You may have heard this oldie-but-goodie already, but bear with me:

A smart man learns from his mistakes.

A really smart man learns from others’ mistakes.

No where is that more accurate than in the fire service, where a mistake can kill you.

But the problem with learning like this lies in the way you do it.

How many YouTube videos have you seen where something goes wrong and there are dozens of comments written explaining how this would never have happened, if they had just (fill-in-the-blank).

The armchair ICs writing those comments weren’t there, of course, and don’t have the complete picture.

That’s not to say there’s nothing to be learned this way.

Here today to talk about what we can pick up from stories and videos of fires is David Traiforos. He had 47 years in the fire service when he retired as chief of the Franklin Park, Illinois Fire Department after three decades there. He continues as an instructor, at NIPSTA Training Academy, McHenry County College, both in Illinois. And, nationally, as the lead instructor of Great Lakes Fire & Rescue Solutions.