Fireman Rob is an inspiring storyteller and impact leader. He is a speaker, trainer, competes in Ironman races in 50 lbs. of firefighter gear, breaks World Records, and delivers bears to children in hospitals. He has worked with Fortune companies, community groups, and colleges, including 3M, US Bank, Southwest Airlines, ATF, Timex, USA Triathlon, and Kraft. His presentations focus on overcoming adversity and discovering purpose. He encourages people to build mental strength and become better leaders.

How can experiential tools aid in the arena of self-care and mental health for firefighters?

You know different than the experiential knowledge and tools that we use for in the field Self care and mental health. It's so important for us to share that experiential knowledge because what works for me may not work for somebody else But why not give them the tools to be able to say hey, let me try this Let me try this out because somebody else has The biggest thing that I see in the mental health area for first responders and for firefighters Is that we need to have more options? We came into this with just limited options limited ideas of how we can start that conversation and Starting that conversation is allowing others to see your vulnerability allowing others to understand what you've went through to try to find your Three-quarters full on a daily basis. So Making sure that all of those experiential tools that you've utilized utilize for the better for the worse That you spread that message spread that understanding of that because that's gonna help somebody and you may not even know that you help that person but not keeping it all to yourself is a huge thing when we're dealing with mental health because it's not a Easy thing to get through and it's not something that we all know exactly how it's gonna work

It's important to share our experiences and knowledge of self-care and mental health with others, so that they can have more options. By sharing our experiences, we are vulnerable and show others that there is hope for better mental health.

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How can firefighters stay mentally and physically prepared for the job, even during downtime or periods of low activity?

You know it's different throughout time how you're prepared mentally and physically. If you think about going to bed, falling asleep, being dead asleep, and then getting woken up and having to go do CPR, that is a different level of being able to be mentally and physically prepared. And how you do that is just time. This career as a firefighter is not something that you can just read about and then go do and be like, hey this is exactly what I want to do. It's something that you have to experience and I think that's such a huge aspect for people to understand of going to school and learning it from that perspective, but also being a volunteer and learning the front line of it. Learning those down time to 590 miles an hour is so important. I think also the training aspect of it is finding out who you are. Finding out what your best way of transitioning is. Is it taking a second while you're getting the rig? Is it while in the rig making sure that you're mentally focused? The physical part really has to be done a lot earlier, a lot sooner, being physically prepared for the job. That's something that you can't just do in the moment. But mentally you can definitely prepare yourself, but it takes time and it takes you training yourself to be able to do it.

Being a firefighter requires both mental and physical preparation. You can't just read about it and be prepared to do the job, you have to experience it. Training yourself to be mentally focused is important, as well as having a physical routine that prepares you for the job.

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What role do training and education play in the development and improvement of experiential tools for the fire service?

So what role do training and education play in the development and improvement of experiential tools in the fire service? Training and education is the fundamental cornerstone of experiential tools being delivered to individuals within the fire service because each unique perspective, when you go to a fire, when you go to an emergency scene, everybody sees a different perspective. And from that perspective, post-event, those need to be taken into account and learned from. What was the wrong things that were done? What were the right things that were done? What could have been done differently? So that is the huge part of training and education. The problem that is in the fire service right now is that information isn't always given out freely. It isn't always delivered from the frontline personnel to the training individuals. And so that is a huge divide that needs to be kind of fixed because sometimes when people speak up about what they think or what they think could have went differently, they're worried because of the hierarchy within the fire service. It's so important that we get experiential knowledge and the experiential tools to be able to be the best firefighters that we can, medics, you name it. We have to get that information. It has to be delivered appropriately to the training division to be able to give to other people.

Training and Education play a crucial role in the development and improvement of experiential tools in the fire service. Experiential knowledge and tools are important to ensure that firefighters are able to perform their duties effectively. However, there is a divide between frontline personnel and training individuals due to the hierarchical structure of the fire service. It is essential that this divide is bridged in order for information to be shared freely and for all personnel to have access to the best possible experiential tools.

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How can firefighters balance the need for safety and protocol with the unpredictability and chaos of an emergency?

So the question of balance between safety and protocols or SOGs, SOPs and the unpredictability and chaos of an emergency, it's really when you look at it from the standpoint of policy and guidelines. We can't anticipate every single aspect that's going to happen. We know how to be safe. We know how in certain circumstances when to push forward, when to back up. And I think most of that balance lies in what our motto is to be able to preserve life, preserve property and provide safety. And I think when you look at how we approach all accidents, all medical scenes, we always do what's called a 360. And that really gives us a good analysis of what the whole scene is. Because we can get tunnel vision and that's when the safety and that's when the protocols and everything that we worked on goes to the wayside. But making sure that you do a 360 and making sure that you look at all aspects of what it is and continue to have that perspective as a leader, that is such a huge aspect in maintaining that balance from that chaos of the emergency and having that safety as a firefighter.

By having policies and procedures in place and doing a 360 of the scene, leaders can maintain a balance between safety and the unpredictability of an emergency.

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Can you share a specific story where you relied on experiential tools to handle a difficult situation?

