The overall number of structure fires are down nationwide. For the sake of the citizens we protect, this is a good thing. But for the sake of firefighters who need to gain valuable experience through the proverbial baptism by fire, this isn’t such a good thing. I often get asked by company officers and trainers […]
5 Tips For Improving Situational Awareness Through Training Read More »
This article continues the series focusing on the seemingly-insane things that some first responders do while operating in high-stress, high-consequence environments. Oftentimes, the individuals trying to make sense of these behaviors are quick to judge those on the sharp of the decision by saying things like: “They weren’t paying attention?” or “How could they
Explanations for Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 4 Read More »
This series is focused on the seemingly insane things that first responders do while operating in high-stress, high-consequence environments. Oftentimes, those trying to make sense of these behaviors are quick to judge the participants, saying things like: “How could they be so stupid?” or “What were they thinking?” or perhaps the worst one of all
Explanations for Situational Awareness Insanity – Part 3 Read More »
In this segment of the Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen series, I share the second step of the recipe – consequence. [tweet this] Rather, the lack of consequence and the impact this may have on firefighter situational awareness. One of the outcomes you might expect when there is incompetent behavior is an injury – a consequence.
A Recipe From Hell’s Kitchen – Part 2 Read More »
During my fireground situational awareness classes we talk about the process for making high-stress, high consequence decisions. The first step in this process is performing a rapid size up. When I ask participants how long they take to size up a single-family residential dwelling fire with no exposures, the answer I get ranges from 10
Situational Awareness Starts with the Size-Up Read More »
I have witnessed a rather disturbing trend in my situational awareness classes over the past year. I have added a video where firefighters are on a roof that is clearly self-venting. The video then leads us into discussions on assumed risk versus created risk and changing outcomes versus getting in the way of outcomes that
Five Tough Questions Read More »
One of the foundations of situational awareness development is being able to make accurate predictions of future events. Making (accurate) predictions is a fairly complex neurological process that relies heavily on gathering information, comprehending the meaning of the information, tapping into your stored knowledge of past experiences, trusting your intuition and using your imagination to
Unexpected information can be a barrier to situational awareness Read More »
For those who have been along for the journey from the launch of the Situational Awareness Matters mission, thank you so much for your dedication and support. I really appreciate it! For those who may be newer, welcome and thank you for joining the community of learners. During SAMatters Tour stops I get asked a
A Tour of SAMatters Read More »
One of the essential components of well-developed situational awareness is being able to accurately predict the future. This prediction should be made during the initial scene size up and then it should be updated often as the incident progresses. In this episode we discuss the need to begin with the end in mind will
Episode 61: Begin with the end in mind: A situational awareness best practice Read More »
On this episode we discuss how to make decisions in dynamically changing environments and the importance of using situational awareness as the foundation for making good decisions under stress. It is the decisions that first responders make, while operating in high stress, high consequence, time compressed environments (using situational awareness) that drive successful or unsuccessful
Episode 60: Explaining the Dynamic Decision Making Process Read More »
