The Anchor Point Podcast

Dialing in your nutrition can be extremely challenging for a tactical athlete, especially for a wildland firefighter during the fire season - The lunches absolutely suck, MRE's are probably nutritionally devoid, and you oftentimes find yourself eating a bunch of gas station food like a raccoon eating out of a dumpster...  That's why we have Michelle Yurick on the show today to talk about nutrition...

Melissa Moore is a former wildland firefighter, Hotshot, Smokejumper, and the founder of the Wildland Wellness Foundation - An organization that specializes in healing mental health issues through ancestral medicines... Thomas Wurm is the founder of Mountain Mind Tricks - An alternative therapy and mental health optimization practice that specializes in NLP, hypnosis, Mental-Emotional Release, and...

Being in a very male dominated profession, women in the firefighting profession typically have a unique set of challenges to face... That's why we have Makenzie Gould on The Anchor Point Podcast today to talk about her career, her ideal nutrition, her fitness routine, making career choices that are advantageous, following your heart, and her ways of putting up up with the haters... "Mac" (Makenzie...

Today - June 21st, 2021: The entire federal wildland firefighting workforce FINALLY got some good news about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the pay raise that comes along with it... That's why we have two of the major players in the game on the show to discuss all of the pertinent information, and how it effects the "boots on the ground". Special thank you to the Grassroots Wildland Firefig...

Wildland firefighters tend to be a magnanimous, larger than life, and compassionate crowd... Our stories, legacies, triumphs, and tribulations  are oftentimes passed along through a very tribal, and (almost exclusively) verbal means. That's where The American Wildfire Experience comes in... To catalog and preserve this verbal history through digital storytelling... The American Wildfire Experience...

Our very first guest on The Anchor Point Podcast, Nelda St. Clair, is back on the show for episode 100! Nelda is a former wildland firefighter who's worked her way through the ranks, and ultimately help bring about the CISM program. On this episode: We revisit her history, her background, and the updates to the CISM programs she has helped pave the way with... We also have Neldas husband, Ron Boll...

Former Smokejumper and Hotshot, Bre Orcasitas, is on the show to talk in greater detail about her (extremely well written) article called, "The Great Exodus"... Today on the show: Bre goes into greater detail on why wildland firefighters are leaving federal service at an unsustainable pace... "The Great Exodus" is an incredibly well written exposé, taking in Bre's observations, shared peer experie...

There is a very legitimate fear when it comes to reprisal and retribution within the federal workplace. It may not be every wildland firefighter that may experience it, but many have... That's why we have wildland firefighter, Pedro Rios, stops by on the show today to tell his story about reprisal, the lawsuit, and the lengthy process to resolution... Keep in mind that this episode is HIS story al...

Micah Booze is a wildland firefighter, modern philosopher,  and entrepreneur from Alaska... Micah has some awesome insight and wisdom on fire leadership, networking, and looking at things from a different perspective... He's also an expert level Big Lebowski fan. He's also the brains behind the scenes at " The A.S.S. Movement " - A company founded on the premise of educating people on how to prope...

Micah Booze is a wildland firefighter, modern philosopher,  and entrepreneur from Alaska... Micah has some awesome insight and wisdom on fire leadership, networking, and looking at things from a different perspective... He's also an expert level Big Lebowski fan. He's also the brains behind the scenes at " The A.S.S. Movement " - A company founded on the premise of educating people on how to prope...

Wildland firefighting tends to have a very "work hard, play harder" mentality surrounding the culture... And unfortunately, the "play harder" can be the part that gets the best of people. Lets all just take a step back to our own shoes for a second and really analyze the culture... Now that you've thought about it a little; it seems like drinking and wildland firefighting are kind of normalized in...

Ask yourself this question, and answer it honestly: Have you ever thought about leaving federal service? If you have, did it invoke a feeling of anxiety? Are you scared that you will lose "street cred"? Are you too comfortable with what you do now to pursue other things? Are you always trying to get that coveted perm position? Are you apprehensive to apply to anything else because "this is all I k...

