Rachelle Wilson's Journey from Punchlines to Fire Lines

As wildfire prevention specialist Rachelle Wilson joins us on the Powers Point Podcast, she brings an arsenal of knowledge that not only echoes the wise words of Smokey the Bear but goes beyond to discuss the full spectrum of fire safety and management. Our 149th-episode celebration takes a smolder with Rachelle's compelling transition from stand-up comic to a guardian against wildfires, offering a unique perspective on the importance of extinguishing campfires, a seemingly small act with potentially vast consequences. We share laughs and learnings from our podcast journey, reminiscing about cherished moments and gearing up for future adventures, including the intriguing integration of Powers Point characters into the gaming world.

Venturing into the scorched realm of wildfires, this episode holds nothing back as Rachelle dissects the intricate history of fire policies and the critical need for prescribed burns, an age-old practice now backed by scientific validation. Listeners will uncover alarming details about the California fire siege and grasp the significance of having a foolproof escape plan, a topic often overlooked until the flames are at your doorstep. Rachelle's insights on the delicate dance between fire utilization by farmers and the looming threat it poses to our ecosystems will be eye-opening for many, as will the candid discussion on corporate responsibility in wildfire tragedies.

Finally, we switch gears, sparking conversations on topics as diverse as our very own aspirations and the curious assumptions people make based on appearances. We volley thoughts on the current state of sports, offering candid commentary that's bound to resonate with fellow enthusiasts. And as the episode draws to a close, we pay homage to the unity symbolized by the Green Bay Packers, hinting at inventive ways we can support our brave firefighters. Tune in for an episode that's not just a beacon of knowledge on wildfire prevention, but also a torchbearer for community, laughter, and the indomitable human spirit. Scott also drops a new song of his called Sunshine.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

On this episode of the Powers Point Podcast, we talked to Rachelle Wilson about a topic that Smokey the Bear would love.

Speaker 2: 0:07

We also put our guest in the hot seat. Hey Scott, drop the beat, my pool falls. Only you can prevent forest fires.

Speaker 3: 0:19

And it's true. We know we can't get it to do what Smokey says.

Speaker 2: 0:25

Drown your campfires with water. Make sure it's totally wet, then stir and drown again.

Speaker 4: 0:32

We know we can count on you to do what Smokey says.

Speaker 2: 0:37

Only you can prevent forest fires.

Speaker 5: 0:42

Well, hello, hello. Welcome to the Powers Point Podcast season 5149, because next week we are going to be hitting 150. But, jim, as you said in your intro, we've got an important topic to talk about today with our guest Rochelle. As I told you before, I would have never imagined talking about wildfires on here.

Speaker 1: 1:05

Especially, people think that it's not going to happen in my area or nothing. But just listen and you'll find out.

Speaker 5: 1:12

And we learned a lot when we get to that interview here. We hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we did. What have you been up to this week Besides?

Speaker 1: 1:21

the day to day. I can't think of anything much. I wasn't planned for this. I gotta I gotta start writing mental notes on be prepared for this or what happened to you this week, or something like right the day before we record, or something I got some good feedback from the last show.

Speaker 5: 1:36

Rbc osaka's people thought it was pretty funny oh, I forgot.

Speaker 1: 1:39

Yeah, almost everybody liked it, or something yeah, the people that I talked to.

Speaker 5: 1:44

They said, man, that was really good. Uh, we could tell you guys were out and about. Our friend keith said, uh, he likes when you and I are both together because it just it's got a different vibe to it than being a computer, and then actually got people saying, hey, you gotta try that if I ever come over there. So hopefully, uh, we can wrangle up some people one day and we can all head to BC Osaka's because there's plenty of food to eat.

Speaker 1: 2:09

Yeah, you promised not to trip the waitresses any time or rush people for some food, Tackle them in the booth.

Speaker 5: 2:15

You know I had fun doing that episode, not only because I got to eat. It was fun, you know, because there was some random stuff going on. You know, like the, it seems like the servers or the hostesses or whatever they're called. It seemed like once they found out we were recording, they were talking more by our table.

Speaker 1: 2:33

They were. All of a sudden we're getting a service. Oh, now you care, I see.

Speaker 5: 2:36

And then people were talking Japanese to us and we're just answering Thanks, yeah, you know, because I played back to one waitress and I'm like what's she saying? And I'm like it's not even english, you know.

Speaker 1: 2:50

And then we're just like nonchalantly okay, thanks I think she was insulting you because you were making fun of something over there had worms or bugs or something yeah, the sushi had worms in it.

Speaker 5: 3:00

No, it didn't. We got some good stuff coming up, not only on today's episode. Yeah, with Rochelle Next week, just to give you guys all a heads up, we're bringing all the back and it'll be the five of us talking comedy, old comedy, the good stuff, the Powers Point panel yeah, that sounds good and you can now play them on the Xbox and PlayStation at Letterkenny Wrestling, I know.

