The phrase “Perfect Storm” is used to describe a combination of unpredictable circumstances that cause drastic outcomes. The term is also used to describe circumstances that occur so infrequently that they are thought to be unpredictable and thus, perhaps, unpreventable. The term can also sometimes be used to describe the worst-case scenario of a potential, not yet experienced, event. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records ...
May 24, 2016•39 min
I get asked a lot of questions about what the first arriving company officer should do at a working structure fire. Specifically, the debate revolves around two basic premise. Should the first arriving company officer assume a fixed command position outside the structure and coordinate the activities of incoming units? Or, should the first arriving company officer assume a "working command" or "mobile command" position and engage in the firefight with their crew? This episode looks to answer tha...
May 17, 2016•32 min
In this interview with Chief Lohr, we discuss how he is working to change a culture and to improve safety for the members of the Hagerstown Fire Department. Listen in as he shares important messages about safety complacency, culture, situational awareness, politics and succession planning. This episode will also be available a video on the SAMattersTV YouTube. Youtube.com/SAMattersTV Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Our Guest Chief Steve Lohr Hagerstown Fire Department SLohr@hagerstownm...
May 10, 2016•1 hr 4 min
The process by which situational awareness is formed begins withusing your five senses (seeing, hearing, feeling, tasting andsmelling) to gather information from your environment. That mayarguably be the easiest part of the situational awarenessdevelopmental process so long as you are “paying attention” to yourenvironment. Once the senses gather information, it converts itinto an electrical code that crackles its way down neural pathwaysto various destinations. At some point, the inputs from the...
May 03, 2016•31 min
Interview questions discussed included: While conducting live burn evolutions fire instructors are bound by NFPA 1403 for safety reasons. And while fire instructors do not want to jeopardize the safety of the students (or fellow instructors), how can we incorporate fire dynamics demonstrations to show students what to expect, versus just lecturing students about dynamics? How can fire dynamics be taught beyond the classroom? Are lectures on fire dynamics enough to prepare firefighters? During li...
Apr 26, 2016•56 min
On November 14, 2014, Indianapolis Captain (then Lieutenant) Eric Dreiman was assigned on Ladder 19. His station was dispatched at 1159 hours to a reported residential dwelling fire on Holly Avenue, about a half mile from the station. On arrival the crew had heavy fire showing on the rear of the house and one occupant who had escaped reporting that her son was still inside. Dreiman, along with Firefighter Brian Kincaid made entry to conduct a primary search. Engine 19 was stretching an attack li...
Apr 19, 2016•46 min
On November 14, 2014, Indianapolis Captain (then Lieutenant) Eric Dreiman was assigned on Ladder 19. His station was dispatched at 1159 hours to a reported residential dwelling fire on Holly Avenue, about a half mile from the station. On arrival the crew had heavy fire showing on the rear of the house and one occupant who had escaped reporting that her son was still inside. Dreiman, along with Firefighter Brian Kincaid made entry to conduct a primary search. Engine 19 was stretching an attack li...
Apr 12, 2016•44 min
In my efforts to research and share what causes issues with situational awareness I have uncovered over 100… what I call… Barriers. These barriers impact a person’s ability to develop and maintain situational awareness. In this episode I am going to explore the challenges of staffing as a barrier to situational awareness by sharing excerpts of interviews I conducted with expert-level fireground commanders during my doctoral research. If you are interested in reading the complete research study, ...
Apr 05, 2016•34 min
Captain Ryan Cox, Fire Apparatus Operator Tom Reel, Firefighter Jay McManigal and Firefighter John Alvey share the details of a close call during a routine truck check when Ladder 7 came into contact with a 33 kV transmission line on January 2, 2016. If circumstances were just slightly different, this incident could have resulted in multiple firefighter fatalities. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records Guest Contact Inform...
