I saw this video the other day and it got me thinking.
We talk about tactics a lot in the fire service, but we fall short when it comes to talking about tactical drift. To me that is what is going on here. We get tunnel vision about putting the fire out the way we always have before, through the front door, and get impatience about standing around. So what happens? We commit firefighters to dangerous positions that they don't NEED to be in.
I think this is a great illustration of my point that often times we are lucky rather than good. Two or three fires after this when a chimney collapses and a firefighter is maimed, crippled, or killed the chorus will ring out: "But we've done this before and it was okay!"
Prolonged exposure to risk with out incident leads to a lack of appreciation of risk. In other words we get risk tunnel vision.
I accept that as a Fire Service we will aggressively commit to some very dangerous places in and above the fire area. That is what we exist to do. However we have to also recognize when we are not improving things JUST by putting people inside the building.
I am not going to belabor this post with a bunch of chatter. If we want to get serious about reducing fire fighter injuries and fatalities we need to train incident commanders, company officers, and firefighters to recognize stupid tactics and stop them. Now, to my knowledge no one got hurt at this fire, but I think we can all see the potential was there.
Just a few quick thoughts while I am plugging away at research and writing. Cheers
Chris,
ReplyDeleteGreat post and fuel for discussion.
"If we want to get serious about reducing fire fighter injuries and fatalities we need to train incident commanders, company officers, and firefighters to recognize stupid tactics and stop them."
I agree however I think we may need to adjust some of our expectations.
Firefighters are task oriented. Pulling ceiling, operating nozzles or saws. We can only truly expect them to be aware of that which surrounds their task. Footing, smoke conditions and their air.
Company officers are crew supervisors. We expect them to be the eyes and ears over the activities of their crew. Their progress or lack of and the conditions that surround the operation they are overseeing.
Now on to the IC. I would love to pin the global responsibility of Incident safety on the IC but I think that at this level you may see the greatest conflict. The IC has taken an emergency and personally developed an incident action plan based on his training, experience and crews to mitigate it. He created a Mission. It is difficult even for the most disciplined of us to truly separate this personal connection. When we recognize that the IC is trying to fulfill a mission we recognize that it is unrealistic for us to expect him to recognize failures when he is subconsciously seeking out signs of progress towards success of his mission.
What is the answer? The greatest good is improving situational awareness at all levels as you are attempting.
The long term goal is to ensure that as long as there is an IC on a working incident there is also a separate and dedicated Incident Safety Officer to provide an objective third party view between the emotion of those working with mind, body and skill to see the mission through and the unpredictable enemy that the fire, building construction and Murphy's law present.
Thanks brother and keep it coming.
Brian
My comments go with this post and one from last week. An old boss of mine used to say "a doctor that got A's in school is the same as a doctor that got C's." They both are seen as equal since both are doctors. This is very true in the fire service. We have a lot of great firefighters and we have even more that are at the C level. The issue at hand is how to bring the skill level up to be equal or "great"?
ReplyDeleteIf the fire service instructor is a "C" student can he teach others to be "A" Instructors or Firefighters? Its a snowball effect.We need to set our bars higher. This job is not for everyone and just because you do get in, that doesn't mean the learning curve is over, its just the beginning of becoming "A+ Firefighters"