By Chad Hayes
Photos by author except where noted
The true mission of the fire service has come back into the forefront of our minds in recent years thanks to individuals across the country who have made it their personal missions to ensure we’re operating according to the oath we all took on Day 1. Personal safety, although a priority, has rightfully taken a backseat to our primary objective: locating and removing trapped occupants as quickly as possible.
Over the last decade, the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) has gathered and disseminated data, ultimately establishing the fact that “removing potential victims from the hazardous atmosphere as soon as possible after the arrival on scene is essential for increasing their chance of survival” (Carey et al., 2024). Additionally, the Firefighter Rescue Survey has provided even more evidence to assist us with achieving this mission: the location of victims, survivability based on how quickly victims were located, and what tactics were used in attempted rescues. This data serves not only to enhance our ability to conduct a proper search size-up but reinforces the critical importance of speed and efficiency. Our success on the fireground, and ultimately the survival of the citizens we protect, depends on how well we perform.
Anyone in a position to deliver training to individuals involved in performance-based occupations such as firefighting must consider best practices for motor learning and skill acquisition when delivering instruction. It’s also in the best interest of the student to understand how the learning process works and how best to achieve mastery in a particular skill. This article will examine a well-established theory of learning and skill acquisition and discuss how to apply it to the instruction of firefighters.
Fitts and Posner’s Stages of Motor Skill Learning
In 1979, Paul Fitts and Michael Posner, professors of psychology from the University of Oregon, published their textbook, Human Performance, designed to introduce a framework for understanding the complexities of human performance. The authors outlined a model of skill acquisition that describes three definable stages, termed the cognitive, associative, and autonomous stages. Think of the stages as a crawl, walk, run approach to learning where the student advances through the learning process incrementally, building on the previous step.
Cognitive Stage
During the cognitive stage, the learner is attempting to understand the requirements and parameters of movements. In other words, they are attempting to learn what to do. According to Fitts and Posner (1973), instruction and demonstration are most effective for students in this early stage. If we use the example of learning forcible entry for the first time, it would be difficult for the student to understand what is required without ever seeing it performed or receiving any prior information about it. Students will benefit from watching demonstrations of well-executed forcible entry skills so that they may cognitively process the requirements for motor movement. Students will then begin to break the movements into steps, focusing on each skill component. The attending of specific cues and responses will later go unnoticed.
Associative Stage
During the associative stage, the learner attempts to link the component parts into smooth action, translating what to do into how to do it. This stage of learning is by far the most critical stage of skill acquisition but unfortunately it is often the most neglected stage in the fire service, largely because it takes time and concerted effort to complete. In this stage, the learner consciously works at making movement adjustments and assembling small, specific skills into larger skill components. If we use our forcible entry example, the learner would now be working on identifying what skill components to use and when to use them, so as to link them together for one smooth action. In other words, students are learning to execute proper sequence. The proper sequence for forcing an inward swinging door could be broken down as follows:
- Create a gap using the adz.
- Capture progress (with a wedge, knee, or ax).
- Set the forks, bevel to the door, to the depth of the forks’ crotch.
- When performing two-person forcible entry, the halligan firefighter will steer the forks around the door jamb while the ax firefighter strikes the adz end.
- Apply force.
- Capture progress.
- Use the adz to finish it off.
At this point, the burden rests on the instructor to continually identify gaps in skills and facilitate corrections by prompting adjustments in movement. Every student learns differently and at different paces, therefore it’s crucial for instructors to get to know their students and adapt their instruction accordingly. Depending on the student, instructors may want to train each separate component before training the whole task from the start. For example, forcing entry to an inward swinging door could be broken down to six separate components, as listed above. Students may benefit from instruction dedicated to each component before combining them into one skill set.
When transitioning to how to perform the entire skill set, a simple yet effective method could be to use a forcible entry door prop without any resistance, allowing the student to focus entirely on proper sequence. The student would practice this sequence until the mistakes are eliminated and the actions are smooth. The student would perform as many repetitions as needed to dial in the sequence. Once the student has the sequencing down, the wood resistance would then be applied, and repetitions would then be performed with the resistance until a set performance standard is reached.
It is important to note that during the associative stage, the learner should be solely focused on identifying and correcting mistakes and chunking the information together to create smoother actions and better performance. Additional stressors such as wearing full turnout gear, excessive verbal instruction, or excessive reality-based stressors such as the use of a smoke machine or live fire can be counterproductive early on in this stage of the learning process. Instructors can progressively implement stressors as skills become smoother and more fluid.
Aaron Fields, lieutenant with the Seattle (WA) Fire Department and creator of The Nozzle Forward program, discusses this idea of progressive stressors in his Drilling for Function course. Aaron, who bases much of his methodology on Fitts and Posner’s theory of human performance, only requires students to wear turnout pants through the entirety of his hands-on class so that students can focus solely on acquiring the skills of stretching and moving hoselines within the system being taught.
