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Rich Gasaway

Richard B. Gasaway served 33 years on the front lines as a firefighter, EMT-Paramedic and fire chief. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree while studying how individuals, teams and organizations develop and maintain situational awareness and make decisions in high stress, high consequence, time compressed environments. Dr. Gasaway is widely considered to be one of the nation's leading authorities on first responder situational awareness and decision making. His material has been featured and referenced in more than 400 book chapters, research projects, journal articles, podcasts, webinars and videos. His research and passion to improve workplace safety through improved situational awareness is unrivaled. Dr. Gasaway's leadership and safety programs have been presented to more than 42,000 first responders, emergency managers, medical providers, military personnel, aviation employees, industrial workers and business leaders throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Weather Can Impact Situational Awareness

You may recall from earlier discussions that situational awareness is formed by gathering information about what is happening in the environment around you. Then, your brain takes that information and attempts to form an understanding of what it all means. Finally, after understanding what it means, you make predictions of future events. This is a […]

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7 ways to accelerate learning (Episode 243)

This episode explores 7 ways to accelerate your knowledge acquisition through purposeful development of cognitive scripts. Length: 28 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check out the Situational

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The Downside of Experience

There are numerous vocations and daily activities that could be considered extremely dangerous, such as firefighting, oil refineries, construction workers, police officers and so many more, but life itself can be dangerous if we are not aware of our surroundings. Some such things or places that would seem very mundane could result in tragedy if we

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Episode 242 | Eric Dreiman Interview – Part 2

This is part 2 of a 2-part story about an amazing near-miss event where, if their decision to exit was delayed by only a few seconds, it would have likely resulted in a double line-of-duty death. Length: 42 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you

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Situational Awareness Matters!

Situational Awareness in Hoarder Homes – Guest Post

Firefighter-Paramedic Ryan Pennington with the Charleston (WV) Fire Department has been conducting extensive research on the epidemic problem of emergencies in hoarder homes. Emergencies including everything from fires to EMS calls to animal hoarding issues – the whole gamut. Ryan has also developed a knock-out program on hoarder home fires. If your jurisdiction is having

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SAM 241 | Eric Dreiman Interview – Part 1

This is part 1 of a 2-part story about an amazing near-miss event where, if their decision to exit was delayed by only a few seconds, it would have likely resulted in a double line-of-duty death. Length: 38 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you

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Episode 240 | Jason Corthell Interview

In this episode, Cypress Creek Lieutenant Jason Corthell shares his close call survival story where he was operating on the second floor of an exterior stairwell at an apartment building fire. The stairwell, not involved in fire at all, unexpectedly collapsed, trapping Lieutenant Corthell and District Chief Sanchez under tons of steel and concrete. A

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Twelve Ways to Situational Awareness

Ho, Ho, Ho. Merry Christmas everyone! With Thanksgiving day in the past, it is officially the Christmas season! I know everyone’s feeling particularly festive this time of year and I have caught the Christmas spirit in a very situational awareness sort of way. Surely you’ve heard of the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” -You know –

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Episode 239 | How Could They Be SO Stupid?

  This episode discusses how easy it is for first responders to adopt a judgmental mindset and miss important lessons that can improve situational awareness. Length: 17 minutes   Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk

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