By Jeff Johnson
Every day on fire trucks across this country there are senior firefighters who are relied upon for decision-making during incidents. As company officers, fire apparatus operators, and firefighters, we depend on that experience and decision-making to keep us safe. When a junior firefighter is assigned to a company, he arrives with the knowledge received from the fire academy or a firefighter training program and possibly some previous experience. We must understand these junior firefighters have the same basic training as the senior firefighters received; however, they do not have the experience and practical application to understand and make decisions like senior firefighters. Junior firefighters fresh from the academy or training program do not have strategic or tactical knowledge; they have “task” knowledge. When a firefighter completes the basic academy or training program, he is leaving with the basic task knowledge to implement whatever task the company officer assigns.
If we presume anything else, we are assuming falsely. The academy training absolutely is a foundation on which the new firefighter will build; after he completes the training, the experience learning begins. Each time a firefighter practices pulling a handline from the engine, removes a ground ladder from a truck to clean it, or removes a cot from the ambulance, he is learning. Senior firefighters and company officers can use these opportunities to teach tactical knowledge. Although it may be simple learning, it is building muscle memory. On arrival at a fire that requires a handline be stretched, the firefighter who practiced basic stretching at the firehouse on a regular basis will be more capable of and successful in stretching a handline than a firefighter who did not practice stretching the line.
Having firefighters attend classes and engage in practical hands-on training reinforces the knowledge. One way to show that repetition improves proficiency is to think about the math problem 2+2. You most likely immediately had the answer without even thinking about it, how did that happen? When you were in grade school, you were taught how to solve this math problem, and through repetition and application, coming up with the answer became effortless. According to Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011), there are two systems in the mind: system 1 and system 2. System 1 operates automatically and quickly with no effort. The 2+2 math problem is the example of system 1 thinking. Now look at the following math problem 275 × 125. We know how to solve the problem; however, we do not know the answer without thinking about it and working through it. This is system 2 thinking. To put the finer point on this topic, think of it in terms of fireground tasks. A firefighter who has conditioned his system thinking through repetitive practice will stretch a handline more effectively and quickly because of the memory (system 1) he built. Now, here is an example of system 2 thinking. On arrival the same firefighter steps off the rig but instead of seeing a fire from a building with which he is familiar, he sees smoke coming from a rolled-over tanker truck. The system 2 thinking is telling this firefighter that this is a situation for which he lacks memory and repetitive knowledge, and he searches for a possible solution. If the situation is unfamiliar, sometimes the solutions provided are the best “closest” solution to the problem from previous incidents. The only way a firefighter effectively begins operating at this type of incident is to have been trained on this scenario and trained with practical memory-building evolutions. This firefighter will not recall the 50-slide Power Point presentation on rolled-over tanker emergencies clearly enough to be able to jump into making tactical decisions. In these types of incidents, senior firefighters with more experience and knowledge must lead the way and help devise the solution. To make sound decisions at incidents requires experience, knowledge, and practical training.
Using a specific example, take a house fire. A less experienced firefighter enters a structure with smoke showing. Alongside the firefighter are the more senior firefighters and company officers. The junior firefighter is making his way down a hallway with heavy smoke, no visibility, some heat, and lots of noise from the sound of his heart beating loudly in his ears. Firefighters from other companies are on the radio reporting their assignments and the conditions they are encountering. We have all been there. But why when we are scared to death did we keep moving down that hallway while every fiber in our body was saying, “The fires in the drill tower in no way fully prepared me for this?” Because we had our senior firefighters and company officers right there encouraging us, telling us, “Kid, we got smoke but no heat; keep moving or the officer says, “The fire is in front of us; you’re doing good.” That moment was a learning moment that not only will stay with the junior firefighter forever but will also expand his knowledge and experience base for the next time he is on the handline and eventually when he becomes the senior person.
An example of this is the story told by Gary Klein2 (1986) of a fire where the lieutenant and his firefighters were advancing a handline into a kitchen area. Once they made the kitchen, the lieutenant told his nozzle firefighter to open the line and knock down the base of the fire, which he did. But something strange happened. The fire that was knocked down flared right back up just as they had found it, and something else was missing, too. The lieutenant could not put a finger on it; something was not right (the gut feeling of intuition). He ordered his crew out of the kitchen area immediately. Within seconds of leaving the kitchen, the floor collapsed into the basement that was a raging inferno. After the fire was out, the firefighters asked the lieutenant what told him to back out. He realized what it was: the fire should have stayed down if they were hitting the seat of it, and this fire was quiet; there were no sounds normally associated with a burning fire. What the lieutenant was describing was years of built-upon experience and knowledge that led to a gut feeling of something not being right. The years of training and experience from practical application along with senior firefighters and officers who had his back came into play and probably saved his firefighters’ lives. Every firefighter who goes to any type of incident makes a mental file that will be stored for future recall. The more incidents, the more files essentially, and things that are practiced or used more often are readily accessible. Any incident is a teaching moment, and officers or senior firefighters should take the opportunity to teach. Our responsibility as leaders and senior members of our department is to train these inexperienced firefighters every day and prepare them for being the future senior firefighters and company officers.
