SAMatters Radio

On this episode I had the opportunity to tour the Seattle Fire Department training facility and I sat down and talked with Phil Jose, the training chief for the Seattle Fire Department. During the interview, Chief Jose shared some of the things he is focused on to improve the situational awareness and decision making abilities of Seattle firefighters including:

1.Conducting Post Incident Analyses (PIA) of major fire incidents, defined as one that results in a firefighter injury, a civilian fatality, or a 3rd alarm or greater.

2.Their efforts toward officer development despite the challenges of operating short staffed (roughly 100 vacant firefighter positions).

3.How they are working to instill the core competencies of Trust, Competence and Vision in their members.

4.How they are working with company officers who would be arriving first-in at fires to develop situational awareness and make high quality decisions.

INFORMATION

If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the Events Schedule tab. If I am in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.

If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer.

If you sign-up for the Academy Plus version you will also receive four situational awareness books that are cross-referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!

Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.

CLOSING

Well, that is it. Episode 11 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of the SAMatters mission.

If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.

You can also sign up for the FREE SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.

Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.

** Post Closing Message

You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you are interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com

Listener/member feedback may be shared at the end of the show.

Situational Awareness Matters! website

www.SAMatters.com

On-Line Academy

http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/

Upcoming Events Schedule

http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/

Books and Videos (Store)

http://www.samatters.com/store/

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/

Close Call Survivor Website

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Contact Rich Gasaway

www.RichGasaway.com

[email protected]

612-548-4424

On this episode I interview Jack Sullivan, Director of Training for the Responder Safety Institute. The mission of the Institute is to reduce highway incidents involving first responders and to minimize the impact of responders who are involved in these incidents.

Our discussion was recorded at the National Volunteer Fire Council Summit in Myrtle Beach where Jack was presenting on highway incident safety and I was presenting program on Thirty deadly situational awareness barriers.

Thank you to the fifty-plus people who attended my session and for sharing your wonderful feedback. The one seasoned veteran who noted: “I realized I don’t know what I thought I knew” is a common response to this program. Rest easy, my friend. I am trying very hard to change that… through the articles on the website, the on-line academy, the books, the videos, the live programs and of course, through this radio show. Stick with me and we’ll change that for you.

During this interview, Jack shares:

1.How a seemingly routine incident caused Jack to lose a friend and how this wake up call inspired him to get involved in educating responders on roadway incidents.

2.How the Institute uses case studies, dash cam videos, and department of transportation videos to build awareness of roadway incidents.

3.The challenges of tracking roadway near-miss and injury incidents.

4.How the motoring public today lack respect for authority and first responders and how they may suffer from what Jack refers to as the four Ds: Drowsy, Distracted, Drugged and/or Dumb. I guess we could through Disrespectful in there and make it five Ds.

5.How a me-first attitude, texting, talking on phones and GPS are creating huge problems. Sadly, some firefighters are among the D-drives when operating their personal vehicles.

6.Why it is so important to build relations and rapport with other public safety agencies in advance of responding to roadway incidents to avoid incident scene conflicts – including the involvement of partner agencies in the development of joint roadway incident response standard operating guidelines.

7.The upcoming National Traffic Incident Management and Responder Safety Training Program train-the-trainer gathering where over 260 responders are converging on the campus of the National Fire Academy to develop cross-agency collaboration.

8.How you can access the responder safety learning network where you can register and obtain free training on roadway safety.

INFORMATION

If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the Events Schedule tab. If I am in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.

If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer.

If you sign-up for the Academy Plus version you will also receive four situational awareness books that are cross-referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!

Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.

CLOSING

Thank you Jack Sullivan from the Responder Safety Institute for taking some time to sit down with me to discuss your passion for roadway safety. I will put a link to the Institute’s website in the show notes.

I'd like to share some feedback I have received on the radio show and thank you for searching the show on iTunes, subscribing and leaving your feedback and five-star review. This will definitely help others find the show.

This feedback comes from Firefighter505

You must take time to listen to Dr. (Chief) Gasaway’s podasts! More life saving information for us! Thanks iTunes for carrying a podcast that will change Firefighters lives, and ultimately save many more lives!

And this feedback was shared by Alex Hickey of the North Kitsap Fire and Rescue

This is a great style of podcast done right. The doctor has a great presentation style and there are many ‘takeaways’ from each episode. My favorite part is the portion of each episode when he reviews a near-miss/close call. Too often, these types of incidents are ignored by training FFs who choose to focus only on LODDs (which are by no means a bad thing to focus on, but we can also learn from our near misses!!!). What are you waiting for, listen now and subscribe!

Well, that is it. Episode 10 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of the SAMatters mission.

If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.

You can also sign up for the FREE SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.

Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.

** Post Closing Message

You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you are interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com

ResponderSafety.com

Jack Sullivan, Director of Training

[email protected]

Situational Awareness Matters! website

www.SAMatters.com

On-Line Academy

http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/

Upcoming Events Schedule

http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/

Books and Videos (Store)

http://www.samatters.com/store/

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/

Close Call Survivor Website

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Contact Rich Gasaway

www.RichGasaway.com

[email protected]

612-548-4424

On this episode we walk with Captain John Wright from the Flower Mound (Texas) Fire Department. Captain Wright survived an extremely close call while operating as an interior search crew at a residential dwelling fire.

On June 17, 2011 the Flower Mound Fire Department along with several mutual aid companies responded to a residential structure fire. During the incident, Captain Wright and Firefighter Trujillo became overrun by fire on the second floor. The rapidly increasing fire disorientated them and they became lost in the fire room. After the Mayday was called, Firefighter Trujillo located two small windows on the wall opposite of where the fire had broken through the wall. Both men made a narrow escape seconds before the room flashed.

As you listen you’ll hear him share some very strong lessons related to numerous situational awareness barriers. You’ll hear him share how he was:

· Afflicted by a sense of urgency

· How muscle memory from past training impacted his performance

· How unconscious competency benefited him

· How he suffered from tunnel vision and why tunnel vision isn’t anything like what he’d thought it would be

· How he suffered from time distortion

· How his hearing was impacted from auditory exclusion

· How he knew what to do, intuitively, but ignored the warning signs.

· How complacency crept into his mindset

· How his rational judgment became impairment under stress

· How he experienced self-talk and how it almost killed him.

· How he resigned himself to the fact that he was going to die and how he simply laid down on the floor to give up. And while he was laying there on the floor, in that super heated environment, how he took time to say goodbye to his 3 year-old son.

· How, while laying there, he said to himself: All I have to do is wait for this to burn through my spinal cord and as soon as it gets through that, it will be over and the pain will stop.

· What caused him to get up and get moving again.

If you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site:

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com and click on the Contact Us link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.

Flower Mound Fire Department Mayday Website

(Contains video, audio and photographs)

www.TexasMayday.com

Situational Awareness Matters! website

www.SAMatters.com

On-Line Academy

http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/

Upcoming Events Schedule

http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/

Books and Videos (Store)

http://www.samatters.com/store/

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/

Close Call Survivor Website

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Contact Rich Gasaway

www.RichGasaway.com

[email protected]

612-548-4424

In episode 2, I spoke a little bit about complacency. The feedback was awesome, thank you everyone for that.

1. In this episode I will continue on that topic and share a how a false alarm mindset can lead to complacency.

2. In the near-miss report we will share an incident where complacency caused a firefighter to fall through a weakened floor at a residential dwelling fire.

3. And in the question/answer segment, we will explore why the “Blind Search” drill may be a set-up for failure and consequence.

