Assuming Command with Bob Horton

This month, Bob spoke with Daniel Haight from Darkhorse Emergency, a data visualization and analytics company focused on software to aid fire and ambulance operations.  They discuss the importance of the availability of ground-truth, trusted data that can be used to aid in decision making for fire chiefs, especially in the face of competing priorities (if you haven’t listened to S3E2 on Managing Expectations, go back and catch it). They also discuss the important, but often unrecognized and unmeasured, work of risk reduction.       Read Daniels article, Racing Against Rising Demand by Prioritizing Prevention, published in the Washington Fire Commissioners Association 1st Quarter 2024 Newsletter to learn more about how data can be used and accessed. Connect with Daniel on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/danhaight/.  For more information on Darkhorse Emergency, visit their website: https://darkhorseemergency.com/. Thank you for listening and let us know what you thought of this episode or what you'd like to hear in the future at [email protected].

Expectations for a Fire Chief come from numerous sources and stakeholders, and the Fire Chief must assess those expectations, determine which are reasonable and feasible, and act on them accordingly.  This month’s episode is focused on Bob’s take on the Fire Chief’s challenge of managing competing expectations. Thank you for listening and let us know what you thought of this episode or what you'd like to hear in the future at [email protected].

Assuming Command has been reimagined for 2024 and has joined the Western Fire Chiefs media network.  Discussions in season 3 will explore the intersection of leadership and management, specifically in the space of fire administration.  To kick off season 3, Andrew Holter is back.  Andrew is the principal of FR Strategies and is an industrial organizations psychologist working in emergency services.  Bob and Andrew discuss what psychological safety in the fire service is and how leaders can foster it in their organization.   You can find Andrew at www.fr-strategies.com and on LinkedIn.  He can assist with team assessments, team building, and organizational assessments for your organization.    Thank you for listening and let us know what you thought of this episode or what you'd like to hear in the future at [email protected].

Welcome to the kickoff of Season 3. We're starting this season by playing the year in review episode of Fire Headlines, a Western Fire Chiefs Association podcast co-hosted by Bob. We hope you enjoy the episode and look forward to getting back into the swing in 2024.

With the West entering wildfire season, we’re continuing the discussion this month with Kate Lighthall, the Western Region Coordinator for the Wildland Fire Leadership Council.  The Council leads the implementation of the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy.  Kate has extensive experience as a structure and wildland firefighter and fire inspector, as well as working towards mitigation, resiliency, and community education.  She dives into community level considerations around receiving, responding to, and recovering from wildfire.  There’s a wealth of good information in this episode and we hope you enjoy the conversation as much as we did.    You can connect with Kate at [email protected] or 541-408-3048.  To learn more about the work being done by the Wildland Fire Leadership Council, visit them at www.wildfireinthewest.org. Thank you for listening and let us know what you thought of this episode or what you'd like to hear in the future at [email protected].

As we enter wildfire season here in the west, we’re continuing our series on wildfire and wildfire preparedness.  Eden McCall is a journalism and spatial data science student at the University of Oregon.  Bob got connected with Eden as a result of the 2020 Almeda fire in southern Oregon.  Eden had been working on the Fire Story podcast with the university and reached out to Bob to discuss causes and potential solutions for situations like the Almeda fire, which was an urban wildfire.  Join Bob and Eden as they discuss risk communications and how journalism can be used differently than it is now to promote risk mitigation related to wildfires.  You can listen to the Fire Story Season 2 at https://scr.uoregon.edu/education-and-engagement/the-fire-story-season-2/.  Connect with Eden through her website, https://edenimccall.com/, or email her directly at [email protected]. Thank you for listening and let us know what you thought of this episode or what you'd like to hear in the future at [email protected].

Here at Assuming Command we love a good trailblazer and this month’s guest fits that description.  Rachael Brady is the founder of The Analytical Moose and developer of the Wildfire Aware app, which will launch in May 2023.  Rachael has a background working at CalFire and was awarded the USGIF Government Achievement Award for her GIS work on wildfire mapping and investigations into serial arson cases.  Through The Moose and Wildfire AwareTM, she is working to bring wildfire notifications to the public faster and to streamline post-fire damage assessments across the US.  You can find Rachael on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachaelbradygisp/.  Check out the links below for more information on The Moose and Wildfire Aware. https://www.theanalyticalmoose.com/ https://www.wildfireaware.ai/ https://www.facebook.com/theanalyticalmoosehttps://www.facebook.com/WildfireAwareAI

Thank you for joining us for our March episode. This month, we decided to replay an episode from 2020 on mental wellness with Elissa Denton. Recently, two firefighters in southern Nevada were tragically lost to suicide and Bob wanted to take the opportunity to promote the importance of mental wellness and provide some resources for starting a journey towards improved mental wellness, both personally and agency wide. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide or self-harm, the National Suicide Hotline is available 24 hours a day by calling 988 or by texting HOME to 741741. · https://www.centerpointonline.com/ · https://www.emdr.com/what-is-emdr/ Thank you for listening and let us know what you thought of this episode or what you'd like to hear in the future at [email protected].

Happy February and we hope your 2023 is off to a smooth start. This month’s guest on Assuming Command™ is Dr. Andrew Holter.  Andrew is an organizational psychologist serving the Wilmington Fire Department in North Carolina as their Administrative Services Manager. He has been in emergency services for nearly 20 years and is the founder of FR Strategies, a public safety consulting group.  Andrew’s PhD dissertation was on whether self-efficacy, grit, and job satisfaction predict turnover intention amongst new nurses. You can connect with Andrew on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewholter1/or go to www.FR-strategies.com. Bob and Andrew’s conversation fits right in with a favorite Assuming Command™ theme; looking to the future and trying to make choices today that will serve the future fire service. A big part of the discussion is around preparing for recruitment and how to create an effective interview process so you can choose the best candidates to move your agency forward. If you have any questions, comments, or topic suggestions, you can email us at [email protected] or click on the link for the show website and leave a voice message.

Welcome back and thanks for hanging in there with Assuming Command ™ while we had a little hiatus in 2022.  We're back with an exciting new schedule of discussions.  To kick off the comeback, Bob is talking a little about what he's been up to and we're revisiting his guest interview on Side Alpha in 2021 to discuss his article for FireRescue1, "Not What I Signed Up For".  If you haven't read the article, you can find it on the FireRescue1 website and Facebook page.   You can read the original article on the FireRescue1 website: https://www.firerescue1.com/career-1/articles/this-is-not-what-i-signed-up-for-why-some-firefighters-simply-dont-understand-the-job-2SvkNuqSohff1tYG/  You can peruse the comments on the FireRescue1 Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/firerescue1/posts/10158466570967939 Editor-in-Chief Janelle Foskett posted a follow up article on the FireRescue1 website: https://www.firerescue1.com/fire-careers/articles/not-what-i-signed-up-for-fr1-readers-leaders-react-to-discussion-about-firefighter-expectations-hXATw4gKozrQezkx/ If you have any questions, comments, or topic suggestions, you can email us at [email protected] or click on the link for the show website and leave a voice message.