FireED Part 2 - Be a Social Fire Prevention Entrepreneur in Your Home Town

"I'm a social entrepreneur who has dedicated my entire adult life into finding better ways of implementing fire prevention education curriculum and campaigns. Over the recent years I have founded the FireED Interactive Community Inc, an impact business that strives to create a positive social change by focusing on eliminating preventable fires worldwide.

Since my early teens I found myself in deep contact with fire safety, however, not from school or fire station visits. My experience is rather unique over most others. My introduction to fire safety and awareness programming was through the Smokey Bear Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Campaign, of which my father supplied educational materials for since 1979.

In 1998 I signed as official Canadian licensee for the Sparky the Fire Dog campaign which worked flawlessly, until 2005 when it was not renewed. This setback, instead of immobilizing me, ignited my passion to forge ahead blazing new public education pathways. I took to traveling to meet educators around Canada and the US to try to implement and standardize new approaches to fire and life safety education.

For every step I took on this journey, to bring social change to "the fire problem", I diligently applied my entrepreneurial skills and experience to create and market improved programs.

No sooner would I find myself slowed down by the impossibility to speed up associations and committees responsible for advancing public education approaches. Nothing was changing, yet people were still getting injured, losing their homes and dying to preventable fires. This was the spark that motivated me to use all the data I had collected from the great minds of hundreds of fire officers and educators, putting it together to create a sound educational solution for people of all ages to learn how NOT to become victims of fire.

This is how FireED Interactive Community Inc was born, a first of its kind public education social enterprise at www.fireedcommunity.com ... see more"

Go to AbbyBolt.com for more information on this and many other controversial subjects surrounding moral courage in the workplace and what it means to Lead with F.I.R.E.

Email me at abby@upinflames.org if you have an experience you would like to share or are in need of a resource. If I can't help, I will point you in the direction of someone who can.
 
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Transcript

Abby: 0:01

[inaudible] You won't ever necessarily know about the effect you mean because it never happened. Or someone never died because of it or they weren't killed in a structure fire. Or that community didn't burn down because of the effect that you had. I'm taking that same passion effect and then applying it to this other stuff. Because I know there's a lot of people out there. I get messages from people I've never met before and if I hadn't lived this, I never would have believed it. If I hadn't been involved in firefighting and fire prevention and gotten into all of that, I never would have understood that either, you know? So all I want to do is just help just give someone inspiration out there just like you are. I want my suffering and the things I have learned, whatever I had to go through, I want it to count for something far bigger than myself and there is no value on it. Nobody can ever pay me enough to share it. I believe that if you put good out, good will come back. Welcome back Up in Flames' listeners to part two of my interview with Tracy Last, who founded and is making something amazing out of fire ed. She is truly an inspiration to me. I think we really connected because we're just so like minded in so many ways. She's an amazing social entrepreneur. We have a background of dealing with some BS, whether it was bullying or just being pushed down in the fire service for different reasons. And Tracy's helped me see just how rampant it can be even with our stakeholders. But you know what, besides all that, she is going Up in Flames and not down. Okay. Guys you really need to listen to everything. And is she sharing because it's quite a movement and it's one that takes all of us to make things safe on our communities. With that, here's Tracy

Speaker 1: 1:44

[inaudible]

Tracy: 1:44

At least I can say more now. And I think that your message and passion to stick with this and not just like completely throw in the towel or whatever they call it, is that's why they put certain people like us through or not saying, well not they, but the you. Why? Why is it that it's such a tough lesson? And how is it that some of us are still here at the end of it to forge ahead? So there must be something importance in there for community and ourselves for us to be sticking with it. And I'm glad to meet someone else who actually has the like mind. Has the experiences with the discrimination and can just bring some more, set some new fresh light onto that sale situation. You know, just opening up to other people who follow you and say there are more things out here. Like there's consultants who can help the people going through this in an agency. And bring awareness to the discrimination and the bullying and the rape and everything that's going on. So that people can survive this. Like what you're doing for that is just unbelievable. And more and more people are watching you on social networks and it's growing like the tribe for you. It's growing and the tribe for me is growing in the end is stress. Here's an educational curriculum and sure, I'm like beyond passionate about it. I'm just, I'm just more curious about it now. I just know there's a problem. And that we have solutions and you know, why not just continue my work even though it's not making a whole lot of money. Don't look at us that way. Even if there is a lot of money, it's going to go back into developing more people and stronger messages and, and just filling the gap.