Speaker 5: 3:26

I'm mad because I don't have an xbox or a playstation or nothing like that man, I should take it away from my little brother and let you use my other one. But if, if you guys are interested in like checking out backbreaker wrestlers, they're just gonna be like eight or nine popping up here in the next couple days and, uh, our friend keith is hard at work doing this and getting it done. But check out Letterkenny Wrestling on PlayStation or Xbox and then you'll see Jim the wrestler and you'll see me in two different costumes One's the streetwear, one's the camouflage. Gavin it's really cool. I saw Gavin Gavin. Picture of Gavin. Yeah, it's some cool stuff, man, I appreciate him. The podcast is bringing us in touch with a lot of people. Technically, keith started a week before you did on here. Okay, so you guys were running neck and neck, uh-oh. Let's take a quick commercial and then when we come back, we will jump straight into the interview with Rochelle Ladies and gentlemen, you want good wrestling.

Speaker 2: 4:25

You want wrestling that's family friendly and fun to watch. Well, look no further than Backbreaker Wrestling. Go to Facebookcom. Slash Backbreaker Wrestling and follow all the great action here in Northwest Indiana.

Speaker 5: 4:38

Okay, joining us on the show right now. She is a former stand-up comedian. Now she's out there teaching about wildfire prevention. A part-time Hoosier, part-time Coloradian it's the one and only Rochelle Wilson. So how's things been going in the last couple of years that I've seen you?

Speaker 3: 4:59

Oh yeah, it's been going good. I'm really excited to be on podcast today and excited to see you again and be catching up. Um, I so I currently am what is called a wildland urban interface strategic planner, and that's a heck of a business card right, well it's.

Speaker 3: 5:22

It's hard to kind of find a title for myself, so I kind of will easily say I'm a wildfire prevention specialist. And yeah, I came into that because, as you know, I moved to Colorado in 2017. In 2017. And while I was living in that quirky little town, I joined the volunteer fire department after my high school students and I completed the basic certification for like introduction to wildland firefighting and, like you know, growing up in the Midwest, I'll never forget my first experience with wildfire. I went out on the porch at like 11 o'clock at night and there were like ashes falling from the sky and I was like what?

Speaker 5: 6:20

It's like dirty snow.

Speaker 3: 6:22

Yeah, and we're used to like tornadoes, but I had no idea, like I didn't know if I should worry if there was, like, what are the evacuation things? So I was kind of curious in the way you're curious about tornadoes when I took that class and about two months after that class there was an explosion within the valley like you know, as sometimes happens, and it burnt down a significant portion of a town. And while that was happening I saw just how stressed the resources are, and so I was like, ok, I've got some basic knowledge, I should go and volunteer. And so I signed up with a department and about a month into it my chief who I just love dearly to this day, even though I'm no longer with that department he looked at me and said you can put a sentence together, you're our new grant writer, which is kind of how you want to get into things.

Speaker 3: 7:23

But it was kind of the catalyst that took me, or I should say brought me here, because they had a grant for what's called fuels management. So one of the things that communities and, you know, areas can do to make and I don't want to say prevent wildfire completely, but what happens is because of several different contributors. Fires are burning uncharacteristically, so they're burning hotter, faster and it's really overwhelming. So you can do fuels management which will decrease the intensity of the fire, and that's a big thing that people are trying to do. The US Forest Service is in its third year of a 10-year comprehensive strategy to treat and or prescribe burn 300 million acres and just to kind of give you a picture of that, like the front range of Colorado is only three million acres.

Speaker 1: 8:26

Oh, wow, and that's big.

Speaker 3: 8:28

Yeah, so they this community had a grant to do this and it actually. So I had to kind of come in to grants ass backfords, where I had to figure out the tracking and monitoring and reporting, and I had a wonderful guy who was just named Colorado Forester of the Year who really helped me through all that. And then it kind of coincided with the pandemic, the lockdown, and so when school shut down early for the year, I actually went into the field and did the fuels management work. I got to, you know, you drag slash, but I got to run a chainsaw and, you know, play with the chainsaw. A big chipper.

Speaker 3: 9:14

That kind of really taught me about everything, and from there I started writing grants for them, and I'm kind of proud to say it, but I think it's because of my background as a former English teacher that I got my first, the first FEMA grant I applied to, and it was yeah, it was for fuels management, so it was pretty cool, but I was kind of like I don't, you know, like my whole world had flipped upside down and I was like I don't, I don't know what I'm gonna do, I don't know where I'm gonna go. You know, I need to make money, though, and I don't want to be here, so I went and fought wildfires for six months, and throughout it was, it was so fun.

Speaker 5: 10:12

I have a friend that lives by Denver, over by the gorge, the bridge, the big bridge area.

Speaker 3: 10:20

Yeah.

Speaker 5: 10:20

And her husband does. He's like a chief or something, and for the mountains, for the firefighters. So I get to hear to her like oh, kevin's up here now, kevin's over here now. You know, like Jesus, how many fires are going on in Colorado. Yeah, all states should be burned down by now.

Speaker 3: 10:39

And Colorado actually and I'm sure no one would appreciate me saying this hasn't had as intense a history, say, as California or Arizona, but it's getting there. And so, you know, when I got to fight wildfires, I went to California three times. I went to Montana and Idaho, to California, three times. I went to Montana and Idaho and eventually kind of came into this after I had come off of the line for the season, my mom had been diagnosed with cancer and so when I came back to Indiana I came back after she had passed to help, just help support family, and it was kind of, you know, this ended up being this beautiful thing because I was like OK, I know I can write grants, I know that's going to be a great gig, it's going to pay well, but I get to.

