Firefighter Podcast | Podcast Guru

Details

The Firefighters Podcast is an award winning global podcast developing, inspiring, connecting, motivating & celebrating the world of our emergency services operators through a series of wide-ranging conversations with those within our emergency services family. Hosted by serving operational UK firefighter & Instructor Pete Wakefield who speaks with individuals from all walks of life who share a connection with, can add value to, or can develop those within the fire sector. Our driving purpose is to create a legacy resource for the current and future generations of firefighters & first responders

Recent Episodes

#515 Beyond National Best Practice: Why Firefighting Needs Global Thinking with Dr Lori Moore-Merrell & Phil Garrigan

Recorded at the World Fire Congress 2026 in London, I sat down with Dr Lori Moore-Merrell, former US Fire Administrator and founding Chair of the World Fire Congress, and Phil Garrigan, Chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC), to explore some of the biggest challenges facing fire and rescue services around the world. We discuss the growing threats of wildfire, extreme weather, operational pressures and funding challenges, alongside the importance of international collaboration and le...

28 MIN

#514 Lithium-Ion Battery Fires: What Every Firefighter Needs to Know | Dr Stephen Kerber

Lithium-ion batteries are now embedded in almost every part of modern life, from mobile phones and power tools to electric vehicles, public transport and large-scale energy storage systems. But as this technology becomes more widespread, are fire and rescue services keeping pace with the risks? Recorded live at the World Fire Congress 2026 in London, this episode of The Firefighters Podcast features Dr Stephen Kerber of UL Research Institutes and the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), one...

14 MIN

#513 Wildfire, AI & the Future of the UK Fire Service | London Fire Commissioner Jonathan Smith

Recorded at the 2026 World Fire Congress in Westminster, I sat down with London Fire Commissioner Jonathan Smith for a conversation about some of the biggest challenges facing the modern Fire and Rescue Service. We talk about what London learned after being caught out by the 2022 wildfires, how training and capability have changed since then, the need for greater national consistency and a future College of Fire, and how artificial intelligence could support operational decision-making withou...

21 MIN

#512 The Future of Firefighter Health & Wellbeing | Professor Rowena Hill | World Fire Congress 2026

Recorded at the 2026 World Fire Congress in Westminster, I caught up with my friend Professor Rowena Hill from Nottingham Trent University, who also chairs the NFCC Academic Collaboration, Evaluation and Research Board. In this conversation, we explore firefighter health and wellbeing through a much wider lens than physical fitness alone, looking at psychological and social health, resilience, moral injury, retirement and identity, and why I believe we need to become far better at preventing ...

29 MIN

#511 Beyond the Incident Command Assessment | Katherine Lamb

This conversation with Katherine Lamb, founder of Effective Command, explores what effective incident command really looks like beyond simply following procedure. We discuss professional judgement, risk-based decision-making, command competence, behavioural assessment and the difference between being qualified to command and being genuinely capable of making decisions under pressure. Katherine also shares how the Effective Command approach is using data around command behaviours to iden...

36 MIN