FEATURE TOPIC

Another False Alarm: A Tale of Complacency

Complacency is a big deal for first responders because it impacts your situational awareness on multiple levels. I would like to give every responder the benefit of the doubt that if or when they have found him or herself being complacent that it was not happening on purpose. In other words, I hope every responder desires to be diligent and alert. Yet, complacency still gets us. I recently had an up close and personal experience with this that I’d like to share.

If you follow my Twitter or Facebook updates you know this: I travel. A lot. I am sort of living my own version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles (except I am not sharing my bed with John Candy. Nuf said).

The popularity of the Mental Management of Emergencies and Fifty Ways to Kill a First Responder Program (as part of the “Get in the Loop” Tour) keeps me nomadic about 200 days of the year. Trust me, that is not a complaint. I absolutely love sharing my message with first responders. Even more, I love the feedback that the message is making a difference. For that, I thank you very much.

Recently on one of my trips I was startled awake at 2:53am by a fire alarm activation. The alarm only rang about 10 seconds. Knowing what I know about night clerks at hotels, I suspected the alarm had been prematurely silenced. My suspicion was confirmed when I went to the lobby and heard the clerk on the telephone telling someone the alarm panel is indicating the fire pump is running. I was the only patron of the hotel who came to the lobby.

Another False Alarm

As the building was sprinklered and there was no smoke in the lobby, I poured a cup of coffee to see how all of this was going to play out in part. I was partly curious and partly angry that the clerk silenced the alarm without investigating the source.

Then, the fire department arrived. Three firefighters dismounted the engine and entered the lobby and my disappointment with the situation rose to an entirely new level. Every member of the crew had the flaps on their coats open, no helmets, no SCBA, no tools, no water can, no TIC (which, in all fairness they may not have had on that apparatus). They were no more prepared to fight a fire than I would have been if I came down to the lobby wearing Nomex boxer briefs.

And where were all the other guests? Surely I was not the only person who heard the alarm. But I was probably the only person in the hotel to have witnessed night clerks silencing alarms to avoid disrupting the slumbering guests.

The Triple Whammy of Complacency

There were three examples of complacency witnessed in a span of ten minutes.

Complacent Act #1: The night clerk was complacent for silencing the alarm too quickly, assuming the activation to be another false alarm.

Complacent Act #2: The patrons of the hotel only heard an alarm that lasted ten seconds, leading them to assume the alarms were just another false alarm.

Complacent Act #3: The fire department responded to the alarm with their guard down. Way down. I could tell by their movement, demeanor, comments and attire. For them, this was another false alarm.

I did not sleep well during what was left of my night. As I lay there I imagined how the outcome of this seemingly benign event could have been tragically different if only a few circumstances were different.

A Culture of Complacency

Whose job is it to create and nurture a culture that prohibits complacency? Is it the senior management, training officers, company officers or individual firefighters? I would say it is the job of everyone because no one is exempt from the potential consequences. It is evident to me that a complacent co-worker may be more dangerous than any broken piece of equipment on your apparatus. Equipment problems are easy to fix. Repair or replace. But when co-workers have complacent mindsets it can be much more challenging to repair or replace.

The Non-Complacent Fire Alarm Response

Contrast this to a similar experience I had during a visit to another fire department a few months ago. During that visit there was also a fire alarm activation in my hotel during the night (This may seem like an odd stroke of bad luck, but keep in mind I spend hundreds of nights in a hotel room). My observations here, however, were VERY different.

These firefighters came off the truck with a “working fire” mindset. No complacency to be found here. It was all business. Full gear, SCBA, tools, water, flashlights & TIC. Just as it should be. Kudos to this fire department for setting a great example.

Coincidentally, the hotel clerk did not silence the alarm and the lobby was full of patrons. I suspect that has much to do with the fire marshal of this particular department being proactive and educating the desk clerks on how to handle alarm activations.

Advice

The problem with complacency is it can creep into how the members of your department do things in a sneaky, almost unnoticeable away. That is, unnoticeable until some nerdy retired firefighter turned cognitive neuroresearcher happens to be hanging out in the lobby of your hotel when you have a fire alarm. He notices.

If your mindset leads to believe you are responding to just another fire alarm, then your guard will be down. Not only can this cause you to be physically ill-prepared for the potential of the call, it can also cause you to be mentally ill-prepared for the potential dangers the call holds. Early in my career I was taught to prepare and respond to every call with the mindset that what I will find the worst-case scenario situation and then to get into the mental mindset to be ready for it.

Ironically, as I have so often talked about in my articles, the repetition of physical and mental preparation for the worst case scenario builds both cognitive and muscle memory. This means my mental and physical preparation that all responses held the high-potential of risk… would become a habit – my automatic scripted, subconscious performance under stress. This would pay off for me, in spades, throughout my career and it will for you too.

Conversely, if the mindset becomes one of complacency. It is just another fire alarm triggers the mind and the body behaves accordingly. In this state of low arousal the senses neither capture nor comprehend clues and cues that can form situational awareness. Being on-guard helps improve situational awareness.

During my research I interviewed a commander who responded to just another fire alarm to a building they had been to numerous times in the past. His mindset was one of complacency. Arrive and reset the alarm was his mindset. But this time, it was a working fire with people trapped. He described the impact vividly. For those with my Fireground Command Decision Making book, you know I wrote about this incident and the impact it had on this officer.

This commander admitted having a very difficult time recovering from his complacent mindset and getting geared up for the task he was facing. His crew was also complacent, just another fire alarm, mindset which compounded the problem.

Respond to every call for service as if it holds the potential to cause you great harm. Be vigilant in your capturing of clues and cues and understanding what they mean. No responder ever goes to a call thinking it is going to be their last. But many catastrophic outcomes result from complacent mindsets.

Discussions

1. Discuss a time when you were complacent on a call and the potential impact it could have had on you or other responders.

2. Discuss some specific strategies you use to avoid complacency as a first responder.

3. Discuss some strategies that can be used to help others over the affection of complacency.

4. Discuss with co-workers how you can help each other avoid complacent mindsets.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEAR MISS LESSON LEARNED

This lesson comes to us from the Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System, where lessons learned become lessons applied.

We were dispatched to a structure fire at a tri-level style home with a well-involved fire on the lower level. Upon completing a 360, it was noted that the fire was auto exposing to the second floor and attic space. Once the body of the fire was knocked down, my partner and I proceeded to the second floor to check for exposure. I entered a room and was walking toward the window when the floor gave way, causing me to drop into the room of origin. My partner called a mayday and, after regaining my composure, I notified command that I was OK and in verbal and sight contact with my partner and proceeded out of the structure.

LESSONS LEARNED

The biggest lesson learned was we had become complacent. Training… and reinforcing… that training is also important. Always be aware of the situation and surroundings.

Why is it so easy for the reporter of this incident to see his errors after the fact, yet not in the moment. This is the nature of flawed situational awareness… the inability to see the bad things coming… in time to change bad outcomes. Even though this firefighter was not seriously injured, the outcome could have been catastrophic. Anytime fire is burning below where firefighters are operating, the structure is weakening. Heat causes structural components to decompose.

As they decompose they weaken. All the while, the enemy of every building – gravity – is trying to kill the building by pushing down on it with a constant force. If gravity had its way, every building would be flattened. But it does not because the components of construction hold the building up against the forces of gravity. Fire-weakened structures are no match for the downward force of gravity. Add the weight of contents and firefighters and you are able to forecast the outcome, which is Level 3 situational awareness.

