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Situational Awareness

 

The cornerstone of good decision making is good situational awareness. Leaders can increase their decision space by attaining and maintaining good situational awareness. Decision space is simply the amount of time that a decision maker has for considering options before reaching a required decision point.

 

Situational Awareness Cycle

 

Observation and communication are linked to Situational awareness. The graphic shows an arrows circling line art of an eye and eyebrow with the words Gather information, Change, Perception, and No change circling the eye as well.

Situational awareness is depicted as a cycle because the situation and people’s perceptions are constantly changing. This internal cycle continues as long as people are awake. Everyone starts with an initial perception of any given situation and then continuously updates it with new information. People gather information through both observation, which includes input from the senses, and communication, which includes face-to-face conversation, written communication, and radio or telephone exchanges.

Simply paying attention is an important part of maintaining good situational awareness, but even more important is determining what to pay attention to. All perceptions are subject to filtering and focusing: people constantly filter information and shift focus. People also produce a lot of internal inputs such as thoughts about what to do next, stress, memories of similar experiences, fear.

Those with more experience in an environment often can more easily filter out distractions and unimportant details and focus on the most salient information.

Discussion Points:

  • What does situational awareness mean?
  • What are the actions that influence situational awareness?
  • Is it possible to lose situational awareness?
  • Does your situational awareness match reality consistently?

 

Category
Leadership
References
Wildland Fire Leadership Development Program
Leading in the Wildland Fire Service, PMS 494-2

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ETC Bulletin 25-001: Retrofitted Hot/Cold Beverage Kits - 2025 Field Season

Date: April 16, 2025
Questions?  Please contact:
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Due to spout failures and the associated risk of burn injuries, manufacturers have retrofitted the Hot/Cold Beverage Kits using a heat-shrinking band to secure the black spout at the insertion site. The updated kits feature a fluorescent label on each full kit assembly for easy identification. Catering units are encouraged to confirm the clear heat-shrinking bands are intact around each spout before filling.

ETC Bulletin 24-001 regarding Hot/Cold Beverage Kits has been archived and replaced by ETC Bulletin 25-001 for the 2025 season.

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NWCG Standards For Wildland Fire Chainsaw Operations, PMS 212

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The Risk Management Committee (RMC) serves as the position steward for all Safety Officer incident positions and continues to improve position standards, training, and naming conventions. The implementation of Complex Incident Management (CIM) required changes to position titles. RMC collaborated with the NWCG Incident Position Standards Committee (IPSC) to propose and implement these updates. 

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RMC Memo 25-01: Summary of Updates to Safety Officer Positions 

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Updated, NWCG Guide to Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination, PMS 412

Date: April 8, 2025
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PMS 412 provides guidance for wildland fire investigations. This guide outlines recommended procedures, practices, techniques, and methods to promote a systematic approach. The last update to this publication was in 2016.

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NWCG Guide to Wildland Fire Origin and Cause Determination PMS 412