Speaker 3: 11:38

I want to work for myself, and I think part of it, and what it has now evolved into, was, ultimately, I got sick of hearing that's a great idea, but we have no idea how to do it, or that's a great idea but we don't have the capacity to do that, you know, and it's coming up on a year now. I really set out to look at the wildfire problem in a holistic way that I didn't see anyone else talking about it, and so that's why my job title is kind of hard to pick down, because when you typically think of wildfire prevention like, yes, I, I'm a firefighter type two, I've got for wildland, I've gone on wildfires, I've done fuels management, but I I don't have qualifications or experience in the fire world that somebody would theoretically assume, right, yeah, but I know a lot about how this situation has played out and I think having that different experience and different view has kind of allowed me to come up with this approach that I hope will really be a way for communities to have a fire dependent landscape, which is what we ultimately want because fire is part of our ecology, right, yeah, right. And so when you talk about why this is happening now, you actually have to look at the way that the forests have been managed more than anything. So back in 1910, there was like a. It ended up being like, I want to say, 3 million acres and I'm saying that off the top of my head not cited, but a huge fire ran through like Montana, Idaho and Wyoming in 1910. That is where we get the name for one of the biggest tools, the hand tools that wildland firefighters use, called a Pulaski. And this guy had Pulaski and he was in charge of a team and they were getting ready to get burned over, and so he put his team, they went into a mine shaft and he put blankets over it like wet blankets over his crew and they, when the fire was coming, people were getting scared and wanting to leave the cave, and so he pulled out a gun and threatened to shoot anyone who would leave. Uh, and they all ended up passing out, but like they survived, and so it's know, because of that kind of that. Yeah, so it was.

Speaker 3: 14:29

That's just kind of a little aside from that, but ultimately what resulted was the Forest Service then and had a new policy that they would suppress all wildfires. That happened, and you know it's 1910. Nobody knows. And as that progressed, the timber companies also kind of came in as part of it. So when timber companies log an area, they replant, and they have to replant so many trees that has, and they're, like, very crowded, and so when the fire goes through an area like that, where the crowns of the trees are, in our law it results in what's called a crown fire, and that's usually when it becomes unstoppable, and so it wouldn't, you know. What's made it even worse, though, is because they did suppression for a century. That's a century worth of fuel loads that should have been burned every 10 years. That is now ready to go.

Speaker 5: 15:34

So what you're saying is like a controlled fire situation. It should have happened, but people are neglecting to do that because maybe they don't want to take the time to do it.

Speaker 3: 15:46

Well, it's kind of. So. This conversation is relatively new because what happened? I would say, based on the research and my own timing coming into this, I think that our current level of knowledge is really because of what happened in California from 2017 to 2021, which was at the end of they had like a six year drought period costliest, largest wildfires in that span, including what was known as the campfire in paradise, california, which, like it, ended up killing 85 people and I. It's california's deadliest, but I don't know like the overall statistics. I want to say it's like probably the third deadliest in history.

Speaker 3: 16:42

But what happened in that that situation, in that incident, the town was actually relatively prepared because it had burned in 2008.

Speaker 3: 16:54

And so they made like an evacuation plan and I'll get to the prescribed burning here in a second. But so when this fire ignited outside of Paradise, it was like I want to say three or four mountain ridges away from this community, but when it started it burned so hot and fast that it kind of blew up right away. I want to say that in that section of California it's the Diablo winds, but the locals call it like the jar. But when those winds come in and push like 50, 60 miles an hour winds, it makes that fire take off and with nothing but dried out, purely like cured fuels, like for the fire to burn with nothing stopping it. Then it took off and it got to the point and they didn't know this at the time because the smoke was so bad they couldn't get eyes on it because of where it had started, they couldn't get any ground support, so they had no way of knowing that this fire was burning at 80 football fields a minute towards a community of 30,000 people.

Speaker 1: 18:03

Wow, man, that's crazy yeah.

Speaker 5: 18:06

And so, oh, go ahead. I've seen some of the videos from the California fires and people were filming while they're driving through these roads and it was like totally engulfed and the paint was melting off the cars as they're driving through. They had to get out of there but you couldn't see in front of you even the brake lights. Yeah, oh, and I think it was called the road to hell video. I couldn't imagine being in that situation. You know, living in the Midwest, because we got it made here. Actually.

Speaker 3: 18:35

Well, and the Midwest isn't as safe as it would like to think. So with these fires burning like faster and hotter, you know it's, it's made the West really pay attention. But when I was looking at the outlook predictions for the month of February and March just to see if there's going to be maybe early activity, the states that were above normal were Minnesota and the Carolinas. There's one hotshot group which is a forest service. They're like the cream of the Carolinas. There's one hotshot group which is a forest service. They're like the cream of the crop firefighters. So those guys are like really out there doing the dangerous and necessary work. And there's only one of them in east of the Mississippi and that's in Illinois. Oh well, I think there is some in North Carolina. There are a couple in North Carolina. There is one contract engine in the state of New Hampshire and one in Indianapolis which I actually saw on a fire in Montana.