Abby: 3:39

Well, thank you for saying all that. Like I'm, it's probably a good thing we're not in person because I look like a bawling baby, right. With my eyes are... Because hearing that it's that some of the things I'm doing is receptive. The way that you see them. It's like, Oh my God, okay, so it's working. People are getting it. They're hearing me. And it's just like in fire prevention. Like you have this passionate message and you just want to help other people through it or help them understand it or be educated. And you won't ever necessarily know about the effect you made because it never happened. Or someone never died because of it. Or their family weren't, they weren't killed in a structure fire. Or that community didn't burn down because of the effect that you had. And that's the same, I'm taking that same passion effect and then applying it to this other stuff because I know there's a lot of people out there. I get messages from people I've never met before and they just told me that I've given them the, you know, the strength or the courage to either stick with what they're doing or to push back or to to survive another day. And if I hadn't to live this, I never would have believed it if I hadn't been involved in firefighting and fire prevention and, and gotten into all of that, I never would have understood that either. And you know, so all I want to do is just help impact or just give someone inspiration out there just like you are for all the different reasons I want my suffering and the things I have learned, whether it's with firefighting, fire prevention or through discrimination or being raped or dealing with the legal aspect of all of it. Whatever I have had to go through, I want it to count for something far bigger than myself and there's no value on it. Nobody can ever pay me enough to share it. Nobody could ever, it's just like, I believe that good. If you put good out, good will come back and yeah, as I believe

Tracy: 5:20

I love it. And you know, um, like when we see a bear, we don't want to get in between a mother bear and their Cubs. And I know you have a little boy and I raised two boys through all of that. How that they were putting me through. And they had to see me cry a lot. And I actually probably, it's only in the last year that I can talk like I am with you without fricking sobbing. Because it's, it was that bad. So call me a cry baby. You know, maybe if this part is recorded or not. But the thing is is that my boys, I think part of the reason why I'm in this is I also to develop leadership and confidence skills in younger children through this it's fire and life safety, education and capacity building and confidence building. And we even have a difficult conversations and we're going to be teaching our young community safety facilitators or young and old that when they go in and they try and present this into a community and if they get a fire case, like a lot of them I came across who said, you can't come into our community and do education. Like literally it's like, Oh, they better be prepared to that.

Speaker 5: 6:29

[inaudible]

Tracy: 6:29

it's like, you know what, we're going to be there anyway and we're going to have some positive PR stories and we're inviting the media. And it's going to be all over the place. So hopefully you show up because when they ask for the big red trucks and, and you know, the uniformed officers and the turnout gear demonstration or whatever it is, like if you don't show up, we're going to, we're gonna probably have to say why you're threatened. I don't know. We're just gonna have to say sorry there and available for comment.

Speaker 5: 6:57

Yeah. So San Diego border down

Tracy: 7:00

is when they see like a mama bear. That sad. And I remember one of the saddest things I worked so hard on, um, for fire prevention Canada or over a year, almost two years, a whole nother show. Again, it was very like terrible, uh, business with the sponsor involved that I was trying to get on board. So the one day that they said this was not going to be mine, that someone else took my two years work and ran with it. And that's a fire agency at Canada, I cried. So I think I started my kids off hockey. I could barely even like mom, mom, like mom, I hate telling dad. I hate it when hated to see my mom cry like that. Um, now they're 25 and 30 years old and they're out in the real world and they're coming across things and you know, terrible things happen. Like my son actually had to evacuate the Fort McMurray wildfires, so he's moved up to Alberta in the oil fence and I got the phone call blow by blow. Here he is like in day one, there's a wildfire in their town. Oh, we don't have to evacuate because it's really small or it went out. Well the next thing you know, and like all these communities and they're driving past the planes. So I'm just in it to win it and show my son that life is tough and you're, you're gonna come across some things that I can't protect you from, but at least it's, you see, you know, horrible things that made me so sad and you saw it day in and day out because it was a home business, then you're going to stick with it too. And where's this going to be fire fighter family.

