The Anchor Point Podcast

Clay Hess is a Wildland Firefighter in the summer, and in the off season, he travels and provides systems to make clean drinking water to communities effected by disaster and that do not have access to clean water... Clay is a good dude, who is passionate about his work due to the fact that every 90sec a child 5 and under dies from a water related illness... Clay states: "There have been many "rip...

Australia has experienced a catastrophic and very tragic wildland fire season... In order to help combat these blazes across the country, the United States and Australia teamed up to send some of our fire personnel down to help. Justing Gude is one of those folks! Justine has been a crew member on Texas Canyon Interagency Hotshot Crew for 5 years and has had the unique opportunity to be apart of I...

Today on the show, Kendal Ford "aka Fordy" drops in and gives us the skinny on running his side gig - KFord Custom Woodworks... You guys know i'm a huge advocate for creating a side gig, paying it forward, and doing rad stuff in your spare time and Kendal does just that... You've probably seen his work on Instagram, like the incredible memorial plaque for Frank Esposito from Big Bear Hotshots... I...

The future is now! Today on the show Simon Weibel stops by and shares some pretty rad information on Drone Amplified and the IGNIS 2 UAS/PSD system! Simon has been around the game for a bit, here's a little bio on him: Simon Weibel started fire right out of High School with Grayback Forestry Inc. on their Type 2 IA crew. After that I got my EMT-B certification and did three seasons with Eldorado I...

Happy holidays from the Wildland Firefighter Foundation! Wildland Firefighter Foundation’s main focus is to help families of firefighters killed in the line of duty and to assist injured firefighters and their families. We honor and acknowledge past, present, and future members of the wildland firefighting community, and partner with private and interagency organizations to bring recognition to wi...

Ladies and gentlemen, today on the show, I have Kyoul Cha - This dude is one hell of a firefighter, mentor, and athlete! He has been fighting fire since 2004 with Globe IHC and Payson Helitack. Soon after that, he got into the world of Spartan racing in 2015 through2018... After his stint with Spartan, he decided to pay it forward by creating his own insanity fueled endurance program with Firefigh...

Some things will always baffle me - like taking a multi-mission capable helicopter program and throwing it in the trash can. This short sighted decision was made after 3 back, to back, to back insane fire seasons... Today on the show - We have Adam Clyne, a spotter from the Alberta Rappellers on the show to share how we can save this valuable program... Alberta's wildfire rappel program has been a...

Today on the show, we have our second appearance by Dr. Mynda Ohs, where we talk about the importance of mental health in the off season... The off season can be hard - So we have a candid discussion about what we can do to address the issues that we face every year. From reintegration back into the home life; to what it takes to foster healthy habits to not just survive, but thrive, during the of...

Today on the show, I have Kyle Kamp from Valley to Peak Nutrition to discuss fire lunches, why nutrition is key to performance, and talk about the long term health effects of our diets... Kyle is a Registered Dietician, hailing from Boise, Idaho, Where he specializes in fueling mountain athletes with Nutrition Plans, Meal Planning, Nutrition Analysis, and Consultation for their adventures... Has a...

Former Wildland Firefighter Zach Roubo stops by The Anchor Point Podcast and shares his first hand experiences with firefighting, MMA, Brazilian Jui-jitsu, and fitness... Zach has been in the Reno area for over 20 years now. He has been doing martial arts for 19 years and in 2019 received his 4th degree black belt in MMA and his purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. When not at work or in the gym, y...

Ever wanted to know what its like from the dispatcher's perspective? Today on the show, we have Lauren Bellinger swing by and talk about what goes on behind the scenes at dispatch... Lauren was a Wildland Firefighter for a few years before she became an initial attack dispatcher (with a caffeine addiction) in R2. When she's not swamped with fire activity in dispatch, she spends her free time ridin...

Please consider volunteering or donating to a wonderful cause! https://www.global-response.org/ https://twitter.com/grm_global?lang=en https://www.instagram.com/global.response/ GRM Fundraiser for Syria - https://www.facebook.com/donate/405675677000033/ Got questions? She has answers! Alex can be found here: https://www.alexkaypotter.com/ https://twitter.com/alexkpotter https://www.instagram.com/a...

