Gathering information and reassessment

Situational awareness is being aware of what is happening all around you; it is continuous size up. One of the main reasons firefighters get hurt is that they do not know what is happening around them.

Situational awareness is the gathering of information by observation or having it reported (communicated) to you. It is based upon this information that you will make decisions. This process of observing is not a one-time thing you do at the beginning of a prescribed burn, but a constant and continuous cycle. You must always be looking around and sensing what is really happening and how those observations may impact fire behavior, you and your fellow crew members. If you have situational awareness you will be able to detect problems before they can hurt you or others.

As mentioned before, you constantly reassess because conditions are constantly changing:

• Time of day – Fires burn more actively in the afternoon.
• Weather – As the weather changes, the fire behavior changes.
• Location of the fire – As the fire moves, the topography and fuels being burned, or about to be burned, may be different.