How do we train to build that experience? Let’s begin with a simple four-step process for building practical and muscle memory: explanation, demonstration, application, and evaluation.
Drill: Stretching the Attack Line.
1. Explanation. The reason we stretch the handline as we do is to achieve our goal of having the fewest kinks and bends while placing the nozzle and first coupling at the entry point we have chosen. For those who operate with little staffing, the explanation might be as follows: We stretch the handline this way because we have one person to stretch the line, and this is the most effective way we have found for a one-person stretch.
2. Demonstration. This is the practical performance of the skill you are teaching. Physically stretch the line slowly and methodically, illustrating and explaining the steps to make the stretch successful. This is the portion of the training where questions should be asked to make it as clear as possible what is expected and what the stretch should look like.
3. Application. This is the most critical portion because this is where what has been taught and shown is applied. In this step, the firefighter uses the technique and steps shown during the explanation and demonstration steps. If at any point there is an error, stop the stretch and correct the error. Once the firefighters have demonstrated the stretch properly, they must practice this stretch over and over until they can perform it without hesitation.
4. Evaluation. The firefighter performs the stretch effectively without errors. Remember, amateurs practice until they get it right; professionals practice it until they cannot get it wrong. The next type of training is designed for mental training to build scenarios that a firefighter can use to make critical decisions with on the fireground.
We can build scenarios using technology as basic as the white board or as advanced as the computer-based simulators. They best way to begin this training is to present a scenario such as a commercial building fire. Describe the building construction, the type of occupancy, the time of day, and what the conditions are on arrival. Draw out the exterior views and interior floor layouts. An example of this would be a three-story, type 4 warehouse occupied by a pool chemical company. Light smoke id showing from the second floor B side. Within this scenario are lots of little teaching points such as asking how is the type 4 structure built? What are the advantages and disadvantages of a structure built this way? Since it is a three-story building, are we concerned about elevators and movement of equipment and personnel? With the type of occupancy and smoke showing, what are the considerations? How are you going to stretch the line, and to where? Once you have the handline stretched, what do you expect to see? A senior firefighter can give vivid answers to these questions that will help build the memory files of younger firefighters. Using the simulation, the firefighter will begin building knowledge through making decisions based on the information provided. To add real-time experience, have the senior person add in some situations that changes the firefighter’s mode of thinking, such as, “when you enter the first-floor corridor, where do you think the stairs will be?” The firefighter would then respond based on his thinking, which is not the correct location. How does the firefighter respond to this information? I call this type of training “Adaptive Fire Ground Decision Making.” It creates opportunities for the firefighter to use some critical thinking to create a memory of a problem and how he solved the issue. We all know and understand that what we size up on arrival is not the same fire when we finally are in place and ready to make our attack.
Another way for firefighters to gain experience and knowledge is to perform after-action reviews when the fire is out. The officer should lead personnel through the building describing the conditions encountered and their actions to those conditions. Look at the building layout, where the fire started, and how it spread. Identifying things that went well and things that did not go well through questions and answers creates impactful learning moments. This training can also take place in the location of a previous incident on a different shift. The company officer can conduct a walk-through and discuss the same things mentioned and then question the officers and personnel who did not respond to the incident and see how both of the groups would have handled the situation. Some claim we do not have proper training facilities or the department doesn’t provide this type of training, but there are unlimited opportunities for company officers and senior firefighters to train firefighters for incidents, particularly incidents that are low frequency/high consequence in nature.
We grow into our life’s calling as firefighters every day we go to the station and get on that engine or truck. We learn every day when we pull equipment off the apparatus such as handlines, appliances, and hand tools and learn how to use them properly. We learn every day when we go to a class and expand our knowledge base. We learn every day when we ask why and how decisions were made and then practice that knowledge. It is imperative that we as company officers and senior members of our organizations remember what Benjamin Franklin said, “Tell me, and I forget; teach me, and I may remember; involve me, and I learn.” The junior firefighters are there. They are ready to learn and become involved!
Endnotes
1. Kahneman, Daniel. (2011). Thinking Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. New York: New York.
2. Klein, Calderwood, & Clinton-Cirocco. (1986). Recognition Primed Decision (RPD). Klein and Associates: Fairborn, OH.
BIO
JEFF JOHNSON is a 27-year career member of the fire service and a battalion chief with the Kansas City (MO) Fire Department. He has a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in fire management. He is a State of Missouri fire instructor and a licensed paramedic.
