Mental Prep

Mental Prep

Anyone who has been in the fire service more than a day knows that uncertainty rules our world. Chalk it up to Clausewitz’ fog of war, that pesky Murphy fellow, or just the way things are. In fact, the harder we try to constrain the fireground into more certain terms, the further we plunge towards chaos. When it comes to dealing with uncertainty, acceptance is the best medicine.

So what can we do? First and foremost is developing an ultra-high level of proficiency. The fireground does not cut slack for those who were just a little too busy or tired to get out and train the way we need to. Without a rock solid foundation of the basics, nothing will bring us up to the level we need to perform at. There is another piece of the puzzle, and that is mental prep.

Mental prep is a broad topic, the depth of which is beyond this post. What I want to do is give some solid examples of how we can use mental prep to raise our level of performance on the fireground. Mental prep benefits everyone, from the fresh probie to the seasoned chief. Most of what we do on the fireground involves complex motor skills. Complex motor skills are so called because they involve a combination of gross and fine motor skills. These complex motor skills tend to use up a good deal of our cognitive thinking ability. This becomes a problem when we are so focused on how to carry and raise a ladder that we miss the chance to read smoke conditions hinting at flashover. Beating this cognitive thinking drain goes back to our training. We need to be so good at the basics that muscle memory takes over and we can retain our cognitive thinking to take in our surroundings and make sound decisions. Coming full circle, mental prep allows us to rehearse our performance on the fireground ahead of time.

As firefighters riding on the rig we have endless opportunities to practice mental prep. We can further divide this mental prep into two areas: pre-incident and enroute. Pre-incident mental prep can be done at any time, whether on shift or not. Just pick a nearby building, put some imaginary fire in it, and go to work. What length hose line are you going to grab? Are there obstacles such as fences you have to contend with? How are you going to get past the fence? Take a look at access points. What forcible entry tools are going to be most appropriate? Suppose you just got assigned to vent the roof. Walk through what ladders you are going to grab, where you will raise them, and then what steps you will take to complete your task. You will quickly realize the benefits of this kind of mental prep. For extra credit, get some other people involved. Start bouncing ideas around. This is where it really gets fun!

Enroute mental prep is important for a couple of reasons. Studies have shown that our heart rates tend to spike from the time of the alarm, and remain elevated while we respond. Elevated heart rates are trouble because they reduce our motor skills, and sap our decision making abilities. Catching your breath and walking through what you are going to do on scene will instantly help you keep your calm. Go through every motion you will go through as you exit the rig, scan around, grab whatever equipment you need, and walk across the scene. Not only will this mental prep keep you calm, but you will be ready to go with a solid game plan when you arrive on scene. While you go through the motions in your mind, don’t neglect to think about what might go wrong. Walking through contingency plans enroute will help you to better deal with uncertainty.

Drivers can benefit from mental prep as well. Obviously paying attention to the road is the primary concern, but thinking ahead can pay big dividends. Be thinking about hydrant location, apparatus spotting, and whatever other duties you may perform when you get there. Anticipate trouble ahead of time. Be ready to deal with poor access and overhead obstructions. Be thinking about what your next plan is if the first hydrant is inoperative. If you already have a plan for dealing with a frozen hydrant you won’t panic when no water comes out.

Mental prep for officers takes on a somewhat larger scope. You can potentially have a lot more on your plate than just worrying about properly pulling the cross lay. Rehearse your size up in your head. You should already have an idea as to the type of building you will encounter based on the dispatch address. Be thinking about building construction and the effect it has on the fire and how you are going to operate. Start your 360 degree size up in your head .Talk to yourself about what you are going to be looking for. Start making your initial assignments ahead of time. Along with these assignments have a plan for what you are going to do when you pull up and the scene looks nothing like what you expected. Long story short, do the mental prep so you don’t get caught with your pants down.

Chiefs are not typically involved in the grunt work on the fireground. Their focus is going to be on overall management of the scene. With this fact in mind, mental prep for chiefs needs to be focused on not just the overall plan, but what they are going to do when everything falls apart. You should be thinking about what you are going to do when a MAYDAY comes in. MAYDAY’s thankfully don’t happen often, but this often results in no one thinking about it until it’s too late. Practice your response to a MAYDAY ahead of time. Is your response to a MAYDAY in a single family dwelling going to be different than a MAYDAY in a highrise? Walk through mental simulations ahead of time. Other events to mentally preplan include collapse, scenes involving violent individuals, high rise fires, and any other event which will tax the command system. Checklists will not save your tail when things fall apart. A cool head and strong mental prep will help keep you ahead of a bad situation.

These are just a few examples of how mental prep can be used to help our performance on the fireground. Obviously this is something that takes some practice. Start small and work on the simple stuff. Rehearse the actions you take on a regular basis. As you get better at creating these mental simulations start to add additional tasks and aspects. Use mental prep enroute to manage your heart rate and stat calm. Don’t think for a minute that mental prep is an alternative to quality training. Mental prep will be useless if you lack the ability to execute your skills in a proficient manner. If you want to learn more about mental prep I suggest you get a copy of “Warrior Mindset” by Dr. Michael Asken. This book has great information about how our bodies react to stress and ways to keep ourselves calm.

Surviving the fireground takes skill and smarts. Using mental prep helps us be smart in the application of our skills. Learn more about this important tool, practice it, and tell others about it. As always, stay smart, and stay combat ready.