Speaker 3: 19:34

I was like shit, like hey, how'd you get here, you know. But there's nothing. And I even look, I've looked around. I'm in northern Indiana and I looked around at what the DNR has for prescribed burning, because prescribed burning is actually a practice that was used by indigenous populations and aboriginal people Like that was part of the way that they maintained a healthy landscape and used it for a variety of purposes. So, yes, prescribed burning is a way that you can go in and clear out. Once you've done the fuels management work. Do not do it, do not just go out there and like, set a fire, of course, but when a landscape has been properly mitigated, then a prescribed burning through and you have to get through years and years of qualifications and this is a no joke thing because it is a risk with the current and just the way fires are burning, there is a risk of that prescribed burn going bad. In fact, and I haven't looked at it recently, but I know there was a case in Oregon involving a burn boss who the prescribed fire got out of control. So that's still kind of being navigated.

Speaker 3: 20:58

But farmers also use it and I talked to a local department just kind of picking their brains about how they respond to vegetation fires. I had one kid respond like well, we kind of let the farmers do it, and my brain, you know. So I went to the DNR website and I looked at what their requirements were for burning and for vegetation. Requirements were for burning and for vegetation, because when everyone thinks of wildfire they think of timbers, but you think of wildland fire and it's in the vegetation and the grass and shrubs which are actually the most dangerous models. It carries fire the fastest and the hottest and it's unsuspecting Firefighter fatalities like that's a pretty common fuel model.

Speaker 3: 21:48

I mean, in Texas. Texas just had its largest wildfire in history and that started in February, you know. So a lot of it is just being aware that we're not as safe as we'd like to think, as safe as we'd like to think, and this even in these areas and especially after spending a winter in Indiana. I'm kind of shocked. Like I look around, I'm like I think the US is maybe just one big tinderbox, but there's hope, you know, and that's kind of what has really led to the creation of my company is innovative ways and also helping fire departments build wildland division.

Speaker 1: 22:30

Because a lot of people think, oh, wildfires, and that that's all California, that's all that's out in the desert, and that that ain't going to happen here. It's like no, it happens all over the place, in our country, everywhere and even other countries. But like what you're saying, it's all telling you it could happen right here, because sometimes we get heavy winters, light winters. It all plays a part in this stuff you're talking about, and our environment and that, and we have to be more knowledgeable and we just can't let farmers do things the way that their daddies did it back in 50, 60 years ago.

Speaker 3: 23:06

It's all changing fighting a fire that's contained to a building. You're fighting a fire that you know can end up being 200,000 acres Like I'll never and that wouldn't. I don't think that would happen here, but I see how this landscape can still carry some disaster. But wildfire is also really deceiving. I'll never forget it was my first assignment in California and it was the monument located around the Shasta Trinity area and it was like my first day on that assignment, my first day in California, first first day on assignment. We had to.

Speaker 3: 23:59

We were doing structure protection and what is called the wui so wild land urban interface is just a fancy way of saying like living in the mountains and living with the wilderness. But we had to do structure protection because these houses were being threatened and we, I'll never forget, like walking on this hike to like kind of scout everything that needed to be protected and we came up on this crew that was with us and they were all just standing there looking and taking pictures and I like looked and they're like, oh yeah, it's right there and you have no idea how close, you know, because it's deceiving and it wasn't like blowing up our huge but like you don't know how close you are when you're in the middle of the trees and then it might be too late. Yes, yeah, there's a lot that goes into it. It and fortunately, like the threat in east of the Mississippi isn't as bad, because of just the landscape and structures and everything.

Speaker 3: 25:04

And this is the scenario I laid out for the gentleman at the fire department. We said, ok, he was like, well, we let the farmers take care of it. And I'm like, ok, cool, you let the farmers take care of it. A wind picks up and drives it into that tree bed behind the field that runs along a creek, you know. And so if the conditions is coming close and they're trying to like stop it, they have to make sure the weather's right. And this is like also a very risky practice, but it works. But they'll light a huge fire and you have to time it right, so, like when the weather from the fire will pull the fire towards it with the wind. You don't want to start it early before that happens, because a wind shift can turn it on you.

Speaker 5: 26:05

Are there any specific measures homeowners can take to kind of protect their land from?

Speaker 3: 26:11

Yes, yes, and so fuels management is obviously a big thing, and there's fuels management contractors, but the biggest thing and in the Latuna fire, in the case of the Latuna fire in 2017 in California, they had a 99 percent structural survival rating. Just for comparison, that campfire it destroyed 18,000 homes. That town had a prior population of 30,000 and its current population is nine, because then the insurance companies started pulling out. And so there are measures, and the biggest thing homeowners can do is make sure there is a five-foot buffer in between their house and anything combustible, because in the case of that fire, what they found was that the city had enforced really stringent codes and there's a great documentary that talks about the Camp Fire, called Bring your Own Brigade, and I've actually even talked with the filmmaker because she followed that community for a year after and the city tried to get them to do these very basic free things that would protect their homes, and the homeowners ended up turning it down. But that same county, I noticed, received a $6 million grant from the USDA to do that code enforcement.

