Entrapment Pubs | Human Factor Pubs

The Missoula Technology and Development Center (MTDC) has produced the DVD "Firefighter Cohesion and Entrapment Avoidance," showing leaders of firefighters as they talk about what the word "cohesion" means to them—trusting one another and working together as a team.  They also discuss the two ways they see cohesion among firefighters reducing the chances of entrapment—by allowing firefighters to increase their situational awareness and by instilling more confidence in their leaders.  The DVD includes stories from leaders about the cohesion problems they faced on a fire and the work practices they used to successfully deal with them.  The DVD may be ordered by calling MTDC at 406-329-3978 or by sending an e-mail message with your mailing address and phone number to: wo_mtdc_pubs@fs.fed.us.

The following three documents will help facilitators use the DVD in training sessions: 

A white paper on cohesion was prepared in 2002 by Jon Driessen:  Crew Cohesion, Wildland Fire Transition, and Fatalities.

A progress report on this project was prepared in 2005:  Two Entrapment Avoidance Projects:  Studying Crew Cohesion as a Social Human Factor.