CMC Podcast

On this episode of the CMC Podcast, CMC instructor Doug McElmury talks to Rock Thompson from Rock Exotica. Rock Thompson is one of the most innovative and prolific people in any discipline that involves life safety rope equipment. In this podcast, Rock tells the story of the humble beginnings of Rock Exotica and how it has grown into a brand known around the globe. He shares fascinating accounts of how many popular products were developed and how they went on to change the rescue, access and arbor disciplines. Rock has had the honor of working with many other inventors in the rope equipment world and brought their ideas to realization. We are confident you will enjoy hearing his story.

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.”