Speaker 3: 27:44

So there are I mean like there's obviously fire safe material, and that's like a whole conversation that it's like not even worth having. I really want to focus on those basic things. So the five foot buffer in between your home and anything combustible is huge. If you live in a grassy model, like somewhere like Texas or Arizona or what could potentially even happen here, you want to replace your landscaping with stones or like gravel, you want to. You want to remove the combustible materials, um, and hangings, anything hanging over your roof, like you can actually remove gutters. Gutters are a huge fire hazard and those are recommendations that are based on california and the west, but there's no one really making recommendations for this area, because no one's, I think. Maybe I think, like Michigan might be in Florida and North Carolina, but you know there's not much that's been done in the specific model, if that makes sense.

Speaker 1: 28:49

I've only seen on online, like some tips that people can do, like check the weather for drought conditions when you're going out camping in that or uh, or lighting fireworks this uh, spring or summer coming up so, yeah, there's something in the western states they call red flag days.

Speaker 3: 29:07

so like in the case of the el dorado fire, which ended up from like a pyrotechnic gender reveal party. I was really irritated at that case because I'm like your whole it was August, your whole state was burning at that, you were having issues, you had red flag days. There's no way you had no, you did not know. It was a bad idea.

Speaker 1: 29:28

Exactly.

Speaker 3: 29:28

And so, oh, go ahead.

Speaker 1: 29:30

I was just going to the next topic. Next one was build your campfire in an open location, like you said.

Speaker 3: 29:37

Yes, make sure there's no like vegetation around it. Make sure that you're not building something big that can get into the trees. And you want to. The biggest things you want to check for is that you want to make sure the relative humidity for the day is above 30 percent. If it is less than 20, like you should, you know, don't flick your cigarette anywhere, kind of thing. What the winds are doing and those are like kind of some basic things. And obviously, like the heat, you know, if, if you noticed it hasn't rained in like a month and the soil and the ground seems really dry, like you, it's kind of easy that, like you think of a tinderbox, what you would use to start a campfire, look around and make sure you're not, you know, starting a bigger problem and it isn't also keep your vehicles off dry grass when they're to a campsite or something.

Speaker 1: 30:35

Don't park with your, because the muffler or the pipes or a spark from your car might set everything off, like you said.

Speaker 3: 30:42

Yes, and the river fire which was part of the Mendocino complex, that was started by a hammer strike. So one of the biggest things I can tell people, though, around their homes and property go check your utility, go check your utility lines, because utilities like electric, electric utilities are the single highest cause, human cause, of wildfire you wouldn't think, you wouldn't think that, but if you, if you think a little more, it's connected to all the houses, all the buildings.

Speaker 3: 31:20

Xcel Energy in Colorado is they claim to be doing this like wildfire prevention, these wildfire prevention measures, and that they've treated all of these poles.

Speaker 3: 31:46

Even if you do vegetation management around a pole and you take away the fuel source from for a potential spark, that that is going to be huge. I was driving around Boulder and I saw it down like a pole that was hanging on by threads and in the middle of all these dry fuel beds and it was in one of the most highly trafficked areas in a densely populated community. So that's like kind of a whole other story. But one of the biggest things I tell people is go around your properties and look for errors that could cause a spark. What you can do is remove. You know, don't go and try to mitigate around it, but try to remove fuels. I would say at least like 20, 20 feet, maybe a 20 foot break in between what you can safely, you know, treat in your home. And then you and then make sure that you call the utility companies and like, report it officially and keep all that documentation.

Speaker 1: 32:55

Yeah, always call an expert for stuff like that.

Speaker 3: 32:58

Well, that and it's on them. But in the cases of the Camp Fire, the Zog Fire and I can't remember there, I mean there's several of them, but PG&E were found criminally negligible because the polls that started those fires had been reported as concerns by wildfire, like specialists and by homeowners.

Speaker 1: 33:25

It just got put off and put off.

Speaker 3: 33:28

Well, in one case they claimed they had done it. So that's kind of like it seems like a weird one, but that's like a big one. I tell people because it's like that is the single highest category, so that's something. At least, even if you have that knowledge, you can treat your space be aware and treat it.

Speaker 1: 33:45

Yeah, the last one I had for the camping one was the uh, your campfire. Make sure you always uh put it out, but make sure it's cold or something it's not. You don't just throw a little bit of water on it and then, just like you said, the water isn't actually like the biggest Like.

Speaker 3: 34:00

If you look at wildland firefighters, they often don't have a lot of water on them. So the biggest thing you can do is, yes, pour water on it, but remove any extra like logs or fuels and then spread it out, like so, using a shovel or something like uh, distribute the heat source so it's not just stay like simmering yeah, we just, uh, just wanted to make sure that we get like, if people don't understand the the technical stuff you were talking about, we could give them tips.

Speaker 1: 34:29

Yeah, to what to do yeah, and there.

Speaker 3: 34:33

yeah, there's a lot to it because it is like the safety of knowing when you're out recreating and if you're in a. Well, I think all national parks actually have fire danger signs. So like be aware, and you can also Google local fire danger for the day, make sure that you are. You know, if you've got a propane stove, like one of those little kits, make sure that you are not putting that in an area. That seems logical, but you know.

