Near Miss Archives - Page 3 of 8 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

The Jason Corthell Story. The Next Chapter. Part 1 – SAM 347

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Anger, Assertiveness, Attitude, Close Call, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Denial, Disoriented, Emotions, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Illness, Judgment, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Radios, Repetition, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

On March 27, 2015, Cypress Creek District Chief Jason Corthell was trapped and injured during a fire where a stairwell unexpectedly collapsed at an apartment building fire in Texas. This the follow-up story of his road to physical and mental recovery. Back on Episode 55, then Cypress Creek Lieutenant Jason Corthell shared his close call […]

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The Rick Mehaffey Story. Flashback to Episode 142 – SAM 344

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Building Construction, Close Call, Communications, Complacency, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Mission Myopia, Near Miss, Personnel location, Prediction, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Tunnel Vision, understaffing / Rich Gasaway

In this episode, Captain Ricky Mehaffey from the Waynesville NC Fire Department chronicles his near-miss survival story where 3 firefighters almost died at a “routine” chimney fire. At the time of the fire, Rick Mehaffey served as an engineer for the Waynesville Fire Department, is combination department that runs 2500 calls a year out of

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Trapped in a basement – The Perry Hall Story – Part 2 – SAM 337

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Close Call, Competency, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Disoriented, Expectations, Experience, Goals, Human Behavior, Human Error, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Pre Arrival Lens, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Risk Management, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses, Vigilance, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part two of a two-part interview with Perry Hall, a firefighter who shared his story of a horrific near-miss event and the life-changing impact it has had on him. Description On May 5, 2014 Perry Hall was part of an engine crew conducting a search when he got separated from

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Trapped in a basement – The Perry Hall Story – Part 1 – (SAM 336)

Leave a Comment / Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Disoriented, Expectations, Experience, Goals, Human Behavior, Human Error, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Pre Arrival Lens, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses, Vigilance, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part one of a two-part interview with Perry Hall, a firefighter who shared his story of a horrific near-miss event and the life-changing impact it has had on him. On May 5, 2014 Perry Hall was part of an engine crew conducting a search when he got separated from his crew and

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Trapped in a Tunnel – The Joe Pronesti Story (Episode 335)

Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Close Call, Communications, Competency, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Disoriented, Expectations, Experience, Goals, Human Behavior, Human Error, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Near Miss, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Pre Arrival Lens, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses, Vigilance, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

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

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Mental Health Near-Miss: The Scott Gieselhart Story – Part 2 (Episode 334)

Accountability, Anger, Attitude, Close Call, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Decision Making, Denial, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Frustration, Human Behavior, Illness, Mindfulness, Miscommunications, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Overwhelm, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Pressure, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

Scott Gieselhart served 24 years as a firefighter in Frazee, Minnesota. Along the way, several incidents contributed to Scott developing a Post Traumatic Stress Injury that resulted in him becoming a meth addict and attempting suicide. Then Scott found help and through a treatment known as EMDR, his PTSI was healed and how he serves

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Mental Health Near-Miss: The Scott Gieselhart Story – Part 1 (Episode 333)

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Sharing multiple near-miss experiences including being held-up at gunpoint. The Jim Arie Story – Part 2 (Episode 332)

Anger, Assumptions, Attention Management, Attitude, Close Call, Competency, Confusion, Decision Making, Denial, Emotions, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Intuition, Lost Focus, Mindfulness, Near Miss, Optimism, Perception, Prediction, Preoccupation, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Task Fixation, Time Distortion, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses / Rich Gasaway

This episode is Part 2 of a 2-part interview where we learn about multiple near-miss events experienced by retired Fire Chief, Jim Arie throughout his 43-year career and he’ll discuss the situational awareness lessons from being held-up at gunpoint in March, 2020. Length: 40 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full video.

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Sharing multiple near-miss experiences including being held-up at gunpoint. The Jim Arie Story – Part 1 (Episode 331)

This episode is Part 1 of a 2-part interview where we learn about multiple near-miss events experienced by retired Fire Chief, Jim Arie throughout his 43-year career and he’ll discuss the situational awareness lessons from being held-up at gunpoint in March, 2020. Length: 41 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full video.

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The 360 Degree Size-up (Episode 329)

Accountability, Assumptions, Automatic Action, Automatic Action, Building Construction, Competency, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Expectations, Habits, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Mental Models, Mindfulness, Multitasking, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Optimism, Over Confident, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception Of Reality, Progress Reports, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Situational awareness, Size Up, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation / Rich Gasaway

You might think that by now the importance of completing a 360-degree size-up would be second nature for firefighters. But it’s not. In fact, failing to complete a proper size-up remains one of the most often cited contributing factors in NIOSH Line-of-Duty death reports. There are lots of reasons why proper size-ups are not completed.

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