SAMatters Radio

This is part 1 of a 2-part Interview. Feb. 4, 2007, is the day that changed the lives of Lionel and Joanna Crowther forever. A firefighter with the Winnipeg, Manitoba, Fire Department, Lionel was off duty when he got called in for an overtime shift. Early into the shift his company, Engine 101 was dispatched to a reported residential dwelling fire. Within minutes of responding to the call, a flash...

Situaitonal Awareness Webcast Firehouse.com https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1044687   Thank you to our sponsors: Midwest Fire: MidwestFire.com Branding Iron Marketing: BrandingIron.com   Intro music Safety Dance (1982) Men Without Hats GMC - Virgin Records   Situational Awareness Matters! website www. SAMatters.com   Upcoming Events Schedule http://www.samatters.com/programs-keynote/ev...

On January 14, 2010 the Wadesville Fire Department was dispatched to a residential dwelling fire. Deputy Chief Adam Farrar served as the incident commander.   During the incident, a crew on the interior attack nearly fell into the basement through a burned out floor and then a second narrowly escaped off the roof before it gave way under the strain of fire in the attic.   Some takeaways from the i...

Here is my Twelve Ways to Situational Awareness wish list. I hope you have all of them on Christmas day and every day throughout the year. 12: Communications skills : This includes both listening and speaking skills. Flawed communications is a significant barrier to situational awareness. I’ve written about this in numerous articles, including some suggestions for how to improve communications. Cl...

On February 18, 2009, Elyria Fire Captain Joe Pronesti responded to a fire alarm activation call on a college campus. The first arriving engine reported heavy smoke coming from multiple buildings. In search of the source of the smoke, crews would learn the fire was in a tunnel that connected multiple buildings on the campus.   Captain Pronesti was involved in advancing a hoseline and fighting the...

On Saturday, September 13, 2014, the Brooklyn Park Fire Department was dispatched to a medical call that had the potential to be catastrophic for the members of their department, their EMS transport provider and their police department.   The call was for a person having a stroke. As the crew arrived and made entry through the front door of the house there was a man on the floor having a seizure....

On July 5, 2013, the Spokane Fire Department responded to a reported commercial building fire at the Mayfair Professional Building, located at 5901 North Mayfair. Within two minutes of the alarm, the first arriving company found light smoke coming from the area of the HVAC units in the side of the building. The structure was a Type 5 construction, two-story structure with a basement.  The fire pro...

This episode is an interview with Technology Guru Darrell O’Donnell. I met Darrell through my social media channels. Darrell is located in Ottawa, Ontario and runs a very successful consulting and coaching business where he bridges the knowledge gap between the technology creators and innovators and the front end users of that technology – us… the first responder community. As you can imagine, thi...

On this episode I interview Jeff Dill from the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance and Les Karpluk, retired fire chief and owner of Genesis 2020 Solutions, a leadership teaching and consulting firm located in Prince Albert Saskatchewan. During the interview we:  1. Share a dvice about how to prepare for our climb down the ladder of success.  2. Talk about  how to maintain your identity and find...

For more show notes and pictures, visit: www. SAMatters.com/26/ On this episode I interview Fire Chief Gord Schreiner from the Comox Fire Department, located on beautiful Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Chief Schreiner holds the distinction of being one of the most impressive fire service thought leaders I’ve ever had the opportunity to meet.   Gord Schreiner started in the fire service in 197...

On this episode, I interview Firefighter John Dantuono of the Lakeside (New York) Fire Department. Lakeside is located west of Syracuse. The all-volunteer fire department serves a population of about 15,000. Listen in as John discusses how he responded to a mutual aid residential dwelling fire and fell through a weakened floor. As he notes, the only thing that kept him from falling all the way thr...

On this episode, I interview Firefighter Richard Marcus of the New Hartford Volunteer Fire Department in Connecticut. On May 5, 2006, Firefighter Marcus was in the officer’s seat of New Hartford Engine 1 responding to a report of a fire on the roadside. While in route, they were cancelled and a discussion in the cab caused the driver to become momentarily distracted. For the brief moment that he h...

On this episode I continue my interview with Captain John Lightly. John as served as a member of the Youngstown, Ohio Fire Department for 13 years. Youngstown FD has 8 stations and a sworn strength of 135 firefighters. John’s married and has twin daughters who are in 3 rd grade. So you can imagine how exciting… and hectic John’s life is. I really appreciate him sitting down with me and sharing his...

