Show: On The Town Station: KNCO File: 10:22.mp3 Air date: 2026-10-22 Source: OpenAI whisper-1 · shrunk from 30.6 MB to 6.1 MB --- transcript --- It's 1133 and 60 degrees, and on this Thursday, October 22nd, Tom Fitzsimmons' birthday, he chose to be at Serino's for On The Town. Good morning, Tom. I didn't quite choose it, but it is Thursday, and it happens to be my birthday today. We have to be at Serino's. You know, I've worked at KNCO for 31 years. Nobody's done, I don't think I've allowed anybody to do this. People have asked me to be interviewed, and I said, no, no, I wouldn't do that. But Jerry Serino wants to interview me. So Jerry Serino, you're the only person 31 years to do this. Well, first of all, we want to wish you, on behalf of Nevada County, a happy birthday. Thank you very much. And I want to make sure that some of the audience understands where you came from. Tell us when you were born. Well, I was a little kid when I was born, so I don't really know. So this is like, this is kind of like in legend, you know what I mean? It's almost like tradition. They said I was born at Margaret Hague Hospital, Jersey City, New Jersey. And I was born six pounds, four ounces. My goodness. Yeah. Yeah. And to my mother, I was the sixth of nine babies. I was the sixth one. Right. At least my mom told me that. So this is all I know. And you used to call your mom on the radio a lot. We remember that. Yeah, I used to call regularly. I used to call her for everything from her birthday or Mother's Day, Thanksgiving, because she used to have two birds going because she would host so many family members and stuff. And she primarily talked about food. Yeah, food. Yeah. Food and just us kids and stuff. And then the most famous call was when I finally got out of her, who her favorite kid was. And that was? My sister, Patty. Sister Patty. I still can't believe it. See, I get a mad on my face almost like immediately. Get over it, Tom. I know. Patty's the girl. I just can't believe it. Well, she said she had my two oldest brothers, Johnny and Bobby, first. And then when Patty came, she said, I lit up like a Christmas tree. That's what my dad told her. She lit up like a Christmas tree. And your dad was a? City fireman. City fireman. Actually, two jobs because he had nine kids. But he's a city fireman by trade. And then while he was a fireman, he completed his degree and became a teacher as well. Really? At Snyder High School. That's cool. And so when you were in school, your love for sports started where? Probably when I was just a little kid playing, like, you know, it was the city. So just playing, you know, against my steps, you know, throwing a ball against the steps and catching it and stuff. But then I got turned on to the New York Mets. That was my team growing up because my dad blamed me for the Giants and Dodgers moving. It was the same year I was born. Oh, it was your fault. Yeah. They started 58 out here. Couldn't blame Patty. So, yeah, it was, yeah, that's probably started me on baseball and stuff. Yeah. And what sports did you play in school? I played, let's see, baseball, football, a little basketball. Our basketball team was very good. We had two guys who made the NBA, like in high school. So, you know, I was too small and slow. Wow. A little bit of hockey. I played too. Yeah. Track and field. It was a Catholic school, so we had to play everything. We had no girls at the school, so we had nothing else to do. Exactly. And you came out West when? 1976, after graduation, my centennial year, I came out and always wanted to live out West. And you went to college in Arizona. Arizona. Northern Arizona first, up in Flagstaff, and then Arizona State. Great, great, great. And how long have you lived here? Lived here since 81. 81. Yeah. You have two daughters. I have two daughters, Katie and Kelly, my special Ks. Special Ks. Special Ks. Yeah. What do you like about the Nevada County residents? Just that I love them. You know, I mean, I've been 31 years at the radio station, a lot of people wonder why, and it's just that I love what I do. I get to, like, I'm going to meet a whole bunch of fire guys today, firefighters here from the Grass Valley Fire Department. Mark Buttrins here is the chief, and it's always kind of exciting to meet people. Jan Orbuckle is going to be my guest, and she's like one of the most dynamic people in the nation. So there's no doubt about that. It really is true. It's an amazing town we have. It really is. So it's a great job. It's a great game. We are very lucky to live here. Yes. Well, this is Jerry Serino and Tom Fitzsimmons at Serino's at Main Street. The number is 477-6000. Get over here, Tom. Don't walk away. What the heck? No, no. What the heck? What's happening over there? There's balloons up there. There are balloons up there, and I guess it's because there's a birthday going on here. Is there another one? There's another one, yeah. Okay. There's only one Tom Fitzsimmons. Give me that. Give me that microphone. Jerry, thanks for doing that. You're welcome. Always good to see you. It's always great seeing you here at Serino's at Main Street, downtown Grass Valley. We're going to check