The following is an auto-generated transcript of an episode of OFNTSC's Podcast "Ontario First Nations Technically Speaking 'Cast" hosted by Chelsey Johnson.

OFNTSC's new Fire and Safety Coordinator Josh Jamieson sits down with host Chelsey Johnson to discuss his journey to ONFTSC. Join us as Josh tells us about his work as a volunteer Firefighter in Six Nations and a Red Seal Electrician with Hydro One.

00:05 - Chelsey (Host)
Sago Sawa:gwego Chelsea. Here again with another episode of OFN TSC's Technically Speaking podcast. Today we'll be meeting a new member of our team who has recently stepped into the role of Fire Safety Coordinator. Please join me in welcoming Josh Jamison. Hello, josh.

00:24 - Josh (Guest)
Scano Chelsea. Thanks for having me.

00:27 - Chelsey (Host)
How are you today?

00:29 - Josh (Guest)
Not too bad. It's a nice day out.

00:31 - Chelsey (Host)
Beautiful. Yes, and I guess, to start us out, since you are such a new member of the team, I think you've been here for is it like three weeks now we're putting you right in the hot seat right away, getting you into a podcast episode. But just to introduce yourself, could you tell us maybe a little bit about your background, where you're from and, yeah, like your educational background and things like that?

00:56 - Josh (Guest)
Okay, so I'm from Six Nations. I grew up there my whole life. Following high school, I went off to Carleton University in Ottawa. I graduated with a BA. I came home didn't quite know what I wanted to do, so I took up a trade. I was working with Hydro One. I became a Red Seal electrician. Following that, I really wanted to help out my own community. Help out my own community. So I was also a part of, and currently still am a part of the Six Nations Fire and Emergency Services Awesome.

01:36 - Chelsey (Host)
And then, how did you first come to hear about OFNTSC and what made you interested in working with us?

01:40 - Josh (Guest)
I had seen some job postings recently, but before that, during my apprenticeship, I had seen a scholarship advertisement for one of the scholarships that they had, and then, most recently, I had seen the job posting for the fire and safety coordinator.

01:57 - Chelsey (Host)
Awesome. I'm interested, too, to learn a little bit more about how long you've been on the Six Nations Fire Department as a volunteer and what actually got you to join the department.

02:10 - Josh (Guest)
Initially, when I was in university, I took a summer job as the fire prevention assistant and it's really opened my eyes. At the time the department was growing. It's something that was fun. It looked like the firefighters had a lot of fun helping the community out. So after university had finished I joined the department and at that time the department was just transitioning from strictly volunteer over to a hybrid system with volunteers and some full-time positions. Right at that time I also started my career at Hydro One. So I was kind of in this limbo point where I was guaranteed to finish my apprenticeship with Hydro One and get a red seal, or I could stay with the department and hope funding comes around and the funding stays. So I had to do what was best for my family. So I finished my apprenticeship with Hydro One and then, as soon as I got my Red Seal ticket as an electrician, I started back again with Six Nations Fire. I've been there since and then, most recently, I left Hydro One about two years ago and now I'm here with OFN TSE.

03:28 - Chelsey (Host)
Awesome? Yeah for sure, and it's interesting because I'm from Six Nations as well, obviously both from the same community and you know, we are the most populated First Nation in Canada, so we have a lot of resources in terms of I think we have like multiple fire halls right like located around the community and we have one central location in Six Nations where we have the main fire hall. But what have you kind of learned being on the volunteer department and what, how has that shaped where your career is at today?

04:07 - Josh (Guest)
I would say just the need for helping my own community. And then from the other experiences that I've had, like similar with Hydro One and the Canadian Union of Skilled Workers, which I was a part of when I was working with Hydro One, I have this want to help our youth or help all of our communities. I guess At the time it was get into the trades, because I know the trades are booming right now and a Red Seal can take our youth a lot of places. So that, combined with the emergency services background, I think is just something that propelled me to this role.