So it's funny I have actually a great story about this. We had an extrication that we had to do with a vehicle that had been pinned up. There was an individual that was trapped in the passenger side. Couldn't get him out the driver's side and there was too little of room to get out the passenger side but there's enough room to open up the rear door and cut off the back of the chair to get them out that way. Understanding that my experiential tools that I learned from different trainings that we had of how to manipulate chairs, how to approach from different angles. That was so critical because somebody else had done it before. It wasn't me just creating something out of thin air. Somebody else had taught me that because of their experiences in doing extrication. So yeah it was it was a pretty slick thing and it was something that I was able to pull from my memory because I had learned it.

I was able to use the experience and knowledge I had gained from different trainings to successfully extricate an individual from a vehicle that was pinned up.

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In what challenges that firefighters face on the job are experiential tools critical for success?

This is a great question but the answer is everything. Everything is so important for firefighters to utilize their experiential tools because everything from station life to how you react from a stressful call at home to when you were in a medical call or a extrication call or a fire call and the circumstances are always going to be different. It's a dynamic field and I think people have to understand that you can't keep all of your experiential tools inside. That is something in the career field of firefighting, of EMS, that is so critical to be able to expound on that for other people. To be able to help other people to learn from your perspective, from your journey, because those people are going to only see it from their perspective. If they were third on the line humping hose in and you were on the nozzle, how are they going to know that, how you put it out, how the different things that you did during that period of time. So making sure that your experiential tools don't die with you is so critical because everything in the fire service, every single aspect from the station to the work is built on your experiential tools.

Everything is important for firefighters to utilize their experiential tools because everything from station life to how they react in a stressful call at home is different and dynamic. It is critical that firefighters share their experiences so others can learn from them and not keep their experiential tools to themselves.

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How can communication and teamwork skills best be developed and maintained through experiential learning?

When you look at teamwork and communication, they go really hand-in-hand when we're talking about the experiences that people have in different circumstances within their career. The hard part that I have seen in the fire service is the communication has always been – it's good when you're on the radio, but it's not as good when you're talking about different aspects of the fire service. That comes into play with teamwork. The teamwork skills of being able to have an open forum where there isn't the judgment of, well, you did this wrong, and I think that's wrong, and I think that's wrong. It's having that ability to say, all right, I'll take into perspective all of the ideas, the experiential knowledge from those situations, and developing a learning technique for it. So making sure that communication is open and at the same time it's more of a listening than it is a judging. So I think making sure that your teamwork is focused around providing the best knowledge and providing the best ability for people to grow in their career is going to actually help to elongate careers as well as help to make us more effective in each of the departments.

Communication and teamwork are essential for success in the fire service. To ensure that communication is effective, it should be open and focused on listening rather than judging. Working together as a team and creating an environment where people can learn and grow will help to prolong careers and make departments more successful.

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How do firefighters use experiential tools to prepare for emergencies and stay sharp on the job?

I love this question because firefighters need to use experiential tools to prepare for emergencies because it's so dynamic of a nature. Every cardiac call that we go to is not the same. Every car accident we go to is not the same. Every fire we go to is not the same. But the tactics that we can use, that we can utilize that may be similar situations is so valuable. And that experiential knowledge that everybody has in the fire service is different from every position. From the lieutenant to the apparatus engineer to the chief to the firefighters that are in the front. Making sure that that experiential knowledge isn't lost. The training division, it's so important to have the training division understand from each perspective on different calls. Maybe major calls, you start with that and get those tools so that younger firefighters, even older firefighters like myself, can take some of that knowledge and actually implement it where we need it or when we need it. Because it's so important on our job.

Firefighters use experiential tools to prepare for emergencies because every call is different and the experiential knowledge of the firefighters is invaluable. The Training Division is important to ensure that this knowledge is not lost and can be used in different situations.

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Can you share some of the most important tools of the trade for firefighters, both physical and mental?

Some of the most important tools of the trade for firefighters both physically and mentally. I think one of the biggest things for physical, biggest important tool for physical tools of the trade is to understand your limitations. When you understand your limitations physically, you can start to adapt different things. If you're not able to throw up a 35-foot ladder by yourself, you need to develop different ways or be able to understand what support you need to be able to do that. Same applies if you're pulling somebody and you're on the RIT team out of a building or in a steer environment. If you don't understand your limitations, you are going to get yourself into places where you can't get out of, and you're not going to be able to perform at the highest level. It's not being weak or vulnerable, it's understanding how to be at the top of your performance. The mental side is the same thing, is making sure that you don't have the biggest ego that you are able to continue to grow. That you understand that the best way may not be the best way in a few weeks or for the next aspect. The flexibility of your mental capacity is one of the biggest things for the fire service to have, so that you're always learning and you're always getting better.

One of the most important tools for firefighters, both physically and mentally, is understanding their limitations. Physically, this means knowing when to ask for help or when it's time to adapt. Mentally, it means having the flexibility to learn and grow in the field.

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Experiential Tools of the Trade for the Fire Service

Robert Verhelst