in on Wall Street, then we're talking to the Law Enforcement and Fire Protection Council with General Alpaco, but also, obviously, Grass Valley Fire Department. We come back. It is 1138 and 60 degrees, and time to chat with Rick Fisher, financial advisor with Ostro Financial Consultants, LPL Financial, member SIPC, and boy, you've been calling Tom Fitzsimmons for a number of years now, haven't you, Rick? Yes, I have. Yes, I have. And probably a lot of things you weren't aware of there. Yeah, no, I knew he came from a big family, I knew he was raised Catholic. I didn't know when he moved out here, and I didn't know why he's a Mets fan, because that is so disappointing when you're a Mets fan right now. It is. They've gone through some hard times, but when they shine, it's spectacular. Yes, but they still haven't won a World Series in quite a while. Was it 80? Did they win in 86? I don't think they've won since, I don't think. Tom would know. You can ask him and rub that salt into his wound. Well, it's his birthday, so we'll hold off. Yeah, take it easy on the old man. Until March, when spring training gets underway. There you go. And speaking of salt in the wounds, how are things looking on Wall Street today? Well, I don't know if the markets are mourning that loss. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. How are things looking on Wall Street today? Well, I don't know if the markets are mourning that our friend has will turn another year older, but right now we're, yeah, we're down across the board. We haven't had a day like this in a while. So right now, we've got the Dow down 118 points to 52,738. S&P 500's off 111 points to 7,646. And then the NASDAQ's taking it on the chin down almost 3%, down 742 points to 25,926. Taking a look at commodities, we've got crude oil up $2.32 to $99.47 a barrel. Gold's down $96 to $4,054 an ounce, with silver off almost 5%, down $2.79 to $54.92 an ounce. And the 10-year Treasury currently, we have the yield at, we're down below 4%, we're at 4.96%. So that is your midday report. And we'll find out the final numbers for the day right after the 5.30 newscast this afternoon. So until then, this has been Rick Fisher of Ostro Financial Consultants, Inc., LPL, inviting you to call us at 273-4425 and discover the difference when you think beyond investments. Have a wonderful afternoon. Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA SIPC. Investment advice offered through Ostro Financial Consultants, Inc., a registered investment advisor and separate entity from LPL Financial. Discover the stories that shaped Nevada County on History Unfolded, hosted by Tom Fitzsimmons and myself, Mike Stewart, with special guests, the second and fourth Mondays at 9 a.m. Brought to you by Mowl Paint & Glass, serving Nevada County since 1949, and Smarter Broadband, local, reliable, high-speed internet. Don't miss the voices, the stories, and the history that make our community unique, right here on KNCO News Talk 830. And welcome back to On the Sound, Tom Fitzsimmons here at Sereno's at Main Street. I'm so glad my interview is over with Jerry Sereno, so I get to talk to Jan Arbuckle here from Law Enforcement Fire Protection Council, of course, from the City Council. Kind of fun to see firefighters guys here, right? No, it's amazing. I walked in, I was just expecting Chief Bertrand, and here we go. We have all of engine number one, so the guys have boots on the ground, which is exciting to have. So, yes, I'm excited to hear what they have to say. Well, this is a great department for the city, isn't it? 100 percent. We are the best department. I travel, as you guys know, I travel all over the country, and I hear stories, and I'm proud to say that we are one of the best. We are one of the best. Now, you're on the board of Law Enforcement Fire Protection Council, correct? Correct. I am. Does the Grass Valley Fire Department have any needs and stuff? I mean, is that how it happens, where if they find a need that wasn't covered, whether it was radios, or hoses, or some apparatus that they don't have, that maybe they can go through you guys? That's exactly right. We fill the gap between what their budgets cannot afford to do, and they're not necessarily critical safety things, but they're nice to have to enhance the safety of the firefighters and law enforcement. You guys don't have a big fundraiser coming up quite yet, but the red light ball will be here. That's become the main fundraiser, correct? It is the only fundraiser. It's the only fundraiser that we have, and this year it's going to be May 15th, and it's going to be at the Castellano, I know I'm murdering the name, Castellano property, which is off of McCourtney, but that is our only fundraiser, and so we appreciate anything that anybody can do, and we're looking at ways to raise more funds, because since we only have one fundraiser a year, it kind of limits our funds and our ability to help first responders. You're a member of law enforcement down there in the Sacramento area, correct? Correct. I was a deputy sheriff in Sacramento County. I was a little hesitant when I asked that for a second there. Who works harder? Is