Speaker 5: 35:05

Yeah, so we hope some of the listeners have actually like learned something. You know, because we try to be educational, believe it or not sometimes. I mean we got listeners in Germany and when I look up the cities they're like by huge force, you know. So who knows? Maybe they can take something away from what you're saying. Yeah, there are a lot of listeners in Canada and we just, we know last year what happened in Canada.

Speaker 3: 35:29

I mean, we were getting the smoke down here, yeah, and that's hundreds of miles away and that is thick and it's got a pretty good chance of starting up again, because the fire gets so down into the soil and roots and if it doesn't have a proper cooling off period and I've already seen articles voicing this concern they're called zombie fires.

Speaker 3: 35:51

It's kind of one of those things. You know, people take on initiatives and wildfire often gets thrown in with that lump. But there really is a need to like look at it separately and then understand, because I think you know the common way of looking at it can be isolating. And then you have people that don't want to get into the conversation, that need to be in it, because everybody burns the same. Every community burns the same. Every community burns the same, you know. So I think you know, and I have a lot of different. I have a couple of projects I'm working on. I'm working on building a wildland firefighter curriculum program for juniors and seniors and then I'm also working with a mental health provider to do a kind of different study on PTSD and firefighters in hopes of like, maybe mitigating risk taking behaviors and decisions that could impact them or not true?

Speaker 5: 36:52

weeks ago you messaged me and I was like, well, I haven't talked to her in a long time. And you said, hey, can I come on the podcast? And I loved having you on the old podcast. And then you're like we talk about wildfire prevention. I'm like, whoa, there's a new one that we haven't talked about, you know, because we don't think of anything like that and we're from northwest Indiana. There's the dunes, that's it, you know. As far as like forests, like I've said, anybody can come on here, talk about anything. Educate us. You taught us a lot today.

Speaker 3: 37:24

I appreciate you letting me come on. You know, relatively new, and it's hard to find people that are approaching it in this manner, and so part of what I'm trying to do right now is just spam the country with this message because it is important.

Speaker 5: 37:42

You were like, oh, I'm super excited. I was like, calm down, we're not Joe.

Speaker 1: 37:47

Rogan, how would they be able to reach you if, like, say, how you when you were younger and you saw those ashes in the sky and that led you to the path you're on, kind of If someone hearing this in another state that we didn't talk about, or country, how would they get a hold of you and pursue the career if they're interested?

Speaker 3: 38:04

Yeah, absolutely so. My company is called Foxfire Wooey, so I kind of plaster that Wooey term. Which wildland urban interface strategic planner. I plaster that everywhere because that's the most common, so commonly like known term. So my website is, uh, foxfirewiiorg, and I also have accounts. I have an instagram account under it and a facebook account under it and, uh, yeah, like you can even hit me up, my email is rwilson at foxfirewooeyorg now wooey is spelled how again?

Speaker 5: 38:44

w-u-i w-u it's kind of a fun term yeah, yeah it sounds, you know, because I'm like in my head, when they're saying that, I'm like thinking six or seven or eight letters on there and I'm like just w W-U-I, you said so. Yeah, there's a lot of abbreviations, hey so, with all this hot talk, we want to we do a thing that we started two weeks ago. We want to throw you in the hot seat. Okay, that sounds great.

Speaker 1: 39:12

She might be the most experienced person.

Speaker 5: 39:15

So, as you can see, there's like a deck of maybe 150 cards here. I have no clue what the questions are going to be. All right, they're fun. Where do you get the cards? Target, that's a lot. Everything at Target's good, all right. So question one who's your favorite athlete? Oh, paul Correa. Wait, why does that name sound familiar to me? Hockey, yeah, no, okay, mod. How about you, jim? You've got to answer that one.

Speaker 1: 39:44

Let's see Favorite athlete. Does that be now or the past? Either your favorite, I'll say Gordie Howell, I'll stick with hockey.

Speaker 3: 39:53

That's a good one.

Speaker 5: 39:57

That's a good one. That's a good one. I'll stick with hockey too. I'll go with the legend Wayne.

Speaker 3: 40:00

Gretzky Great guy. Yeah, can't go with him.

Speaker 5: 40:02

No, no, all right, shuffling around and around. Give me a second here, okay, question two what's in the freezer that you don't want anybody to know about?

Speaker 3: 40:22

What's? What's in the freezer? Probably the severed head. No, is it wrapped in anything or no? No, no, christmas, you know I don't. I don't want to. You know, I'm a wildfire prevention person. I don't want to make a fire danger when I'm killing or not killing, we don't know. Yeah, just wrapping around that's a whole different story yeah, no assumptions, no assumptions.

Speaker 1: 40:37

How about you, jim? I don't know what's in the freezer Wait that you wouldn't want nobody to know about. What does that mean?

Speaker 5: 40:41

Just like a bad food or something, yeah, like, if you look in my parents' freezer, there's stuff in there from when I was in high school. Since high school.

Speaker 1: 40:51

I think you should take it out by now. That's part of the fridge.

