Outside the fire bays are stories that most first responders don’t want to talk about and share. These are private stories that guided them to and through their public service. Adversity, leadership, loss, strength, tragedy, sleepless nights, fire family vs. blood family, cancer, suicide, line of duty deaths, training, pranks, and politics- rookies to officers to retirees. No one is left unaffected, but almost all make it ‘through the fire’ with the bond and support of the brotherhood. The mission here is to share these personal experiences from individuals inside and outside the service to entertain, educate, and enable the first responder community to be a just ‘little more’ than the day before.