Abby: 8:38

And if nothing else, I know that on the backend, like I, I shield my little one from so much and thankfully he's, he's still, you know, young enough to where. He's not on social media or anything like that and he doesn't see any of this yet. And by the time that he does, he's gonna really understand and know that his mama always fought for what was right always. And I always teach him that. And, and uh, so I know that someday when he looks back on, on the internet activity, like I know that all my efforts are for good and to help people. And one of these days I'll also share my experience and some of his help and he's gone through. Through going through divorce and the family law system because that's been a whole other thing in itself that I'm hoping to make a positive impact on someday. But that'll be a longer story down the road when we're out of it. But he will always know that every battle that his mom ever went up against was worth it. She chose it and she always fought for the right. And it looks like your boys are gonna. They see that in you too.

Tracy: 9:29

You know, as far as I'm concerned for you that what you went through and you can have such an amazing career doing what you're doing. I can totally use you on the fire ed team.

Abby: 9:41

Well I, yes, social entrepreneurship is something I've definitely learned a lot about in the last couple of years and exactly the training, like the value, like even just taking away my personality and who I am, you know, as just a human being, just the, the training investment that has been put into me. Like I know that there are so many places that I can take it from here and they, they lost a hold of something that was so valuable for that agency. Like they just didn't have the value there for me to stick with them and I never could have been what I could possibly be or applied everything that I have to give being in the confines of an agency like that. So I want to do something good with it. And it's not all of this stuff that you're developing. It's not a matter of if, it's just when it sounds like you're on the cusp of so many great things.

Tracy: 10:25

Yup. There's so much more we can do and they've just opened the floor for us to be able to do it as community stakeholders. And the difference with higher ed and my business is that it's been three decades. We've done all the research and development.

Abby: 10:42

I know exactly now why we were put together. I mean, it's good. It's so obvious like, and, and it's just, you're on the same playing field as I am and I, I have so much respect for everything that you have grown all these years and what you're developing. And I know I'm only hearing a fraction of what is inside of you and what you have going.

Tracy: 11:01

I follow a lot of your work. I retweet her, whatever, and then I'll add it.

Abby: 11:06

Oh, I so appreciate your support.

Tracy: 11:08

I feel it and I hope you don't mind.

Abby: 11:10

Oh my God. No, please. All you want. Every time that I see something, a nod from you on there, I'm just like, wow, thank you. Because I've been wanting to talk to you so bad, but I wanted to make sure that we have the time to really talk and because I knew that you had way more inside of you to share with me than 10 minutes.

Tracy: 11:26

I'm going to tell you one sad story about a fire, a male, a male fire chief who loves what I did and he brought it into his department. Just some sort of like a lower level of like our full capacity of our program though. He tried to bring it to an organization that he was, uh, um, director, maybe not a director, but uh, you know, a higher member for 25 years and it was a burn fund and our province. So he said, you know, I'm seeing something here that's really pissing me off. And he said, we have burned tamp every year and we promoted and we have all these great, amazing services for the burn children. Updates as 18 I think is the size they'll go. But we have more campers every year. Guess what? We're not even educating them. We say we are, we have like a link on there and there's nothing under education links. So he was starting to just call it out. Not in a derogatory way, but in a Hey or to realize way once I met Tracy and what they do with fire ed, it's like I, I kind of see the missing link here now can I have your consent? So whenever he brought that up, he actually got blindsided at meetings because the organization that says they do education, which is a separate one in our province, some of their members were at that meeting and he called me back and was secret mad at me and he was like, I totally got blindsided. What's this? None of them like you, like, who are you? And I'm like, well who are they? And he goes, I didn't know. I've never even heard of that organized basin before. And I said, well, there you go. So they say that all I did is that track to track them or bad talker. You found out about them through them, not me. So where's the common nominator here? Well, in the end they cancelled our contracts. The president cancelled it. And um, my, despite it was, uh, it was pretty much ground grounded, what would you call it? Not force but or so on

Abby: 13:40

push down. Oh wow.

