I recently read with great interest a very long thread on Facebook about whether or not an incident commander should wear turnout gear at a fire scene. As my focus and passion is improving first responder situational awareness, I would like to address this issue from that perspective.
The feedback on Facebook was, as expected, all over the place with some participants saying the commander should be in turnout gear. Some said the commander should not be in turnout gear. And some displayed the typical (and expected) distain for management and saying the chiefs should just stay in their offices. Editorial comments lacking maturity aside, the question of whether an incident commander should wear turnout gear is one I field often during my Fifty Ways to Kill a First Responder program so I thought I'd take the matter up here.
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Midwest Fire
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Intro music
Safety Dance (1982)
Men Without Hats
GMC - Virgin Records
Cover Photo:
John Buckman
Chief Photographer
WildFire Studios
Situational Awareness Matters! website
Firefighter Near Miss Reporting System
http://www.firefighternearmiss.com/
Contact Rich Gasaway
612-548-4424