Command Support Archives - Page 2 of 5 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

The Impact of Understaffing (Episode 328)

Accountability, Anger, Assumptions, Building Construction, Command Support, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Denial, Expectations, Experience, Human Error, Human Factors, Leadership, Mission, Multitasking, Overload, Overwhelm, Personnel location, Pressure, Progress Reports, Response Time Delays, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Staffing, Stress, Teamwork, understaffing / By Rich Gasaway

The pandemic has been tough on everyone, especially first responders who have stepped up to the task. But for many first response agencies, the worst is yet to come as the economic fallout will likely create budget shortfalls that will, in turn, cause fire departments to reduce staffing and services. This show looks at the …

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Situational Awareness Best Practices for Incident Commanders (Episode 326)

Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Benchmarks, Biases, Building Construction, Checklists, Close Call, Cognitive Memory, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Competency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Equipment, Expectations, Explicit Knowledge, Goals, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Interruptions, Intuition, Long-Term Memory, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Multitasking, Over Confident, Over Staffing, Overload, Overwhelm, Pattern Matching, Perception, Preoccupation, Pressure, Radios, Repetition, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Short Term Memory, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Time Distortion, understaffing, Workload Management, Worksheets / By Rich Gasaway

There are three component parts to situational awareness – perception, understanding and prediction. There are barriers that can impact awareness on all three levels. The application of best practices can help incident commanders reduce the impact of barriers. Length: 35 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full video. __________________________________________________ All of our …

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Commercial Building Mayday. The Atascocita Fire Story – Part 2 (Episode 304)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Checklists, Close Call, Cognitive Memory, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Equipment, Expectations, Experience, Gut Feeling, Habits, Judgment, Leadership, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Miscommunications, Mission, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Optimism, Over Confident, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Radios, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training / By Rich Gasaway

Today’s episode is Part 2 of my 2-part interview with three command officers from the Atascocita Fire Department in Houston, Texas, sharing a story of a commercial building fire that resulted in a mayday. Length: 63 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking …

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Commercial Building Mayday. The Atascocita Fire Story – Part 1 (Episode 303)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Checklists, Close Call, Cognitive Memory, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Equipment, Expectations, Experience, Gut Feeling, Habits, Judgment, Leadership, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Miscommunications, Mission, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Optimism, Over Confident, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Radios, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training / By Rich Gasaway

Today’s episode is Part 1 of my 2-part interview with three command officers from the Atascocita Fire Department in Houston, Texas, sharing a story of a commercial building fire that resulted in a mayday. Length: 67 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking …

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Surrounded by Fire: The Roree Payment Story – Part 2 (Episode 298)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Building Construction, Close Call, Command Location, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Confusion, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Judgment, Mindfulness, Mission, Near Miss, Optimism, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Prediction, Risk, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Staffing, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Technology, understaffing / By Rich Gasaway

This episode is part 2 of a 2-part interview with Clearview Fire & EMS Chief Roree Payment, sharing the details of a residential dwelling fire near-miss where he was caught in a fireball due to rapidly changing, wind-driven conditions. Length: 51 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If …

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Surrounded by Fire: The Roree Payment Story – Part 1 (Episode 297)

This episode is part 1 of a 2-part interview with Clearview Fire & EMS Chief Roree Payment, sharing the details of a residential dwelling fire near-miss where he was caught in a fireball due to rapidly changing, wind-driven conditions. Length: 47 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If …

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Preview of the AskRail® App (Episode 290)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Automation, Benchmarks, Checklists, Command Support, Communications, Decision Making, Equipment, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Mission, Personnel location, Radios, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Teamwork, Technology, Worksheets / By Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we interview Retired Fire Chief Charles Warner as he explains the features and benefits of the free AskRail® mobile app. Length: 36 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 …

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Drone Responders Interview with Charles Werner (Episode 281)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Attention Management, Automation, Command Location, Command Support, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Equipment, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Information overload, Judgment, Mindfulness, Multitasking, Personnel location, Pre Arrival Lens, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Technology, Training / By Rich Gasaway

In this episode, Fire Chief (ret.) Charles Werner discusses how drone technology can be used to enhance first responder situational awareness and improve access to critical decision making information. Length: 61 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and …

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Electrocuted by a falling power line – The Tom Ehler’s Story – Part 1 (Episode 260)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Close Call, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Complacency, Decision Making, Disoriented, Emotions, Equipment, Expectations, Gut Feeling, Human Error, Intuition, Judgment, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Personal Protective Equipment, Prediction, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Stress, Training, Tunnel Vision, Vigilance / By Rich Gasaway

Listen in as firefighter Tom Ehlers and fire chief Wesley Cole share their story about a fire incident where Tom was struck by a falling 14k volt power line on the scene of a fire. Length: 54 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in …

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Backdraft and Mayday! – Part 3 (Episode 251)

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Anger, Assertiveness, Assumptions, Attention Management, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Checklists, Close Call, Cognitive Memory, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Denial, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Frustration, Gut Feeling, Intuition, Judgment, Mayday, Miscommunications, Personnel location, Progress Reports, Radios, Response Time Delays, Risk, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, understaffing, Worksheets / By Rich Gasaway

This episode is part 3 of a 3-part interview with the incident commander from the German Township Fire Department who was in charge of a residential dwelling fire where a backdraft occurred followed by a Mayday call. Length: 62 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO …

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