By Greg LindsayNear-Miss OKC Fire Department Greg Lindsay: Firefighter Report Know What To Do When You Do It We know the fireground is a busy place to be. Arriving to find trusted leaders OKC FD in the decision-making roles can bring peace of mind for crews working in dangerous environments. It’s important to note that sound decisions are valuable when the information is clearly conveyed and carried out. When confusion becomes the leading element, things can take a turn for the worst. That is why knowing what to do is critical. The featured article this month, Power Remains On After Attempt To Secure (http:// firefighternearmiss.com/Reports?id=16047), shows us how a seemingly ordinary assignment can turn an incident into a more dangerous situation than we expected. The report begins with first due assignments for one crew on a single-family residence. While the tasks are standard for this department, the results are not. Consider how your personnel may have addressed these concerns as you read the event narrative.
Power Remains On After Attempt To Secure Published: 3/10/2021 Report Number: 21-10102
tempt our objectives safely. Other times we fall short of meeting the tactical objectives we use to create a safer environment. When we consider a loss of situational awareness as a leading error causation, it becomes more apparent that we may need to cautiously approach elements we question. • How do you address disabling residential power in your community? Please take a moment to discuss your policies and procedures with less experienced employees. • How would your personnel react to an electrical service that was very unusual to them? This was described as an oversized breaker box. • Do you have larger residential occupancies in your community where this could be encountered? • Are there other electrical equipment installations in your residential neighborhoods that make you take a step back when you encounter them? These are the lessons shared by the Firefighter that submitted the report. [We need to understand] the changing culture of building construction and the difference between a 200-amp box and a 600-amp box made for larger homes. It is preferred to secure power from the inside. Photo courtesy of the reporter
Initial size-up Large Single-story residential structure with fire and smoke showing on arrival. Event Description Units were dispatched to a reported structure fire. The first engine arrived at a large single-story residential structure with fire and smoke showing. This was upgraded to a working fire. As the first rescue arrived on the scene, they were tasked with securing the power to the home and conducting a primary search. The Firefighter/ Medic began to control the electricity and noticed a large, oversized breaker box, very different from what they were familiar with. They attempted to disconnect what they thought to be the breakers. When the electric company arrived, they found the firefighter had not disconnected the power. The electric company advised that the power must be turned off from inside with this breaker box. The electrical box was a 600-amp box, not a traditional 200-amp box. After firefighters extinguished the fire, all units participated in an after-action report to address the breaker box concerns and the potential hazards a firefighter may face. The conditions we work in are constantly changing to meet the ever-evolving requirements of the people in our communities. We consider progress to be the thing that drives these changes and do our best to adapt. Sometimes we can approach a problem and recognize familiar elements that allow us to at-
Firefighters rely on the things we are familiar with to address problems on the fire scene. We use previous experiences to decide what has worked before and apply it to our current predicament. The decision-making technique is Recognition Primed Decision Making (RPDM). While this is very helpful for the things we have seen before, it may not help with our
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decisions when inferring our experiences onto something new. In this case, the firefighter used knowledge gained in securing power from a smaller system and applied it to the larger service box. While there are similarities in the two types of service boxes, the report continues to tell us how the Firefighter thought the breakers on the box would secure the power, but it didn’t disconnect the power or create a safer environment for the rest of the assigned crews to work. When this type of event occurs, it makes the scene more hazardous because we work with less caution regarding the electrical wiring by thinking the power is off. One way to determine if the power is off seems very simple, but other reports confirm it can be overlooked. Turn on a light in an adjacent room; if the attic over that area has not been compromised, it could indicate if the power is secured. In an article by Gordon Graham from the Lexipol website, he discusses high-frequency events. The article, The Power of Recognition-Primed Decision-Making in Public Safety (lexipol.com) talks about how we have a very high success rate in performing high-frequency events. Consider stretching a handline as a high frequency event; we rarely have difficulty knowing how to deploy a handline because we train and practice with it. We create additional frequency, so the possibility of an error diminishes. However, there are times when making the stretch results in a less than perfect outcome. In his article, Gordon Graham points to the five most common human factors that prevent a desirable outcome during high-frequency events. These are Complacency, Fatigue, Distractions, Hubris, and Risk Homeostasis (Graham.) Consider how approaching any of these human factors during training could help your crew in a future emergency response. Why and how we do things always enters the conversation when a near-miss occurs. If we can share these details with other firefighters, it can make our jobs safer. The Firefighternearmiss.com website has over 5000 case studies where front-line firefighters have shared their experiences. The service is free to use, and if you choose to share your own experiences, it is entirely anonymous. Graham, G (2019) The Power of Recognition-Primed Decision-Making in Public Safety Found on the internet at: www.lexipol. com/resources/blog/the-power-of-recognition-primed-decision-making-in-public-safety/ For more about Recognition Primed Decision Making, pick up a copy of Sources of Power by Gary Klein.
