Decision Making

These are the first responder situational awareness and decision making issues and opportunities related to decision making.

Pre-Arrival Lens, Task Fixation, Mission Myopia and Fear (Episode 246)

In this episode, you get to sit in on a segment of a situational awareness program where Dr. Gasaway discusses four situational awareness barriers. Length: 33 minutes   Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to […]

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Peer Pressure Can Impact Situational Awareness

The social interaction between coworkers may not be on your mind as you think about  situational awareness. But the fact is we are all influenced by our relationships with others. We have an inherent internal desire to be well-liked and respected. We also have a very strong internal drive to avoid embarrassment. These traits of

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How We Understand (Episode 245)

In this episode, you get to sit in on a short segment of a situational awareness program where Dr. Gasaway explains the second component in the situational awareness process – how your brain develops understanding. Length: 47 minutes   Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO     __________________________________________________ If you are interested in

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Seven Situational Awareness Thieves

Recently I had a video clip shared with me of a residential dwelling fire. The video captures a flashover event. It was reported to me that firefighters were operating inside the structure when it occurred. As I watched the video progress, it was apparent interior conditions were getting worse, the color of the smoke was

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Weather Can Impact Situational Awareness

You may recall from earlier discussions that situational awareness is formed by gathering information about what is happening in the environment around you. Then, your brain takes that information and attempts to form an understanding of what it all means. Finally, after understanding what it means, you make predictions of future events. This is a

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7 ways to accelerate learning (Episode 243)

This episode explores 7 ways to accelerate your knowledge acquisition through purposeful development of cognitive scripts. Length: 28 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and high-risk decision making to a higher level, check out the Situational

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The Downside of Experience

There are numerous vocations and daily activities that could be considered extremely dangerous, such as firefighting, oil refineries, construction workers, police officers and so many more, but life itself can be dangerous if we are not aware of our surroundings. Some such things or places that would seem very mundane could result in tragedy if we

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Episode 242 | Eric Dreiman Interview – Part 2

This is part 2 of a 2-part story about an amazing near-miss event where, if their decision to exit was delayed by only a few seconds, it would have likely resulted in a double line-of-duty death. Length: 42 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you

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Situational Awareness Matters!

Situational Awareness in Hoarder Homes – Guest Post

Firefighter-Paramedic Ryan Pennington with the Charleston (WV) Fire Department has been conducting extensive research on the epidemic problem of emergencies in hoarder homes. Emergencies including everything from fires to EMS calls to animal hoarding issues – the whole gamut. Ryan has also developed a knock-out program on hoarder home fires. If your jurisdiction is having

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SAM 241 | Eric Dreiman Interview – Part 1

This is part 1 of a 2-part story about an amazing near-miss event where, if their decision to exit was delayed by only a few seconds, it would have likely resulted in a double line-of-duty death. Length: 38 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO         __________________________________________________ If you

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