Today on the show, I have the honor to sit down with Burk Minor from the Wildland Firefighter Foundation™ to talk about how the organization was started, the mission that they fulfill, the legacies of men and women they preserve and honor, and the what the future of the organization looks like... Burk has an amazing vision for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, and we get to hear it through his...

At some point in your wildland firefighting career, you may come face to face with your own mortality... And unfortunately, these brushes with life and death could have long term mental health consequences. Today on the show, we talk about these very subjects with someone who has had one of these close calls... Emily Parnaby is a 9 year veteran of the Australian wildland firefighting game who move...

If you haven't seen the new "fire" movie, "Two Yellow Lines" - You need to stop what you're doing, and watch it... This isn't necessarily a "fire" movie in the context of actual "firefighting", but more along the lines of the inconvenient truths about the mental health components that can be associated with a fire career... The most incredible part of this film? It tells a vivid story of what wild...

Well folks, its about that time to start calling it dunzo for the season... With that comes a whole new set of challenges - The boredom, the part where you have to explain to the "normies" what you do for work, the awkward reintegration into your own family, figuring out what you're going to do during the winter, the holidays, where you're going to live - The list goes on... All of this stacks up,...

It doesn't matter if you're a GS3 or a GS "Fantastic" - This job is stressful! And if you're high up on the chain of command, it doesn't mean you're insulated from these stressors... Today on the show: Josh Simmons stops by for his second time to talk about the stressors everyone experiences with a gnarly fire season, winding down for the off season, the importance of taking a break, and some thin...

Being a Division Chief is a difficult job... Especially when your forest has been on the receiving end of catastrophic fires for the past five years... Thats why we have Plumas National Forest Division Chief, Jeff Dupras, on the show today to talk about his experiences. Jeff has 31 years in the wildland fire service, and has seen a lot of change over the years. Particularly, the changes in fire be...

Thomas Wurm stops by for his second appearance on the show to talk about mental health, mastering the mind body connection, optimizing peak human performance, and his upcoming new book, "Six Minutes for Excellence"... Thomas Wurm is a wildland firefighter , author, publisher, and podcaster . He is a certified Master Practitioner in NLP (Neuro-linguistic programing), Hypnosis, and Mental-Emotional...

As a Redmond IHC alumni, I cannot begin to explain the incredible experience that I had with Redmond Hotshots. So, that's why I have Superintendent Gabe Mason and Asst. Superintendent Jordan Gulley from Redmond IHC sit down to chat about one of the four Leadership Training and Development Hotshot crews in the nation... In August 1960, the Washington Office authorized the establishment of the first...

Ronald Mark Booker Jr. is an air attack and former Plumas Hotshot smokejumper from Venice Beach, CA... His entry into fire is not your "traditional" wildland firefighter story... His entry into the wildland firefighting scene in the 90's, was through the California Division of Forestry's youth authority program. Through this program, Mark developed skills to turn his experience into a life long ca...

Today on the show, we take a deep dive into the relationship between municipal and wildland fire, and how the two can learn an immense amount of skills from each other... More importantly, we talk about the critical importance of taking care of your mental health... Here is a little bit more about Steve: "Steve Orr is a 22 year veteran of the fire service.  He is currently a Lieutenant/Paramedic w...

Heat injuries and Rhabdomyolysis are no joke... Thats why we have Dr. Tim Durkin on the show to dispel a few myths and misconceptions, how to avoid them, how they are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and to give us a rundown of what is going on in the body when it happens! Here is a little more about Dr. Durkin: "Timothy Durkin, DO, FAAEM, CAQSM is a board certified emergency and sports medicin...

Wildland fire behavior is obviously directly impacted by the weather - So, today on the show, we discuss the ins and outs of fire weather, and get to better understand the incredibly important role of and Incident Meteorologist... Sean Luchs is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service at the Houston/Galveston Weather Forecast Office. Despite living in a location known for its torrential ra...

Today on the show, I sit down to talk with Tim Khadzhi at the new JK Boots location in Redding California... The Khadzhi family is a prime example of chasing the "American dream". The family came to the United States in 1994 seeking a better life...  From that, JK Boots was founded, and has exploded in popularity among the fire community. On the episode, we don't necessarily dive into the ins and...