When things go wrong

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Permalink Reply by John Barrett on June 29, 2010 at 1:38pm

Keying in on when things aren't going right is an important part of making sure everyone goes home.

Unfortunately the longer you are on the job the more opportunity you have to become involved in the calls that go wrong. Sometimes the call starts off bad...the "bad" seems to happen before or while you are getting the dispatch (when the call is outside your sphere of influence) and then it just continues to go bad from there; other times it's when something goes bad at some point during your involvment in the incident. Most, if not all times, this "bad" is an oversight, mistake or error that makes the situation worse, not better.

A big part of our SA "Situational Awareness" is looking for and recognizing when things aren't going right.
How do we know when things aren't going right if we don't know what the right things are? Education and proper training helps.
How do we know when things aren't going right, but they still aren't bad? Experience (ours and others) is our teacher.

This "what is the right thing" is a big point of contention and covers all aspects of our jobs and performance of them. This question of what is the right thing is often the "what" that gets monday morning quarterbacked after the incident goes bad...especially when there are extremely negative consequences. There are those who inappropriately believe that "what is right" is always subjective in nature...

To me, the definition of what is right is when we base decisions and actions on what is best and the most desireable for the safety of ourselves, our team and our customers. What isn't mentioned in my definition is just as important as what is...the outcome of our decisions and actions cannot define 100% of the time what is right; because sometimes we can do everything "right" (with the right intentions) and it still goes "wrong" (undesireable outcomes are produced). From here we could begin a discussion on risk management...

Another part of SA is also being open to that fact that things will go wrong. This component of SA is your personal awareness
If we think we can't make mistakes then we aren't going to be open to the possibility of becoming involved in one. There is a VERY THIN LINE between tricks of the trade and tactical drift. As we progress in our careers we must constantly make sure that the tricks of the trade we make part of our actions do not constitute tactical drift - unsafe habits that are reinforced with positive outcomes (definition borrowed from Frank Ricci).
There is a VERY THIN LINE between cocky and confident. As we gain time and experience in our profession, to be professional (and safe) we must always be on the right side of that line. We can do this by being open to outside influence and being introspective - examing ourselves, our decisions and behaviors.

Being aware is only part of what is needed, however.
After becoming aware of things not going right, we must acknowledge it, categorize it as needing attention or not (using our experience) and then determine a course of action that will get us back in the right. Many times in my career I have seen people become aware of things not going right, but often it becomes difficult to acknowledge it "in the moment", and it is even harder to change the course of action to get us back on the right path.

This job is not about what is easy, it is about what is right. Do the right thing, even if it wasn't what was just done, so that everyone goes home.

Take care and be safe.

Permalink Reply by Mike France on June 29, 2010 at 1:47pm

This Fire threw everything at us it could, everyone did go home safely and no one got hurt other than heat exhaustion. I did learn from this where and what changes needed to be made

Permalink Reply by Jeff Schwering on June 29, 2010 at 2:28pm

Mike, Brother like I said when you told be about this, as John said Situational Awareness! Back the boys up, big fire, big water! Every fire teaches us something because they all are different, the day we stop learning at every job, is the day we hang up our boots, least for me and that's not happening any time soon. My name is Jeff, and I like to go to fires!

Permalink Reply by Mark Wadsworth on June 29, 2010 at 7:06pm

Seems like common sense guided you very well in this incident. With all of the factors you described, the right decision was made to protect your firefighters and write off a building already lost. John has nailed it by saying that we must be keying in when things are not going right. We must recognize the problem(s) and reevaluate our actions. Looks like you made a good stop, considering.