Tracy: 13:44

So he went down with me just for trying to important, wow, I see what's happening. Like that's why it frustrates me in your organization because as soon as someone speaks up, taken down in this guy, he's just like a volunteer there for 25 years trying to help her children before they get burned. And then he retired as fire chief, like his normal retirement. But his wife was pretty mad because he didn't like really get all the cute, you know,

Abby: 14:11

everything. Yeah. All the time you put in. Right. And that's why I tell people, I don't try to sugar coat it and say like, Oh, you speak up and nobody will ever bother you. Oh hell no. People, it's crazy. It's just social. It's this weird social culture thing that is so rampant in places and like a huge piece of my life. And my story is my significant other who backs me and has my back. He was a hot shot superintendent coming up, you know, he has this long history in wild land fire and a whole lot of respect from a lot of really good people. And he's been a leader of one of the big leadership programs and but across the nation he's been known and his dad was forest service, retired for a service. So when he started backing me and I started speaking up and he was backing me up, he was posting on my behalf. He was, you know, he was a witness in my case. He was all these things and I kept telling him, I'm like, it's, you know, this is going to turn ugly. You know that people are going to come after you. And he's like, I don't care. Let him let him do it. But there are so many people that saw that he had my back and they're like, Oh. So she is telling the truth, she is being legit. And then, but man, low and behold, as soon as the case really hit this street, we had a bunch of people calling him and saying that that my bosses and their bosses' bosses were trying to get him in trouble. They're already making up stories and sharing it with people at the state office and the Washington office, little back door like see someone in the bathroom and just say like, Hey did you know so and so has been doing this. That's unethical. All this weird little middle school crap trying to take him down just because he was supporting me and it started like that. But what was great is some of his leaders who had a ton of respect for him, saw and recognized that and put a stop to it but it's only because he is held so highly in the fire service. Anybody else that was backing me that did back me, they got taken down.

Tracy: 15:55

Yup. I totally believe it. And for him to have to go through that and for those few people who had his bat like how hard was that? Like just one more person have someone's back and

Abby: 16:11

cause he never knew how bad this step was till he lived on the inside of mine. He's like, I had no idea it was this like when we first started seeing each other and I would get just a shitty email or some bad voicemail or something that was just like, are you kidding me? And people that know that him and I were together and I would forward it to him. I'd be like, how am I supposed to respond to this? It just, it'd be something in their political or administrative, just just total harassment or exclusion. And he started seeing that stuff. He's like, I cannot believe this. I did not know this kind of stuff happened in our agency. And then the more that you saw it and then the more of our friends he saw of it, his eyes were open because so many of the good guys never ever see it. So they don't know who to back up.

Tracy: 16:47

Yeah. And you know what, like when I first, I was a part of the DC fire chiefs association for 15 years. I mean I was a member and that things happened because I had the license with the NSPA or Sparky the fire dog in Canada for seven years. And then the NFTA gave it to the Ontario fire marshals who had a arms Lake distribution center they created. And when that happened at crest, my business, that's one of the first time. And I went to the fire conference and the trade show with whatever I could muster up cause I wasn't allowed to, I was sparking a fire gun swag anymore. And I had seven years of it. My website, my catalog, all the inventory. It was like my booth was pretty bare, right? And that side. And I was there and I had a lot of fire fighter friends and you know, in those days I was like pretty good rapport and that, and one of them, I remember coming to me and saying, that really happens well as an organization that you're a member of all these years, what can we do to help? And I said, well, could you call them? I mean, that's cool that they took away my license and I was like, geez, you know, we're licensees for smokey bear and we're licensees for sparking the fire dog and you have to pay royalties quarterly. And we track everything. And I was like the model licensee and that was just completely unfair. And you know, it was given to the organization that can get more, um, sponsors like within the fight. It was just like a corruption. So they just wouldn't do it at that point. Like it just was too difficult for them too. Right?