it cops or firefighters? Who works harder? Do you know? Okay. Okay, so here's the philosophy. Cops run into a battle without any fear, but for the most part, they don't have those gunfights every day. Every time these guys go out, fire goes out, they're running into a burden building. You would not catch me doing that, so it's a balance as to who, and if people love firefighters because they always are coming to help. Police maybe not so much. They may be coming to arrest somebody in your family or whatever. They're very well loved. I will say this. The women in this town love the firefighters because of the mustaches. I don't know if you've heard that. That's a true thing, isn't it? Look at these guys. I mean, you know, they have all the mustaches, and yes, that's them. The Oakland A's of the 70's gone bad. They're right here. Exactly. Exactly. No, they're great. Chief Mark Muttren is here. Let's think about law enforcement and the firefighters and all the other first responders and stuff. You guys all get along. I think having those meetings that these guys facilitate, those monthly meetings are a big part of that, right? No, absolutely. All the first responders in this county get along phenomenally. Law enforcement, CHP, sheriff, fire, everybody. It's pretty phenomenal. I've worked up and down the state of California throughout my career, and you just don't find that in other places, so yeah, it's pretty cool. All right. Well, you're here with your therapy dog, right? Yeah. Now, is he or she around? No, he's at home with mom today. He didn't want to get up and come to work. I didn't either. Yeah, well, I didn't either, but he just laid in bed and wouldn't move, so he's staying there. Good for him. And what's his name again? Gus. All right. Are you okay without Gus, by the way? Yeah, I'm okay. All right. How'd you end up picking these three guys from Engine One? Well, you know, you called and wanted to do an interview, and I thought, you know what? Let's put some people that actually do the work in front of you. So today, you have Captain Tyler Tomlinson off of Engine One, Firefighter Drew Giglio off of Engine One, and Firefighter Buck Driscoll. So these guys actually do the work. I just sit in an office, so I'm not that exciting. They are. All right. Out of all three, who's the most valuable? All right. I'll put you on the line, Chief. They all have... No, wait a minute. They're all pointing at each other. Is that a bad thing I asked? No, you know, it's just some rivalry interior. It's all good stuff. No, they're all pretty special, so, you know, they're all good. Should I start with Tyler? Should I do that? Yeah. Start with Tyler. He's the man. Tyler, what's your position again? Fire Captain. Fire Captain. So what does that mean in regards to these other two guys, the firefighters next to you? Are you their boss? Technically yes. So I kind of oversee the engine company and, you know, ensure day-to-day operations, trainings, making sure the crew is where they're supposed to be and doing what they're supposed to be doing. But these guys make my job easy. These guys are studs. All right. Here's the thing. Did you play sports growing up at all or anything like that? I did. I did. I played football, baseball, and basketball all four years of high school. All right. Because that's the feel I even have for you guys just being here. It's like being in a locker room, if you don't mind me saying, where it's that tightness, the camaraderie that firefighters have. Yeah, it definitely is. It's pretty similar to sports. All the things that we go through are battle-tested. You know, the highs are high and the lows are low, and we go through it all together, and we live together at the station for days at a time, and so we get pretty close. All right. How busy have you guys been? Has this been a busy firefighting year in the city? It's been pretty busy. I think we're on record to run more calls than we ever have, and especially over the past few years, so it's been a busy one for sure. All right. Are there any crazy calls that stand out so far this year for you? Nothing that sticks out right now, but one of the best parts of this job is every day is different and every call is different, and that keeps us on our toes, and so there's never a dull moment. All right. Are you guys on engine one because you're like the top group of firefighters within the city? You know, there's like engine one, engine two, and what, five? Is that right? Yes. Yeah. We would say that, but if you ask the other engine companies, they'll also tell you that they're probably number one, but ... Are you guys on engine five, Kats, because that's way down. Yeah. Yeah. We can't forget about the engine five guys, but no, everybody's going to tell you that they're the best engine company, but that's just that competitive spirit that firefighters have and just wanting to be the best at whatever they're doing. All right. This mustache thing. All right. Is that part of the team camaraderie and stuff, that everybody grows a mustache for the fire department? Yeah. Once you become a firefighter, even if you shave it off, you just wake up the next morning