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Required Reading: Impact of Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction

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Impact of Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction

Another must read for all Company and Command Officers: Impact of ventilation on fire behavior in legacy and contemporary residential construction, by Steve Kerber (2011) UL Report. Take some time to increase your proficiencies and compentencies.

Executive Summary

Under the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistance to FirefighterGrant Program, Underwriters Laboratories examined fire service ventilation practices as well as the impact of changes in modern house geometries. There has been a steady change in the residential fire environment over the past several decades. These changes include larger homes, more open floor plans and volumes and increased synthetic fuel loads. This series of experiments examine this change in fire behavior and the impact on firefighter ventilation tactics.

This fire research project developed the empirical data that is needed to quantify the fire behavior associated with these scenarios and result in immediately developing the necessary firefighting ventilation practices to reduce firefighter death and injury.

Two houses were constructed in the large fire facility of Underwriters Laboratories inNorthbrook, IL. The first of two houses constructed was a one-story, 1200 ft2, 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house with 8 total rooms. The second house was a two-story 3200 ft2, 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom house with 12 total rooms. The second house featured a modern open floor plan, two story great room and open foyer. Fifteen experiments were conducted varying the ventilation locations and the number of ventilation openings. Ventilation scenarios included ventilating the front door only, opening the front door and a window near and remote from the seat of the fire, opening a window only and ventilating a higher opening in the two-story house. One scenario in each house was conducted in triplicate to examine repeatability.

The results of these experiments provide knowledge for the fire service for them to examine their thought processes, standard operating procedures and training content. Several tactical considerations were developed utilizing the data from the experiments to provide specific examples of changes that can be adopted based on a departments current strategies and tactics.

The tactical considerations addressed include:

  • Stages of fire development: The stages of fire development change when a fire becomes ventilation limited. It is common with today’s fire environment to have a decay period prior to flashover which emphasizes the importance of ventilation.
  • Forcing the front door is ventilation: Forcing entry has to be thought of as ventilation as well. While forcing entry is necessary to fight the fire it must also trigger the thought that air is being fed to the fire and the clock is ticking before either the fire gets extinguished or it grows until an untenable condition exists jeopardizing the safety of everyone in the structure.
  • No smoke showing: A common event during the experiments was that once the fire became ventilation limited the smoke being forced out of the gaps of the houses greatly diminished or stopped all together. No some showing during size-up should increase awareness of the potential conditions inside.
  • Coordination: If you add air to the fire and don’t apply water in the appropriate time frame the fire gets larger and safety decreases. Examining the times to untenability gives the best case scenario of how coordinated the attack needs to be. Taking the average time for every experiment from the time of ventilation to the time of the onset of firefighter untenability conditions yields 100 seconds for the one-story house and 200 seconds for the two-story house. In many of the experiments from the onset of firefighter untenability until flashover was less than 10 seconds. These times should be treated as being very conservative. If a vent location already exists because the homeowner left a window or door open then the fire is going to respond faster to additional ventilation opening because the temperatures in the house are going to be higher. Coordination of fire attack crew is essential for a positive outcome in today’s fire environment.
  • Smoke tunneling and rapid air movement through the front door: Once the front door is opened attention should be given to the flow through the front door. A rapid in rush of air or a tunneling effect could indicate a ventilation limited fire.
  • Vent Enter Search (VES): During a VES operation, primary importance should be given to closing the door to the room. This eliminates the impact of the open vent and increases tenability for potential occupants and firefighters while the smoke ventilates from the now isolated room.
  • Flow paths: Every new ventilation opening provides a new flow path to the fire and vice versa. This could create very dangerous conditions when there is a ventilation limited fire.
  • Can you vent enough?: In the experiments where multiple ventilation locations were made it was not possible to create fuel limited fires. The fire responded to all the additional air provided. That means that even with a ventilation location open the fire is still ventilation limited and will respond just as fast or faster to any additional air. It is more likely that the fire will respond faster because the already open ventilation location is allowing the fire to maintain a higher temperature than if everything was closed. In these cases rapid fire progression if highly probable and coordination of fire attack with ventilation is paramount.
  • Impact of shut door on occupant tenability and firefighter tenability: Conditions in every experiment for the closed bedroom remained tenable for temperature and oxygen concentration thresholds. This means that the act of closing a door between the occupant and the fire or a firefighter and the fire can increase the chance of survivability. During firefighter operations if a firefighter is searching ahead of a hose line or becomes separated from his crew and conditions deteriorate then a good choice of actions would be to get in a room with a closed door until the fire is knocked down or escape out of the room’s window with more time provided by the closed door.
  • Potential impact of open vent already on flashover time: All of these experiments were designed to examine the first ventilation actions by an arriving crew when there are no ventilation openings. It is possible that the fire will fail a window prior to fire department arrival or that a door or window was left open by the occupant while exiting. It is important to understand that an already open ventilation location is providing air to the fire, allowing it to sustain or grow.
  • Pushing fire: There were no temperature spikes in any of the rooms, especially the rooms adjacent to the fire room when water was applied from the outside. It appears that in most cases the fire was slowed down by the water application and that external water application had no negative impacts to occupant survivability. While the fog stream “pushed” steam along the flow path there was no fire “pushed”.
  • No damage to surrounding rooms: Just as the fire triangle depicts, fire needs oxygen to burn. A condition that existed in every experiment was that the fire (living room or family room) grew until oxygen was reduced below levels to sustain it. This means that it decreased the oxygen in the entire house by lowering the oxygen in surrounding rooms and the more remote bedrooms until combustion was not possible. In most cases surrounding rooms such as the dining room and kitchen had no fire in them even when the fire room was fully involved in flames and was ventilating out of the structure.
    UL Report; Impact of Ventilation on Fire Behavior in Legacy and Contemporary Residential Construction,

 

 

 

Posted by on October 23, 2011 • Filed under: christopher naum, company officer, Fire Dynamics, Fire Suppression, firefighting-operations, training-development • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“You’ve got to find what you love….and connect the dots”

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 You can’t connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.

