Ep010:

Flames, Flow and Fallout

Christy Warren spent 25 years as a firefighter and paramedic in California, moving from ambulance to engine to captain. She takes us inside the strange quiet before chaos, the split-second decisions that lives depend on, and the black humour that helps crews cope with constant cortisol and interrupted routines. From flashovers to freeway pile-ups, she explains why first responders frame calls as tasks—not heroics—because clarity is the only way to survive when seconds matter.

But Christy’s story is also about what happens when the calls don’t stay boxed away. She revisits a house fire with multiple children, and the penthouse search that “broke the box” and triggered the PTSD she’d been holding off for decades. Nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and rage followed, until a peer retreat and therapy helped her find her way back. Today, she speaks openly about culture change in the fire service, the shame that nearly ended her life, and why—despite it all—she would still choose the job again.