and the mustache is there again, but no, it's just one of those things. We have to be clean shaven just because of the face mask that we wear to go interior on structure fires, and so just create that good seal, so a mustache is the facial hair that we're allowed to have, but it's also tradition in the fire service, dating back to in the early fire service days where they had no protective equipment to go inside these structure fires, and so they used the mustaches from all the snot and the soot from the fires and the sweat from getting into their mouth, they used that as a filter, and so it's just kind of a long lived tradition in the fire service. Is that a true story, or you just make that up, because I don't know, you got the snot and the soot there, and then I started wondering if that was true or not. That is a true story, true story. Which brings up the thing, Chief. Did you have a mustache when you started, or did you get one once you came here and started work? No, once I started in the fire service, but that was back in 1989, so it's been a while. Is it a requirement? Do you tell guys that you hire that you need to get one? It's not a requirement. It's like he said, like Tyler said, it's tradition, so some do, some don't. Some can't, right? I mean, some just can't grow, so. Engine one here, but who has the best mustache in the whole department? Man, I don't know. Giglio's is pretty good. You get a lot of comments about his, so. Giglio, come here. All right, all right. That is a great mustache. Now, do mustaches run in your family, or what? They come from my grandpa's side. He was Italian. He had big old. Totally Italian mustache. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. He had a nice beard, nice mustache his whole life, so I think it got passed down from him. My dad couldn't grow anything, so it was not from him. It's definitely from my grandpa. Once you started growing it, you obviously grew it and stuff. It is shaped. It is nicely done. Do you go to a professional to have that done? I do not. I just trim it every now and then. This is short right now. I can go along and do the whole curls if I want to, but it's a little bit much sometimes. All right. I should ask all you guys. Are you married, Tyler? I am married. Is your wife happy with the mustache? She is. She is. All right. How about you? Engaged. Getting married next year, and she likes it. She likes the mustache? Yep. I passed the test. Yeah. So it's all good. All right. So what's it like being a firefighter in Grass Valley? Is this a pretty intense gig? Like every day's? I know it's different because that's the nature of the beast, but is it a pretty dynamic place? I feel like it comes in waves. I feel like a lot of these guys will agree. We have days where we're never at the station, and then we have our slower days. I mean, that kind of goes for all departments across the country, but I mean, we have days where engines are running all over the place. We have multiple fires going on. You've got medicals, vehicle accidents. So we kind of call those like chaos days where we're just running around, just doing a bunch of different stuff. And then we have more low-key days where we get more training in, and we can do just station chores, more stuff on that side of the job. I think it was about a week ago when we had that warm spell and also a breeze out of the north that came up and stuff that really felt like this is dangerous type of weather. Do you guys feel that and talk about it at the station when that happens? Yeah, it's always on our radar. We keep an eye on the weather, and we understand what our high hazard areas are. We know that if that weather's coming in, that we know what to expect and be prepared in the afternoon. All right. Just between you and me. Okay. And nobody else is here, right? What's up with Buck's mustache? Can you explain to me what's up with Buck's mustache? It's been a work in progress for a while. We've been kind of telling him to get rid of it, but he's just rolling with it. So we're just letting him do his thing. Should he get rid of it? I mean, he's part of the family and stuff, right? No, I'm just messing with him. We love Buck. We love his mustache. He looks great. All right, Buck. Can you explain that mustache? Come here. Come here, Buck. How you doing, buddy? I don't want to be part of this anymore. You don't want to be part of it? Of course you do. It's a great-looking mustache. I can see it. I appreciate that. You're not a mustache guy. This is the first time I've ever tried to grow one, so it's still up for grabs on whether it's doable or not. No, every time you shave it and come back, it'll actually come back a little bit better. Thicker. I don't know if these guys have told you that, but there's kind of truth to that rumor. I'm a little worried if I shave it off, it'll just disappear forever, so I don't know. My wife might appreciate that to a degree. Is your wife excited about the mustache or not? That's still to be decided. I think she's gotten used to seeing me with it, so it's more just a part of her life. I'm just forced onto her. I would say she's not too excited about