You can visit them at www.FirefighterNearMiss.com

If you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site:

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Click on the contact us link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.

INFORMATION

If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the Events Schedule tab. If I am in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.

If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy.

The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!

Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.

SAMatters COMMUNITY Question

This question comes from an attendee of a Mental Management of Emergencies class in Ventura County, California.

QUESTION: If sending firefighters into a training scenario with a blacked out facepiece is training for failure, tell us why and what should we do to fix the problem?

ANSWER: The failure does not come from training firefighters to operate in a zero visibility conditions. In fact, that's an essential skill for firefighters. The failure comes from blacking out facepieces and sending firefighters IN to training fires.

As you understand how the brain learns, the solution becomes easier to comprehend. When conditions rapidly go to zero visibility with the presence of high heat, the firefighters are in pre-flashover conditions. We do not want firefighters continuing on the mission of search or fire attack in the presence of flashover conditions. We want them to leave the environment. But many do not.

They stay true to the mission and forge onward. This is because they were trained to do that. The fix, in a nutshell, is to send firefighters into training situations with good visibility. Then at some point blacken out the facepieces and teach them how to get out. This small change is enough to shift the mindset from one of being true to a mission of going inward and onward to one of getting out - survival!

CLOSING

Well, that is it. Episode 8 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission.

If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.

You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.

Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.

** Post Closing Message

You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you are interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com

Situational Awareness Matters! website

www.SAMatters.com

On-Line Academy

http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/

Upcoming Events Schedule

http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/

Books and Videos (Store)

http://www.samatters.com/store/

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/

Close Call Survivor Website

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Contact Rich Gasaway

www.RichGasaway.com

[email protected]

612-548-4424

On this episode we celebrate the International Fire/EMS Safety and Health Week. My guest is Ryan Pennington, webmaster at Views from the Jumpseat and host of Jumpseat Radio. We are talking about the International Fire and EMS Safety and Health Week and its theme: Train like you fight!

INFORMATION

If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the Events Schedule tab. If I am in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.

If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer.

If you sign-up for the Academy Plus version you will also receive four situational awareness books that are cross-referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!

Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.

CLOSING

Well, that is it. This special episode of SAMatters Radio is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of the SAMatters mission.

If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.

You can also sign up for the FREE SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.

Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.

You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you are interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com

Views from the Jumpseat Bloghttp://viewsfromthejumpseat.com

International Fire and EMS Safety and Health Weekhttp://safetyandhealthweek.org

Situational Awareness Matters! website

www.SAMatters.com

On-Line Academy

http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/

Upcoming Events Schedule

http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/

Books and Videos (Store)

http://www.samatters.com/store/

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/

Close Call Survivor Website

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Contact Rich Gasaway

www.RichGasaway.com

[email protected]

612-548-4424

Hello and welcome to episode 7 of the Situational Awareness Matters radio show. I’m your host, Rich Gasaway. The purpose of this show is to improve situational awareness and decision making for individuals and teams who work in high stress, high consequence environments. Our mission is simple… To help you see the bad things coming… in time to prevent bad outcomes.

I am broadcasting to you today from my Situational Awareness Matters Get in the Loop Tour Stop in Erwin, Tennessee where I am training 950 employees from Nuclear Fuel Services on situational awareness and the challenges faced by industrial workers. NFS processes the uranium that powers the nuclear navy. I am honored they have engaged me in a multi-year contract to help improve the safety of their employees. Thank you NFS for this opportunity.

On this episode we’ll talk about:

1. The Line of Duty Death of Asheville Fire Captain Jeff Bowen.

2. In the near-miss lesson learned we’ll talk about an incident where flawed situational awareness led to firefighters being caught in a ceiling collapse.

3. And in the Question/Answer segment we’ll take a program attendee question about fatigue.

FEATURE TOPIC

Healing and growing from tragedy

I had an opportunity to present along side Asheville Fire Chief Scott Burnette at the North Carolina Society of Fire Rescue Instructors Conference. This opportunity came as a result of another wonderful opportunity that Chief Burnette extended to me to conduct facilitated debriefings following the line-of-duty death of Captain Jeff Bowen.

During the debriefing process I was able to learn, first-hand, of the challenges and opportunities the department faced during this horrific event on July 28, 2011. ChiefBurnette’s presentation (which preceded mine) was titled Fourteen Minutes, Thirteen Seconds. It was so named for the time it took rescue crews to locate and remove Captain Bowen following the Mayday call. Chief Burnette told the audience those brief minutes passed like hours.

The visit and presentation also gave me the opportunity to visit again with Firefighter Jay Bettencourt. Jay is the firefighter who was with Captain Bowen when he went down on the fifth floor of the medical office building. Jay’s acts of heroism to rescue his brother left me awe struck. Jay is a humble man. I am confident he would not see himself as a hero. Rather, he would characterize himself as a firefighter who was just doing his job.

During my portion of the presentation, I focused on how we conducted the facilitated debriefings following the event. I brought Jay to the front of the room and, standing beside Firefighter Bettencourt I told the audience. “Some day, my grand kids will ask me if I am a hero. I will tell them no. Grandpa is not a hero. But I have stood among them” and then looked to Jay. He received the most well-deserved standing ovation I have ever seen delivered.

Likewise, when Chief Burnette finished speaking he also received a standing ovation from the audience. Chief Burnette was very forthcoming with his assessment of the incident and the lessons learned. He’s such a humble leader. One that all of us should emulate. I did not envy the position he was in to give such a tough presentation in front of such a large audience. He remained poised and professional.

At one point Chief Burnette spoke of a dream he had in November where Captain Bowen appeared and walked the chief through the fire incident, step by step, and told him everything that happened. It was, by far, the most riveting story I had every heard. Ever! There can be no doubt for the Chief’s love and compassion for his firefighters. His commitment to learn every lesson possible from this tragedy is very apparent.

Just two weeks ago I had the opportunity to revisit my friends in Asheville. This was the first visit since my facilitated debriefing last fall. The purpose of this visit was to be briefed by the Post Incident Analysis teams. I was very impressed with the amount of work that had been done based on the recommendations in my report.

All too often I encounter fire departments who’ve experienced a line of duty death and, as a result, have changed nothing. Some are in denial. Some say that if they address the issues they will be dishonoring the fallen. This often leaves the firefighters anger and disappointed because they all know things went wrong and there are lessons to learn… not to dishonor the fallen, but to honor the fallen. We owe it to every fallen firefighter to learn every possible lesson about how the tragedy unfolded and how to prevent it from happening again.

Clearly, The Asheville Fire Department is an organization that is taking the lesson from the tragedy of July 28, 2011 and making real changes to improve their safety and operations. Their actions will become a blueprint for other departments to follow. To say I’m impressed is an understatement. This is a first-rate organization that is well on its way to healing and growing out of tragedy. Congratulations Asheville Fire Department.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEAR MISS LESSON LEARNED

This lesson comes to us from the Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System, where lessons learned become lessons applied.

We responded to assist another fire department at a structure fire that was caused by a lightning strike. The fire was in the attic of a two-story home of approximately 3000 square feet. The first due engine had pulled two 1 3/4" lines and a 2 1/2" line with a cellar nozzle. My crew went upstairs to assist with the fire attack. There was a very light haze of smoke on the second floor. After opening a hole in the ceiling, we put the 2 1/2" line with the cellar nozzle into the attic.

We then noticed the room next to us had a glow coming from under the door. As the attack team went to make entry into that room, the entire ceiling collapsed on top of us and visibility went to zero. One firefighter had their face-piece knocked off and we all were disoriented. Everyone made it out without injury.

