Experience

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

Episode 185 | St. Charles Fire Department Near Miss – Part 3

This episode is part 3 of a 3-part interview with two members of the St. Charles Fire Department (Missouri) discussing a near-miss where four firefighters were overrun by rapidly changing conditions at a residential dwelling fire. Length: 48 minutes Click the YouTube icon to listen   _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of […]

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Episode 184 | St. Charles Fire Department Near Miss – Part 2

This episode is part 2 of a 3-part interview with two members of the St. Charles Fire Department (Missouri) discussing a near-miss where four firefighters were overrun by rapidly changing conditions at a residential dwelling fire. Length: 45 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen

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Episode 183 | St. Charles Fire Department Near Miss – Part 1

This episode is part 1 of a 3-part interview with two members of the St. Charles Fire Department (Missouri) discussing a near-miss where four firefighters were overrun by rapidly changing conditions at a residential dwelling fire. Length: 56 minutes Click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding

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Chatty TSA Agents

It is possible that while you are attempting to pay attention to something, you can be drawn off your task by distractions or interruptions to your workload. A distraction is something that pulls your attention away by accident (like a reflex look in the direction of a loud noise). An interruption is something that pulls

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Episode 177 | Time to Task Completion

  This episode explores how knowing the time to task completion can aid in the development of situational awareness. Length: 30 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen         _____________________________________________________ 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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Assumptions can be a situational awareness barrier

  We make assumptions every day. Some of them are accurate. Others are not. Assumptions occur when there is an absence of complete information. Such is the case at just about every emergency scene you respond to. Let’s explore how we make assumptions.

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Are You Assuming Risk or Creating Risk?

I recently read an article where the author was taking exception to the risk management maxim: ‘We will risk a lot to save a lot and risk little to save little.’ There are several variations on this maxim, including: ‘Great risks will be taken to save savable lives; Moderate risks will be taken to save

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Actions of the first-in officer

During a recent Flawed Situational awareness program, I engaged the class in a discussion of what the actions of the first-in officer should be once the decision is made to be offensive/interior. The choices were: a.) Make entry with the crew; b.) Establish a fixed command position outside and send the crew in without the

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Episode 159 | Dangerous Mindsets – The Synergist

This episode is the final installment of a nine-part serious on dangerous mindsets that first responders can develop and I offer some advice for dealing with each. This week we talk about the synergist mindset. Length: 24 minutes Click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of

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Episode 158 | Dangerous Mindsets – The Slacker

  This episode is part eight of a nine-part serious on dangerous mindsets that first responders can develop and I offer some advice for dealing with each. This week we talk about the slacker mindset. Length: 26 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational

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