Today we are going have a chat with Alex K Potter about her unique background as a conflict zone photojournalist and trauma nurse in Yemen and Iraq! She's been around the world and has seen some incredible things that humanity has to offer... Also, some of the horrors... Alex Potter is a photojournalist, nurse, and wildland firefighter. She has worked in the Middle East since 2012, focusing on Yem...

Not too many people know what Wildland Fire Modules (formerly known as wildfire use modules) are, so we are gonna answer it! Jon Freeman is the captain of Columbine Wildland Fire Module (WFM), a Type 1 WFM based on the San Juan National Forest in Durango, CO and we will go over all the topics pertaining to WFM's - Day to day ops, what they get to do on large fires, and some of the cool tech that t...

So, you wanna take that leap? - Here is a good starting point! Andrew Pattison, from Missoula Smokejumpers, is on the show to explain some of those best practices and what it takes to be a Smokejumper - He also dispels some of those myths, mysteries, and rumors surrounding some of the aspects of the program... Andrew is a good dude and has a ton of firefighting experience, not to mention a rad car...

follow your passion and your dreams...

Today on the show, Jason Bullough stops by to share his information about the Helitack life and some best practices to get picked up by a helitack crew... Jason has 17 years of fire experience, 8 years on Wasatch, and in the off season he works with region 4 hiring team to facilitate selecting the best qualified applicants for seasonal positions. We cover a ton of topics related to Helitack on tod...

Interested in getting into a new career with Wildland Fire? Interested in changing up your duty location? Wanna check out a new region? - Then pay attention to this episode!!! This episode covers everything you need to know about upping your chances for getting picked up with an awesome crew in an exciting career! Today on the show, I have Chad Schmidt from Central Oregon Rappellers! He's got 15 y...

Ashely Letscher - Firefighter, Traveler, Fire Hire expert... Today on the show we sit down and talk about how to dial in your resume anyhow to navigate USAJOBS to land that dream spot! Ashley started her career in 2008 in Northern California for the US Forest Service on type 3 engines... After 4 seasons she went to work for the National Park Service the Yosemite Valley Engine and Cape Cod Seashore...

Some more conversation with Mynda Ohs on the "where the hell are my tools?" conversation that you will inevitably have with your significant other... Check out her book if you want to survive your marriage - https://www.amazon.com/Fully-Involved-Guide-Relationship-Firefighter/dp/0578494175/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2HDYD0ALYL0TM&keywords=fully+involved&qid=1566540677&s=gateway&sprefix=fully+...

Ladies and Gentlemen, Episode 13 is live -  And it's the perfect follow up to our show with Gary Atteberry... Now we get the clinician's point of view of how to confront some the issues we face, avoiding a clinical case of the "F*** its", and some of the tools that we can add to the toolbox when it comes to mental health! Mynda Ohs, PhD. has been providing Critical Incident Debriefings, counseling...

Gary Atteberry has been around the block... He has been all the way from surf bum, Hotshot, rookie jumper, to operations manager for the Redmond Smokejumpers. He's got a lot of story to tell, and encountered some tragedy along the way... This is the story of the life of one firefighter, cardboard flip flops, camaraderie, PTSD, and life after tragedy... More importantly, this is the story of overco...

If you haven't heard of Stuart Palley, then you must be living under a rock... Just sayin, bro... Stuart is a photojournalist out of Southern California who specializes in long exposure photography of wildfires at night, and they are epic. He started on the "Terra Flamma" project in 2012. It took about 5 years and over 100 wildfires to just  complete this epic photo journal project... His project...

Lets face it, we are a talented pool of craftsmen and craftswomen that are out there in the field. Our talents and skills make us valuable, not only in the realm of fire, but far far beyond - Adam and I came to the same conclusion: PUT THOSE SKILLS TO WORK! Today on the show, Adam and I talk about starting your own business and the importance of a "side hustle" - Not only for some additional incom...

Former Ukonom Hotshot and practicing physical therapist, Dr. Anthony Harrell DPT, is on the show today to talk about injuries, recovery, and fitness! Dr. Harrell has a physical therapy practice based in California and graduated from the University of California, San Francisco - During his time there he studied the effects of cross training on injury risk reduction and performance variables on wild...