Training for the Expected, Not the Exceptions with Doug Cupp

Code 3 - The Firefighters Podcast

If you do enough training evolutions, you will inevitably come up against a trick scenario.

You know, the ones where the instructors design something totally implausible into the scenario.

They usually fool the firefighters doing the training…and then that allows the instructor to say something that seems wise.

Like, “expect the unexpected.”

Sometimes, they’ll simply judge a specific thing with undue emphasis. Like always using a stopwatch, no matter the circumstances.

Why shouldn’t instructors use these kinds of tactics? Today’s guest explains what can happen when they do. And why they don’t end up with the real-world results the trainers want to see.

Doug Cupp is the fire chief at the Greater Eagle Fire Protection District in Colorado. His company, Doug Cupp and Associates, delivers courses based on his research on critical decision-making, leading to crisis and human error. Doug holds a master’s degree in Emergency Management and Fire and Emergency Services Management.