Because believing that the dots will connect down the road will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it leads you off the well worn path.

Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Adress, 2005

The passing of Steve Jobs on October 4th, 2011 has brought forward a level of attention that for many is the first true glimpse at the man who is credited with influencing so many levels of our lives and that was ubiquitous with the iconic products he envisioned, developed and marketed.

There’s a tremendous amount of writings being posted in the past 24 hours and certainly a considerable amount more to come in the days ahead, so it would better served for you to take some time to surf, goggle and research out your own paths through the internet to find some exceptional perspectives of the man, his legacy and his view on life.

There comes a time when there are some very prophetic and visionary insights in the world that although aren’t directly associated with the fire service, but that resonant with the some of the core values, ideals and principles that we so many times try to strive to achieve or emulate as fire service leaders, officers or just plain contributing members of our respective organizations.

Whether you’re a practicing or emerging fire officer or commander, a designated leader or the unofficial leader, a seasoned veteran or a newly appointed probationary firefighter, there are some very important insights and values that can be identified in the words of Steve Jobs, especially in the context of his 2005 Commencement Speech at Stanford University. The video clip is posted as is a link to the transcript. I’m certain you’ll see the value in these perspectives and their relationship on what we work to acheive each day in our richly rewarding profession.

Simply stated, think about connecting the dots and finding your destiny while doing what you love.

Think about the possibilites that can be achieved, and the contributions that can materialize….think about your potential

 

  • Take the time to READ the text of the Commencement address delivered by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, on June 12, 2005. HERE
  • A Collection of Inspirational Steve Jobs Quotes, HERE

Think about it:

“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.” – Fortune

“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” – Steve Jobs’ Stanford Commencement Address

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.” – Think Different, narrated by Steve Jobs

Posted by on October 7, 2011 • Filed under: Attitude, christopher naum, Leaderhip, Mentor, Professional Development • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Deployment Decisions: Defining Operations on the First-Due

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First-due company operations are influenced by a number of parameters and factors; some deliberate and dictated, others prescribed and prearranged and yet others subjective, biased, predisposed or at times accidental, casual and emotional. For many of you riding the seat or arriving assuming command; you understand the connotations and implications I’m making here.

Here’s an excellent discussion and debate point to bring up, when time permits today or this evening with your company or personnel; one that leads to a multitude of viewpoints, opinions and divisions.

On the first-due; what are the three or four key parameters when confronted with arrival indications of a fire within a structure that define your deployment and transition into operations?

Now, before everyone gets worked up; we all realize there are numerous variables affecting key decision-points that must be recognized, imputed, synthesized , analyzed and decisions made, assignments formulated and the task deployed; this list can be long – very long.

However, giving a building and occupancy with indications of a fire within, what has your experience provided you with the KEY influencing parameters? Are there key factors, or are there “lists” of factors based upon yet another “list” of conditions. The question is rhetorical the answeres are not.

Is it occupancy type, occupancy risk, fire behavior or fire dynamics, time, risk, communicated information, past performance factors (experience), presumed or known life hazards, predicated building or system performance, crew KSA sets or other factors, etc? Does naturalistic or RPDM decision-making influence; is the deployment tactically driven or predisposed by SOP, SOG or personal attributes and biases? Safety Conscious or aggressively driven? You get the picture…..

Try to distill them down to three or four mission critical key issues (if you can). This is a great exercise to see what everyone else considers the key factors to be or should be when deploying and  going into operations; sometimes it’s more complex than just “pulling the line” or getting in….

Take the time to use some critical thinking and don’t be subjective….think about the responses and ask why?

Posted by on August 9, 2011 • Filed under: building construction, Buildingsonfire.com, christopher naum, command-leadership, Commandsafety.com, company officer, Crew Integrity, Crew Management, Fire Fighting, firefighting-operations, KSA, leadership • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The First-Due Fire Officer

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On the most recent edition of Taking it to the StreetsTM we had a vibrant and insightful program in which we discussion some of the expansive facets related to the First-Due Officer. The discussion revolved around a variety of functional elements, traits, responsibilities and duties befalling the First-Due Officer.

Taking it to the Streets: The First-Due Officer

On Your Street, In Your City, Across the Country, Around the WorldTM
To listen or download the program, HERE

Regardless if you’re the First-Due Company Officer or the First-Due Commanding Officer, you have a tremendous level of responsibilities and the obligation to formulate and initiate immediate actions that require effective and efficient; identification, assessment, analysis and integration in the evolving fireground environment.

Or is it just; “pullin’ the line”, or “opening up” or “arriving on scene and assuming the command?”

The First-Due Officer has many facets, functions and pitfalls. Leadership, determination, fortitude, skills, resilience, strength, conviction, temperance, restraint and the courage to be safe are but a few of descriptors that define the role or could it be recklessness, ineptitude, incompetent, self-indulging, careless or dangerous: all in the name of tactical entertainment.

There are numerous avenues that a discussion can take when talking about the street level issues affecting the First-Due Officer. First and foremost, the First-Due Officer should have a solid foundation of requisite skill sets, knowledge and training tempered with experience and fortified with empathy and identification with crew and company integrity and safety. 

Today’s First-Due Officer must perform smarter with increased perceptions, discernments and acumens with intelligence and wisdom that is drawn from further progressing and collective fire ground response and operational experiences. It’s no longer just brute force and physical determination that defines our fire ground operations, especially when we relate to the duties and responsibilities of the First-Due Officer.  

Here are some things to think about today at the station, around the kitchen table or over a cup of coffee in the day room after your next alarm;

What defines the First Due Officer in your organization or company?