LESSONS LEARNED

Be aware of what the conditions are around you. When you use a cellar nozzle in the attic, anticipating a collapse.

This near-miss serves as an example of flawed Level 3 situational awareness – where the crew had a flawed ability to predict, project, or forecast future outcomes based on current information. This often happens when personnel are operating in the moment with a fixation on the task and little thought is given to cause and effect.

When you are applying water, you are adding 8.35 pounds of weight into the structure for every gallon of water you apply. If you flow a 100 GPM nozzle for two minutes, that’s 1,670 pounds of water being loaded into the ceiling.

As you apply water, think… how much weight and I loading into the structure? Where is it going? Can the structure support the weight? What are the potential outcomes if it cannot? Can we anticipate those outcomes before they happen? Can we take action to prevent the bad outcome?

Level 3 situational awareness is developed by using past experience, past training and your imagination to envision future events. It’s the foundation of the mission ofSAMatters… to help you see the bad things coming… in time to avoid bad outcomes.

You can visit them at www.FirefighterNearMiss.com

If you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site:

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Click on the “contact us” link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.

Peeling Back the Layers

Situational awareness is consistently identified as one of the leading contributing factors in firefighter near-miss events. Yet many firefighters who know, with confidence, they lost their situational awareness don’t understand how… or why… their situational awareness was impacted.

There are two essential reasons for this. First, many responders don’t understand what situational awareness is nor do they understand how to develop and maintain it. Second – and this can be a shocker for some – flawed situational awareness is not the root cause of a near-miss (or a casualty event for that matter). Flawed situational awareness is a SYMPTOM.

Let’s address the first issue – understanding what situational awareness is.

Situational awareness is your ability to capture and understand information about what is happening around you, in the context of place and time. Then being able to take the understanding of the information and make accurate predictions about future events before they occur. The acronym I created that may help you remember this is G-A-S.

G – Gather information

A – Assess the information

S – Speculate on future events

When you read a report (near-miss or casualty) that identifies flawed situational awareness as a contributing factor the first question you should ask is: “What flawed the situational awareness.” This is where the understanding of situational awareness becomes more complex. I have identified and researched over one hundred barriers to situational awareness. A barrier is anything that causes the loss of situational awareness or anything that keeps situational awareness from being restored once it is lost.

Asking probing questions can help you peel back the layers and get to the root cause. For example, asking: “What mission were the responders trying to accomplish at the time of the near-miss (or casualty)?” This starts the process of peeling back the layers to allow you to understand how a deep focus on a critical mission can cause a narrowing of attention to a limited number of clues and cues. I term this situational awareness barrier “Mission Myopia.” As you understand how mission myopia occurs and the consequences, you begin peeling back the layers and see how the same thing might happen to you. That is when the real learning occurs.

Peeling back the layers takes the understanding of near miss and casualty events to a whole new level. In the book, Situational Awareness for Emergency Response (PennWell 2013, p.8) I offer the following questions to help you peel back the layers:

. What were the responders trying to accomplish at the time things went wrong?

. What was the overall mission of the incident, and what role were the responders playing in advancing the mission when things went wrong?

. Why did it make sense for the responder to be doing what they were doing at the moment things went wrong?

. What task or objective were the responders focused on that kept them from seeing the bad outcome on the horizon?

. Were there any distractions or interruptions that drew the responders’ attention away from their task?

. Did the responders understand the overall incident goals and objectives, their roles in the mission, and how other individuals or teams were going to influence the outcome?

INFORMATION

If you’re interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header. Then click on the “Events Schedule” tab. If I’m in your area, I hope you’ll consider attending a live event.

If you’re not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy.

The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!

Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled “On-Line Academy.”

SAMatters COMMUNITY QUESTION

This question comes from an attendee of the Fifty Ways to Kill a First Responder class in Indiana.

QUESTION: What is the impact of fatigue on first responder situational awareness?

ANSWER: Fatigue diminishes situational awareness significantly. The impact of fatigue on all aspects of mental performance are well-documented in research. I know this answer may not be popular with responders who work 24 or 48 hour shifts, but the science backs my assertion that the fatigued brain does not function as well as the rested brain.

Severe fatigue can have the same impact as alcohol, impairing coherent thought, gross motor skills and fine motor skills. Fatigue can impact reasoning, memory, recall and impact sight and hearing.

This is a great question and we’ll dedicate an upcoming episode to the topic of worker fatigue so look for that on the horizon.

CLOSING

Well, that’s it. Episode 7 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission.

If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.

You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.

Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.

You’ve been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you’re interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you’re interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website atRichGasaway.com

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Situational Awareness for Emergency Response, visit SAMatters.com, click on the “Store” link and then the “Print Books” link. I personally sign every book purchased through my store as a show of appreciation for supporting my mission. The proceeds of all book and video sales are invested back into our mission and help ensure you can continue to receive valuable articles and radio show content for free.

NIOSH Line of Duty Death Report

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/fire/pdfs/face201118.pdf

Asheville Fire Department website

http://www.ashevillenc.gov/Departments/Fire.aspx

Situational Awareness Matters! website

www.SAMatters.com

On-Line Academy

http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/

Upcoming Events Schedule

http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/

Close Call Survivor Website

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Contact Rich Gasaway

www.RichGasaway.com

[email protected]

612-548-4424

On this episode we’ll talk

1. Briefly about the myth of multitasking

2. We’ll listen to an interview I recorded with a wildland firefighting safety officer with 40 years of experience on the line.

1. Developing the mindset of a Just Culture in the wildland firefighting community.

2. Why a culture of compliance won’t work.

3. How age brought wisdom and helped Wayne realize the need for instant gratification was far less important than the goal to bring everyone home in one piece.

4. His view on fire shelters and their limitations and why he says he would not carry one unless he was forced to and why he thinks the fire shelter is “a political piece of equipment.”

5. His Close Call Survivor Story on the Salmon River and how the situational awareness barrier of task fixation put him in a tight spot that, reflecting back, left a margin of less than 5 minutes between life and death. He’s tell you how a “feeling of urgency” saved his life. This is what I refer to in the Mental Management of Emergencies class as “Intuition.”

6. Amazingly… as he was going through hell… he stopped and took pictures… literally.

7. Discussion of the challenges of the Yarnell fire investigation.

FEATURE TOPIC

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a live demonstration may be worth ten thousand words. In a recent situational awareness and decision making class I was explaining to the participants the science behind why humans are such poor multitaskers.

If course, when I do this there is always someone in the class who, for whatever reason, thinks they’re a great at multitasking. I love it when this happens because I’m prepared.

For this scenario I set up an exercise where two people get to role play being in charge of an emergency. One of them is going to multitask (guess which one gets that dubious honor?) and the other one gets to perform only a single task.

The multitasking person has to perform the same activities as the single tasking person and one additional (physical activity). The results are always predictable… a train wreck.

The single tasking person’s performance is always nearly flawless while the performance of my multitasking participant always turns into a disaster. The multitasker forgets about 90% of the data they were supposed to remember and their performance is fraught with error. It’s sad and unfortunate.

The simple fact is, the conscious human brain cannot multitask, plain and simple. This is backed up by science and the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data.

Responders can be lulled into believing they are good multitaskers because they do it so often with so little consequence that it gives them the confidence to think they are good at it. Where, in reality, they’re not good at it and luck is the only thing standing in the way of a disaster.

