PIO Podcast (11/06/25): Fire Trucks, Paint Chips, and Forestry Challenges
San Bernardino County Fire: PIO PodcastShow Notes
We’re back with Episode 14 of the San Bernardino County Fire PIO Podcast! Host Captain Shawn Millerick and the team continue the mission to inform, educate, and entertain. Episode Highlights: Inside the Shops: Fleet, Fabrication, and Fire Trucks Dale explains the difference between the D Street and Lena shops and how the team manages repairs, parts, and fabrication for a growing fleet.
The crew gets a behind-the-scenes look at the new K1 80 fire engines—including what sets the West Coast spec apart from its East Coast counterpart.
Learn how standardization could revolutionize fleet management—and why local terrain and tradition still matter.
Dale reveals the story behind the department’s signature “Chrysler Red” paint chip—and why it’s guarded like treasure.
The team discusses how careful driving and daily inspections help extend vehicle life and reduce costly repairs.
Fire Department Features Dale shares how the shop will soon be fully staffed for the first time in 10 years—a huge milestone for the fleet team.
The discussion covers how the department is preparing snow cats and mountain utilities ahead of winter, ensuring readiness for snow season.
Crews also talk about new reserve rigs and how smart scheduling and preventative maintenance keep apparatus in service longer.
Tech Corner: Low-Tech Forestry with High Impact PIO’s Tech Corner goes “low-tech” this episode with Wildland Fuels Specialist Jared Dowden, who introduces listeners to the Forestry Challenge—an academic competition where high school students measure and analyze forest data using traditional tools. Learn how the program has expanded statewide since 2003 and now brings 100–200 students annually to the San Bernardino Mountains for hands-on forestry science.
Jared explains how old-school field methods meet modern environmental data collection to inspire the next generation of conservationists.
Joke of the Day Dale: “I caught my daughter chewing on an extension cord—so I grounded her. She’s conducting herself properly now, but the whole situation was shocking.” Jared adds a forestry twist: “How can you identify a dogwood tree? By its bark.”
Links Mentioned in the Episode: Photos of the Snowcat Forestrychallenge.org
More from San Bernardino County Fire: PIO Podcast
This episode marks a milestone, the show’s 40th installment, and it comes together in an unusual way. Part of the conversation was recorded back in June, and part was recorded this October, so the show jumps between the two recording sessions, almost like time travel in a movie, to bring five different segments into one episode. The show kicks off by digging into a box of old VHS tapes, including a mystery news clip from 2006 that has the studio trying to guess which current department member is on screen. The real news of the episode is the announcement of this year’s Salute to Service award winners. The crew walks through every category and announces this year's winners: Sustained Superior Performance Champions of Change Awards (Mentorship Excellence, Synergy Star, Rising Phoenix) Legacy Award Exceptional Service Award Annual Awards (Ambulance Operator of the Year, Fire District Employee of the Year, Firefighter of the Year) Fire Chief’s Distinguished Service Awards Medal of Valor Award Tech Corner covers two drones now in testing, one built to drop water on hot spots and another designed to fly hose packs up to firefighters on steep terrain, plus a new robot dog making its debut around headquarters. The episode wraps with surprise phone calls to a retiring 20 year veteran on his way out the door and a firefighter with a wild past life as a Dodger Stadium visiting clubhouse bat boy, along with groundbreaking news on Fire Station 227 and updates on several more stations in the pipeline.
CAL FIRE Battalion Chief David Acuña joins the PIO Podcast to walk through a career that started with the Orange County Fire Explorers back in 1986 and wound through paramedic work, a stretch away from the fire service entirely, and stops at Riverside County Fire, CAL FIRE, the Emergency Command Center, and now statewide Battalion Chief and Public Information Officer. He breaks down what a CAL FIRE PIO actually does day to day, covering a coverage area that stretches from Siskiyou to San Diego, and shares a crash course in fire weather and behavior fundamentals including LCES. Acuña talks about Aware California, a platform set to change how agencies share incident information, and talks candidly about the personal impact of the 2020 Creek Fire. The conversation wraps with his thoughts on mentoring and recruiting the next generation of firefighters.
Second District Supervisor Jesse Armendarez welcomes the PIO Podcast into his own office for a conversation on Fontana roots, public service, and building opportunity from the ground up.
Vice Chairman of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors and Fifth District Supervisor Joe Baca, Jr. joins the PIO Podcast for a wide ranging conversation on family, public service, and what's coming next for San Bernardino County. Baca, Jr. talks growing up in Rialto, his years as a teacher and softball coach, and how those experiences shaped his approach to representing the 5th District.
Host Captain Shawn Millerick is back in the studio for a conversation with San Bernardino County’s Third District team: Chairman of the Board Dawn Rowe, Chief of Staff Claire Cozad, and Communications Director Scott Ward. Chairman Rowe shares her path to the board, from losing her husband in Iraq and staying in Yucca Valley to raise her kids, to land use frustrations that led her to the planning commission, town council, and eventually the county board. She talks about the steep learning curve of representing the largest district in the county, which touches Arizona, Nevada, and LA County and has been ground zero for the El Dorado Fire, the Line Fire, Hurricane Hilary, and Snowmageddon. Chief of Staff Claire Cozad discusses her work on Capitol Hill, her experience as a chief of staff managing a team of twelve, and the advice she would give any young person starting out. Scott Ward reflects on more than three decades in radio at KFROG, including a Blue Angels ride that produced a memorable barf bag photo, and the transition to public service communications. The group also digs into county budget priorities, the importance of Starlink in remote desert response, leadership lessons, and a mass casualty incident exercise that turned into an accidental rescue of a county supervisor stranded in the desert with a group of high schoolers.