Article

These are articles on the SAMatters blog.

Sirencide: The Impact of Acute Stress in Emergency Vehicle Crashes – 388

Leave a Comment / Article, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Complacency, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Defiance, Denial, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Ego, Equipment, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Judgment, Leadership, Line of Duty Death, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Personnel location, Preoccupation, Pressure, Radios, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Technology /

This interview is with Dr. Dusty Lambert, a firefighter who completed his doctoral degree while researching the impact of acute stress in emergency vehicle crashes. Emergency services provide an invaluable service to communities and cities around the world. Research has shown these professionals encounter significant acute psychological stress throughout their work shifts. Acute stress has […]

Sirencide: The Impact of Acute Stress in Emergency Vehicle Crashes – 388 Read More »

Active Shooter Part 2 – Advice for Fire and EMS

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 /

  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

Active Shooter Part 2 – Advice for Fire and EMS Read More »

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 /

  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

Active Shooter Part 1 – Advice for Law Enforcement Read More »

What does it mean to be situationally aware?

Leave a Comment / Article, Perception, Prediction, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, Situational awareness, Training, understaffing /

In this article, we’ll start off by discussing the  basics of awareness. Then, we’ll talk the factors that compete for an employee’s attention. Finally, we’ll share how employers can prepare their teams for the unexpected. Reduce injuries: Close calls matter First responders see a lot of close calls. It’s important for them to be aware

What does it mean to be situationally aware? Read More »

Hands-Free Driving Laws are a Bad Idea

Leave a Comment / Article, Attention Management, Cognitive Memory, Confusion, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Information overload, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Multitasking, Neuroscience, Overload, Perception, Preoccupation, Risk, Safety, Selective Listening, Situational awareness /

Before you get too upset and refuse to read this article, I’ll ask you to give me just two minutes to explain the situational awareness lesson behind this statement. The first premise is: We must acknowledge (and accept) that it is easy for drivers to get distracted and have their situational awareness impacted while talking

Hands-Free Driving Laws are a Bad Idea Read More »

What first responders need to know about explosives: The Jarred Alden Interview: Part 2 – SAM 382

Leave a Comment / Article /

This is part 2 of a 2-part interview with 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

What first responders need to know about explosives: The Jarred Alden Interview: Part 2 – SAM 382 Read More »

The John Glaser LODD Story, told by Ryan Pyle. – Part 1 – SAM 338

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Close Call, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Disoriented, Expectations, Experience, Goals, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Illness, Judgment, Line of Duty Death, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Pre Arrival Lens, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses, Vigilance, Workload Management /

In this episode I sat down for an interview with Shawnee (KS) Fire Battalion Chief Ryan Pyle to discuss a residential structure incident that resulted in the death of Firefighter John Glaser. Ryan discusses the details of this tragic incident and the lessons his department learned from it. This episode is part 1 of a

The John Glaser LODD Story, told by Ryan Pyle. – Part 1 – SAM 338 Read More »

Tracking of Personnel

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Leadership, Mayday and RIT, Safety, Situational awareness, Staffing, Teamwork /

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 »

© 2025 SAMatters.com. All rights reserved.

Created by: Torrch