10 Minute-Training: Challenging Residential Fire in Buffalo, N.Y.
10-Minute Training
You are dispatched to a fire in a 1.5-story
home built in 1910. What critical factors
drive your decision-making?
By Ed Hartin
B Shifter Buckslip, Dec. 23, 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.
December’s 10-Minute Training for IC No. 1 takes us to Buffalo, N.Y., for a challenging residential fire. This incident offers multiple opportunities for additional learning. First, we examine assumptions related to the presence or absence of a basement, as well as the impact of building construction and interior layout on fireground operations. Next, we draw lessons from audio recordings of incident radio communications—from dispatch through fire control.
For other Ten-Minute Trainings, visit commandcompetence.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.