Assignment
Abstract High-reliability teams (HRTs) like firefighters must engage in an elevated style of communication and feedback implementation as a means of staying reliable and keeping team members safe. For one firefighting team, a successful tactical approach to a four-alarm fire left the teammates bickering over who had a "correct" method of attack, rather than focusing on the team dynamics. As a result, this team built and solidified detrimental communication patterns and carried over these poor choices to future calls, rendering them less reliable. This case study follows one firefighting team's poor communication that occurred during an after-action review (AAR) for a successfully contained fire and outlines the ways in which all organizations, High Reliability or not, can implement better communication principles.
A. The beginning The C-Crew firefighting team was just getting ready to sit down to chicken and dumplings for lunch when the four-alarm fire notification rang out throughout the station. The dispatcher's voice came over the loudspeaker: "Fully involved structure fire, location 5323 Jones Street, detached garage, owner present." Harrison, a junior firefighter, with just 3 years on the team, jumped into his bunker gear and climbed into the cab. Harrison had been an EMT for 4 years and had seen a lot of fires but had not had the opportunity to fight them until he joined as a firefighter. The excitement was palpable as the team drove to the fire scene. C-Crew hadn't had a good fire in about three months and the busy summer months were just about to start. This fire would be a hot one, and Harrison was a little concerned because the team had a shakeup earlier in the day. Eddy, the team's captain was called away on a personal matter and so the lower ranking members of the squad had moved up one hierarchical position into unfamiliar roles.
Harrison looked around the cab. Rusty, a 33-year veteran firefighter was stepping up into the position of fire truck driver, and he would be the one controlling the water on scene. Bryce, with 9 years on the squad, who had regularly served as a driver of the fire truck, moved into the position of captain. Harrison was a little worried because Bryce because, although he had been a driver for 9 years, he had not served in this role before. The other members of the team were Gramps, a senior firefighter with 15 years on the squad, who had been brought to Station 1 to teach the junior firefighters and rookies, and California, who had just finished 'rookie' school (a mandatory 6-month academy approach to firefighting including simulation and theoretical tactical knowledge building)-this was only his second time fighting a fire. A.The critical incident The team pulled up to the Jones Street garage. Harrison could feel the heat on his face from the window of the cab. He jumped out of the rig the second it was in park. He was thrilled because he had inadvertently chosen the spot closest to the attack hose. He would be the lead firefighter who would make decisions about the method of attack! He grabbed the nozzle and ran with the hose to the edge of the driveway. In front of him, he could see a detached garage that was fully engulfed in flames.
The fire had climbed so high that he doubted anything inside would be salvageable, and since this was a garage fire, they would have to take extra precautions because there was likely to be other flammable materials like paint, paint thinner, and storage items that could easily ignite. Harrison started to move towards the garage with the hose and noticed that there was a riding lawn mower parked right in front and a camper RV blocking the way. Harrison thought "these are really going to be a problem if they catch fire." He thought about which water pattern he should use in this method of fire attack. He remembered from his own training in rookie school that he had two methods to fight the fire. He could use a straight stream water pattern, which produces a strong concentrated blast of water, but he could also use a fog stream, which produces a wider cone of water and can cover more surface area. He turned on a straight stream. Within 15 minutes, the fire had been put out. Harrison was jubilant; he had remembered from his training in rookie school that a straight stream was a good method of attack and he had finally gotten a chance to use his knowledge!
The team put out the fire and started to clean up the scene, rolling the water hoses and placing them back in the fire truck. B.The After-Action Review They climbed into the rig to head back to the station. Harrison looked at Gramps, who had a deep crease in his forehead. He didn't look pleased at all. "I bet he's mad that I got to the nozzle first and got to be lead firefighter", thought Harrison. The truck backed into the station and Gramps got out of the rig and slammed the door. "We need to do a critique," he said. "What for?" said Bryce. Gramps scowled at him. "You ain't gonna learn anything if you don't sit and reflect." "But we got the fire out, huh?" said Harrison. He wasn't sure why they were making a big fuss out of a fire that was settled in 15 minutes. The team assembled at the conference table. Rusty plugged in a camera that had the photos that were taken from the scene. California shut the lights. The slideshow started.
This picture (Figure 1) showed Harrison holding the nozzle in front of the blaze. "Harrison, look! You're shooting that fire from the street. You needed to get closer!" Gramps was angry. Figure 1. The Initial Assessment The slides changed again. This picture (Figure 2) showed that Harrison had turned on the straight stream water and was aiming the water flow at the lawnmower. Figure 2. Harrison's Choice Bryce started to laugh. "Ha! Look at Harrison, pushing the mower into the garage!" "Why are you using a straight stream?! You should have used a fog stream! You're not close enough to do a damn thing!" Gramps was angry. "What the hell was you doing?!" "See, I was getting the lawnmower, the RV, and the fence. In rookie school..." said Harrison. But he was cut off before he could finish his thought. "What was you gonna do? Bust out the fence panels?" yelled Gramps"I was getting the RV!" Harrison raised his voice. "What for?! The building was what was burning!" said Gramps. The slide changed again. The next picture (Figure 3) showed Harrison spraying the RV."But I didn't want the RV to catch fire when we were past it!" said Harrison. Harrison was about to tell Gramps that he had learned in rookie school that a firefighter should not put themselves in a situation where they were between a burning building and a flammable item behind them. If the RV caught fire, they would have been trapped. As Harrison was about to tell Gramps his reasoning, Gramps cut him off. "Don't get so defensive, just listen and learn.
You have to use common sense, I learned that way years ago when there was no rookie school. I did just fine," Gramps said. The slide changed again, showing a picture (Figure 4) of Harrison closer to the garage, and spraying water on the building. "Okay, now you're getting in there!" said Gramps. "Harrison, you idiot, look at you using a straight stream," said Bryce. Bryce whacked California on the shoulder. "Yeah, a real idiot," said California. Harrison was embarrassed. He wanted to say something but his throat had dried up. "Unbelievable, what a dumbass," said Gramps. The slide show ended. Gramps turned to Harrison and said, "It's a good thing you can do some EMT doctoring, because you damn sure can't do anything else." Bryce shut the TV and walked out of the room. Gramps followed, and then California. Rusty sat at the table with Harrison and was about to say something when Harrison pushed back from the table and walked outside into the truck room.C.Ending At the next shift, a derogatory cartoon showed up on the main room public bulletin board. Harrison's face had been glued over a cartoon firefighter who had lost control of his straight stream hose and had his hat knocked backwards. Somebody had written a caption under the cartoon: "Straight-Stream Harrison." Rusty looked at the cartoon and sadly shook his head. He had watched as Bryce and Gramps, and even California rode Harrison into the dirt. He wanted to say something to Harrison, to let him know that he did a good job. He went into the bunk room to find him. Harrison appreciated that Rusty had offered a pep talk, but he no longer felt comfortable in his job. For the next few weeks, there was a noticeable decline in morale among the team. Harrison did not really talk to anybody and Bryce, Gramps, and California took many opportunities to make fun of "Straight-Stream Harrison."
Finally, three months later, Harrison asked to be transferred to a different station, and was granted the transfer. Rusty was concerned. Station 1 was scheduled to get a new junior firefighter on the next shift. He wanted to make sure that the team did not alienate the new firefighter in the same way that they had alienated Harrison. Rusty walked to the chief's office to talk to him about some ideas...
Task
1. In general, what type of team leadership model is the firefighting team and why?
2. What were the causes of conflict that occurred in the critical incident and after-incident review and why?
3. Was Gramps a formal or informal leader and why?
4. What style of conflict management did Gramps use on Harrison and why?