A candid FDNY conversation about Rescue 1 and the work of preserving department history.
Commissioner Robert S. Tucker turns an FDNY interview toward a larger question: how does a department preserve a history too broad for any one person to hold?

500 episodes listed below
FDNY stories, roasted and remembered.
Gettin' Salty Experience Firefighter Podcast is a loose, loud archive of FDNY memory, built around firefighters telling the stories behind the job. The mood swings from roasting to reverence fast, especially when old fires, rescue work, company culture, and department history come up.
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Gettin' Salty Experience Firefighter Podcast is a firehouse-memory machine. It runs on old stories, guest interviews, noisy panel chemistry, and the kind of joking that only works when everyone understands the respect underneath it. The show’s center of gravity is FDNY life. Episodes bring in figures such as Commissioner Robert Tucker, FF Tom Lynch, LT. Ray Strong, Lieutenant Charles Schmid, Battalion Chief George Gierer, Paul Hashagin, and Bobby McGuire for conversations that wander but rarely feel empty. One minute is a shameless plug or a jab at another kitchen-table show. The next is a serious concern about preserving FDNY history. Guests recall rescues, vacant-building work, project fires, company names, boxing, motorcycle stories, clubs, and the pressure of working beside people whose standards were already high. The show likes a pileup. People interrupt, correct, laugh, and double back. That rhythm can make the opening feel chaotic, especially when sponsor reads, disclaimers, membership pitches, and live-show chatter collide. Once the stories start, though, the value is clear. Gettin' Salty captures the way firefighters remember the job: by naming names, replaying close calls, roasting friends, and turning a single question into a dozen connected memories. It also has a strong preservation streak. The conversations keep returning to history, museums, archives, legendary FDNY fires, and the need for people who can carry those details forward. This is not a clean documentary format. It is louder and more personal than that. The best moments feel like sitting near the end of the table while firefighters sort out what happened, who was there, who deserves credit, and which joke still has one more use left in it.
Made for: Best for firefighters, fire-service families, FDNY history followers, and listeners who like long-form interviews with real shop talk. It especially suits people who prefer lived-in stories over polished narration.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its kitchen-table texture: jokes, interruptions, corrections, and genuine admiration all arriving in the same breath. It preserves department history without sanding off the personalities that carried it.
If you like fires, drinking and ball breaking you will absolutely love our podcasts. We interview some of the greatest firefighters to ever work in the FDNY and across the country. We get them to tell us their stories and experiences through out their careers. You will feel like you are back in the kitchen. Join our hosts Lou Rufrano and Kevin Kubler (former 20+ year FDNY firefighters).. we are sure you won't be disappointed. Stay low and go!! #firefighter #fdny #oldschool Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gettin-salty-experience-firefighter-podcast--4218265/support.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Firehouse oral history becomes a close study of leadership, workplace standards, operational judgment, and the culture that carries them forward.
Gettin' Salty Experience Firefighter Podcast turns FDNY careers into detailed oral histories of work, leadership, and institutional culture. Lou Rufrano and Kevin Kubler let guests reconstruct assignments, mentors, crews, and difficult calls, asking practical questions about how…
A firefighter's career story reaches a rock club that booked the Ramones; you get the detour.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A candid FDNY conversation about Rescue 1 and the work of preserving department history.
Commissioner Robert S. Tucker turns an FDNY interview toward a larger question: how does a department preserve a history too broad for any one person to hold?
Tom Lynch's fireground memories show how quickly a clear apartment can turn dangerous.
Firefighter Tom Lynch keeps the focus on the kind of fireground memories that still feel practical because they resist becoming tidy lessons. He recalls an apartment that looked crystal clear until a door opened and the room lit up, forcing firefighters down and leaving them…
Bobby McGuire turns firefighting, boxing, and club-running grit into a sharp local business story.
Bobby McGuire’s story moves from fighting fires to boxing to the nerve it took to run a rock club on 114th Street. The strongest stretch follows him taking over the room: ripping out seats, turning the projection booth into a DJ booth, building a 120-foot bar up front and a…
A firehouse career story about earning trust from the people who raise the bar.
This Gettin' Salty Experience episode centers on what it means to become useful inside a firehouse culture that does not soften its standards.
Craig's Ladder Five story finds its strength in mentorship, crew culture, and the bonds that make hard work livable.
Craig's move into Ladder Five plays as a small, clear study of how a workplace can shape a life. He remembers getting there with help from a captain he saw as family, then finding a house defined by guidance, camaraderie, and enough fun to sit beside the harder realities of…
A relaxed firefighter roundtable on guest friendships, studio chemistry, and the stories still waiting to be recorded.
This firefighter podcast episode centers on the relationships that form around recorded stories. It moves through listener emails, favorite guests, calls for part twos, and the challenge of fitting 30 or 40 years of experience into a two-hour conversation.


Chicago voices, live and unfiltered.

Horror talk from the theater lobby.

Doctor Who fandom, recorded in motion.

Dallas banter with no clean exit.

Movie talk with tangents worth keeping.
Gettin' Salty Experience episode 198 spends most of its runtime with Vince and Corey from Chicago's Bravest Stories after an FDIC recap and a Salty Wire plug.
A tribute episode honoring FDNY Fire Patrolman Keith Roma, featuring stories and banter about firefighting culture.
Hosts introduce FDNY Captain Jim Carpenter, a veteran firefighter with extensive experience, and set up a casual firehouse-style conversation.
Former FDNY firefighter Craig Monaghan joins hosts Lou Rufrano and Kevin Kubler.
The feed nearly eats the entrance.
Tom Lynch, an FDNY firefighter from Riverdale in the Bronx, traces his path from driving buses for the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority to taking the 1978 FDNY test after pressure from Eddie McCaffrey.
Hosts introduce FDNY Lieutenant Ray Strong, discussing his biker persona and teasing stories about motorcycles, knife fights, and gunfights.
FDNY Lieutenant Charles Schmid discusses his experiences and insights on the Gettin' Salty Experience podcast.
An interview with FDNY Battalion Chief George Gierer discussing his experiences and insights from his career in the New York City Fire Department.
Paul Hashagin shares stories from his career as a firefighter and rescue diver, including notable rescues and experiences in various dangerous environments.
Bobby McGuire says a hearing test nearly cost him the FDNY job until a fireman told him to "take it again."
Charlie Williams, retired FDNY battalion chief and guest on Gettin' Salty Experience, traces a Brooklyn upbringing in Flatbush, a fireman father in Engine 209 and Rescue 2, and a career that started at Welfare Island in 1973.
Hosts introduce actor Jack McGee, discussing his career in firefighting and Hollywood, including roles in Seinfeld and Backdraft.
A tribute episode honoring FDNY Fire Patrolman Keith Roma, featuring casual banter and reflections among firefighters.