Automatic Action

Burned while searching for a fire victim. The Jeremy Saul Story – 392

  Captain Jeremy Saul, a Situational Awareness Matters Certified Master Instructor shared a harrowing story about being burned while searching for a three-year old child trapped in a row home fire in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The interview includes a discussion about lessons learned and some of his favorite topics to teach during situational awareness classes. Episode …

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Sirencide: The Impact of Acute Stress in Emergency Vehicle Crashes – 388

This interview is with Dr. Dusty Lambert, a firefighter who completed his doctoral degree while researching the impact of acute stress in emergency vehicle crashes. Emergency services provide an invaluable service to communities and cities around the world. Research has shown these professionals encounter significant acute psychological stress throughout their work shifts. Acute stress has …

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Trooper Down on the Roadway. The Bob Bemis Story – SAM 387

This interview is with Bob Bemis, a retired Pennsylvania State Trooper who was struck and severely injured while attending to a vehicle fire on I-81 in eastern Pennsylvania. Sergeant (Ret.) Robert Bemis retired in 2017 as a Supervisor in the Operational Training Division at the Pennsylvania State Police Academy in Hershey. With over 30 years …

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Conducting Realistic Fire Training – SAM 358

In this episode we put the shoe on the other foot… and I am interviewed by Chris Crawford is a firefighter with the Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania Fire Department and a Public Administration major at Point Park University. Chris was writing a paper on firefighter training for his Applications of Fire Research Class and asked to …

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Five Situational Awareness Lessons from a LODD Incident – SAM 354

On June 2, 2011, the San Francisco Fire Department suffered the tragic loss of 2 firefighters at 133 Berkeley Way. The episode shares some valuable situational awareness lessons from this tragic incident. The San Francisco Fire Department conducted an internal review of the incident and issued a 156-page report on their findings. Many of the …

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The Origins of Intuition – SAM 352

In this episode we explore the neuroscience behind causes your “gut feeling” – Intuition – and why you might want to pay attention to it. It is amazing how many articles and videos I have watched lately in which they are talking about decision making based on “gut feel.” It is also disheartening how many …

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The Overconfident Incompetent – SAM 351

In this episode discusses the process for competency development and introduces the Dunning-Kruger Effect, a cognitive bias whereby unskilled people suffer from the illusion of having superior skills and knowledge.   Description         This discussion includes the four steps in the progression of competency: Step 1: Unconscious incompetence – being unaware of what you do …

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The Myth of Multitasking – SAM 346

This episode explores the challenges workers face while operating in dynamically changing conditions that require sharing attention to multiple, concurrent activities – a.k.a., multitasking.  If you are the type of person who can work on your notebook, listen to music on your iPod, talk on your cell phone and text message at the same time, …

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Confabulated Realities Impact Situational Awareness – SAM 342

This episode explores how your brain can make up, or confabulate, its own reality.  A confabulated reality is one that we believe to be real but, in actuality, it is made up in our brain.  The problem with this is we rarely are able to distinguish between a confabulated reality and true reality until something …

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The Jeff Bowen LODD Story, told by Scott Burnette. Part 2 – SAM 341

This episode is part 2 of a two-part interview with Asheville (NC) Fire Chief Scott Burnette, sharing the details and perspective on the LODD of Captain Jeff Bowen. On July 28, 2011, the Asheville Fire Department was forever changed by the tragic LODD of Captain Jeff Bowen. During this interview, Fire Chief Scott Burnette talks …

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