What effect and consequences does the First Due Officer have on Incident Operations?

  • Is the First Due Officer defined by the level of aggressiveness they select and implement in their IAP on a consistent basis?
  • Is there a correlation and parallel between Risk Management, Building Construction, Firefighter Survival and Aggressive Intervention that the First Due Officer must balance?

What is the Role of the First Due Officer?

  • Strategic, Tactical or Task level Operations?
  • Can they truly perform all of the functional facets required or implied by current fire ground operational models and practices?
  • Can Risk Management really be implemented by the First-Due Officer? Is it being done in organization or company? Or is it just getting the “job done”?
  • Company Level Crew Integrity and Safety & Survival
  • Maintaining Fluid Situational Awareness
  • Evolving and Expanding Operational Concerns
  • Company Integrity
  • Having Appropriate Technical Competencies, Knowledge and Skill Sets
  • Confidence Experience and Operational Fortitude
  • Abilities to Predict & Maintain; Focus, Forecast,
  • Command & Leadership Presence in Strategic and/or Tactical deployments and Assignments

If you are an emerging, aspiring or seasoned Company or Command Officer;

  • What are your First-Due Strategic or Tactical Decisions Based Upon?
  • What is the Sum of your Experiences and Training?
  • What Factors formulate your Risk Assessment Process & Action Planning?
  • What is the Basis of your Decision-Making Process?
  • What Do you really Know, Assume or Consider in the Buildings, Occupancies, Events & Incidents you interface with?
  • Do “Fire Service Traditional Expectations” Cloud your Ability to “SEE” the Big Picture?
  • What Defines you:
    • Aggressive, Forceful, Dynamic, Influential, Passive, Conservative, Decisive, Measured,    
    • Leadership, Determination, Fortitude, Skilled, Resilience, Strength, Conviction, temperance, restraint and the courage to be safe  
    • Reckless, Inept, Incompetent, Self-indulging, Careless, Uncontrolled or Dangerous
  • Are your deployments and operations Delineated in the name of Tactical Entertainment or Defined by Tactical Patience?

Remember this; It’s not the uniform, rank or helmet color that defines a person; it’s what you do that defines who you are.

  • We must have the fortitude and courage to be both safety conscious and measured in the performance of our sworn duties while maintaining the appropriate balance of risk and bravery.
  • The demands and requirements of modern firefighting will continue to require the placement of personnel within situations and buildings that carry risk, uncertainty and inherent danger.
  • Adequately and Effectively Prepare yourself for those First-Due Officer responsibilities; you have a tremendous level of responsibilities and obligations, Be all you can be, your companies an personnel are counting on you.   

Check out the latest downloads of recent programs in the archives by visiting Taking it to the Street’s webpage on Firefighternetcast.com or for program insights at CommandSafety.com.

Taking it to the Streets Radio Program, HERE and HERE

Taking it to the StreetsTM is a monthly radio show featured on BlogTalk Radio and is hosted by Christopher Naum and is a Buildingsonfire.com Series and Firefighternetcast.com Production,  © 2010 All Rights Reserved

Posted by on November 21, 2010 • Filed under: Buildingsonfire.com, christopher naum, Commandsafety.com, company officer, Crew Integrity, Crew Management, Fire Fighter Safety, firefighting-operations, Leaderhip, Professional Development, Situational Awareness, Strategy and Tactics, Taking it to the Streets, Uncategorized • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Looking Under the Hood of Your Organization

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Excellent driving skills are not the only factors that could prevent a driver from encountering a possibly fatal accident. Your vehicle must always be in tiptop condition for you to prevent any traffic or driving mishaps. Consider this: an ill-maintained vehicle is an accident waiting to happen. Keep yourself and your passengers safe by making sure your vehicle is in excellent condition.
That being said, let’s discuss how your organization is much like an automobile. Keep in mind that any time you are looking under your vehicle’s hood is always the perfect time to examine the different connections, hoses and belts i.e. personnel, policies, equipment, operating guidelines, etc. to make sure that they are damage, wear and leak-free.
If it’s your first time to check under your organization’s hood, then you’ll probably be unfamiliar with all the numerous parts in and around the organization. However, if you make it a frequent practice to check your organization and make sure that everything works, you’ll be able to identify all the different issues and problems in a jiffy. I suggest you procure a model and use it to evaluate any loose connections or changes that might have occurred in your organization.
One common model that is recognized Fire Service wide is the Center for Public Safety Excellence’s Commission on Fire Accreditation International model. Even if you are not looking to become an accredited organization, the self assessment approach has proven to be a sound performance criteria model industry wide.
There are a number of benefits in conducting a self assessment program for your agency. These benefits provide for practical, day-to-day organizational improvements. The hardest component is to be honest in your assessment. If conducted correctly the self-conducted performance evaluation will result in increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of your organization provided that the findings are applied to the planning and implementation activities.
Below are some benefits to conducting the self assessment:
• Quality improvement through a continuous self assessment process.
• Providing a detailed evaluation of the services it provides to the community.
• Identifying strengths, weaknesses and opportunities in the organization.
• A methodology for building on strong points and addressing deficiencies.
• Providing for department growth for programs, services and member capabilities.
• Fostering pride in an organization, from department members, community leaders and citizens.
Through self assessment, a systematic evaluation can be accomplished to determine what is currently going on in the organization, focusing on whether or not the organization is meeting the goals commensurate with its responsibilities. The assessment process is astounding in the clarity it brings an organization’s leaders and members, not only regarding how the organization currently works but how the various parts are interrelated, its overall state of health and, most importantly, what needs to be done to make improvements. You will target and prioritize top opportunities for change and develop detailed improvement plans.

