The Fireground Fitness Podcast, Rayne Gray · Rayne Gray

Ep112, Crackyl with Kory Pearn

·55 min·3 clips

Corey says his “rock bottom” came when he was hospitalized, cardioverted, and rebuilt his career approach.

1. The Fireground Fitness Podcast episode centers on Corey Pern and the path that led from southwestern Ontario to firefighter health advocacy through Crackle Magazine. 2. Host Doug Gray speaks with Corey Pern, a 23-year firefighter, captain, founder, publisher, and editor-in-chief of Crackle Magazine, and Corey matters because he built a fast-growing fire service media platform. 3. The episode asks why Corey left a family refrigeration-heating-air-conditioning business path to build a career around firefighting, publishing, and health. 4. Corey says he grew up in Southwestern Ontario between Windsor, Toronto, and London, Canada, and originally planned to take over his parents’ refrigeration company. 5. He says a firefighter recruitment information night at a local firehouse changed that plan and made him want to belong to the fire service. 6. Corey describes the hiring process in Canada as a two-year effort of training, prerequisites, and waiting for departments to recruit. 7. He says he got hired in 2003 and later gravitated toward maintenance work, SCBA packs, fire hose repairs, and form redesign. 8. Corey says he wrote The Complete Guide to Become a Firefighter and traveled around Canada hosting firefighter career expos. 9. He says publishing led him to manage five publications, work sales, and learn how different industries handle associations, B2B communication, and end users. 10. Corey explains that his experience in aviation, helicopter, and other magazines showed him that many industries share the same kinds of problems and solutions. 11. The biggest turning point comes when Corey says he hid atrial fibrillation and congestive heart failure symptoms for years because he feared being taken off the job. 12. He says he eventually reached what he calls “my rock bottom” and ended up hospitalized for a week after a walk-in clinic visit. 13. Corey says he was off work for a year, underwent four ablation procedures, and was later cardioverted. 14. He says the crisis forced him to ask what version of himself was showing up as a firefighter and what was actually sustainable. 15. Corey repeats that “whatever you're not changing, you're choosing,” and applies it to sleep, alcohol, exercise, and daily habits. 16. He says firefighters often confuse workload with commitment and performance with commitment, which can hide burnout and isolation. 17. The conversation is direct and reflective, with Doug challenging Corey’s assumptions and Corey answering in short, practical frameworks. 18. The tone stays conversational and self-examining, with several repeated phrases about intentionality, gratitude, and picking your energy. 19. Firefighters, supervisors, and anyone focused on health and career longevity would likely connect with this episode. 20. Listeners seeking entertainment-only content or a light firefighting chat may skip it.

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