SOLUTION: Concede to the vulnerabilities of the human brain. Acknowledge that multitasking is a myth and avoid it by focusing on performing one critical task at a time. Proper staffing plays a big role in efforts to avoid multitasking. Preloading an incident with the proper number of responders will reduce the exposure to the need to perform multiple concurrent tasks.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. Why do people think they are good multitaskers when, in fact, their brain cannot multitask at all?

2. What can first responders do to avoid multitasking during high stress, high consequence operational periods?

3. Describe how your situational awareness has been impacted by multitasking.

Wayne Williams Interview

1. Developing the mindset of a Just Culture in the wildland firefighting community.

2. Why a culture of compliance won’t work.

3. How age brought wisdom and helped Wayne realize the need for instant gratification was far less important than the goal to bring everyone home in one piece.

4. His view on fire shelters and their limitations and why he says he would not carry one unless he was forced to and why he thinks the fire shelter is “a political piece of equipment.”

5. His Close Call Survivor Story on the Salmon River and how the situational awareness barrier of task fixation put him in a tight spot that, reflecting back, left a margin of less than 5 minutes between life and death. He’s tell you how a “feeling of urgency” saved his life. This is what I refer to in the Mental Management of Emergencies class as “Intuition.”

6. Amazingly… as he was going through hell… he stopped and took pictures… literally.

7. Discussion of the challenges of the Yarnell fire investigation.

If you’re interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header, then click on the “Events Schedule” tab. If I’m in your area, I hope you’ll consider attending a live event.

If you’re not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version of the Academy includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!

Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled “On-Line Academy.”

CLOSING

That it. Episode 6 is complete. Thank you again to Wayne Williams from the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation for sharing his thoughts on wildland firefighter safety.

Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission.

If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.

You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.

Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.

You’ve been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you’re interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you’re interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com

Wayne Williams

Email: [email protected]

Just Culture

Sydney Dekker

Situational Awareness Matters! website

www.SAMatters.com

On-Line Academy

http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/

Upcoming Events Schedule

http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/

Books and Videos (Store)

http://www.samatters.com/store/

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/

Close Call Survivor Website

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Contact Rich Gasaway

www.RichGasaway.com

[email protected]

612-548-4424

On this episode we’ll talk about…

1. The role of emotions in decision making.

2. I’ll share a report about a first responder who had a near-miss with a chain saw.

3. And we’ll talk about why so few first responders and industrial workers are being taught about situational awareness.

FEATURE TOPIC

How you decide to do something… or not do something is a complex process that involves multiple brain regions. Are decisions made with the rational brain or the intuitive brain? The answer, surprisingly, is both.

Rational judgment allows you to process facts and data essential to good decision making. Intuition allows you to tap into past training and experiences and quickly glean the lessons of your successes and failures – lessons seeded deep into memory by… emotions.

The role of emotions

Some think that the best decisions are rational decisions, devoid of all emotion. This is a fallacy. In fact, it would be impossible to make a good decision if you were somehow able to shut off the emotional control center of your brain.

The role of the emotional control center on decision making was well documented in misfortune of Phineas Gage.

On September 13, 1848, Gage was directing a work gang blasting rock while preparing the roadbed for a railroad outside the town of Cavendish, Vermont. Setting a blast involved boring a hole deep into an outcropping of rock; adding blasting powder, a fuse, and sand; then compacting this charge into the hole using the tamping iron. Gage was doing this around 4:30 p.m. when (possibly because the sand was omitted) the iron "struck fire" against the rock and the powder exploded. Rocketed out of the hole, the iron "entered on the [left] side of [Gage's] face ... passing back of the left eye, and out at the top of the head."‍ In the process, his prefrontal cortex suffered heavy damage.

My Lesson, Sans the Brain Jargon

During the Mental Management of Emergencies program I spend a great deal of time demystifying the process for how we make decisions under stress. But I don’t try to impress attendees with a bunch of neuroscience terminology. The lessons are way to important for that. While I’ve intensely studied brain science, I am first, and foremost, a first responder. My 30+ years on the line allows me to apply the science in a way that practitioners, like yourself, can easily understand and relate to.

Metacognition

One of the “jargon” terms used by Lehrer in his book “How We Decide” is metacognition. What does that mean? Merely this: Metacognition means being consciously aware of your own thought processes. As it relates to the Mental Management of Emergencies, it means having a conscious awareness of:

1. How you make decisions under stress

2. How you develop and maintain situational awareness at emergency scenes

3. The barriers that can impact your situational awareness

4. How to know you’re losing your situational awareness before it’s too late

5. How to regain your situational awareness if you are losing it

As first responders the more conscious awareness you have about your decision making and situational awareness processes and the barriers that can impact your situational awareness, the better you can be at managing and overcoming the challenges. That is what my mission is all about.

“Get in the Loop” Tour

In 2012 I launched the “Get in the Loop” situational awareness tour to get this critical message out to first responders and industrial workers who make high-stress, high consequence decisions. To date, the Tour has stopped on four continents and the message has been delivered to more than 38,000 program attendees.

Why did I call it the “Get in the Loop” tour? Because first responders and industrial workers are, for the most part, out of the loop when it comes to understanding the how the brain makes decisions and we form situational awareness. Most people don’t have the time (or perhaps the interest) to read up on all the research. No worries though. I’ve done it for you. My program is designed to get you “Into the Loop” in way that’s strives to be both entertaining and educational.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEAR MISS LESSON LEARNED

This lesson comes to us from the Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System, where lessons learned become lessons applied.

TURNOUT PANTS DAMAGED WHILE USING CHAIN SAW

NEAR-MISS EVENT, WITH PROPERTY DAMAGE ONLY

Monday, July 29, 2013

Engine [1] responded to a motor vehicle collision with injuries. Upon arrival, there was a large tree branch that had fallen on a mid- size SUV. The tree was completely blocking access to the road. It was estimated to be approximately 20-25" in length, and up to three feet in diameter. The driver walked inside a nearby residence with minor injuries. EMS assessed the patient and obtained a patient refusal. A Battalion Chief arrived on scene, and asked the officer to evaluate the branch to see if engine [1]’s crew could remove it or if landscape services would be needed. The decision was made to remove the branch utilizing engine [1]’s personnel.

A firefighter started the chainsaw and the officer was positioned behind the firefighter as a Safety. The firefighter began cutting the smaller branches, and worked back towards the base of the tree. The firefighter was applying the chain brake between cuts earlier in the incident. It was dark, and flashlights were used to illuminate the working area. Approximately half of the branch was removed from the road way, when the officer felt something strike his left leg. The officer thought it was a branch and continued working. The tree branch was completely removed, and the road access was opened. The crew of engine [1] removed all of the pieces of wood from the road and placed the wood in the yard from which the tree fell. The crew also raked and swept the roadway removing the remaining debris. Engine [1] went available and returned to quarters.

Next shift, the officer was placing his gear on the truck when he noticed cuts on the outside liner of his bunker pants. The cuts were on the left pant leg and were consistent to the area that was struck while removing the tree. The pants were taken out of service. Safety was notified, and administrative paper work was completed.

LESSONS LEARNED

- To allow Landscape Services to continue in and complete the cutting operation instead of the engine crew

- The scene should have been better illuminated for a safer operation utilizing quartz or tower lighting.

- Allow the cutter a 10" safety perimeter, and only the cutter announces when it is to be entered after chain brake is applied.

- Minimum use of turnout pants for all members involved in cutting event. Administration is currently determining if chaps should be placed on fire apparatus.

- Training video on chain saw safety was recorded to be distributed throughout the department for transparency and increased awareness

You can visit them at www.FirefighterNearMiss.com

And you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site:

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com and click on the “contact us” link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.