Posted by on November 17, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, Attitude, Chief Fire Officer, command-leadership, company officer, Culture, Doug Cline, Education, Fire Fighter Safety, Leaderhip, Officer, thecompanyofficer.com, training, Uncategorized • Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

IAFC FRI Company & Command Officer Leadership Symposiums

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The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) recently held its annual Fire Rescue International (FRI) Conference in the great City of Chicago. A stellar addition to extensive pre-conference and workshop presentations was the IAF’s comprehensive Flagship programs entitled; The Company Officer Leadership Symposium (COLS) and the newest addition, The Chief Officer Leadership Symposium.

New to 2010, The Chief Officer Leadership Symposium consisted of three days of education geared toward those newly promoted to battalion chief. Similar to the Company Officer Leadership Symposium (COLS), this program was built around and into a three-level course for those in various stages of their career. This year at FRI, the IAFC introduced level one for recent graduates of The Company Officer Leadership Symposium (COLS) program and those looking for education specifically geared toward battalion chiefs.

The three-day Company Officer Leadership Symposium (COLS) provided the perfect mix of what company officers are looking for and what chief’s want for their company officers. The program offerings at FRI 2010 provided in-depth leadership education like for newly promoted company officers and those transitioning to battalion chief. Take a look at the program offerings at FRI for both programs HERE and HERE.

Some Key Reasons that drew participates to these programs included:

  • Great takeaways: All Company Officer participants received their own copy of the IAFC Officer Development Handbook
  • Unparalleled networking: build relationships as company officers and other battalion chiefs and commander that will benefit participants throughout their career and as they move up the ranks.
  • Returning company officers could build on their education and skills. Additionally, graduating from this program demonstrates exceptional professional growth for promotional assessments.
  • Participation in these symposiums is a professional development and mentoring opportunity that will benefit company officers, chiefs and the whole department.
  • No other program offers such comprehensive classes taught by industry leaders
  • New responsibilities come with this new title. Learn from those who have successfully made the transition to company officers and battalion chiefs and how to do effectively.
  • Strategic thinking. These sessions were designed to meet the needs of incident commanders out on the fireground while dealing with interpersonal dynamics in the station.
  • Learn from the best. According to the IAFC, no other program offers such comprehensive classes taught by prominent national fire service leaders.

TheCompanyOfficer.com and CommandSafety.com’s Christopher Naum, provided a key note general session delivery at the end of day one of the three day symposium and presented a powerful and insightful look at the Doctrine of Combat Fire Engagement 2010. Presented to a joint session of students from The Company Officer Leadership Symposium (COLS), the Chief Officer Leadership Symposium and participants of the iWomen’s 2010 Leadership Conference, the multi-media lecture was presented to a standing room only crowd of over 325 participants. The Doctrine of Combat Fire Engagement 2010 examined common attributes and emerging insights related to buildings, structures and occupancies that comprise typical response districts and the unique challenges during structural fire attack that require new insights and skill sets for company and command officers and fire service personnel.

Christopher Naum's Joint Session Presentation at IAFC FRI

The program examined and advocated strong principled new views of various buildings and occupancies, providing examples that define and determine how firefighters access, react and expect similar structures and occupancies to perform at a given alarm. Naum introduced defining new concepts related to Tactical Patience, Command Compression, Tactical Entertainment and aligned the Anatomy of Buildings on Fire, Building Construction and Reading Building Profiles and Occupancy Risk while stressing the importance of the emerging Tactical Renaissance and continued emphasis on the Everyone Goes Home Program and 16 Fire Fighter Life Safety Initiatives. The Predictability of Building Performance and the emphasis on dynamic command risk assessment aligned with defined fire suppression operations filled the two hour session.

If you are an emerging, newly appointed or practicing company or command officer, the IAFC ‘s Company Officer Leadership Symposium (COLS) and the newest addition, The Chief Officer Leadership Symposium should be on your radar screen for attendance at IAFC FRI 2011 in Atlanta, Georgia. Keep track of 2011 FRI announcements on the IAFC web page, HERE.

Posted by on September 3, 2010 • Filed under: building construction, Buildingsonfire.com, christopher naum, command-leadership, Commandsafety.com, company officer, Fire Fighter Safety, Fire Suppression, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, leadership, Professional Development, promotion, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Strategy and Tactics, Succession Planning, Uncategorized • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

What a Difference… A Minute Can Make

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Have you ever recognized what a difference a single minute in your life can make? Most of us only count down the minutes at the end of the day near quitting time, or when we are waiting for a big event. We never really recognize just how important every minute is because every minute makes a real difference. It is important to remember that for everything there is a season, a time for every activity.

Be Aware of Critical Moments
A critical moment is when you make a decision that has a critical impact on your life. These can include fire ground decisions, career decisions, attitude decisions or decisions on choice of words. These may last only a few minutes, hours or days. Sometimes these decisions may have impacts that last a life time. Most of our decisions are made in a rapid fire mode and are impacted by attitude. It is important to remember that attitudes are choices or decisions we make.

Some Individuals would look at a pile of rubble and say “what a mess” while others will look at the same pile and say “what an opportunity”. At this moment there is a critical decision going on. Which one of these individuals would you want leading the fire department in your community? Most would say the one who has a vision of what that “mess” could be. I recently had the opportunity to spend some time in the great State of Vermont training with a group of outstanding emergency services professionals in Addison County. What a breath of fresh air. The amount of energy that was delivered to my starving body was incredible from spending just 48 hours with such great fire service leaders. I was able to reflect upon 50+ years of leadership legacy that was still going strong. That’s right; the fire chief of Vergennes Fire Department the late Ralph Jackman had been the Chief for 50+ years. The best part was he looked at everything in a progressive, proactive philosophy of saying “look at that opportunity”. He understood that every minute made a difference and he understood these critical moments and the importance of a positive attitude even when the chips were down and things were not going as he may have hoped or wanted.