04:50 - Chelsey (Host)
I guess you could say and now that you've been in the role for a couple of weeks, I know it's probably been a huge learning curve, because here at OFN TSC we have so many services that we provide and they're all equally as important and also holistically interconnected with one another. I know it's been only a couple weeks, but what have you kind of taken in so far and what are you excited to start working on?

05:18 - Josh (Guest)
I would say just the. What have I taken in so far is just how similar a lot of our communities are and where they're at in their fire initiatives. I guess you could say Whether it be our southernmost communities or our northernmost communities. There's a lot of similarities between all of them, so I'm excited to start working with all of the communities that are around the province. Something exciting I found this recently we went to Caldwell First Nation and they're just starting their journey and they have a chance for a fresh start for their whole community. So they recently just inspected four of their first houses. So it's very interesting to see where they're at and how they're coming along with their fresh start.

06:11 - Chelsey (Host)
Yeah, it's exciting with Caldwell because they're like you said, they're a new reserve, so they have all the chances to kind of create everything how they want to set it up, which is exciting. What has been the most surprising aspect of your new role so far?

06:30 - Josh (Guest)
I'd say organizationally, it's how vast the organization is when it comes to, like, the circuit rider training program or the housing inspection program or, the best program, the fire and safety program. I think like just those three programs are just the tip of the iceberg of what what OFNTSC does my role specifically, I'd have to say the number of communities that we work with that have or do not have active fire departments, and right now I've only been in contact with three or four of them, but I'm impressed with the work that's being done in the community, whether they're building new fire halls or their new fire prevention initiatives. We have a lot of communities that we work with that are doing some good things.

07:24 - Chelsey (Host)
For sure, and it seems like a lot of communities, as you mentioned, we're kind of in the same position or facing the same issues. What are some of the main messages that you would like to get out to the communities in terms of fire prevention? I know last time when we had Nathan on the podcast he talked about, you know, like resources and videos and smoke smoke alarms. That's his big kind of baby is getting everybody to test their smoke alarms. Do you have a similar idea of what you want to bring to the role and what you really want to emphasize?

08:02 - Josh (Guest)
Definitely, I would say fire prevention is the biggest thing that I really want to bring to the role and that's the firefighters. They love what they do and I love what I do and we go to calls and stuff. But if there was a chance that I didn't have to go to a fire to see a burning building or a car accident, that'd be. We would rather do that, we would rather focus on fire prevention initiatives than having to pull that truck out. And I again, I love what we do and we're going to do it all the time because we love what we do. But if there is a way to prevent it and that's something that we definitely want to work on, especially with the communities that we have as different ways to prevent fires- yeah, I had.

08:45 - Chelsey (Host)
Actually. It's interesting you bring that point up because I had never kind of thought about that before in terms of the role of a firefighter also being spreading that word about prevention and actually like I had never thought about it that way of of, like you guys don't actually want to pull up to a burning building, you would rather prevent it. So can you speak to a little, a little bit more to some of the initiatives that that communities can do in their own fire departments to kind of help spread the word about fire prevention?

09:15 - Josh (Guest)
Yes, so they definitely can reach out to us at any time. Recently, mississauga's other credit reached out to us. We're going to be going there for community for an evening with the community just to talk about fire prevention initiatives, fire prevention, safety and then also what to do if there is a fire. You know whether it be getting out, having a fire escape plan or being ready for, if there is a fire, which could be testing your smoke alarm. So those are some of the initiatives that we're working on.

09:49 - Chelsey (Host)
Awesome and I know, yeah, like I was saying, nate's big champion is testing your smoke alarms. And I know you in earlier conversations you had kind of mentioned wanting to look at escape planning. Can you talk a little bit more about how people can go about doing planning an escape plan for their home and their family?

10:10 - Josh (Guest)
Definitely. You can definitely again reach out to us. We're definitely here to help with anything you need fire related. There's a lot of resources on the internet as well. If you go to NFPA I believe it's com or org If you type in NFPA, there's a lot of resources there. But I think it's just starting the conversation in your own home whether if you have children or elders or anyone with disabilities is making sure you have a plan that's going to get everyone out, them included. A lot of what I want to do as well is I want to get into our community schools. It's like one of the first steps. So I know my kids have come home before and told me about things that they'd done at school or learned at school, and it got me thinking about that topic. So if we could teach a child at school test your fire alarm or practice your fire safety drill, and if they could go home and tell their parents to do that, then we're stepping in the right direction, I think.

