Fireground Strategies: Lessons from Baseball to the Blaze

Fire Engineering Podcast Network

Fireground Strategies: Lessons from Baseball to the Blaze

In this edition of Fireground Strategies, Anthony Avillo and Jim Duffy dive into the complexities of decision-making under pressure by drawing parallels between baseball managing and incident command during fires. Using recent Yankees playoff controversies as a starting point, they explore how incident commanders must balance instinct, analytics, and experience when making critical calls on the fireground. The conversation touches on relying on company officers’ intimate knowledge of districts, the evolving use of data in firefighting, and the challenges of communication at every leadership level. They also unpack the importance of public relations, managing personnel dynamics, and understanding the strategic versus tactical roles in emergency response. Real-life anecdotes highlight the difficulty of seeing the full picture from inside a fire and the necessity of trust and perspective shifts.

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