The IFS Story
Throughout my fire career I have been involved in “risky” operations. Most of the time I and those around me emerged unscathed. Unfortunately, a few times I saw coworkers injured on the job. Originally, I thought that was part of the job and our normal safety practices would make us as safe as possible.
For many years I was able to respond to out-of-district wildfires. Some years I would spend over 60 days out on large wildfires around the U.S, filling various positions in the operations section. Eventually I attained the Division Supervisor position. For all those years I practiced “entrapment avoidance” — in other words, do whatever it takes to keep yourself and those around you from being overrun by fire. I accomplished this through sound decision making and a high level of interpersonal communications.
In 2006 I had another busy year away from the Parker Fire District. That fall I was thumbing through a couple of fire trade magazines and noticed yet another article on how to set up an RIT, or rapid intervention team. It finally dawned on me that it requires much more planning to rescue a downed firefighter than to practice entrapment avoidance – entrapment avoidance being sound decision making, managing errors, and proficient interpersonal communication (namely intra crew tactical briefings).
I started researching those subjects and reviewing the emergency incidents I responded to in a different light. What I found was an omission of quality tactical briefings, and the fact that many people underestimate human error as a contributing factor in fireground injuries.
In May 2007 I left the Parker Fire District so I could devote as much time as possible to creating a high-quality training experience dedicated to improving firefighter safety by addressing decision making, human error and interpersonal communication. Integrated Fire Solutions was born.