Not just what and how, but why!
Developing & Case Studies The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently released Death in the Line of Duty Report F2008-06 on an incident that occurred in February 2008 in Grove City, Pennsylvania. As I read through the narrative and recommendations I began to ask myself how other firefighters and fire officers might … Read more
Deliberate Practice As discussed in my posts on Outstanding Performance and Reading the Fire improving proficiency requires sustained deliberate practice! Application of the B-SAHF (Building, Smoke, Air Track, Heat, & Flame) organizing scheme for critical fire behavior indicators to photographs or video of structure fires provides an excellent opportunity to develop your knowledge of fire … Read more
Exptertise Knowledge and skill are critical to safe and effective performance during emergency operations and firefighters and officers who perform well on the fireground are respected by their peers. What does it take to develop a high level of expertise? Believing that they are masters of their craft, some firefighters resist engaging in practice of … Read more
Photo by Mark E. Brady, Prince Georges County Fire/EMS Department Experienced Judgment Firefighters frequently base their expectations of how a fire will behave on their experience. Wildland fire scientist Harry Gisborne’s1948 observations about wildland firefighters experienced judgment can be paraphrased to apply to structural firefighters as well: For what is experienced judgment except opinion based … Read more
A few days ago I watched a video clip of a fire officer performing a vent enter search (VES) operation on firevideo.net. Shortly after the officer made entry into the second floor, the room flashed over and he was forced to make emergency egress over a ladder. Yesterday, I came across the same video clip … Read more
This post continues my examination of fire stream effectiveness and efficiency with a look at factors influencing nozzle selection and a recap of factors influencing the effectiveness and efficiency of fire streams. LT Bob Shovald’s article Improving Preconnect Function and Operation in the October issue of Fire Engineering magazine and FF Armand Guzzi’s article Analysis … Read more
Nozzle Pressure In my previous post It’s the GPM I discussed the importance of matching flow rate to tactical application. This post was in part a response to LT Bob Shovald’s article Improving Preconnect Function and Operation which was published in the October issue of Fire Engineering magazine. More recently, I read an article by … Read more
Surprises are Bad! I frequently observe that surprises on the fireground are bad. Unexpectedly worsening conditions can place firefighters at risk and often result in injuries and fatalities. However, event unexpected success can be problematic, as we don’t know why we were successful (and will likely attribute it to our mastery of the firefighting craft). … Read more
Relevance, Quality, & Impact The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) conducted a public stakeholder meeting in Chicago, IL on 19 November 2008 to hear input and recommendations on the Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Prevention Program. Dr. Christine Branche, Acting Director of NIOSH opened the meeting by emphasizing that this program must be … Read more
This post is a continuation of my feedback to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health that will be presented at the public stakeholder meeting conducted in Chicago, IL on 19 November 2008. My recommendations are presented in the form of an analysis of NIOSH Report F2007-29. This incident resulted in the death of … Read more