Abby: 18:23

Yeah, and I've cause so I've like, I had an employee, a guy who, um, my chief is pulling some stuff on me and I remember, I totally remember the day, I remember where I was sitting when he sent me a message and he's like, Hey, heads up chief so-and-so is after you. I just want you to know, watch out. He just left my office and I was like, Oh shit. So I appreciated this person that shared with me this Texas was always so conservative. He was afraid to ever speak out. He would, you'd never put anything in writing. He didn't even really know how to text. And he sent me that and I was like, Oh my gosh. So he and he met more administrative stuff like the guy, my chief had been setting me up on stuff. And so for this guy to warn me that worked for me, I was like, Holy cow, I can't believe he actually, he's going to be doing the right thing. Well, a lot of other things happen then go forward to where it's time to actually start naming witnesses. And I shared his text messages, I share the emails he had formed me as support, you know, all this stuff. And then when the investigator reached out to him, crickets is like, I can't remember. I don't want to be involved. And that was a big thing is I don't want to be involved. And by law they didn't have to be, they could just shut up. And I was so frustrated and people were like, Oh my God, aren't you gonna go after him? How could he, how could he just not back you up after that, when he had all that evidence and I said, you know what, watching what I have gone through living what I've gone through, I get it because he's his only, he's the only person that supports his family. His wife doesn't work. He's got all these kids. He's terrified to get treated the way that I am to have reprisal happen. So I'm not mad at him. I don't hold it against him because I'm living the fear that he has. I mean, I get it and that's how sad it is. People that a woman that worked for me, same thing, she had all this evidence. She was a big part of it. She would come to me and share it with me all the time. When my attorney called her to act as a witness, I immediately started getting threatening text messages from her telling me to shut the hell up, to never say save, never share her name, never share her number with anybody illegally. Like she flipped out and she goes, I fear for my family's safety. Please do not put me in the middle of this case. And that's how strong, and we shared that with the agency to say like, do you see how bad this is? Like this is how terrified people are. So that's the kind of, it's just no surprise and it's like, I don't know how to change that. And I'm trying to get people to be more afraid to not speak up than to speak up and I just don't know what it is.

Tracy: 20:36

Yeah. Like one or two liters at the top that can put a stop to it all.

Abby: 20:40

Yes. Right. When the good people seem to get something, they can make a difference. They leave and then it's like, well now who? And they just get caught in that trap. And I, that's when I knew that it was like when I started feeling, cause I've always felt like I love my job so much that I would do it for free. Even the hard days, the dirty days, a days in the middle of nowhere, desert fighting a stupid fire. Like I always was so proud of it and I love doing it. Then I would do it for free. And when my career shifted to where it was like, Oh my God, dreading going to work the next day like that because I never wanted to work a real job. I've never wanted a real job one where I'm like dreading to go to work for however many hours watching the clock, waiting for it to stop. Like I want the dream job where you can't wait to go. And when it started to shift from that to being something I was dreading, I just knew that, that it wasn't for me. And I think so many people get trapped in that. So many people are like, I just have this many more years till retirement or I just have to hold out this much longer. And they, they just become a part of the problem without even realizing it. And it's just rampant. I dunno. I just want to make sure that I'm tied to individuals like you. That's great. Cause I know like what your mission is and what you're doing. It's the big corporations that do get kind of scary and you don't know when they're just going to turn on you, like those ones that have with you and stuff. So I think my trust factor is so low that it's really hard.

