In this episode, Firefighter Chris Crawford from the Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania Fire Department. Chris is a Public Administration major at Point Park University and is writing a paper on firefighter training for his Applications of Fire Research Class. During this episode, Chris interviews Dr. Gasaway about how to ensure firefighters are being properly prepared for the job in spite of controlled burn evolutions that are realistic to the conditions firefighters will face at actual fires.
Length: 56 minutes
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Interview questions discussed included:
- While conducting live burn evolutions fire instructors are bound by NFPA 1403 for safety reasons. And while fire instructors do not want to jeopardize the safety of the students (or fellow instructors), how can we incorporate fire dynamics demonstrations to show students what to expect, versus just lecturing students about dynamics?
- How can fire dynamics be taught beyond the classroom?
- Are lectures on fire dynamics enough to prepare firefighters?
- During live burns, firefighters are taught how to fight fires that consist of a few wooden pallets and some straw. Then, once the class is over these firefighters are expected to respond to fires that react very differently than what they saw during training burns. Do you feel that instructors may be setting students up for failure on real firegrounds if they are not able to demonstrate the behaviors of real fires?
- How can tactics be taught when training fires are not the same a real fires?
Our sponsor:
Midwest Fire
MidwestFire.com
Intro music
Safety Dance (1982)
Men Without Hats
GMC – Virgin Records
Situational Awareness Matters! website
www.SAMatters.com
Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System
http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/
Contact Rich Gasaway
www.RichGasaway.com
Support@RichGasaway.com
612-548-4424