Captain Pronesti was involved in advancing a hoseline and fighting the underground fire. While approximately 300’ inside the tunnel on the attack, his low air alarm started ringing. He ran out of air before making it completely out, disconnected his regulator and breathed products of combustion. Upon exiting, he provided a briefing to his commander […]
Trapped in a Tunnel – The Joe Pronesti Story (Episode 335) Read More »
Accountability: A critically important component of emergency scene safety when personnel operates in a hazardous environment. From the perspective of situational awareness, accountability plays several roles. The obvious role is personnel accountability facilitates the rapid deployment of rescue teams if something goes awry. Command knows the crew sizes and where they are operating and can
Tracking of Personnel Read More »
Some of the least appreciated members of the emergency response team are the communications specialists (in some venues, termed dispatchers). How do I know this? First, I served as a communications specialist (my job title was “dispatcher”) early in my career and I was routinely subjected to criticism and ridicule from responders because the information
The Communications Specialist Role in Forming Situational Awareness Read More »
I recently read, with great interest, a very long thread on Facebook about whether or not an incident commander should wear turnout gear at a fire scene. As my focus and passion is improving first responder situational awareness, I would like to address this issue from that perspective. The feedback on Facebook was, as expected,
Commanders in Turnout Gear Read More »
The tones drop for an apartment building fire. On the way, dispatch is advising multiple calls, confirming a working fire and the possibility of people trapped. The mind of the officer on the aerial platform is busy processing – thinking – anticipating – what will need to be done upon arrival? Of course, truck work
Today’s episode is Part 1 of my 2-part interview with Laverne Friesen, a first responder who is confronting the stigma of mental illness head-on as he shares his first-hand account of how work-related stress was leading him down a dark path toward suicide. He shares intimate details of what that experience was like, how it
A Mental Health Mayday. The Laverne Friesen Story – Part 1 (Episode 301) Read More »
Your highest level of situational awareness is formed when you are able to make accurate predictions about future events. In science, we call this projection and it simply means you are able to predict, or project, future events. This is accomplished through mental models you develop that are founded in your training and experience. But
Time to Task Completion is Critical for Situational Awareness Read More »
You may or may not know there are researchers who dedicate their lives to understanding what makes someone an expert and how long it takes for them to acquire the knowledge to be an expert. One of the pioneers in the field of expert knowledge research is K. Anders Erickson. The findings of Dr. Erickson’s
You Can’t Rush Expertise Read More »
I dedicate a lot of time during my situational awareness programs ensuring that first responders understand how clues and cues serve as the foundation for developing and maintaining good situational awareness. We also spend considerable time making the connection of how strong situational awareness becomes the foundation for good decision making. For the most part,
What You Don’t See Can Save You Read More »
Flawed situational awareness (SA) is one of the leading contributing factors to first responder near-miss and casualty events. In fact, it is nearly impossible to find a line-of-duty death investigation report that does not implicate flawed SA, or one of the barriers that flaw SA, as contributing to the tragedy. As often as flawed SA
Situational Awareness: Think Past, Present & Future Read More »