Tracy: 21:53

Well, I think that when people see that you have a story and they actually hear your story, so it was gonna work out better for us to be transparent and get that out of our head of what um, was done to us and get past their tears. And I mean, I had to have therapy and hypnotherapy and stuff like that, so it's difficult, but when we can tell our story without crying, I think that is a fun, major accomplishment because I found that every time my voice cracked and I would like choke up and not be able to spit out a few words and stuff like that, that he didn't like that the people, he who even thought we're going to have your back. There's a psych.

Abby: 22:41

Don't be too real. Yeah, that's way too real for me. Like, no, no, I got your back. But unless you're actually going to be, you know, forthcoming. Yeah. Tracy, you've told me about your like crowdfunding concept and how you personalize this to people who are trying to get it going in their community.

Tracy: 22:56

And I actually had an animated video we're doing and like a cartoon, it's kinda Dave firefighter, here's my story and here's what I'm doing with fire ed now. And then like a call done. Like we're just finishing it and then he'll have his own crowd funding page. So when he goes and tells people about it, so he says, well you just have to log in here or he has like some sort of piece that people, you know, there's this park, whatever. So they log in and they see his case and we don't even have to like explain it in much detail. It's a landing page with all the information you need. Donate now. And when he has enough money he can go and start launching communities everywhere. And then it's sustainable in itself because we teach the facilitators to keep going back and getting the funding. And we'd say, okay, so you know, if 25 bucks for a kid to come to a class for an hour and there's 30 kids, so we just do all the math, we might go to an organization like a pizza shop and say, Hey, for$300 do you want to put, um, 25 kids through fire ed and get like a certificate for your wall. So our grassroots approach and exactly that. And like I said, fire department, please adopt us your how your services are obviously our biggest stakeholder, but this is all happening anyway. And when you see the roster and the list of people attending, you're not going to say no,

Abby: 24:23

right? No. People want to be totally on board and like, so I'm, I'm envisioning as you're talking about this, you know, I just have all these flashes in my head cause I mean, I can't think of a community that I've been in for a fire and not even that has been on fire. They just see can see smoke somewhere at some point in their lives and to not have people be like, how can we help? How can we be a part of this? And like with the fire safe councils, there's so many people within the community that want to help. They just don't, they just don't know how or you know, they, there's not a room on the board for them to do what it is that they're skilled at. And a lot of them people like my mom who just wanted to go and talk to the kids, you know, people like that. I mean there's oodles of those people that are great in front of people are great educators. I'm having such a hard time with being so small with just being focused on a city or just being focused on in County. And so my mind is spinning right now with what you're talking about because it's on such a national and global level.

Tracy: 25:13

No, this was like, this is like this platform with like, I mean online learning and like anything you can possibly think of for the kids. I have that this one tool, this is just the platform that can be worlwide. And that's what like fire ed international making the world a safer place, one preventable fire at a time. And you know, social entrepreneurs, it's a grass roots social change movement for eliminating preventable fires worldwide. Like our whole thing is global.

Abby: 25:52

Well let's keep talking more and figure out how I can help you do good things cause cause I'm in. Thank you so much for being a part of this episode. In this interview I created Up in Flames as an effort to start a few fires and ignite moral courage. And as you heard my talk with Tracy, it's about far more than workplace issues. It's about having the courage to make your community a safer place. We can't rely on the government to do it for us. We have to all be part of something good. Now if you're interested in bringing fire into your community, please check out the show notes or send me an email at abby@upinflames.org and I'll be happy to connect you with Tracy Last and the fire ed program. The Up in Flames' mission is no ordinary challenge. It's a culture shifting project powered by you. To keep Up in Flames going strong. Go to AbbyBolt.com and hit the link at the top and see how you can become a patron. Up in Flames' patrons get special access to behind the scenes info, backstories content no one else knows about. Not to mention early access to many episodes. Another way you can support the mission is to share it with others and leave a review on iTunes. It's truly an honor to serve. You remember, choose the hard right over easy silence and lead with F.I.R.E.