Deep Practice
To drive home how important it is to spend time in the associative stage and focus on correcting mistakes in movement rather than just going through the motions, let’s look at another take on this notion of practicing with intention. In the book The Talent Code, New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle explores several talent hotbeds throughout the world to identify exactly how world-class talent is formed and developed. Talent, Coyle argues, is not born but grown. The world is fascinated by the idea of a young prodigy coming out of nowhere and taking their profession by storm—Caitlin Clark, LeBron James, Tiger Woods, etc. However, upon taking a closer look at how talent is developed, we know that talented athletes and high performers of all professions have put in a tremendous amount of work that is largely unseen by the public.
Coyle explains that high performers rely on a specific type of practice where the learner is forced to slow down, make errors, and correct them. Deep practice, as Coyle puts it, accelerates the learning process by identifying the gaps between what you know and what you’re trying to do. Students generally have a difficult time with this method because one must be comfortable making mistakes. Have you ever attended a hands-on training session where the instructor asks for a volunteer to attempt the skill for the first time in front of the group and no one steps up? Understandably, no one wants to be the one to make the first mistake, but, according to Coyle, students must become comfortable being uncomfortable.
Students of the fire service must understand that to truly develop a skill, gaps in skills can only be identified and corrected by making mistakes. Therefore, fire instructors are responsible for creating a training environment that provides the student with the opportunity to make mistakes without fear of judgement, to identify those gaps. An excellent example of this would be an instructor using a bailout or window prop (such as the one shown in photos 1-3) for developing skills for self-rescue during firefighter survival training. Students can work on techniques for multiple survival skills such as window hangs, ladder bailouts, and bailouts using a rope system, in a stress-free environment. The instructor can provide immediate feedback on the technique (i.e. hand placement, etc.) while providing the ability to perform multiple repetitions.
Autonomous Stage
Fitts and Posners’ final stage of skill acquisition is the autonomous stage. During this stage, the student’s movements within a particular skill become automatic. Minimal conscious attention is needed and students are able to attend to and process other pieces of information. For example, an individual in the autonomous stage of forcing an inward-swinging door can now begin to process the surrounding fire conditions, building construction, and gather information to determine the possible location of the fire, among other things. When students arrive at this stage, instructors can then introduce more complex, reality-based scenarios to test the skills that have been developed. Too often, students are placed into advanced training scenarios when they simply haven’t spent enough time dialing in the skill in the associative stage. For example, it is counterproductive to require a new recruit to perform a complex Mayday scenario involving multiple skills (i.e. entanglement, calling a Mayday, and self-extrication), when the individual has spent little to no time working on the individual skills in the associative stage. This is usually the result of poor planning and time constraints and often leads to frustration on the part of the student and, eventually, retention issues.
Performing Under Stress
It is ideal to perform a skill automatically but also to be able to perform it thus while under pressure or stress. In their classification of physiological responses to stress based on heart rate, Siddle and Grossman (1997) describe the effects of hormonal or fear-induced heart rate. As fear drives an increase in heart rate, fine motor skills will deteriorate, followed by the deterioration of complex motor skills, auditory exclusion, loss of peripheral vision, and finally the deterioration of cognitive processing. To remain at an optimal level of arousal, Grossman recommends that training be reality-based and include precise doses of stress to acclimate the learner. According to Grossman, “autopilot responses developed through repetitive practice and stress inoculation through realistic, stressful training are two powerful and effective tools to push the envelope and stay in the zone.” Hands-on classes offered at the Fire Department Training Network are a perfect example of a reality-based training environment where the student has the opportunity to perform a significant amount of repetitions under stress, enabling the student to strengthen their automatic responses.
Applying Theory to the Drill Ground
Explain the Why
To get your students to put forth their best effort during training, it’s important to explain to them why they are doing it. Justifying training by saying “because I’m the officer” won’t motivate anyone. The instructor must ensure that students understand how training connects to the overall mission.
Let’s use mask-up drills as an example. Before starting mask-up drills, explain why masking up is important to the overall mission of saving lives. Explain that the Firefighter Rescue Survey reports that victims located within two minutes of our arrival on scene have survived 80% of the time, and that a quick mask-up time is critical for completing a search in that time. Explaining the why not only gives students a solid reason for the training, it also let’s them know that you’re training with a purpose, not to simply check boxes.
Encourage Mistakes
To maximize training and stimulate deep practice, the training environment must be one where the students are comfortable making mistakes. Instructors should begin training by establishing this type of environment, reminding students that they will not be punished or ridiculed for making mistakes. In fact, students should be encouraged to make mistakes to identify gaps in skill. Instructors can also remind students that more mistakes on the training ground reduces the likelihood of making them on the fireground.
Follow the Progression
According to Fitts and Posner, students acquire motor skills in distinct, successive stages. Students can transition in and out of each stage over the course of the career, but instructors should stick to the “crawl, walk, run” training mentality to optimize learning, progressing through the steps in order. Instructors should spend the most time in the walking or associative stage, ensuring that skills are smooth and correct before implementing stressors or reality-based scenarios. Time is the most important resource instructors can provide to students at this point. It may take significant time for students to reach a set proficiency standard. Once students demonstrate proficiency in a stage, the instructor can progress to the next level.
