10 Minute-Training: Backdraft or smoke explosion? A residential fire in Christopher, Ill., traps firefighter, highlighting need for situational awareness & keen decision-making
10-Minute Drill
Backdraft or smoke explosion? A residential fire in Christopher, Ill., traps firefighter,
highlighting need for situational awareness & keen decision-making
By Ed Hartin
B Shifter Buckslip, May 13, 2025
Every month, the B Shifter Buckslip features a 10-Minute Training scenario designed to provide a bit of synthetic experience while enhancing your ability to recognize patterns, identify relevant cues, expectancies, and anomalies, set plausible goals, and develop a workable incident action plan.
This month, we’re heading to Christopher, Ill., where a simple residential fire took an explosive turn.
A small percentage of structural firefighting maydays occur shortly after arrival: .5% occur within the first 10 minutes of arrival, and 6% occur between 10 and 15 minutes after arrival.¹ However, maydays can happen at any point while firefighters are operating in the hazard zone. Incident commanders must maintain situational awareness at all times—reading smoke, air track, heat, building and flame indicators and anticipating changing conditions.
The supplemental material included with this 10-Minute Training explores the differences between smoke explosions and backdrafts. Click here, or the image below, to download the file. For more 10-Minute Trainings, visit www.commandcompetence.com.
1. Abbott, D. (2022, March 1). 2021 Project Mayday Career 2015-2020 Part 1 of 2, pg. 90. Project Mayday. Retrieved April 28, 2025, from https://www.firefightermaydayproject.com/
Ed Hartin retired as fire chief with East County Fire and Rescue in Camas, Wash., after a 50-year fire service career. Ed maintains an active international training and consulting practice and is a Blue Card instructor. He holds the Chief Fire Officer designation from the Commission on Professional Credentialing and is a Fellow of the Institution of Fire Engineers. Ed has undergraduate degrees in fire protection technology and fire service administration and a master’s degree in education. Since 2017, Ed has developed more than 450 10-Minute Trainings to provide ICs with deliberate practice to build competence.