As individuals and leaders of the fire service we must look at opportunities with vision. We must be able to decode the “mess” into “opportunity”. It is paramount that we focus on the concepts that it shouldn’t be this way, but we can make it something else. These are truly hectic times we live in, times that can challenge even strongest of seasoned leaders or firefighters.

Regularly ask yourself three (3) questions…

1. Who and what is influencing me?
There are many individuals and things that can influence you. Subsequently you must ask yourself if these influences are positive or negative. Many times your influences can be strong positive ones while other times they can be the negative ones that you fall victim too. It is important to have strong positive influences in our lives. Remember ever time you choose to follow an influence it is a critical decision and becomes a critical moment in your live. “
“Choose wisely Grasshopper”

2. Where does my mind naturally go?
What are you thinking about when you have free time or where does your mind drift off too frequently. Where your mind goes will have a big influence on critical moments in your life. Make sure that the place your mind is visiting is worth being there!

3. What am I passionate about?
What do I really like in life is another way to say this. Well often times when we get to this level of soul searching we can see that we have things a lot better than others. Often times it is a big reality check that we realize we are not following or doing our passions. It is important to make sure that your passion is not a negatively impacting one as well. Remember everything is influenced by our attitudes; you should always be reminding yourself that your attitude is like a disease and is yours truly worth catching.

Don’t Miss Opportune Moments
We should all be reminded just how brief our time being alive really is. None of us will live forever. We are merely moving shadows and all our busy rushing ends in often times nothing. Opportune moments don’t have to be big successes, but can be as simple as learning how to do something new. We are all busy and miss the opportunity to celebrate great moments. So with all this rushing around and what we are missing let’s look at what happens when you get in a real hurry or act in haste…
• You feel stressed.
• You lose your joy…simplified your laughter, special times and moments of impact.
• You are less productive.
• You can’t hear or see anyone.

So if you don’t want to miss opportune moments or act in haste you need to slow done. You may ask, “how do I slow down”? Remember it is important that you work hard but take time to rest as well. I recently was out to eat lunch. A group of pastors were at this restaurant as well. I heard one of the pastors state I always remind my congregation that the Devil never rests, another pastor asked since when did we start following his lead. Silence fell on that group for a moment and the first pastor replies wow I never looked at it like that! So what are some helpful hints to get you to slow down?
• Participate – Go and do more with family friends, colleagues.
• Delegate – Don’t put that big Superman “S” symbol on your chest. It usually doesn’t signify you are “Superman” but more like “Stupid man”
• Procrastinate – Stop and think before you act or speak, often times take more than just a second in this case. I see great leaders take days, weeks and months to act on items to keep from making poor decisions.
• Eliminate – Eliminate all the bad influences, attitudes and passions

Please don’t waste your minutes…they may be running low and you don’t even know it!

Posted by on September 2, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, Attitude, Chief Fire Officer, command-leadership, company officer, Culture, Doug Cline, Leaderhip, Mentor, Officer, Professional Development, Situational Awareness • Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Leadership Influence

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An officer best exemplifies leadership by devoting a major portion of his/her time to stimulate continuous improvement in both subordinates and the organization.

Today’s leaders are utilizing contemporary leadership styles. The officer needs to know when to use each of these styles for optimum outcomes within the organization. The four (4) contemporary styles include charismatic, transformational, transactional and symbolic.

Charismatic – Inspires follower loyalty and creates an enthusiastic vision that others work to attain.

Transformational – This style depends on the continuous learning, innovation and change within the organization. True transformational leadership is a rare quality.

Transactional – Involves an exchange between the leader and the followers in which the followers perform tasks effectively in exchange for rewards provided by the leader.

Symbolic – Bases theory on a strong organizational culture that holds common values and beliefs. Leadership starts are the top of the organization and extends downward. Subordinates must have full faith and trust in the leadership of the organization.

To be able to lead a fire department or a company it is paramount that the leader of the group be able to match and effectively utilize any of the various leadership styles based upon the individuals they are leading.

This focuses on truly understanding the organizational theories, interpersonal dynamics and group dynamics of the individuals and groups which make up the organization. We will find that more often than not the leader will be utilizing multiple leadership styles on individuals of the group simultaneously to effectively achieve the desired outcomes. Each of these leadership styles will be a result of the presence of the various leadership traits. It is important for the officer to know the strengths and weaknesses of each theory and style along with being capable of applying the principles that are most appropriate in any given situation.

Posted by on August 16, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, Chief Fire Officer, command-leadership, company officer, Crew Management, Doug Cline, KSA, Leaderhip, Officer, Professional Development, skills, thecompanyofficer.com • Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

In the Streets; On the Air

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Taking it to the Streets had its premier July 21st on Firefighter Netcast.com with a lively and provoking discussion on “What’s on YOUR Radar Screen?” The program theme aligned with a recent posting on the same topic. Join me on the program were two prominent and nationally recognized fire service leaders, who I’m honored to have known for many years, Chief Billy Hayes and Chief Doug Cline; the program explored leading fire service issues affecting firefighter safety, training, credentialing and education; fireground operational variables related to the continuing changes in building construction, engineered systems and extreme fire behavior,  and the emerging need for “Tactical Patience” as I’ve been exploring the relationships towards the need for tactical enhancements to our current fire suppression theory and firefighting models.

Conversations expanded on the NFFF/Everyone Goes Home Campaign and programs, the newest EGH initiatives on Behavioral Health and the successes achieved through the Courage to be Safe Programs and the Advocacy Program.

Both our guests provided cutting edge perspectives and commentary on the key issues that the fire service needs to have on their radar screen and the need for emerging and practicing fire officers and commanders to continually strive to increase skill sets and maintain a pulse on the leading issues affecting the fire service and apply emerging research  and studies to increase operational capabilities, improve performance and enhance and promote firefighter safety and survival and operational integrity.

