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Situational awareness

These are articles related to situational awareness.

Episode 19: Situational awareness lessons from a first responder shot in the face

This close call survival story is an amazing interview with Okaloosa County Sheriff Investigator Steven Hough. This episode retells the story of a first responder shot in the face by an assailant during a standoff. He will share with you what happened as the suspect, armed with an assault rifle, charged the vehicle Investigator Hough and […]

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Episode 18: Situational Awareness Lessons Learned in Two Minutes

This close call survival story is an interview with Aurora Fire Lieutenant Sean Dolan sharing amazing lessons from the house fire where he was caught in a flashover and sustained second and third-degree burns. Sean is very candid in sharing the details of what happened and how close he came to death. Length: 63 minutes

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Episode 17: Situational awareness lessons learned from a double line-of-duty death

“Lessons learned from the Athletic Club Hotel Fire.” This episode is an interview with Indianapolis Health & Safety Chief, Doug Abernathy. In 1992, Doug had been on the Indianapolis Fire Department for four years and was serving as a firefighter on Engine 13. He shares a powerful story about brotherhood, love of the job and

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Special Episode 002 | Near Miss Expert Panel

Situational Awareness Matters Radio Show Special Episode 002 Topic: Firefighter Near-Miss Reporting System Expert Panel Discussion (from Fire-Rescue International, Dallas Texas) The purpose of the SAMatters Radio show is to improve situational awareness and decision making for individuals and teams who work in high risk, high consequence environments. The SAMatters mission is simple… To help

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Episode 16: The impact of fatigue on situational awareness

Episode 16: The impact of fatigue on situational awareness Back in episode 7 I answered a listener question about the impact of fatigue on situational awareness. I promised in that episode that I would dedicate more time to this topic in an upcoming episode. So I want to explore the issue of fatigue some more.

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Episode 14: The need for realistic training

Episode 14: Interview with Dave Casey, Director of Louisiana State Fire & Emergency Training Institute on the need for realistic training. Length: 57 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check out the Situational Awareness

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Episode 13 – Training for Failure

  In the feature segment, we’ll talk about training for failure, how it happens and I’ll offer some advice on how to overcome it. I’ll also include some discussion questions you can have among your members about training and whether there may be opportunities for improvement. And we’ll share a near-miss report where a crew

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Radio Communications is Essential to Situational Awareness

I was invited to be an observer at a regional police tactical training exercise. The program was a multi-day event, starting with some classroom training and culminating in a series of simulations using mock weapons, flash-bangs and actors. The one thing that readily stood out to me was the tactical teams were not using radios

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house fire

The irrational obsession with loss

There is a growing body of research revealing that many human’s have an irrational obsession with loss. Or, perhaps more accurately, an irrational obsession with AVOIDING loss. This phenomenon is something I have seen played out in my evaluation of many casualty incidents. Ironically, the human trait to avoid loss is the same trait that

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