11:06 - Chelsey (Host)
Yeah, I was going to say too I think I remember doing a lot of those programs during elementary school and you, you know, you practice your fire escape plan. But I think as adults we probably should be doing it more, and it's probably the children who are probably more in the know about some of these things than we are as adults. So I guess people can reach out to you. We'll be doing a lot more, I guess, information sessions and things like that in the future.

11:35 - Josh (Guest)
Definitely you can keep an eye on our social medias, I would say, at least once a month. We're just gonna be ingraining fire prevention initiatives in your head. I can think of I'm gonna go back to when I worked at Hydro One. Every single morning we would go over our safety plan and part of that safety plan was going over the address of where we were and it was super annoying. But in a time of need, when there was an emergency, and you called 9-1-1 and 9-1-1 said where are you? You're able to rattle off that, that address exactly where you were, so it's saved. It might have only saved 20 seconds, but it saved 20 seconds. So if we, I guess, ingrain it in your head so much that you almost become annoyed of us that you're gonna take fire prevention seriously and actually practice some fire prevention initiatives, then we're doing what we're supposed to do. I think.

12:36 - Chelsey (Host)
Definitely, and I know like I keep going back to this smoke alarm thing with Nate, but how important is testing your smoke alarms?

13:00 - Josh (Guest)
smoke alarm goes off, especially nowadays everything is made of plastic Once your house is on fire. Nowadays you have minutes to get out, so if that smoke alarm doesn't go off right away, then it's eating up precious time. And I love smoke alarms and I love talking about them. But if we could find a way to prevent a fire totally, that would be even better, because the smoke alarm already means something's going wrong in your house. So if we could prevent that something from going wrong, that would be even better.

13:27 - Chelsey (Host)
What kind of things can go wrong if you could just name a few of the things that people should be doing to prevent even the smoke alarm from having to do its job.

13:39 - Josh (Guest)
It could range from anything in the kitchen, whether it be something simple like not hanging your tea towels over the oven handle.

13:50 - Chelsey (Host)
Wait, sorry, can you repeat that? Not hang wait, that's what I do.

13:54 - Josh (Guest)
Don't do that.

13:55 - Chelsey (Host)
Wait, isn't that what it's there for?

13:57 - Josh (Guest)
Definitely not. It's for opening the oven. Oh and that's it.

14:01 - Chelsey (Host)
Okay, I just learned something new today. Does everyone know that, jordan? Did you know that? I didn't know that he used to be a chef? So I think, jordan, of all people, we should have known this. So, thank you, that's really important information. Continue, please.

14:18 - Josh (Guest)
Or it could be something heating safety-wise whether you have a wood stove, it's getting your chimney inspected every year and cleaned out every year. Or space heaters turning them off at night, not leaving them on when you're not there. It could be dryer fire preventions cleaning out that lint trap every time you use it, cleaning out the exhaust ductwork once a year I mean, a lot of people don't do that, oh my gosh. These are some initiatives that could prevent those typical fires.

14:54 - Chelsey (Host)
I don't know the last time that my ductwork was cleaned out, and I always get those spam calls from the duct work cleaning services and I hang up on them. So I should actually get either myself or somebody to do that then. Is that what you're telling me, josh?

15:07 - Josh (Guest)
For sure, once a year at least, they say, to clean up the dryer ducts and furnace duct work as well, or the furnace exhaust ducts.

15:18 - Chelsey (Host)
What about and I'm asking for a friend here if you were to leave your hair straightener on all day when you went to work and came home and found it was on? Is that a big no-no?