Although technical difficulties from the live feed coming from the Inner Harbor in Baltimore at the Firehouse Expo, precluded the ability to have the call-in segments of the program to work, the 120 minute program gave the listeners a wealth of information to talk over in the firehouse, at the kitchen table or in the apparatus bays.

The program is a Buildingsonfire.com Series and a Fire Fighter Netcast.com  production, produced by John Mitchell and Rhett Fleitz.  The live program segment will be edited and available for iTunes download soon. You can check out the other programming and shows produced by Fire Fighter Netcast.com HERE. Stay tuned for announcements on the next program date for Taking it to the Streets coming to you live from the IAFC Fire Rescue International Conference in Chicago in August.  

Taking it to the Streets; Advancing Fire Fighter Safety and Operational Integrity for the Fire Service through provocative insights and dynamic discussions dedicated to the Art and Science of Firefighting and the Traditions of the Fire Service. 

  • Firefighter Netcast.com HERE
  • Taking it to the Streets, HERE, HERE
  • “What’s on your Radar Screen?” July 21, 2010 Program, HERE
  • “What’s on your Radar Screen?” post on Commandsafety.com, HERE
Posted by on July 24, 2010 • Filed under: building construction, Buildingsonfire.com, christopher naum, command, Commandsafety.com, company officer, Credentialing, Doug Cline, Fire Dynamics, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, Higher Education, History Repeating Event, Leaderhip, Professional Development, Research, Strategy and Tactics, Taking it to the Streets, thecompanyofficer.com, Tradition, training-development • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Summer Tour is about to Begin…

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The Summer Tour is about to Begin..

Taking it to the Streets

With Christopher Naum

A New Monthly Radio Talkshow on FireFighter Netcast.com

A Buildingsonfire.com Series and FireFighter Netcast.com Production

Advancing FireFighter Safety and Operational Intergrity for the Fire Service through provocative insights and dynamic discussions dedicated to the Art and Science of Firefighting and the Traditions of the Fire Service.

Watch for the Latest Announcements here on CommandSafety.com, TheCompanyOfficer.com and on Firefighter Netcast.com

Programming

Ten Minutes in the Street

  • Presenting an informational recap and discussion on leading topcs, events and issues from the past 30 days.

 Feature Segments Program will have one (1) selected segment based upon topic and guest

 Buildingsonfire

  • Addressing today’s topical issues within the areas of Firefighting, Building Construction, Dynamic Risk Assessment, and Command & Tactical Safety
    • Open interative discussions and call-in
  • Street Stories
    • Presenting first-hand accounts and insights on an event, response or operation with a featured guest
    • Open interative discussions and call-in
  • Smoke Showin’
    • Featured Guest Interviews and discussions focusing on the NFFF Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives and Everyone Goes Home Campaign 
    • Open interative discussions and call-in

HRE History Repeating Events  

  • Discussion on recent History Repeating Events, LODD, NIOSH Reports or other
  • Open interative discussions and call-in

 A View from the Street

  • Closing Commentary on timely and relevant issues affecting the Fire Service
Posted by on July 2, 2010 • Filed under: building construction, Buildingsonfire.com, christopher naum, Education, Fire Fighting, firefighter-safety-health, firefighting-operations, Professional Development, Strategy and Tactics, Taking it to the Streets • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Learn as if you were to live forever: Live as if you were to die tomorrow

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Back in January I posted an article on The CompanyOfficer.com entitled: Your Capabilities and Future Success. It was about the legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden. Coach Wooden passed away at the age of 99 on Friday June 4th, but his legacy will extend well beyond. Aside from his extraordinary career accomplishments on the court, he is best known for the simple life lessons he was able to identify with and convey. His “Pyramid of Success”  remains a must-read book for all aspiring or current company or command officers. 

As I was reading the various media articles this morning that defined a career, a lifetime and the man;  a quote stood out that reflects highly on all company and command officers that I considered important enough to share here.

The excerpt goes like this; Even with his staggering accomplishments, he remained humble and gracious. Wooden stated he tried to live by the advice from his father : “Be true to yourself, help others, make each day your masterpiece, make friendship a fine art drink deeply from good books-especially the Bible, build a shelter for a rainy day, give thanks for your blessings and pray for guidance  every day.”

John Wooden also expressed the following that I find compelling. It was a simple statement that has the power of wisdom and insight. “Learn as if you were to live forever: Live as if you were to die tomorrow.”    

Take the time to learn more about Coach Wooden’s Pyramid of Success and look to apply these principles in your current or future positions of responsibility within your organization. The principles and methodologies of the Pyramid of Success have direct relationships and applicability to the Fire Service in numerous areas. Take the time to read his 12 Lessons on Leadership.

Two(2) Must have books for your professional Library by John Wooden include: Wooden On Leadership and John Wooden’s The Pyramid of Success

Check out ESPN’s great posts HERE

The Wizard’s wisdom: “Woodenisms” 

Take the time to look at the information available at a number of various web locations; HERE, HERE , HERE and HERE, HERE and HERE

Posted by on June 5, 2010 • Filed under: administration-leadership, christopher naum, command-leadership, leadership, Succession Planning, training-development • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Rules for Combat Structural Fire Suppression Have Changed: Did anyone Tell You?

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3-29-2009 12-58-50 PMOur buildings have changed; the structural systems of support, the degree of compartmentation, the characteristics of materials and the magnitude of fire loading. The structural anatomy, predictability of building performance under fire conditions, structural integrity and the extreme fire behavior; accelerated growth rate and intensively levels typically encountered in buildings of modern construction during initial and sustained fire suppression have given new meaning to the term combat fire engagement.

