Straight Stick

A firefighter-led podcast with real stories from the front lines of fire, EMS and disaster response.

With David Geller and Andrew Leith

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A straight stick is an aerial ladder with no bucket.

It’s mounted on the truck and ends in a plain tip, not an enclosed platform. Lighter and faster to set up than a tower, it puts firefighters on the roof, at upper windows, or behind a master stream, and they climb the rest of the way. That’s the show, too: no platform to hide in, just straight talk about emergencies, preparedness, and lessons learned the hard way.

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Overheard at the kitchen table

Two people who still answer the tones.

One came up through the career ranks and one came in through a midlife crisis. Between them: decades on rigs, rescues and disaster deployments.

David Geller

Volunteer firefighter and EMT

An EMT in the ’80s who came back nearly 30 years later. Since 2013 he’s run calls as a volunteer firefighter and EMT, having started structural firefighting at 49, when other people buy sports cars.

EMT
Firefighter 1
HazMat Ops
Rescue Systems 1
Wildland S-130, S-190, L-180
FAA Part 107
USCG Captain
Ham radio K9DPG

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David Geller

Serving now

Volunteer firefighter and EMT with King County Fire District 27 in Fall City. Drone pilot for Eastside Fire & Rescue’s Fire Corps. Member of Team Rubicon, with multiple disaster deployments around the US, and of the Vashon Island Medical Reserve Corps.

Where it started

The American Red Cross in Washington, DC, and the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad. Later a decade as a volunteer with Eastside Fire & Rescue, representing the agency to the State Board of Volunteer Firefighters.

Off the rig

Builds software for the fire service at FireTrex, and founded Spryly. Also a licensed boat captain and a ham radio operator, because apparently one radio wasn’t enough.

See David’s responder card FireTrex

Andrew Leith

Captain, Shoreline Fire

A captain on the heavy rescue just north of Seattle, with 25 years at Shoreline Fire. “I volunteered in the beginning. Now I’m volunteering towards the end.”

Heavy rescue
FEMA USAR
Wildland deployments
Surface water rescue
Preparedness instructor

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Andrew Leith

Serving now

Captain at Shoreline Fire. Member of the department’s wildland team and Washington’s FEMA urban search and rescue team. Volunteer with North Whidbey Fire and Rescue.

Where it started

A wildland hand crew in the nineties and volunteer service in Mason County, on the Olympic Peninsula. Deployments since then have taken him to hurricanes and to fire camps of 5,000.

Off the rig

Founder of Dwell Secure, the app that came out of the disaster preparedness classes he teaches. People had the flashlights and the bottled water. They couldn’t say where their shutoffs were.

Dwell Secure

The jump seat is open.

Still on the job, long retired, or left the firehouse for a film set, a kitchen or a classroom: if you’ve worn the gear, we want to hear what you carried out with you. And if you build the rigs, the gear or the technology the fire service depends on, we want to talk to you too.

Ask to be a guest

We treat guests as colleagues. You tell your own story first, and we mostly stay out of the way. David may interrupt. He will apologize.

How it works

Send David a note and tell us what you’d want to talk about.
Pick a time. Join us in Seattle or record remotely from wherever you are.
Talk with two firefighters for about an hour. Your episode goes out on every major podcast app.

Who’s ridden along

Join the podcast.

Be a guest, suggest someone who should be, pitch a topic, or tell us how we’re doing. It all comes straight to David.