This is live facilitated training presented through Zoom.

Course Duration: 3 hours.

Includes live chat and live Q&A.

Includes a 7-day recorded playback for anyone who could not attend live.

Course Description

On July 28, 2011, the Asheville Fire Department suffered a catastrophic loss when Captain Jeff Bowen tragically lost his life while fighting a fire in a 6-story commercial office building. In the following days and weeks, investigators from ATF, OSHA, NIOSH and the North Carolina Bureau of Criminal Investigations interviewed Asheville firefighters, company officers and commanders. Each agency would aggregate their findings and eventually issue their respective reports.

But the fire administration and the members wanted to make sure they understood both HOW and WHY the tragedy occurred and perhaps more importantly, how to prevent it from ever happening again. This level of understanding would require a deeper level of inquiry with a specific purpose.

My involvement with the Asheville Fire Department started the previous April when I conducted three days of situational awareness training for their officers. Captain Bowen was in my class. This loss was personal. In September 2011, I was invited to Asheville to conduct a facilitated debriefing using a protocol adapted from aviation. Airlines use the process to extract lessons after aviation near-miss and casualty incidents.

Initially there was some concern among the firefighters about being involved in yet another investigation. But this process is not an investigation and once we got started they quickly realized the benefits coming from their participation. The four-day process yielded some amazing lessons for the Asheville Fire Department and some valuable recommendations that can benefit every fire department.

About the presenter

Richard B. Gasaway, PhD, CSP is widely considered a trusted authority on human factors, situational awareness and the high-risk decision making processes used in high-stress, high consequence work environments. He served 33 years on the front lines as a firefighter, EMT-Paramedic, company officer, training officer, fire chief and emergency incident commander. His doctoral research included the study of cognitive neuroscience to understand how human factors flaw situational awareness and impact high-risk decision making.