Not just what and how, but why!
What’s the Difference? The fire behavior phenomena backdraft and smoke explosion are often confused. This is no surprise given that the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 921 Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations (NFPA, 2024) and NFPA 1700 Guide for Structural Fire Fighting (NFPA, 2022) provide different, and decidedly ambiguous definitions for these two phenomena. … Read more
Common Operating Picture and Situational Awareness This series of posts began with a simple question related to a one-story house with a walkout basement on Side Charlie, “how do I describe the number of stories and basement in my follow-up report”? The second post in the series, dug a bit deeper into the importance of … Read more
Basements and Stories “On Side Charlie” As discussed in the last post, we often have an incomplete perspective on incident conditions such as building layout and configuration. It is essential that firefighters and fire officers recognize not only what they know, but what they do not and work to develop a common operating picture and … Read more
Developing Vicarious Experience Formal learning is an essential part of firefighters’ and fire officers’ professional development, but informal learning is equally important, with lessons frequently shared using stories. Stories are about sharing knowledge, not simply about entertainment. It is their ability to share culture, values, vision and ideas that make them so critical. They can … Read more
Sanming Modern Practical Firefighting Training Center From March 18th to the 22nd I was privileged to attend the International Fireground Survival Championship and 1st International Firefighter Workshop China at the Sanming Modern Practical Firefighting Training Center in Sanming, China. The Training Center The Sanming Fire Department runs the Sanming Modern Practical Fire Training Center. The … Read more
For structural firefighters, response to a fire in a tunnel is an uncommon experience. On Friday, February 14, 2025, at 11:37 firefighters in Green River, Wyoming responded to a multiple vehicle accident and fire in the Twin Tunnel on Interstate 80. Working on a 10-Minute Training tactical decision game based on this incident got me … Read more
From apprentice to master, the science, craft, and art of incident command. What makes a competent IC? Think about the company officers and chiefs you have worked for. Which ones demonstrated competence in the role of incident commander (IC)? What made them competent? Is this easy to describe or is it like Supreme Court Justice … Read more
After more than 10 years, the CFBT-US Blog is back! Rebranded as Command Competence, CFBT-US, LLC the blog has broadened its focus from fire dynamics to include strategy and tactics, and command skills such as situational awareness and decision-making. As previous readers likely noticed, the format of the CFBT-US Blog had degraded due to issues … Read more