Introduce Stress
Once sufficient time has been spent in the associative stage, instructors can begin to incorporate stressors into the training environment. Using our mask-up drill example, once the student begins to perform the skill set smoothly and correctly, the instructor can then time them. Recruit firefighters that are assigned to my company are required to mask-up in less than 20 seconds. Firefighters will perform timed mask-ups until they’re able to reach the sub-20 second standard. Once the standard is reached, additional stressors will be added to ensure they can perform to the same standard under pressure.
Four examples of stressors that can be easily added:
- Playing music (i.e. hard rock, heavy metal, etc.)
- Verbal reinforcement (i.e. “C’mon, let’s go!”)
- Artificial smoke
- Additional gear (i.e. full turnout gear with self-contained breathing apparatus)
The objective is for students to regulate their arousal so performance is not affected.
Strive to be a Master Coach
In The Talent Code, author Daniel Coyle explores the role great coaches play in developing talent. Coyle examines the teaching methods of legendary men’s basketball coach John Wooden, detailing his well-planned, error-focused practices that rarely included long-winded speeches or lectures. In fact, 75% percent of his practices were pure information that often included short, punctuated, and succinct corrections of what to do, how to do it, and when to intensify an activity (Tharp & Gallimore, 1976). Wooden was a master at seeing and fixing errors. Fire instructors should strive to do the same, ditching long-winded pep talks for short bursts of focused instruction with the objective of preparing the student to independently perform numerous repetitions of the skill under stress.
Preplan
Planning a complex drill is similar to pool or chess: you have to think three steps ahead to execute it well. As an officer, I usually have an average of two hours each tour that I can dedicate to training. Let’s say I want to deliver a vent-enter-search (VES) drill to new recruits who have recently been assigned to my shift. In the scenario, I want firefighters to make entry into a second-floor window, conduct a search of the targeted room, locate and rescue a victim, and remove the victim from the same window down to the ground. This drill can be broken down into four separate skill sets: ground ladder proficiency, VES, search and rescue, and victim removal. As an instructor, my responsibility is to ensure the student is dialed in on each individual skill set before we conduct the complex scenario or drill where the student will need to put the skills sets together to execute the desired task. Provided that I only have two hours a day to work with, these individual skills will need to be spread out over several tours, with the complex drill scheduled at the end of the month. During each tour, I would lean on Fitts and Posner’s learning model to progress through each individual skill (i.e. ground ladders), so that when the student gets to the drill at the end of the month, the focus can be on repetitions and not specific skill assembly. (Photos 4 and 5.)
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To meet the expectations of the communities we serve and accomplish our mission of rescuing trapped occupants, we need to ensure that our performance on the fireground is operating at an optimal level on every response. Fitts and Posner’s model of skill acquisition provides officers and instructors with a road map for how to effectively train students and/or crew members to acquire new skills as well as enhance the performance of skills they have previously acquired. Officers and instructors bear the responsibility of ensuring that students are performing at a high standard, not simply in a controlled environment but in a stressful environment, comparable to what they’ll see in the real world. With a deliberate, intentional, and well-planned approach to training, firefighters can reach the level of firemanship that those we serve expect every day.
References
Carey, B., Duffy, N., Ledin, N., Thompson, C., and Thompson, S. (2024). Removing two-in/two-out: A modern, data-supported defense of our core mission. Data Not Drama. Retrieved from https://data-not-drama.com/2024/05/18/removing-two-in-two-out-a-modern-data-supported-defense-of-our-core-mission
Coyle, D. (2009). The talent code. Bantam Books. New York, NY
Fields, A. (2012). Drilling for function. Fire Service Warrior. Retrieved from https://nozzleforward.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/drilling-for-function-2012.pdf
Fitts, P. M. and Posner, M. I. (1973). Human performance. Prentice-Hall International Inc. London.
Grossman, D. and Christensen, L. W. (2008). On combat. The psychology and physiology of deadly conflict in war and peace, 3rd Ed. Warrior Science Publication.
Huber, Jeffrey. (2013). Applying educational psychology in coaching athletes. Human Kinetics.
Tharp, R. G., and Gallimore, R. (1976). Basketball’s John Wooden: What a coach can teach a teacher. Psychology Today. 9, 8, 74-78.
Willink, J. (2019). Leadership strategy and tactics. St. Martins Publishing Group. New York, NY.
Chad Hayes has served with the Wilmington (DE) Fire Department since 2014 and currently holds the rank of lieutenant. Chad is a live fire instructor for the Delaware State Fire School and is the coordinator for IAFF Local 1590’s Peer Support Team. Chad has an associate’s degree in fire science from Columbia Southern University, a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Jefferson University, and a master’s degree in kinesiology, with a focus in sport psychology from Temple University.