Mar 29, 2016•1 hr 11 min
Very few podcasters make it this far… to their 100th episode. When you consider that each episode takes 2-3 hours of script writing, recording, editing, arranging and interviewing guests, that’s quite an investment of time. The mission of Situational Awareness Matters is to help you see the bad things coming… in time to avoid bad outcomes. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAM...
Mar 22, 2016•42 min
Greg Yost has served as a firefighter in Hancock, Maryland for more than 30 years. He has been an advocate for improving responder safety on highways incidents for many years. On June 21, 2014 Greg’s daughter, Daniele, was involved in a vehicle accident where the investigation determined that she was distracted while driving. As a result, her vehicle drifted left of center and struck another vehicle head-on, killing both drivers. Greg has since dedicated himself to teaching classes for teens and...
Mar 15, 2016•55 min
It is a widely held belief that the best decisions are made without the interference of emotions. Economists and statisticians alike stand fast to this belief – the best decisions are made with using pure logic. Facts and formulas lead to the most rational decisions. But do they? Image for a moment if the emotional control center of a person’s brain were removed. Would that person then make better decisions? We’ll review a medical case that answers this question. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire Midwes...
Mar 08, 2016•32 min
The precursor to situational awareness is situational readiness, which I define as: Having the ability to anticipate what things need to be in place to be well-prepared for an emergency response; and then, taking the steps necessary to ensure the right things are done, in advance of the actual response, to be properly prepared. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com F...
Mar 01, 2016•30 min
This episode was inspired by an email from a listener wanted to know if an officer’s administrative duties, assignments, tasks and workload can impact on situational awareness. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/ Contact Rich Gasaway www.RichGasaway.com Support@RichGasaway.com 612-548-4424...
Feb 23, 2016•49 min
First responders spend a lot of time together, on calls, in the station, and in many cases in social settings outside of work. All of this interaction builds relationships that allow responders to trust their lives to each other. We’ll discuss how peer pressure can be beneficial and detrimental to first responder safety. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com Firefigh...
Feb 16, 2016•23 min
Your brain is awesome at capturing, processing, storing and recalling information. But it has limitations, especially when it comes to memory under stress. There are four steps in the process of developing a memory: Encoding, storage, retrieval and forgetting. The process is quite complex. Perhaps I'll dedicate a future chapter to walking readers through the complete process of memory formation. But for now, I am going to focus on the first step, encoding. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.c...
Feb 09, 2016•37 min
To think being safe and being aggressive cannot coexist is to believe that responders must sacrifice safety if/when they choose to be aggressive. Or, when responders choose to do things safely, they can no longer be aggressive. In truth, safety and aggressiveness can be accomplished simultaneously. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com Firefighter Near Miss Reporting...
Feb 02, 2016•33 min
The San Francisco Fire Department conducted an internal review of the incident and issued a 156-page report on their findings. Many of the lessons relate to situational awareness and it is from that perspective that I would like to share my assessment on several of their findings. I dedicate this podcast to the lives of Lieutenant Vincent Perez and firefighter/paramedic Anthony M. Valerio and I applaud the San Francisco Fire Department for conducting an internal review and for sharing their find...
Jan 26, 2016•36 min
Good or bad, we all have habits. On an emergency scene good habits can save your life and bad habits can result of tragic consequences. So it stands to reason that you would want to form good habits and avoid bad habits, right? But you can form bad habits and not be aware of it. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records Situational Awareness Matters! website www.SAMatters.com Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System http://www.f...
Jan 19, 2016•26 min
If you are the type of person who can work on your notebook, listen to music on your iPod, talk on your cell phone and text message at the same time, (maybe all while driving) this episode is for you. Advances in technology have given us more opportunities to multitask than any other time in the history of humankind. We are bombarded with visual and audible stimulation, most of which is at our fingertips. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats ...
Jan 12, 2016•34 min
While attempting to command an understaffed incident scene, the attention of the company officer or the incident commander can be narrowly focused on what is causing him or her the greatest stress. In the case of understaffing, the safety of personnel operating in the hazardous conditions can be a huge stressor. If this happens, it may cause a responder to narrow their attention and cause him or her to miss seeing, or hearing, important clues and cues. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com I...
