Mental Models Archives - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Active Shooter Part 2 – Advice for Fire and EMS

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Attitude, Building Construction, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Decision Making, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Intuition, Judgment, Leadership, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Muscle Memory, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, Situational awareness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Training, Vigilance / By Rich Gasaway

When I was in the police academy and went through Active Shooter training it was designed solely for police officers. There was never a mention of EMS or fire department response and how they could assist in these situations. It took approximately 8 years into my career until I went to a training that …

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Active Shooter Part 1 – Advice for Law Enforcement

1 Comment / Accountability, Article, Attitude, Building Construction, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Decision Making, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Intuition, Judgment, Leadership, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Muscle Memory, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, Situational awareness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Teamwork, Training, Vigilance / By Rich Gasaway

My students often ask me: “Mr. Moldenhauer, what’s the worst call cops could ever go on?” My response is always the same, an active shooter call. I have had my share of terrible calls in my career that will stay with me forever (i.e. suicides, child deaths, and fatal car accidents just to name …

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First-in engine under gunfire: The Chris Paskett Interview: Part 2 – SAM 385

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Close Call, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Competency, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Gut Feeling, Judgment, Leadership, Mayday, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Mission, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork / By Rich Gasaway

This is part 2 of a 2-part interview with Eugene-Springfield Fire Battalion Chief Chris Paskett sharing details of a first-in engine crew at a working structure fire taking on gunfire. Eugene-Springfield crews were dispatched to a report of a residential fire with multiple callers confirming a residential dwelling fire. As the officer on the first-in …

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First-in engine under gunfire: The Chris Paskett Interview: Part 1 – SAM 384

1 Comment / Accountability, Close Call, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Competency, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Gut Feeling, Judgment, Leadership, Mayday, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Pressure, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork / By Rich Gasaway

This is part 1 of a 2-part interview with Eugene-Springfield Fire Battalion Chief Chris Paskett sharing details of a first-in engine crew at a working structure fire taking on gunfire. Eugene-Springfield crews were dispatched to a report of a residential fire with multiple callers confirming a residential dwelling fire. As the officer on the first-in …

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What first responders need to know about explosives: The Jarred Alden Interview. Part 1 – SAM 381

1 Comment / Accountability, Assertiveness, Close Call, Communications, Decision Making, Equipment, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Judgment, Mental Models, Mission, Near Miss, Perception, Prediction, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Size Up, Teamwork, Training, understaffing / By Rich Gasaway

This episode is part 1 of a 2-part interview Akron (OH) Fire Lieutenant Jarred Alden shares what we need to know about homemade explosive devices, blast effect, treating blast injury victims, and more. Lieutenant Alden is a paramedic and operations officer for the Akron (OH) Fire Department. He has 17+ years of experience as a …

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How Expectations Influence Situational Awareness – SAM 370

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Cognitive Memory, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Intuition, Judgment, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Progress Reports, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Tacit Knowledge / By Rich Gasaway

In this episode, we discuss how the role expectations play in helping developing situational awareness and influencing decision making. Your highest level of situational awareness is formed when you are able to make accurate predictions about future events. In neuroscience, this is called projection and it simply means you are able to predict, or …

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Working Command – SAM 360

Leave a Comment / Automation, Benchmarks, Checklists, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Competency, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Interruptions, Judgment, Leadership, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Mission, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Preoccupation, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Teamwork, Vigilance, Workload Management / By Rich Gasaway

In this episode explores how situational awareness may be impacted when the first arriving officer establishes a “working command.” I get asked a lot of questions about what the first arriving company officer should do at a working structure fire. Specifically, the debate revolves around two basic premise. Should the first arriving company officer assume …

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19 Ways Communications can Impact SA – SAM 359

Leave a Comment / Auditory exclusion, Checklists, Cognitive Memory, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Confabulation, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Disoriented, Expectations, Experience, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Interruptions, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Multitasking, Neuroscience, Overload, Personnel location, Pre Arrival Lens, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Technology, Training, Vigilance / By Rich Gasaway

In this episode we discuss 19 ways that communications issues can impact Situational Awareness. First responders spend a lot of time together, on calls, in the station, and in many cases in social settings outside of work. All of this interaction builds relationships that allow responders to trust their lives to each other. We’ll …

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Five Situational Awareness Lessons from a LODD Incident – SAM 354

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attitude, Auditory exclusion, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Close Call, Command Location, Command Presence, Command Support, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Denial, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Equipment, Error Creep, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Goals, Gut Feeling, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Independent Goal Setting - Freelancing, Information overload, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Lost Focus, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mental Models, Meta Awareness, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Neuroscience, PAR, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Prediction, Preoccupation, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Tacit Knowledge, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Vigilance, Workload Management / By Rich Gasaway

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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Creatures of Habit – SAM 353

Leave a Comment / Automatic Action, Cognitive Memory, Competency, Complacency, Decision Making, Expectations, Experience, Explicit Knowledge, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Incompetence, Judgment, Long-Term Memory, Mental Models, Muscle Memory, Neuroscience, Pattern Matching, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Prediction, Repetition, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Tacit Knowledge, Training / By Rich Gasaway

Perhaps you’ve heard it said that we are creatures of habit. The more we do something over and over again, the more likely that behavior will be turned into a habit. This episodes explores how we create habits. Good or bad, we all have habits. On an emergency scene good habits can save …

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