Speaker 3: 41:00

Right now I'll be an outdated pack of tamales or something that's all I could think of that I meant to get to, but what do you crave? The?

Speaker 1: 41:07

most A latte, a pumpkin spice latte. I'm just going to say it.

Speaker 3: 41:10

I thought it was going to be off this episode. The pumpkin latte from anywhere specific, or do you make it?

Speaker 5: 41:27

uh, the foxton albion, indiana has the best pumpkin pumpkin spice latte I've had yet. Oh nice, noble county. Is that where noble no.

Speaker 3: 41:33

I'm sure, I'm sure that's the originate. Yeah, that's noble Romans.

Speaker 5: 41:41

Yeah, yes, yes, I'm sorry, I'm representing Indiana. I don't think I see him much elsewhere. If you were to bring a world record in the next five years, what would it be for?

Speaker 3: 41:55

Oh, I actually know the answer Most foreign podcast here putting up with scott powers uh, I want to drive and be at north coast 500 of scotland and a mini cooper the fastest. I want to see if I can drive it the fast, because it's like 500 miles and you see all these like when you go up there and you see all this advertisement it's like it's gonna take you a week and I'm like 500 miles, that's a tuesday for me. Give me a mini cooper, clear the road how about you, jim?

Speaker 5: 42:29

oh, what was it again.

Speaker 1: 42:31

I'm getting lost in her answer. Break a world record, okay, uh in the next five years.

Speaker 5: 42:35

Look at, I'm looking around.

Speaker 1: 42:36

I can't think of anything breaking a world record. I uh, in the next five years look at him looking around I can't think of anything breaking a world record.

Speaker 5: 42:39

I can't even think of something funny all right, jim, I'll let you pass on this one last one. All right. What do people wrongly assume about you? That's an interesting one.

Speaker 1: 42:49

Uh, I'm gonna let jim go first um, wrongly assume about me that I'm a nice man, that I still get my answer. Oh, forget things easily, I don't know. Wrongly assume about me that I'm a nice man, that I still get my answer. Oh, forget things easily, I don't know. Wrongly assume they think I'm a big meat, oh, that's it. They think I'm like cause. I'm like six, four, six, five, depending on what gas station I go in. Um, they think I'm like this big monster, burly, like he's mean and stuff. Everybody says he's mean, but when people start talking to me they're like this is the funniest guy I've ever met and stuff.

Speaker 3: 43:23

so everybody, they appear unapproachable and stuff, and because just a mean look and kind of seems like a lesbian masculine maybe I am jim's coming out right now.

Speaker 5: 43:34

It's a little funny. It would be about wrestling. You know, like people know that I wrestle professionally too, they just see me as some old guy now.

Speaker 1: 43:45

I wrestle too. I wrestle with depression. I wrestle with being broke.

Speaker 5: 43:49

I wrestle with how about you, Rochelle?

Speaker 3: 43:56

I did not know that you wrestled either. That's a fun fact.

Speaker 1: 43:59

That's him.

Speaker 3: 44:01

I guess I would say kind of actually similar to Jiv, that people assume I give a shit about basketball because I'm six foot and from Indiana.

Speaker 5: 44:12

People see the movie Hoosiers and all of a sudden, yep, I'll fast.

Speaker 3: 44:17

I will say I, I did, I did coach middle school like basketball in Colorado and we had to like start with. What a layup. So like you don't kind of, you're like okay, I see where Indiana gets it, but it's I know like yeah, got Rochelle Jordan there, oh no, I take that back.

Speaker 5: 44:35

Or Indiana good old French Lake you got Rochelle Jordan there, oh no, I take that back. We're Indiana Good old French Lake, you got Rochelle Bird there.

Speaker 1: 44:42

Larry Bird yes, no, I'll go ahead Kind of hard to watch basketball nowadays because the new era and the rules and it seems like they're traveling all the time I have a real hard time watching basketball.

Speaker 5: 44:55

Well, people don't play for pride, no more. They play for money.

Speaker 1: 44:59

Yeah, that's all. Anybody cares about loading up a team or something with all stars.

Speaker 3: 45:04

Yeah, it's not. It's kind of like men, like I stopped watching men's tennis because like they wouldn't have rally. You know it's like, oh, we're in like two exchanges and you're like this is boring, you're literally just watching a ball go back and forth.

Speaker 1: 45:18

I want to see like someone doing the splits, you know, like some trickery yeah, or behind, or diving or something, or even what uh mackerel used to do, just start debating and arguing with the line judge like are you freaking, kidding me and everybody's like loving it throw a chair.

Speaker 3: 45:32

I mean people like theatrics.

Speaker 1: 45:34

I think that all sports nowadays is like about the money and cheating or something like that. But back then it was entertaining and stuff. It was just so much passion and love watching. But now it's like, ugh, I don't have time.

Speaker 3: 45:48

Yeah, yeah, I'll watch football. Packers are new and hockey is my go-to.

Speaker 1: 45:53

Yeah, oh you triggered Scott.

Speaker 5: 45:54

You're closer to Chicago, right right Put Packers. But you know what I like, seattle, you know. So I don't know Packers, it's like heartburn to me.

