The Fireground Fitness Podcast, Rayne Gray · Rayne Gray

Ep111, Unconscious Competence with Forest Reeder

·1 hr 16 min·4 clips

"The problem in leadership is not those who get fed up and leave; it's those who get fed up and stay."

1. The Fireground Fitness Podcast episode with Rayne Gray centers on Forrest Reeder and his idea of unconscious competence in the fire service. 2. Rayne Gray hosts the conversation, and Forrest Reeder appears as a quasi-retired fire chief, author, and fire service instructor with 47 years of experience. 3. The episode asks what leadership, training, and living your values look like when a fire service career spans 1978 through retirement. 4. Reeder traces his start to a volunteer fire department in Illinois, where he joined partly to play softball and baseball with the best team in town. 5. He says Sean McHale recruited him, then he moved through cadet and volunteer roles before becoming one of the first six career firefighters in that department. 6. Reeder describes later work as chief of training and safety at a larger district north of his first department, where he ran a regional fire academy. 7. He says that academy trained 500 to 600 firefighters a year, including entry-level academy students, acting officer bootcamps, company officer bootcamps, and chief-level workshops. 8. Reeder explains that budget issues in 2011 shut down the academy after the partner organizations decided they would not keep funding training for other suburban departments. 9. He then moved to a chief of training and safety role near O'Hare Airport, where he says the department operated at a very high level. 10. Reeder later became fire chief in Tinley Park, Illinois in 2017, where he led the largest combination or part-time fire department in the state and worked through staffing issues, a new station, and new rigs. 11. One of Reeder's main themes is that fire service tactics, water management, and fire stream thinking have changed so much that "what's old is new again." 12. He cites Chief Brunicini's line that "the fastest water is the best water" and connects it to early fireground realities like bucket work and practical speed. 13. Reeder argues that the key shift in the last five to ten years is the emphasis on knowing "the why" behind tactics, leadership, and training. 14. He points to UL research and other science-based work as part of why the fire service can now explain decisions more clearly. 15. The conversation also turns to social media, fact-checking, and the way some firefighters reject evidence-based practices if the findings do not fit their preferred agenda. 16. Reeder says he has taught in 38 states and on international projects, which gives him a wide view of how these debates show up in different organizations. 17. The interview style is conversational and reflective, with Rayne Gray pressing for examples and Reeder answering with long-form stories from departments, classrooms, and chief-level work. 18. The tone is practical and candid, with repeated references to the kitchen table, the tailboard, city hall, and the daily habits that shape culture. 19. Fire officers, training leaders, and company members who care about culture and decision-making should get a lot from this episode. 20. Listeners looking for light banter or a short, surface-level fire service chat may skip it.

As heard by us

A practical fire service conversation about leadership, training, values, and unconscious competence.

The episode follows Forrest Reeder, described here as a quasi retired fire chief, through leadership, training, and the effort to live by one’s values. Rayne Gray keeps the pace easy, which lets the talk feel grounded rather than formal.

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Why you'd press play

Hear a veteran fire chief connect training, leadership, and the habits that become second nature.

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