The 1980’s cartoon series “G.I. Joe” ended each episode with an often corny and sometimes salient lesson, always following roughly the same script: A few adolescents get an oafish idea, like jumping their bikes over a downed sparking electrical wire, when a prominent member of the Joe squad materializes to explain their error in judgment. The schooled kids, grateful at being spared whatever harm might have befallen them, emphatically shout, “Now we know!” To which the soldier replies, “And knowing is half the battle!”
For more than two decades, fire chief Billy Goldfeder has been a real-life firefighting G.I. Joe with a Yosemite Sam mustache, spreading lessons and knowledge learned from countless incidents, accidents, and sometimes tragic mistakes on the fireground. Through videos, articles, lectures across the country, and his massive online following, Goldfeder has tried to impress on his fellow firefighters the importance of knowledge and the consequences that can occur in its absence. His guiding principle is the more you know, the safer you are.