Fire Service: Why, Not How

[x635 4,066]

Check out this one of many articles on VentEnterSearch.com:

http://www.vententersearch.com/?p=1452&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+vententersearch+%28VentEnterSearch%29

[antiquefirelt 994]

Check out this one of many articles on VentEnterSearch.com:

http://www.vententersearch.com/?p=1452&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+vententersearch+%28VentEnterSearch%29

Good stuff and very relevant and all too true. So many of our newer personnel can tell you what they are supposed to do, but have no background to know why. If you don't know the why, you can't know he why not, and so much of what we do is based on limited data that it's important to understand the why, to ensure the intended outcome can be arrived at. I think we can liken this to cookbook medics vs. well trained/educated medics. While the protocols cover your butt, your actual knowledge makes the difference. Sadly at the admin level we fear the knowledge and pray for protocol.

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Agreed.

I was lucky to be tought "why" before I was tought "how".

I think that there are too many firefighters that either do way too much or way too little not understanding the theory behind firefighting.

That's why this article hits the nail on the head.

[Guest alsfirefighter]

I've always thought, teach and instruct training officers and other instructors that anyone can generally be taught how to do something...but its not effective unless they know why they are doing it or why they shouldn't do it. This goes along with not just skills but other knowledge basis such as fire behavior etc. Unfortunately I still see some that stress more hands on skills and "we gotta get outside" instead of lining up the brain with the hands. While braun is still important in the fire service as the fire service continues to evolve in services, skill and challenges of building construction, materials used in manufacturing and so on...the brains is becoming an extremely important part of the puzzle. You can only take the mechanical part so far before the lack of brains can effect safety or the operation overall. NASA taught chimps to ride some of the first mercury rockets in space and then astronauts...they don't just teach them how...they also teach them why they are doing something. No different then what we truly need in the fire service.