This episode is Part 1 of a 2-part interview with Captain John Lightly. John as served as a member of the Youngstown, Ohio Fire Department for 13 years. Youngstown FD has 8 stations and a sworn strength of 135 firefighters. John’s married and has twin daughters who are in 3 rd grade. So you can imagine how exciting… and hectic John’s life is. I really appreciate him sitting down with me and sharin...

Hello and welcome to episode 21 of the Situational Awareness Matters radio show. I am your host, Rich Gasaway. T he purpose of this show is to improve situational awareness and decision making for individuals and teams who work in high risk, high consequence environments.   The SAMatters mission is simple… To help you see the bad things coming… in time to avoid bad outcomes.   I have a great inter...

On this episode I interview Fire Chief Patrick Kenny from the Village of Western Springs, Illinois Fire Department. Chief Kenny talks candidly about losing his son, Sean, to suicide – and the importance of mental health for first responders. I first heard Chief Kenny’s message when he delivered his program at the VCOS Symposium in Clearwater Beach. Today, we were both presenters at the FASNY Conve...

On this episode I interview retired Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Investigator Steven Hough. Steven was shot three times by a suspect and the return fire mortally wounded the assailant. In this gripping interview, Investigator Hough shares:   1. How his training paid off under the stress of gunfire. 2. How he experienced the Fog of War, and he explains in detail what that means. 3. How he used a comba...

I titled this episode: What I learned in two minutes. It is an interview Lieutenant Sean Dolan from the Aurora Fire Department. On January 7, 2013 Sean, then serving as a firefighter on Engine 7 became a close call survivor when he entered a structure fire at 16562 East Asbury Place, a single story residential fire with confirmed people trapped.   Sean made entry through the front door with an inc...

On this episode I interview Indianapolis Fire Department Chief of Health and Safety, Doug Abernathy. Doug’s career has spanned almost three decades and on February 5, 1992, he had a close call event that, most unfortunately, took the lives of two of his brother firefighters. In this episode, you’ll learn about:   1. Doug’s close call that involved tunnel vision and running out of air on the third...

This episode is a recording of a near-miss panel discussion held at Fire-Rescue International in Dallas, Texas. The panel, consisting of Chief Josh Waldo (Oakridge, TN), Training Officer Andrew Beck (Mandan, ND) and myself discuss   three near events, including:   1. A live training burn near-miss involving the crazing of a facepiece. 2. A haz-mat call near-miss involving a Freon leak. 3. An EMS c...

The SAMatters mission is simple… To help you see the bad things coming… in time to avoid bad outcomes.   On this episode….   1. We will look at the hot button issue of first responder fatigue. 2. We will review a near-miss report that emphasizes the importance of having a designated safety officer. 3. And I will discuss     a community question that addresses which, among the more than 100 situati...

The SAMatters mission is simple… To help you see the bad things coming… in time to avoid bad outcomes.   On this episode….  1. We’ll discuss how radio traffic can impact situational awareness.  2. I’ll share a near-miss incident where a firefighter fell through an open crawl space hatch in a floor… left open by other firefighters.  3. Finally, I will answer one of the most often asked questions I...

On this episode I interview Dave Casey, Director of the Louisiana State Fire & Emergency Training Institute on the need for realistic first responder training. During the interview, Dave shared: 1. The need to turn off the PowerPoint, get out of the classroom, and into the field for hands-on training.  2. Some of the challenges associated with electronic learning. 3. The benefits of demonstrating...

  Hello and welcome to episode 013 of the Situational Awareness Matters radio show. I am your host, Rich Gasaway.       The purpose of this show is to improve situational awareness and decision making for individuals and teams who work in high risk, high consequence environments.       The SAMatters mission is simple… To help you see the bad things coming… in time to avoid bad outcomes.       EPIS...

Hello and welcome to episode 12 of the Situational Awareness Matters radio show. I am your host, Rich Gasaway.   The purpose of this show is to improve situational awareness and decision making for individuals and teams who work in high risk, high consequence environments.   The SAMatters mission is simple… To help you see the bad things coming… in time to avoid bad outcomes.   On this episode I h...