh, yeah, it's, uh, it's, it's rough.
[01:57:25] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: But we do have a dangerous career and, uh, it's, we're lucky that we have folks out there just in case the, uh, worst case scenario does happen to support our families that we leave behind. With that, uh, I do say go over to www.hotshotup.com to check it out and please consider a donation. They're a wonderful organization and there's other organizations out there that do amazing work as well.
[01:57:50] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Go check 'em out. You know who they are. As for the rest of you, hope everybody's gearing up for the season. I hope everybody's ready and, uh, yeah, we'll see what the, uh, crystal Ball has. Hope [01:58:00] everybody's doing well. Special shout out to our sponsors. We've got Mystery Ranch purveyors of the finest damn packs in the fire game.
[01:58:06] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Go over to www.mysteryranch.com and check out the backbone series where you can get your hands on one of those thousand dollars scholarships.
[01:58:15] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: We've got Hotshot
[01:58:16] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: Brewery. Kick ass coffee for a kick ass cause. And if you want to get your hands on the best coffee in the fire game, we'll go over to www.hotshotbrewing.com and check it out.
[01:58:27] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: We got the ass movement. Of course, my boy booze over there spreading the word about bearing your turds. If you want to, uh, get a discount on all of your ass movement merch, use the, use the code Anchor point S 10 at checkout over at www dot the Fire Wild. Just, uh, look for the as movement. And last but not least, we've got
[01:58:48] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: the American Wildfire
[01:58:50] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: experience, aka a the Smokey Generation.
[01:58:53] Anchor Point Host, Brandon Dunham: And they are fricking awesome, Bethany. You have a kick ass organization over there. Keep it up. You wanna find out more about [01:59:00] the, uh, oral history telling project? Go over to www.wildfireexperience.org where you can find all of it. Y'all know the drill. Stay safe, stay savage. Peace.