Firefighter Close Call

Situational Awareness Matters!

Teaching Situational Awareness and Decision Making

Situational awareness is the foundation for good decision making. Situational awareness is formed by observing… and understanding what is happening in your environment, in the context of how time is passing. That “understanding” is then used to make predictions of future events. For those who have attended my full-day situational awareness classes you know this […]

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Episode 80 | Interview with Near-Miss Survivor Morris Lentz

    This episode is an interview with Assistant Chief Morris Lentz of the Rogersville, Alabama Fire Department. On February 8, 2009, Chief Lentz, then a lieutenant, was working a residential dwelling fire when a wall collapse trapped him under heavy debris. His near-miss resulted in multiple critical injuries.   Length: 55 minutes click the

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Episode 30: Brooklyn Park Fire Department Carbon Monoxide Close Call

On Saturday, September 13, 2014, the Brooklyn Park Fire Department was dispatched to a medical call that had the potential to be catastrophic for the members of their department, their EMS transport provider and their police department. Length: 41 minutes click the YouTube icon to listen       _____________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking

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Situational Awareness Matters

Episode 29: Interview with Spokane Assistant Fire Chief Brian Schaeffer

On July 5, 2013, the Spokane Fire Department responded to a reported commercial building fire at the Mayfair Professional Building, located at 5901 North Mayfair. Within two minutes of the alarm, the first arriving company found light smoke coming from the area of the HVAC units in the side of the building. The structure was

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Episode 23: Situational Awareness lessons learned when three feet from death – Part 2

On this episode I continue the interview with Captain John Lightly. John as served as a member of the Youngstown, Ohio Fire Department for 13 years. Youngstown FD has 8 stations and a sworn strength of 135 firefighters. John’s married and has twin daughters who are in 3rd grade. So you can imagine how exciting…

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Episode 22: Situational Awareness Lessons Learned when Three Feet From Death – Part 1

On this episode (Part 1 of 2) I interview with Captain John Lightly. John as served as a member of the Youngstown, Ohio Fire Department for 13 years. Youngstown FD has 8 stations and a sworn strength of 135 firefighters. John’s married and has twin daughters who are in 3rd grade. So you can imagine

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Episode 21: Situational awareness lessons shared by a first responder struck by a car

On this episode I interview Sean Balantic. After serving 6 years active duty as a United States Marine, Sean served as a federal firefighter prior to being employed by the Rochester, New York Fire Department where he has served for almost 7 years. Sean is assigned as a firefighter on Truck 3. In this interview,

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Episode 18: Situational Awareness Lessons Learned in Two Minutes

This close call survival story is an interview with Aurora Fire Lieutenant Sean Dolan sharing amazing lessons from the house fire where he was caught in a flashover and sustained second and third-degree burns. Sean is very candid in sharing the details of what happened and how close he came to death. Length: 63 minutes

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Episode 17: Situational awareness lessons learned from a double line-of-duty death

“Lessons learned from the Athletic Club Hotel Fire.” This episode is an interview with Indianapolis Health & Safety Chief, Doug Abernathy. In 1992, Doug had been on the Indianapolis Fire Department for four years and was serving as a firefighter on Engine 13. He shares a powerful story about brotherhood, love of the job and

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