As Firehouse Sees It: Situational Awareness, Off Duty and On Duty

We are excited to honor firefighters from across the United States this month for their extraordinary efforts to save the lives of citizens in their community and elsewhere. Congratulations to all of the Michael O. McNamee Award of Valor recipients and a tip of the hat to those who received the Thomas Carr Community Service Award. 

Like years past, the recipients of this year’s Awards of Valor include those who acted on duty and off duty. Those who were on duty were dispatched from the station after a 9-1-1 call of a structure fire and, in one case, were otherwise in transit when they spotted smoke and drove toward the source, ultimately to effect rescues without any advanced warning of entrapment. Some of the firefighters arrived to frantic reports of loved ones who were trapped or were informed by a victim during initial rescue efforts that another person still was trapped elsewhere in deteriorating, life-ending conditions, which resulted in an immediate need to redo size-up and devise a new rescue plan.

The off-duty rescues that were nominated this year highlight the importance of situational awareness for both on- and off-duty firefighters. After the final review of the nominations, I was having dinner with a friend and longtime firefighter and sharing snippets of the various rescue efforts. He asked how many of the nominations included the term situational awareness, and I couldn’t recall one. It was an interesting spin on how the nominations were written. The explanations ranged from very brief and humble to verbose and finely detailed, but not once was situational awareness referenced. However, it was evident in reviewing the nominations that members were aware of their surroundings and those related factors as they went into rescue mode.

As my friend talked about some of his friends who were honored by Firehouse and other organizations over the years, he shared how situational awareness was key in many of their rescues. Those rescues included pulling their own colleagues from collapses and other tenuous positions—whether it was as a result of a low-air alarm, a muffled PASS alarm or banging or passing a member who was disoriented and wasn’t anywhere close to being in the proper place. Pausing in a smoke-filled, noisy environment just to listen for 10 seconds led members to find civilian victims.

My dinner companion attributed these successful rescues to the split-second decisions that resulted from keen situational awareness just as much as to knowing where the rescuers were and where the firefighters who were in peril were located. That intelligence, as well as having the skills to get the job accomplished quickly and efficiently, led to multiple successful rescues. My friend said that he noted this: These were the firefighters who always pay attention to their first-due areas. They always look out of the rig and constantly work with their tools to put the necessary skills into their mind’s toolbox to build that muscle memory, should the need arise.

Situational awareness is challenging these days, with so many distractions, whether you are in the cab rig or walking on a street. So many of us tend to have our head down, glued to the mobile device in our hands, and it results in us missing key elements in our surroundings. Reading the abbreviated descriptions of this year’s Awards of Valor recipients can serve as a good reminder to stay observant, no matter where you are. These rescues occurred when least expected.

Because of the Award of Valor winners’ dedication to knowing the job and commitment to putting another’s life before their own, the majority of victims survived deadly conditions. Unfortunately, advanced fire conditions claimed a few of the lives, but most rescues were successful.

I want to personally acknowledge the strong work by the individual firefighters and the crews who are honored this year but also that of the dozens of other firefighters whose valiant rescue efforts weren’t submitted. Job well done!