The rules for combat structural fire suppression have changed, but we have yet to write the rule book from which the new games plans must be derived. We seek the elusive “Rosetta stone” that aligns and interprets the emerging and traditionalist acumen related to fire stream effectiveness, flow rates, cooling capacity, extreme fire behavior and fire dynamics, compartment fire theory, propagation and cooling capacity and tactical deployment all relate towards defining an engineering approach to firefighting tactics versus the manual, labor-driven tactics of line deployment and rudiment placement of water on a fuel source within the fire compartment (room).

It’s no longer just brute force and sheer physical determination that defines structural fire suppression operations. It begs to suggest that many of today’s incident commanders, company officers and firefighters lack the clarity of understanding and comprehension that correlate to the inherent characteristics of today’s buildings, construction and occupancies and the need for refined engine company operations within the modern building construction setting. We assume that the routiness or successes of our operations and incident responses equates with predictability and diminished risk to our firefighting personnel.

The work of such notable suppression theory pioneers as P. Grimwood, E. Hartin, S. Särdqvist and S. Svennson and the concepts surrounding 3D firefighting, B-SAHF and other emerging research from the NIST and UL are areas that today’s discerning and progressive fire officer and commanders must become well-informed and conversant. The quantitative scientific data and emerging concepts from continuing research and testing such as the NIST’s Wind Drive Fire Studies and UL’s The Structural Stability of Engineered Lumber in Fire Conditions are providing enlightenment on fire development, fuel controlled and ventilation controlled fire development, operational time-duration parameters and degradation and failure mechanisms related to compromise and structural collapse in occupancies.

Our current generation of buildings, construction and occupancies are not as predictable as past conventional construction, therefore risk assessment, strategies and tactics must change to address these new rules of combat structural fire engagement.

  • Building Construction Systems
    • Heritage
      • Pre-1919
    • Legacy
      • 1920-1949
    • Conventional
      • 1950-1979
    • Engineered
      • 1980-2010
    • Hybrid
    • Chameleon

The fundamental compartment that comprised a typical room configuration in terms of area (square footage), volume (height/Width), furnishings (fire load package) and materials of construction (structural anatomy) found within conventional, legacy or heritage construction provided predictability in terms of fire suppression, fire behavior, operational time and survivability (civilian/firefighter). The dramatic changes since the early 1980’s in the evolution of modern building construction and the institutionalization of engineered structural systems (ESS) have created compartment (room) areas in excess 500 SF, volumes that are open and spaciously interconnected to other habitable space, fire load packages that create extreme fire behavior, compromising structural stability in shorter time spans creating decreasing interior operational time and requiring increasing fire flow rates and volume to sustain requisite extinguishment demands.

Commanders and Company Offices need to gain new insights and knowledge related to the modern building occupancy and to modify and adjust operating profiles in order to safe guard companies, personnel and team compositions. Strategies and tactics must be based on occupancy risk not occupancy type and must have the combined adequacy of sufficient staffing, fire flow and nozzle appliances orchestrated in a manner that identifies with the fire profiling, predictability of the occupancy profile and accounts for presumed fire behavior. Today’s engine company operations and fire suppression theory has to progress beyond the pragmatic approaches to fire suppression such as “Big Fire-Big Water principle.

When we look at various buildings and occupancies, past operational experiences; those that were successful, and those that were not, give us experiences that define and determine how we access, react and expect similar structures and occupancies to perform at a given alarm in the future. Naturalistic (or recognition-primed) decision-making forms much of this basis. We predicate certain expectations that fire will travel in a defined (predictable) manner that fire will hold within a room and compartment for a predictable given duration of time; that the fire load and related fire flows required will be appropriate for an expected size and severity of fire encountered within a given building, occupancy, structural system; in addition to having an appropriately trained and skilled staff to perform the requisite evolutions.

Executing tactical plans based upon faulted or inaccurate strategic insights and indicators has proven to be a common apparent cause in numerous case studies, after action reports and LODD reports. Our years of predictable fireground experience have ultimately embedded and clouded our ability to predict, assess, plan and implement incident action plans and ultimately deploy our companies-based upon the predictable performance expected of modern construction and especially those with engineered structural systems.

If you don’t fully understand how a building truly performs or reacts under fire conditions and the variables that can influence its stability and degradation, movement of fire and products of combustion and the resource requirements for fire suppression in terms of staffing, apparatus and required fire flows, then you will be functioning and operating in a reactionary manner, that is no longer acceptable within many of our modern building types, occupancies and structures. This places higher risk to your personnel and lessens the likelihood for effective, efficient and safe operations. You’re just not doing your job effectively and you’re at RISK. These risks can equate into insurmountable operational challenges and could lead to adverse incident outcomes. Someone could get hurt, someone could die, it’s that simple; it’s that obvious.

Considerations for changing fire flow rates, the sizing of hose line and the adequacies for fire flow demand and application rates, staffing needs for safe operations, considerations for defensive positioning and defensive operating postures must be considered, and it warrants repeating again; Reckless-Aggressive firefighting must be redefined in the built environment and associated with goal oriented tactical operations that are defined by risk assessed and analyzed tasks that are executed under battle plans that promote the best in safety practices and survivability within known hostile structural fire environments- with determined, effective and proactive firefighting

  • Doctrine of Combat Fire Engagement
    • Predictive Strategic Process
    • Tactical Deployment Model
    • Dynamic Tactical Deployment
    • Performance Indicators and Street Aides
      • Fire Dynamics
      • Resistance
      • Resilience
      • Structural Systems
      • Occupancy Hazard Profiles

The traditional attitudes and beliefs of equating aggressive firefighting operations in all occupancy types coupled with the correlating, established and pragmatic operational strategies and tactics must not only be questioned, they need to be adjusted and modified; risk assessment, risk-benefit analysis, safety and survivability profiling, operational value and firefighter injury and LODD reduction must be further institutionalized to become a recognized part of modern firefighting operations.