it, then, I think, wouldn't you say, Jan? Yes, I would take that. All right, so firefighter in Grass Valley, same question. I just asked Giggs here. Is it a pretty intense job, more than you thought? For being a small city or smaller city, we do run a lot of calls, and we get good calls, meaning because we only have three engines, we're doing a lot on the calls itself, so we could be doing vehicle extrication one moment, then patient care the next. You have to be very versatile to work here, which I really appreciate. You do a lot on calls, and we're fairly busy most of the days, so I really like that. Because of the location, you guys do schools and stuff there, right? Because I remember when my kids were little, over at Bell Hill, I think they had field trips over there. Yes, we actually had two pub ed events the last two days, so the kids come by. We split them into groups. We run them through the engine. We run them through our gear, just trying to desensitize them to seeing us in full gear so that if they do see us in a bad moment, they're not scared of us. They know that it's us under the PPE. All right. I'm going to take a break. Okay, Ma, I'm going to take a break right now. We are on the town here, Serena's at Main Street, so a quick break. We'll be right back. Women of color are far more likely to get uterine fibroids, causing pain and bleeding that can make life a daily struggle. Women often suffer in silence or hear that surgery is the only option. It's not. Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance companies now cover uterine fibroid embolization and other less invasive treatments, no major surgery, and quicker recovery. 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All right, Tyler, it is, what did you say, Fire Prevention Awareness Month or something like that? It is. October is Fire Prevention Month. What should people be doing right now? You know, they're going to start lighting fires, they're going to start getting things ready for, you know, these colder temperatures. What should they be doing? Yeah, I think first thing is don't get fooled by the cool weather. Enjoy it, but historically, the most devastating wildfires in California have happened in the later October and November months, and so let's not get fooled and kind of take our guard down that everything's fine because we got a couple days of some light rain. So just keep aware and just still be ready for anything that could happen. And leading into the colder months, people start, you know, like you said, lighting those fires in their stoves, wood stoves. Just have your chimney cleaned. That's a big one for the fire department. That's, you know, chimney fires start small and then quickly spread into the attic and other places and becomes devastating overall. So have your chimneys cleaned. Yes, it's a financial cost, but it's worth it in the long run. And actually, if you're going to take it on yourself, only if you're able to do it, because some people come up with the craziest ideas what they can do. Yes, absolutely. And not everybody should be up on their roofs, especially in colder, wet weather and working with equipment that they're not familiar with. So if you're unable to do it yourself, it's definitely worth having someone who's qualified to come out and take care of that for you. From your point of view, you guys, because I had on Dwayne Strasser the other day, a couple of days ago, and of course he's been in charge trying to get defensible space and fire preparedness done in Grass Valley. Are you seeing good results? People taking care of that zero zone around their house and that type of stuff? Yes, absolutely. And I think that Measure B has been great for the city of Grass Valley. If anything else, just the awareness of what they should be doing and then just the direction of, all right, if I can't myself, how do I go about it? Taking care of the plants and bushes and just their properties. At the end of the day, all the clearing and defensible space, it's allowing the firefighters to help. They can help us help you so we can, when we arrive at your house, there is something to be saved rather than overgrown bushes and trees and all that, and that's just not a good spot for us to be in and allowing us to stay and be able to save your house. All right. Totally different thing. Is it okay to have the city manager be a cop? Is that okay? You feel okay with that? I just thought about that. He was, after an interview process, he was the right man for the job, so he's going to be great. Yeah. He is the right guy for the job, isn't he? Absolutely. There is no doubt in my mind. We've got a minute left there. Measure B, we just brought it up real quick, your point of view. It has been tremendous for Grass Valley. It has been tremendous. I know nobody likes new taxes, me included, but the thing is that it's a benefit that the whole community, not just the city limits of Grass Valley, but all of western Nevada County, because they work together. You can't measure that. You just cannot. And so, yeah. Measure B has been tremendous. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. --- end of transcript ---