You don’t know what you don’t know

We talk at length about the disconnects that lead to challenges when crews face attic fires when we host that discussion. What information isn’t making it to people *before* they’re forced to make decisions in a few seconds?

Here’s the deal:

- You don’t know what you don’t know.
- Others may not know what you don’t know.
- You may not know what others don’t know.

How do I know? I got that lesson last night. On a break, one of the firefighters walked up to me. “Hey, I know this might seem basic, but you might want to take a second and explain what you mean when you say ‘soffit’ because some of our newer members may not know.”

I missed my own disconnect.

When we got rolling again, I shared that comment with the group, thanked the firefighter who brought it up, and I added some pictures so we could all talk about the terms to make sure they were understood. What could have been a major communication issue instead became a solid talking point.

Once you know something, it can be hard to step back and remember what it was like to not know; after all, it wasn’t that long ago that I learned what a soffit was.

Open, respectful dialogue in both directions can help both sides grow. And I’m so grateful that firefighter spoke up to drive that point home.

#firerescue #atticfires #firedepartment #firefighter #chiefmiller #firetactics