Aggressive firefighting must be redefined and aligned to the built environment and associated with goal oriented tactical operations that are defined by risk assessed and analyzed tasks that are executed under battle plans that promote the best in safety practices and survivability within known hostile structural fire environments.

Our current generation of buildings, construction and occupancies are not as predictable as past conventional or legacy construction and occupancies;

  • Risk assessment, strategies and tactics must change to address these new rules of structural fire engagement.
  • You need to gain the knowledge and insights and to change and adjust your operating profile in order to safe guard your companies, personnel and team compositions.
  • Again strategic firefighting operations; Strategies and tactics must be based on occupancy risk not occupancy type.

The following are quotes from Fire Chief Anthony Aiellos (ret) Hackensack (NJ) Fire Department, Fire Chief during the Hackensack Ford Fire, July, 1988…

“If you don’t fully understand how a building truly performs or reacts under fire conditions and the variables that can influence its stability and degradation, movement of fire and products of combustion and the resource requirements for fire suppression in terms of staffing, apparatus and required fire flows, then you will be functioning and operating in a reactionary manner. This places higher risk to your personnel and lessens the likelihood for effective, efficient and safe operations. You’re just not doing your job effectively and you’re at RISK. These risks can equate into insurmountable operational challenges and could lead to adverse incident outcomes”.

As a Company or Command Officer, how have your skill sets as well as your attitudes towards combat fire suppression operations have changed. Are you still thinking in terms of “old school” tactics and operations? (Think carefully before you answer….because there’s more to this reply than you think). I’ve asked this question before: “What do you truly know about building construction, fire dynamics and risk profiling?” Have you spent the time to become knowledgeable on rapid changes that have evolved within the building construction industry? Have you taken a good look around your district? If you haven’t, maybe It’s time…remember you have a company or a contingent of companies that are counting on you to make the right call at that next structural fire incident.

Posted by on April 9, 2010 • Filed under: building construction, christopher naum, company officer, Fire Dynamics, Fire Suppression, firefighting-operations, KSA, Risk Assessment, Risk Management, Situational Awareness, Strategy and Tactics • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

CFSI Webinar Series Making the Right Decisions

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Upcoming CFSI Webinar: Making the Right Decisions

CFSI Webinar Series  Making the Right DecisionsDATE: March 31, 2010

TIME: 2:00 – 2:45PM EST

LOCATION: Your personal computer!  FEATURING: Chief Billy Goldfeder

RSVP: Email malderfer@cfsi.org by 3/30/2010

Moderated by Congressional Fire Services Institue (CFSI) Executive Director Bill Webb,, the program will feature Chief Billy Goldfeder, nationally respected and recognized for his leadership in the area of firefighter health and safety. A prolific writer and dynamic speaker, Chief Goldfeder will focus his presentation on the theme “Making the Right Decisions,” which is the theme of the 22nd Annual National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner and Seminars. Chief Goldfeder and Bill Webb will discuss how the right decisions made in the fire house and in Congress can make the fire service a safer profession.
 
To register for this webinar please email malderfer@cfsi.org by close-of-business March 30, 2010.

Established in 1989 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy institute, CFSI is designed to educate members of Congress about the needs and challenges of our nation’s fire and emergency services so that the federal government provides the types of training and funding needed by our first responders. 

For CFSI, success is built around education. In an effort to better educate Congress about the needs of the fire service, and to keep the fire service informed on activities in our nation’s capital, we are proud to launch the CFSI Webinar Series. Each month CFSI will host a webinar featuring members of Congress, Congressional staff, federal officials, or fire service leaders discussing the pertinent national issues affecting the fire and emergency services.

 

Posted by on March 30, 2010 • Filed under: company officer, firefighter-safety-health • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Accountability: Errors & Omissions

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RedDiceThis past week on the burgeoning internet call-in radio show Firefighter Netcast.com, HERE, a dynamic discussion developed related to the DeKalb County fatal house fire incident and the apparent questionable  actions purported by the company and command officers and the repercussions that have lead to FD employment terminations and resignations, HERE.

I discussed recently how Company and Command Officers should be highly accountable and highly responsive to the demands and duties that come with that rank and the inherent responsibilities that are intrinsic, fundamental and vital to our sworn duty HERE. The radio call-in discussions revolved around issues dealing with fire department complacency, expectations, accountability and discipline; fundamental responsibilities and actions that are required by companies, their staff and the company officer; as well as those of the incident commander.

The common theme resonated around the fact that nobody could believed that the entire balance of a structural alarm assignment didn’t conduct a more thorough investigation or have a more robust questioning attitude to further validate the assumptions being made at the scene that the alarm was unfounded. The issued FD report HERE stated that no personnel exited their apparatus to investigate any of the occupancies, other than to spot in backing up the trucks. Protocols and standards implemented in an organization will guide and drive operational actions at an incident scene. The deployment and management of that incident scene is predicated and rests squarely with the company and command officers to perform duties and actions aligned with organizational expectations, accountability and responsiveness.

How do you address the influence of error-likely situations in which complacency may creep into an incident scene when there is nothing readily apparent, however there is an indication that something is wrong? How do you maintain the heightened sense of preparedness, safety and readiness when you’ve responded to an alarm activation at the same address numerous times in the past with no events; but on this run you’re confronted with an escalating situation that calls for immediate and prompt fire suppression and rescue actions-but you’re not prepared?

How would you have addressed a similar call to a reported structure fire at a given neighborhood and building address and find nothing showing or evident upon arrival? What level of rigor does your company ( or fire deparment) expect or apply to determine that this incident is unfounded, false or an honest mistake? What are YOUR standards for responsibility and accountably?

Remember this; “Errors and Omissions are VERY unforgiving….”

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Posted by on February 5, 2010 • Filed under: christopher naum, Commandsafety.com, company officer, firefighting-operations, Officer, Situational Awareness • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,