INFORMATION

If you’re interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header, then click on the “Events Schedule” tab. If I’m in your area, I hope you’ll consider attending a live event.

If you’re not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version of the Academy includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!

Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled “On-Line Academy.”

SAMatters COMMUNITY Question

This question comes from a reader whose department hosted a Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop in 2012.

QUESTION: Recently, several members of my department attended a wildland firefighting program. On the first day the instructors never said a thing about situational awareness even though the topic is covered in the curriculum. On the second day the lead instructor asked the question: “What is situational awareness.” The room fell silent and then the instructor proceeded to explain situational awareness in a way that was lame and confusing and then promptly moved on to another topic.

The members from my department in the program asked several questions about SA. The instructors not only could not answer the questions, they seemed perturbed that we asked them any questions at all. How can we improve instructors' understanding of situational awareness?

ANSWER: The problem with teaching situational awareness is it's not exactly a simple concept to learn, yet alone teach. Many instructors haven't taken the time to learn the neuroscience essential to be a good instructor on the topic. It has taken me seven years of intense study to even begin to understand the complexities of situational awareness and I am learning new things daily. Sadly, some instructors simply won't say they don't know the answer. Or worse, they teach SA inappropriately.

I recently had a student tell me he was taught situational awareness at a conference by an instructor who was an attorney. The student told me it was disastrous and he left the session confused and angry. Unfortunately I have seen and heard of similar accounts to this one far to often. One of the goals of the Situational Awareness Matters! website is to help fix this problem. There is a huge gap between what most first responders and industrial workers know about situational awareness and what they need to know. I am trying to close that knowledge gap. While there are some educational materials for sale on my website, there are also more than 200 free articles on a wide range of situational awareness topics.

CLOSING

That it! Episode 5 is complete. Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission.

If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.

You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.

Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.

You’ve been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you’re interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you’re interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com

Situational Awareness Matters! website

www.SAMatters.com

On-Line Academy

http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/

Upcoming Events Schedule

http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/

Books and Videos (Store)

http://www.samatters.com/store/

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/

Close Call Survivor Website

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Contact Rich Gasaway

www.RichGasaway.com

[email protected]

612-548-4424

On this episode we’ll talk about…

1. The importance of completing a 360 degree size-up.

2. We’ll share a near-miss event where a combination of inexperience, freelancing, and assumptions led to a loss of accountability.

3. And we’ll address a community member’s question about how to develop expert knowledge in younger officers who are seeing less fires.

FEATURE TOPIC

Situational awareness starts with capturing clues and cues in your environment. It’s really quite a simple premise. To capture clues and cues requires seeing or hearing them. At a structure fire, the visual clues and cues occupy a finite environment- the building and the space around the building. I am nothing short of astounded by the number of firefighters telling me they don’t complete a 360° size up of a structure fire before making entry. I was inspired for this podcast topic from two recent accounts shared with me.

Into the basement we went

The first account came to me by way of a firefighter sharing a near-miss event with me following a Mental Management of Emergencies program. She was part of a crew of two that did not complete a 360° size up at a residential dwelling fire. They made entry through the front door and they fell through the floor and were trapped in the basement. As she recounted the details, I was reminded of a similar residential dwelling fire that killed two firefighters in Colerain Township, Ohio. The firefighter I spoke to, and her partner, fared much better as they were rescued and survived.

Getting yelled at for completing a 360° size up

The second account came to me by way of an email I received from a firefighter who offered up the topic for my upcoming situational awareness conference call training program for firefighters on June 19 (see the home page of SAMatters for details). Here’s what he wrote (less the parts I removed to ensure his confidentiality):

At my department the 360 is almost frowned upon. When we catch a job I always have the driver pull past the house to see 3 sides and then I try to do a walk around. It never fails I get yelled at to get in the fire. Now, I LOVE going into burning buildings but having lost a firefighter because he fell through the floor (because nobody did a walk around and saw the basement on fire) I feel a good walk around saves lives. I find myself peer pressured into just going into the fire.

360° size up should be standard practice

I am disappointed with how many fire departments have no written standard requiring a 360° size up. I am even more discouraged when I learn that departments have a standard but it is not practiced. I am appalled when firefighters share with me the practice is discouraged.

There are few things first responders can do to help build the foundation of situational awareness like conducting a proper size up. A 360° size up at a residential dwelling fire allows you to capture and process some very important clues. Not only can you see the conditions from all angles, but you can also observe important clues about construction, exit points and floor plan layouts.

Excuses for not completing a 360° size up

I’ve heard some creative explanations for why a responder would not complete a 360° size up. Included on the list are some obvious (expected) response and some that less obvious (surprising).

1. “The building was too large and it would have taken too much time for me to walk around it.”

2. “There was no access to the back side of the structure.”

3. “We did a three-sided size-up by having the driver pull past the structure.”

4. “I got yelled at by the incident commander for trying to do a 360.”

5. “The next-in crew took our hose line and went in while we’re doing the 360.”

6. “I knew I was supposed to do it but I got distracted by the homeowner talking to me.”

7. “The fire was coming out the front window. I didn’t need to go around back to see the obvious.”

8. “The back yard was fenced in and there was a big dog in the yard.”

9. “There was a victim inside. We didn’t have any time to waste on a 360.”

10. “The second-in company will do the 360.”

The front view and the back view can be VERY different!

I am not here to judge these explanations. Whatever reason offered, it is important to know that failing to complete the size up is a barrier to the formation of situational awareness. As I read the casualty investigation reports where firefighters die in residential dwelling fire, the failure to complete a 360° size up is very often cited as a contributing factor.

Chief Gasaway’s Advice

Develop and implement a standard that requires the completion of a 360° size up. If your department has this standard, ensure it is being practiced. If you find out 360 degree size ups are not being done, start asking why. Expect to hear many of the explanations that have been offered to me.

I acknowledge there may be conditions that make completing a 360° size up difficult, if not impossible. For example, on June 2, 2011 two firefighters were killed in a residential dwelling fire where a 360° size up was not completed. The house was built on the side of a steep hill, making it very difficult to complete the 360. (Click here to access the NIOSH investigation report). An inadequate size up was a contributing factor.

Completing a 360 degree size up is not going to start occurring automatically simply because a standard is developed or an administrator puts a directive. The size up must be built into routines of responders and this gets done through practice and repetition. This includes building the size up into training evolutions. Responders need to be taught what to look and listen for – the clues and cues that are present AND the clues and cues that are absent.

If your department does not complete 360° size ups now it may be engrained in the organization’s culture. Like the examples noted above, if someone fears getting yelled at for doing it, they may not complete the size up. If someone thinks another company is going to take their hose line inside while completing the size up, they may not complete the size up.

Discussions

1. Discuss your department’s cultural norms about completing a 360° size up. If it would be discouraged or there’s a possibility another company would take your hose line, discuss strategies for how the organization can overcome these factors.

2. Discuss a time when a 360° size up was not completed and it caused situational awareness to be flawed. This incident discussed does not have to be one where there was a consequence.

3. Discuss a time when a 360° size up was completed and how it improved situational awareness.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEAR MISS LESSON LEARNED

This lesson comes to us from the Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System, where lessons learned become lessons applied.

CREWS GET MIXED UP AT STRUCTURE FIRE.

#08-0000396 August 22, 2008

I was on the first arriving engine company of a structure fire in a two-story abandoned house. Heavy flame and thick smoke were coming from the Delta Side of the structure. Other companies arrived before my crew deployed into the structure. I took one back-end firefighter with six years of experience and also a rookie with two weeks of experience.

