CMC Podcast

In this CMC Podcast our school instructors Craig McClure, John McKently, LeRoy Harbach, and Jason Ilowite hold a roundtable a discussion about the books, aside from technical manuals, that have been influential to them in their lives and careers.

Books mentioned:

"The Mission, The Men, and Me" By Pete Blaber

"Up the Organization" by Robert Townsend

"Young Men and Fire" by Norman MacLean

"Green Eggs and Ham, Oh the Places you'll Go" by Dr Suess

"Deadliest Seas" by Caley Thompson

"Damn Lucky" by Kevin Lawer

"We Die Alone: A WWII Epic of Escape and Endurance"

by David Howarth

"Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

"Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun" by Wes Roberts

"Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts" by Annie Duke

"The Ashley Book of Knots" by Clifford W. Ashley

In this CMC Podcast CMC Instructors Wayne Chapman, John McKently, Doug McElmury, and Kelly Byrne hold a roundtable discussion about NFPA General Use vs Technical Use ratings. They explore how the ratings are defined, if there is a requirement to use one over the other, and possible use cases.

Overheard this episode:

“As long as you are buying good stuff from reputable places you are not in danger of breaking things... don't put your Wish .com carabiners on your high change of direction” at 07:41

“Are there NFPA police?” at 17:28

"Hipsters of rope" - at 32:34

This week we are joined by Fred Salazar. Fred started his journey into the fire services at a young age when he attended a fire academy through a junior college, followed by paramedic school. Fred's first position out of school was with a fire team working for a petrochemical plant in Southern California where he served as a full time industrial Fire Fighter for 7 years. After his service in the industrial world, Fred moved to Colorado where he has worked for a metropolitan fire department for 26 years. Currently, Fred is a fire lieutenant in his department's Heavy Rescue program and has been an instructor with CMC since 1994.

Overheard from this episode:

“For me, one of the most enjoyable moments is when you see the student actually get it.”

“Everything will come full circle at some point.”

In this CMC Instructor podcast, we are joined by LeRoy Harbach. LeRoy started in the fire service in 1981 where he worked his way up to Battalion Chief of the Caledonia, Wisconsin Fire Department. LeRoy left his Battalion Chief position to join the Waukesha Fire Department as an entry level Fire Fighter to take on new challenges and open himself up to new opportunities at a bigger department. LeRoy has been a CMC instructor since 1999 and teaches a variety of classes.

Overheard this episode:

“I get called for a lot of oddities, not only US wide but Internationally.”

“Solving those problems…is a lot of fun.”

This week we are joined by CMC School Instructor Craig McClure. Craig got his start in rope rescue volunteering for a Search and Rescue team in Bend, OR. Eventually after many years of volunteering and teaching in the rope rescue field Craig started his own training company called The Crackerjack Group, which he ran for nearly 10 years. After selling the Crackerjack Group he returned to his passion of rope training world joining CMC as an instructor in April 2022.

Overheard this episode:

4:46 - “Dude, rope is where it’s at.”

16:55 - “I really enjoy what we do in this, which is help people overcome those fears and kind of open up new things in their lives.”

24:52 - “That caving influence in ITRS (International Technical Rescue Symposium) is vital to the growth and vital to the history.”

30:54 - “If you’re going to pick up a new technique, you need to consider what you’re going to stop learning if you’re going to learn a new one.”

35:57 - “Their risk profile is different than yours, so maybe don’t adopt their practices.”

Join us weekly to get to know our CMC instructors. This week we are joined by Matthew Scharper. Matthew got his start in high school, volunteering for the Search and Rescue team in Mariposa County, CA. After search and rescue, Matthew joined the Mariposa Sheriffs department where he worked as a "Gun Toter" and Search and Rescue Coordinator for over 20 years. He worked his way up to State Search and Rescue Coordinator, where he was responsible for 58 counties. Now retired from law enforcement, Matthew has been instructing CMC Rope Rescue Technician I/II courses since 2013.

Overheard this episode:

“When somebody is basically hanging on to the edge of their life, you cannot question what you are doing.”

“I was responsible to make sure that the State had a Standard of Care from North, South, East to West, that all 58 (counties) had the resources they need to do their jobs.”

“At the time I was hired, I was also given the assignment as the Search and Rescue Coordinator for the department because that was something that actually got me into the job and it was something I loved and I wanted to do.”

More podcast episodes here: https://www.cmcpro.com/podcast/

Join us weekly to get to know our CMC instructors. This week we are joined by Kelly Byrne. Kelly Started his fire service career as a Highschool cadet volunteer in 1992. After Highschool Kelly served in the United States Army as an Airborne Infantryman with the 82nd Airborne. Upon completion of his service in 1999 Kelly moved back into the Fire Services where he found himself working for the Washington DC Fire Department where he currently serves. Kelly has been an instructor with CMC since 2013.

Overheard this episode:

“I anchored to the foot of Freedom. There is no more bombproof anchor than that.”

“I wanted to be a guitarist in a rock n roll band and have big, long hair, dreams of that!”

"Gravity is the same for everybody and the techniques aren’t too terribly different.”

Join us weekly to know our CMC School instructors. This week we are joined by Justin Klopfenstein. Justin started his fire career early in life. Watching his dad work in the Fire Services, Justin was inspired to start volunteering with Cal Fire in Highschool in 1992. Justin worked as an EMT from 1999 to 2001 when he got hired as a firefighter. He spent 5 years as a Firefighter paramedic, 5 years as an Engineer, 11 years as a captain, and now as a Bataillon Chief. Justin has been a CMC instructor since 2015.

Overheard this episode:

"I’m a huge fan of just practicing your craft and honing your craft.”

“As long as you have that depth of knowledge then you should be safe, you should be OK.”

“I am a member of California Task Force 8 and currently serve as a Rescue Team Manager over there.”

Join us weekly to get to know our CMC School instructors. This week we are joined by John McKently. John began working in the rescue industry in 1974, became an instructor with CMC in 1995, and retired as the CMC School Director in 2020. John worked for 47 years on the Montrose Search and Rescue team in Los Angeles County, CA. In this interview, we talk with John about how he transitioned from working in the private industry as a construction manager for a bank, to being asked by CMC founder Jim Frank to teach rescue for CMC. John continues to teach classes for CMC in his semi-retirement.

Overheard this episode:

“We’re not in the business of exchanging lives.”

“The thing that I really like is when you got a bunch of students and the light finally comes on in their head and you can see it on their face.”

“Our team goes from 1,000’ in elevation to 10,000’ at the county line.”

More podcast episodes here: https://www.cmcpro.com/podcast/

Join us weekly as we get to know our CMC School instructors. This week we are joined by Derrick Walker. Derrick has a background in the industrial world working in power plants as a certified structural welder and welding inspector. Derrick has been teaching Rope Rescue Tech I / II classes with CMC since 2021. In this interview, we talk with Derrick about his background working in the industrial world and how that allows him to bring a unique skill set to the classroom.

Overheard this episode:

“I want to be able to pass along the things that I have learned.”

“I’m your industrial guy, so that’s my world.”