Jan 05, 2016•21 min
I recently read with great interest a very long thread on Facebook about whether or not an incident commander should wear turnout gear at a fire scene. As my focus and passion is improving first responder situational awareness, I would like to address this issue from that perspective. The feedback on Facebook was, as expected, all over the place with some participants saying the commander should be in turnout gear. Some said the commander should not be in turnout gear. And some displayed the typ...
Dec 29, 2015•24 min
If I were to tell you that on an emergency scene it is possible for you to use X-Ray vision, you'd probably think I've been watching too many Superman movies. But it is possible for you to look right through a solid object on an emergency scene and see what's beyond it. Seriously! This episode will explain how that is possible and why this skill is so vitally important to your safety. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records ...
Dec 22, 2015•22 min
This episode defines high reliability organizations and looks at the common threads that have emerged in organizations that embrace HRO philosophies. We will look at: Organizational complexity Teamwork How knowledge supersedes rank Communications Accountability Feedback Compressed time constraints Sensitivity to operations Reluctance to simplify Preoccupation with failure Deference to expertise Resilience Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com References for this episode Baker, D.P., Day, R.,...
Dec 15, 2015•29 min
In this episode we provide a working definition of situational awareness and take the mystery out of how it is developed and maintained by individuals working in high risk, high consequence environments. Specifically, we will discuss: Perception Understanding Prediction Intuition Pattern Matching Tacit Knowledge And we will address some of the reasons why situational awareness can be so challenging to develop and maintain. Our sponsor: Midwest Fire MidwestFire.com Intro music Safety Dance (1982)...
Dec 08, 2015•39 min
In this episode we discussed some really important and valuable topics that all firefighters can face, including: How to maintain control of you own personal situation when you show up on scene of a house fire and find out that it is owned and or occupied by either a family member, loved one, ex partner, friend, etc. The impact that helmet cameras can have on situational awareness, decision making and behavior. How to keep from getting caught off-guard when you arrive at a working incident How a...
Dec 01, 2015•1 hr 9 min
Dispatched to a report of multiple people trapped on the second floor of an apartment building with rising water, Tiger Schmittendorf and two of other members of his department launched their rescue boat and located the victims on in the apartment building. While preparing them for removal the conditions outside changed significantly and the slow moving water became swift moving water. Listen in as he chronicles how the firefighters were able to remove the victims but then almost became victims ...
Nov 24, 2015•34 min
John Martens is Founder of NMotion UAS, which provides Drone (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) technologies to public safety professionals and emergency management groups. These technologies enable responders to better assess, execute, and mitigate emergencies. As a firefighter, Martens initially discovered the unmanned aircraft industry through a previous company in video production and digital media. Martens was driven to improve the life safety of his crew members and other responders with a missio...
Nov 17, 2015•35 min
On January 30, 2010, Captain Tim Kohlbeck and Lieutenant Chase Longmiller, assigned to the heavy rescue at Sheboygan Fire Station #1 were dispatched to a structure fire with the possibility of people trapped on the second floor. They were inside conducting the search when conditions when conditions changed quickly. Their decisive actions saved their lives… barely. Lessons learned included: Knowing the buildings in your town – both construction and layout. Building mutual trust with your company....
Nov 10, 2015•51 min
On February 8, 2009, Lieutenant Lentz (now Assistant Chief) was working a residential dwelling fire when a wall unexpectedly collapsed on him. This resulted in multiple critical injuries including multiple fractured vertebrae, a pelvis fracture, a broken leg, multiple rib fractures and a collapsed lung. He was air lifted to Huntsville Hospital and underwent multiple surgeries and spent nearly a year in rehabilitation therapy, having to learn how to walk again. Listen as he recounts the events as...
Nov 03, 2015•55 min
