It used to be that firefighters wore 3/4 length boots and long coats. When they stepped down from the rig they would have to bend over and pull-up their boots before they entered the fire building. That act, pulling up their boots, gave them a second to look at the building and focus on what was going on with the fire and the condition of the building.
Today we pull-up in front of the fire building with our bunker gear on, our SCBA on our back, and we can run up to the building immediately as we alight from the rig. We have to take that second and look at the building.
I am a proponent of Rapid Cognition, making decisions in the Blink of an eye so to speak. I think that is what Recognition Primed Decision Making is all about. It is why with training and skills building we can use a system like John Boyd's OODA Loop to make time sensitive decisions in a life or death moment.
Blink is a book by Malcolm Gladwell that looks into how people make decisions in the "blink" of an eye. I found it fascinating and think that anyone of you aspiring combat decision makers out there should give it a read. My biggest take away from the book was that even a very good decision maker can start to become overwhelmed if there is TOO MUCH information. That someone who has a set of procedures that tailor WHAT they are looking for is able to process information much more quickly.
I make this point in my book The Combat Position: Achieving Firefighter Readiness as well as in my lecture Situational Awareness & Fireground Tactical Decision Making. I felt I was right when I wrote it and it's nice to stumble on validation.
So, give the book a read. It will open your eyes to how and why you make decisions and the ways your decision making process can break down. The second you finish Blink then pick up Robert Coram's book BOYD: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed The Art of War, and then go read Dave Grossman's book On Combat. There... now you have homework.
Your a hard ass teacher!! Homework on a holiday?? Noce post and Ill see ya saturday.
ReplyDeleteStay Safe!
Blink is a good, valuable read. Also would recomend "Sources of Power: How people make decisions" by Gary Kline. A bit dense but VERY relevant to what we do. He illustrates the progression from being unconsciously incompetant to consciously incompetant to consciously competant and ultimately (ideally!) to being unconsciously competant (ie. like tieing your shoes).
ReplyDeleteEddie, you can handle the work load.
ReplyDeleteMatt, Sources of Power was one of my refences for The Combat Position and I like Gary Kline's work in general. The Power of Intuition is a good read as well. Cheers!
I would suggest Deep Survival, by Laurence Gonzalez. It has some relevant insights as well.
ReplyDeleteChris, this post came into my mind today as I was checking my SCBA. I know it's not the main focus of your post but I think the new SCBA securing devices may be a blessing in disguise in relation to taking a second on the fireground. With the type we have most of us have all but abandoned donning the SCBA while en route. You just can't do it with seatbelt in place. Therefore we have a perfect opportunity when we arrive on scene to remove the SCBA, face the building and take a good look while we are donning it. Just a thought. Good luck with the book and keep up the great work.
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