The six-year firefighter and I deployed to the interior Delta Side, first floor, for attack, but only after assigning the two-week firefighter to the exterior doorway to pull hose. After making an initial attack, we backed out of the Delta Side to the exterior. I recovered the two-week firefighter and we went to the truck to exchange air bottles. We re-entered the Alpha Side interior where I once again left the two-week firefighter at the exterior doorway to pull hose and advanced the line with the six-year firefighter.

We were only 6-8’ inside the structure, Alpha Side, and I decided to back out just enough to direct the two-week firefighter on the hoseline behind me. We re-entered the interior to resume the attack. Shortly after re-entry, Command called for a PAR. I tapped the six-year firefighter on the shoulder as he operated the nozzle. I then turned and tapped who I thought was my two-week firefighter on the helmet. I then radioed Scene Command with PAR. Command asked me to verify PAR and I confirmed PAR.

When retreating to the exterior with empty air, I found the firefighter I thought to be my two-week firefighter… only it wasn’t my two-week firefighter. It was a 22- year veteran that had been freelancing. Another crew directed my two-week firefighter to advance with them into the second story interior. When I questioned the two-week firefighter why he followed them, he told me he thought the other crew was me and the six year firefighter because we all look the same. He could not tell us from the other crews because our turnout gear all looks the same.

LESSONS LEARNED

Just because you give an assignment, it doesn’t mean the assignment will be carried out.

Freelancing is dangerous.

Officers should be distinguishable on the fire scene.

You can visit them at www.FirefighterNearMiss.com

And you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site:

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Click on the “contact us” link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.

INFORMATION

If you’re interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header, then click on the “Events Schedule” tab. If I’m in your area, I hope you’ll

consider attending a live event.

If you’re not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version of the Academy includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!

Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled “On-Line Academy.”

SAMATTERS COMMUNITY QUESTION

This question comes from a Mental Management of Emergencies class held last month on New York.

QUESTION: What can we do to develop the experience level of young officers who may not see as many fires as we saw in the early day of our careers?

ANSWER: The best way to develop experience is through responses to fire incidents. However, as the student noted, the number of fires they are responding to is declining and so are the opportunities for young officers to get experience. The next best thing to real experience is realistic simulations that are created to mimic the real fire conditions and create the same challenges that would be encountered at a real fire. After that, the next best training aids are near-miss reports and line-of-duty death reports where factual data can guild learning about conditions and circumstances that lead to casualties and fatalities. Finally, young officers can benefit from the stories shared by their senior (and retired) members. The more realistic the elaborative the stories (without embellishment of the truth) the more a young officer can learn.

The brain cannot distinguish fact from vividly imagined fiction. So the more realistic these experiences, the more like the experience is to be stored in the brain of the young officer as if it were real.

CLOSING

Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission.

If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.

You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.

Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.

You’ve been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you’re interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you’re interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com

Situational Awareness Matters! website

www.SAMatters.com

On-Line Academy

http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/

Upcoming Events Schedule

http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/

Books and Videos (Store)

http://www.samatters.com/store/

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/

Close Call Survivor Website

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Contact Rich Gasaway

www.RichGasaway.com

[email protected]

612-548-4424

On this episode we’ll talk about…

1.Positive and negative clues and cues that form situational awareness.

2.We will share a near-miss event where a first responder was nearly run over by a fire department command vehicle.

3.And we will address a dilemma where a listener shares his concern about his department training officer and the seemingly lack of interest in conducting mayday and rapid intervention training because, as the listener writes… He thinks it will never happen here.

FEATURE TOPIC

As we train our employees to improve situational awareness it is important the lessons include a list of both positive and negative clues and cues that a worker must understand in order to develop and maintain strong situational awareness. In the context of developing situational awareness, positive and negative does not mean good and bad. Rather, positive and negative means present and absent. Let me explain.

Not all clues and cues are created equal

In the process of developing situational awareness it all starts with perception. Or, if you’re a fan of the Boyd OODA loop, observation. Name calling aside, it all begins with capturing the clues and cues in your environment and then processing them into meaning something. The problem is, some of the clues and cues… are not there. Really! They are absent. You cannot see them or hear them. But nonetheless, they may be as important as any clue or cue you can see or hear. Thus, situational awareness is formed based on what you see and hear and what you do not see and hear.

Positive clues and cues

The positive clues and cues are the easiest to detect because they can be seen and heard. Understanding them, on the other hand is a completely separate matter and one that I have written and spoken about extensively. Notwithstanding the challenges with comprehension, it is relatively easy to train a responder on what to look and listen for at an emergency scene. At a fire scene, some of the positive clues and cues might be smoke, flame, construction (and decomposition), victims and wind. For a sick person, some positive clues and cues might be respirations and lung sounds, pulse, blood pressure, skin color and temperature, and pupil size and reactions. These are all clues and cues that can be seen or heard.

Negative clues and cues

Negative clues and cues are much harder to detect and may also be more difficult to comprehend their meaning, especially the first time they are encountered. Because negative clues and cues are not actually there – they cannot be seen or heard – they can slip by a responder rather easily.

One of the examples I like to share during a program is to ask a young person in the room if sick kids cry. They always respond in the affirmative. Then I ask them if really sick kids cry harder. Again, they respond in the affirmative. Then I find a seasoned medical responder in the audience and ask them if really sick kids cry. They always say NO! Why?

Because really sick kids – the ones on death’s doorstep – do not cry. This is a negative clue that means a lot to a medical care team. If a responder did not know better, they might be lulled into thinking the kid who is quiet is not not as sick as the kid who is crying.

Novices v. Experts

When it comes to identifying positive clues and cues, novices and experts are about evenly matched. Again, notwithstanding there may be huge differences in the understanding of what the clues and cues mean, both are able to see and hear the same things. However, when it comes to negative clues and cues, the expert’s performance towers above the novice. To be able to SEE and HEAR clues and cues that are absent requires a deep understanding of what clues and cues should be present, yet are not.

This requires expert knowledge. An expert can look at a situation and draw a completely different conclusion about what is happening and how bad the situation is simply by combining the positive and negative clues and cues. What’s even more amazing is, the expert may be doing this subconsciously. That’s right. The expert may be unaware they are comparing the situation with what they have stored as typical situations and identifying absent clues and cues that prime recognition.

Advice

Novice officers should be assigned a mentor and spend time shadowing the expert during critical incidents that require decisions. The mentor can ask the novice to identify the clues and cues and draw a conclusion. The expert can then either affirm the conclusion or refute it with the addition of negative clues and cues the novice is unaware of. This can also be done in training scenarios and simulations using videos.

When experts draw different conclusions than novices, the simple act of the novice asking how the expert drew their conclusion might leave the expert without a good answer. This is because the expert may be doing the processing of negative clues and cues subconsciously. It may be hard for the expert to bring to words how they know what they know. This tacit knowledge (unconscious knowledge) is truly what separates experts from novices. An expert committed to sharing their knowledge will display patience and allow the novice to ask questions about how command decisions are made. Expert commanders, don’t think of this as defiance. Think of it as learning.

Discussions

1. Identify and discuss some specific positive and negative clues and cues for various work environments an employee may encounter (e.g., residential dwelling fire, motor vehicle accident scene, cardiac, etc.).

2. Discuss some strategies for teaching employees and supervisors on how to identify both positive and negative clues and cues.

3. Following the completion of a task, discuss the positive and negative clues and cues captured and evaluated that helped form situational awareness.