Speaker 3: 46:04

They're America's team.

Speaker 5: 46:05

Yeah, I could see that. But the stadium, when you see it in person, it's like real little.

Speaker 1: 46:10

Well, it was built how long ago.

Speaker 3: 46:12

It's like a publicly shared, like a buddy of mine. I think, excuse me, one of the coolest presents I've ever seen someone get was his wife got him a share of the Packers. Oh, that's cool.

Speaker 1: 46:22

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 46:23

I like how hometown oriented that team is.

Speaker 1: 46:27

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 46:27

Well.

Speaker 5: 46:28

Rochelle, we appreciate you taking your time and coming on and teaching us about wildfire preventions and giving us some tips that maybe we can be more environmental friendly and how to maintain the house and the yard. We really appreciate you. Again, we're talking to Rochelle Wilson. Go to her Facebook page that she mentioned and if you have any questions you can just email her. I'll have the links below. Don't forget the wooey.

Speaker 3: 46:58

Yeah, never forget the wooey.

Speaker 5: 47:00

You just get a shirt that says wooey.

Speaker 3: 47:02

I'll send you guys. I'm actually looking into doing merchandise, but it's kind of going to be like an innovative way to bring fundraising into the 21st century, because people don't want to pay taxes, you know, to support fire departments, which is understandable, but they will pay 80 bucks for a beanie that is supporting, you know, especially in colorado, you know, for for a fire department where they'd have their logo. So I'll send you guys out some. Uh, we're doing some product testing in the next month or so I'll send you guys out some swag, yeah right on, I'll send you my address and then I'll get Jim too.

Speaker 1: 47:42

Yeah, it even has that Wooee name is even like we'll make someone see it and say what does that mean, what does that mean? And then you get to tell them and stuff.

Speaker 3: 47:50

And it's a fun. It's such a fun term too. It's like it's something easy and it's unique, which was why I also want to put it all over my company in title, like hey, because they might not remember a lot of things, but they're going to remember. Wooey, yeah, and then they can, you know, search and yeah. I really appreciate you guys letting me uh, talk. I can go on and on forever about it. The end of the day, I want to make sure our firefighters are protected or as they should be.

Speaker 5: 48:18

So but All right, it's been great. And don't stay a stranger. We don't have to talk in like six years.

Speaker 3: 48:24

I know Well, we comment on each other. We comment on each other. We interact on Facebook.

Speaker 5: 48:30

You did yeah, right, right so.

Speaker 3: 48:33

I know that's not good enough. That's the millennial in me.

Speaker 5: 48:36

No, this was nice. I enjoyed it. Having you on with us was really great. So I seen that funny side of you and I seen the serious side of you now, so it's like the yin and yang. Yeah, all right, we will talk to you later and again, thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 3: 48:52

No problem, thank you, and.

Speaker 2: 48:57

Jim, it problem. Thank you, and, jim, it was wonderful to meet you. Wonderful to meet you. Thanks, guys, bye. If you want to hear all the action northwest indiana's wrestling scene, listen to mostly metal and northwest indiana rap. Wvlp 103.1 fm. The metal professor tells you all about metal music, but he does the wrap-up for wrestling in this area. Very knowledgeable, great fan of wrestling, he knows his stuff, trust me, isn't he?

Speaker 5: 49:19

We need that quote. Last week's quote was good. We'll check please. So what do you got this week?

Speaker 1: 49:26

This week. If we save our wild places, we will ultimately save ourselves. All right, that was by Steve Irwin Reiki. So when you listen to her Rochelle talk about what fire prevention and on wildlife and stuff we have to, we have to save our wild places, right.

Speaker 5: 49:45

I agree. If you need to contact us or you have a question or you have a topic, like Rochelle did for us, you can hit us up at Powerspoint Podcast at Yahoocom Powers Point Podcast at yahoocom. Or you can find me on Facebook or you can find me on Instagram or Twitter at Podcast Scott. Instagram is powers31911. I don't know the Facebook, it's a really weird one. Check it out and we will talk to you next week. Bye.

Speaker 4: 50:15

Bye. Yo feeling good in the neighborhood. Sunbeams shining up up in my childhood. Yo feeling good in the neighborhood. Sunbeams shining up up in my childhood Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. I've been rocking in the lights, feeling so right, everything's all tight, loving the sights. Let's go Shining up up in my childhood. I'm out, thank you. I'm going to use a brush to apply the color. I'm going to use a brush to apply the color. I'm going to use a brush to apply the color. I'm going to use a brush to apply the color. I'm going to use a brush to apply the color.

Speaker 4: 52:57

Beautiful groove, feeling so happy. Can't help but but move. Ball so smooth, like a beautiful groove. Feeling so happy, can't help but but move. I got all by my side, everything right, dancing under the stars, under moonlight, thank you. In the music we find release, happiness bringing peace. My girl by my side, everything right, dancing under the stars, under moonlight Flow, so smooth, like a beautiful groove, Feeling so happy. Can't help but but move. Sun is shining smiles all around. Heart is stamping to the sound. Yo feeling good in the neighborhood, sunbeams shining up up in my childhood Outro Music.