15:27 - Josh (Guest)
I'd definitely say that's a big no-no. I mean, there's prevention initiatives, I guess, or safety initiatives from the hair company as well. That would hopefully prevent a fire from happening. But if you're not using it, those things can get. Something wrong touches it. It's like the Swiss cheese effect. So all the holes would line up. So it might be just the hair straightener that's left on, but it might catch a string on fire that shouldn't have been there, that got left, and then that leads to a fire somewhere else. Right?

16:00 - Chelsey (Host)
Yes, what about candles in the home, because I know candles are really fun for ambiance, and what are your safety tips around candles?

16:10 - Josh (Guest)
I think generally the nfpa advises um against using candles completely um there's enough entirely yeah, I believe so.

16:20 - Chelsey (Host)
There's enough um initiatives out there with battery operated candles and things like that that you shouldn't have to have an open flame in your house okay, so that's one of the dangerous parts is having the open flame because that, like as you were saying, anything could kind of catch fire that's not supposed to be there at that time and then it can just erupt into a house fire of some sorts. All right, I'm learning a lot here today. I guess I got to go reevaluate my candle situation. But yeah, is there anything else you wanted to add? I know you're very new to the role, but we're super happy to have you here and excited to see what you can bring to the team.

17:03 - Josh (Guest)
I guess the last part would just be had recently discussed what fire safety measures people have in their homes, and whether it be smoke alarms or fire extinguishers, I'd say make sure you're knowledgeable of how to use those things. So a fire extinguisher is pointless if you don't know how to use it. Again we go back to the idea of if we could prevent a fire from happening, we won't even need to use a fire extinguisher. So it's just if everyone could gain that knowledge, the fire prevention knowledge, that would be ideal.

17:36 - Chelsey (Host)
And I did actually have one more question in terms of the fire extinguishers. I have one in my house, in my kitchen area, just in case, you know, worst case scenario, I need to use it. Is that something that is pretty much a standard recommendation that everybody have a fire extinguisher in their home?

17:56 - Josh (Guest)
Yes, definitely. I think the NFPA recommends one on every level one in your garage and one in the kitchen. But again, it's nice to have a fire extinguisher, but if you don't know how to use it to be safe, it's almost pointless to be there. So make sure you're using it for the right material that's on fire. So if it's a kitchen fire, you're going to want one that's rated for kitchens. If it's just a regular standard fire, you'd want your classic ABC fire extinguisher. Want your classic ABC fire extinguisher For kitchen-wise. Again, the prevention. We talked about the oven, putting the tea towels on the oven handle and another good one is making sure you learn how to cook as well.

18:44 - Chelsey (Host)
Yeah, I still need to work on that myself.

18:46 - Josh (Guest)
That's for everyone.

18:47 - Chelsey (Host)
That's forever Awesome. Yeah, actually I do know how to use the fire extinguisher, because I learned this a long time ago, but I've always remembered it. It's always stuck with me the acronym PASS right. Is that right?

19:00 - Josh (Guest)
Correct.

19:01 - Chelsey (Host)
Pull, aim squeeze sweep.

19:04 - Josh (Guest)
Correct, yep. So you're going to pull the pin, aim the nozzle at the base of the fire, squeeze the handle and sweep side to side awesome. Generally speaking, this is generally don't quote me um however heavy your extinguisher is. So if it's a five pound extinguisher, they generally say it'll last for five seconds. Oh, so if you have a really small one that's one pound, you really have one second of spray to get that fire out. So you got to remember extinguishers are meant for small fires, they're not for knocking down a massive fire.

19:40 - Chelsey (Host)
Where can somebody get a fire extinguisher? You can pick them up at a hardware store, I'm assuming.

19:46 - Josh (Guest)
Yeah, I think almost anywhere Home Depot, lowe's or Rona Walmart, any of those places Okay.

19:55 - Chelsey (Host)
All right, and I'm going to have to check mine. It might have been. It might be expired. I'm learning a lot today from you, josh. Thank you so much. Again. Thanks to Josh for joining us today and welcome to the team, and we'll be back with another episode very soon, but in the meantime, please feel free to follow us across our social media channels. We are OFNTSC on every platform and until next time, take care, thank you.