SITUATIONAL AWARENESS NEAR MISS LESSON LEARNED

This lesson comes to us from the Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System, where lessons learned become lessons applied.

COMMAND VEHICLE NEARLY BACKS OVER FF ROLLING HOSE.

#13-0000292

January 16, 2013

At about 1730 hours companies were dispatched to [location omitted] for an unknown fire. A resident could see flames. During the process of leaving the scene, The BC backed his vehicle and almost hit Lt. who was rolling a fire hose length behind the chief’s vehicle on the road.

The B/C involved in the near-miss had responded to the fire call and arrived as the second due Battalion Chief. The first due BC had responded and established Command for a field fire behind a building. I observed the crew and the lieutenant picking up hose. The weather was very cold and I only had on my station uniform and highway safety vest, I went back to the command vehicle and cleared with him to leave the scene. Upon returning to my vehicle I walked wide observing the rear of my car, removed and folded my vest, dropping it on the ground as I tried to place it back in the driver’s door pocket, I had to pick it up refold it and put it in the door properly.

When I got back in the car I remember it was cold and realized that I had left the passenger side window(s) open. I put up the (front) driver’s side window, adjusted the heater to high and sat there to warm up. I then looked behind through the vehicle mirrors and started backing. As soon as I backed up, I heard someone yell. I looked and saw someone at my rear window. I then realized that I had also opened my rear passenger side window and that is why I heard someone yell.

I got out of the car and made face-to-face communications with the lieutenant. He said: It’s OK, Chief you almost got me. I am OK. I asked: What are you doing? I saw he was rolling a hose and he did not directly answer. I also observed that he had a 1-3/4 roll of hose partially in his hands. He then moved the hose rolling to the side of the road and I left the scene. I re-entered my vehicle, realized the rear window was down, put up my (rear) passenger window and left the scene.

A few days later the Incident Commander (BC) called me and asked if I was aware that that I had hit the lieutenant. I said: Yes, but did I hit him or did you yell and he got out of the way? I also said it had disturbed me, because of my EGH position and my concern and passion for firefighter safety. I said: How would it look if the EGH guy ran someone over? He said he wanted to make sure I reviewed the incident with the lieutenant, and that there have been other backing incidents that have happened recently. I assured him I would.

The next shift, I met with the lieutenant. He and I discussed the incident and each of our parts of the event. I apologized for almost backing into him, since it could have caused death or injury. We discussed what went wrong. I explained the events from my point of view. I reviewed what I did in accordance with our policy and explained to him about the delay that caused me to take a longer time, resulting in me not seeing him move into that area, between the time I got in my car and the time I tried to leave. I cited the weather being cold, the open window, turning on my heater.

The lieutenant could not explain why he was rolling hose in the street and not on the paved driveway. We discussed what we could do to prevent it again. We discussed items such as, being more aware of your surroundings for both the driver and firefighter in traffic, using and soliciting a second party to assist the driver of single occupant vehicles (Chief’s, Inspectors, etc.). The Lt. suggested the use of backing alarms on staff vehicles, like the trucks have, that would have alerted him with a noise.

We also discussed the practice of After Action Reviews. The Lt. is a Marine Reserve and I asked and he explained the use of an AAR after any event the Marine Corps does. I discussed the use of an AAR and my work with the National Fallen Fire fighters Foundation.

LESSONS LEARNED

Members should follow all SOPs for backing procedures and work in teams having company officers supervising the work of firefighters and acting as safety officers. Drivers should use backers, making special a request when staff vehicles, such as chief’s cars and vehicles with one person don’t have a second person to back them up. Drivers, most importantly chief officer’s, must maintain situational awareness about how exposure to extreme environmental temperatures can lead to extra time needed between tasks. Staff vehicles should be fitted with Backup alarms.

You can visit them at www.FirefighterNearMiss.com

If you have experienced or witnessed a near miss and would like to be interviewed on this show, visit my companion site:

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Click on the contact us link. Thank you, in advance, for sharing your lessons learned so others may live.

INFORMATION

If you are interested in attending a live event, you can check out the Situational Awareness Matters Tour Stop schedule at: SAMatters.com. Click on the Program and Keynotes tab just below the header, then click on the Events Schedule tab. If I’m in your area, I hope you will consider attending a live event.

If you are not able to attend a live event, consider signing up for the SAMatters On-Line Academy. The Academy contains videos and articles that cover the same content as a three-day live tour event, delivered in 14 modules you can go through at your own pace, from your own computer. The Academy Plus version of the Academy includes four books that are referenced throughout the Academy. The Plus version is a great bargain because the tuition simply covers the cost of the books… making the Academy free!

Just click on the link below the header on the SAMatters home page titled On-Line Academy.

SAMATTERS COMMUNITY QUESTION

This question comes from an SAMatters reader.

QUESTION: Our department training officer doesn't think we need to train on rapid intervention and mayday because he thinks it will never happen here. Can you make any suggestions about how we can get him to understand anyone, anywhere, can have a mayday and need rapid intervention?

ANSWER: Thanks for writing in with the question. It is one thing to have a member in denial of the potential of your department having a mayday or needing a rapid intervention. It takes my concern to a whole new level when it's your training officer. I don't know your training officer so my advice here is unqualified but I'm going to go on a limb and say your training officer is either complacent or afraid of something.

He may be complacent because your department has NEVER had a mayday or a near-miss even closely resembling a casualty event. Rest assured, unless your department is somehow devoid of all risk associated with performing the skills of public safety providers, you are at-risk. There are ways to reduce risk, and to some degree manage risk. But there is no way to completely avoid risk. Living in the denial of the potential of a mayday is actually adding risk, which is not where you want to be.

I would recommend first talking to the training officer one-on-one in a non-threatening manner. Try to appeal to his sense of logic. It may be helpful to look for near-miss or casualty event that have occurred in communities similar to yours. I'm sure they're out there. And I'm sure those departments never thought they'd have a casualty event either. Ask the training officer to allow line personnel to train on skills that would help prevent a recurrence of that casualty in your town.

If the one-on-one approach does not work, consider finding a member who has a good relationship with the training officer and who is an advocate for your cause. Ask him or her to approach the training officer and make an appeal. Finally, if neither of those work, consider gathering the support of a group of firefighters to advance your cause. There's strength in numbers. Avoid being confrontational. You'll catch more bees with honey than you do with vinegar.

CLOSING

Thank you for sharing some of your valuable time with me today. I sincerely appreciate your support of my mission.

If you like the show, please go to iTunes, and search for SAMatters Radio and subscribe to the podcast and leaving your feedback and a 5-star review. This will help others find the show.

You can also sign up for the free SAMatters monthly newsletter by visiting www.SAMatters.com and clicking the red box on the right side of the home page.

Be safe out there. May the peace of the Lord, and strong situational awareness, be with you always.

You have been listening to the Situational Awareness Matters Radio show with Dr. Richard B. Gasaway. If you’re interested in learning more about situational awareness, human factors and decision making under stress, visit SAMatters.com. If you are interested in booking Dr. Gasaway for an upcoming event, visit his personal website at RichGasaway.com

Situational Awareness Matters! website

www.SAMatters.com

On-Line Academy

http://www.samatters.com/situational-awareness-matters-academy/

Upcoming Events Schedule

http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/eventschedule/

Books and Videos (Store)

http://www.samatters.com/store/

Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System

http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/

Close Call Survivor Website

www.CloseCallSurvivor.com

Contact Rich Gasaway

www.RichGasaway.com

[email protected]

612-548-4424