Safety

These are the first responder situational awareness and decision making articles related to first responder safety.

Episode 127 | Teaching responders how to speak up

    In this episode, we discuss the challenges of teaching responders how to speak up when they think something is going wrong.  As we will see, it goes way beyond telling them to speak up if they see something. Length: 39 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen     _____________________________________________________ If you are […]

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Episode 124 | Facilitated Debriefings

    In this episode we look at how facilitated debriefings used in aviation safety to improve air travel can be applied to emergency services to improve responder safety.   Length: 33 minutes   click the YouTube icon to listen       _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking your understanding of situational awareness and

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Episode 120 | Interview with Instructor John Dixon

  In this episode I sat down for an interview with Instructor John Dixon to discuss his passion topic – the normalization of deviance.     Length: 63 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

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Episode 115 | Vehicle Fire Situational Awareness

In this episode we explore the importance of developing and maintain situational awareness while operating on the scenes of vehicle fires. Length: 34 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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Episode 113 | Six Red Flags for Danger

            In this episode we discuss six red flags for danger that may get overlooked or ignored at a structure fire. 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,

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Episode 109 | The Perfect Storm

  This episode discusses the fire service “perfect storm” – a combination of unpredictable circumstances that lead to a catastrophic outcome. Length: 39 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 Awareness

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working command

Episode 108 | Working Command and Situational Awareness

            This episode explores how situational awareness may be impacted when the first arriving officer establishes a “working command.” Length: 32 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

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Episode 107 | Interview with Hagerstown Fire Chief Steve Lohr

            In this episode I interview Hagerstown Fire Chief Steve Lohr. After serving 30 years with Montgomery County Fire Department, Chief Lohr accepted a position with the Hagerstown Fire Department – a department much smaller than his previous department and with far fewer resources. We discuss the safety and the improvements

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Radio Communications is Essential to Situational Awareness

I was invited to be an observer at a regional police tactical training exercise. The program was a multi-day event, starting with some classroom training and culminating in a series of simulations using mock weapons, flash-bangs and actors. The one thing that readily stood out to me was the tactical teams were not using radios

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Projection

Time to Task Completion is Critical

Your highest level of situational awareness is formed when you are able to make accurate predictions about future events. In science we call this projection and it simply means you are able to predict, or project, the future events. This is accomplished through mental models you develop that are founded in your training and experience.

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