In this episode recorded live at the International Fire Instructors Workshop 2026 in Australia, you’ll hear from Edward Hartin as he explores fireground sensemaking and decision making for the station officer. Drawing on more than fifty years in the fire service and decades at chief officer level, Ed takes us inside the cognitive process that underpins command. How initial cues shape your frame of reference before you even arrive. Why experience alone is not expertise. And how deliberate practice through Tactical Decision Games builds the pattern recognition, risk assessment and coordination skills that actually show up when conditions deteriorate.

This episode forms part of the IFIW Australia mini-series and was recorded in a live working environment, so what you hear is raw and authentic. The series is supported by Enduro Protect and De Wipe, two organisations focused on reducing occupational exposure risks in realistic training environments. Enduro Protect’s particulate blocking range and De Wipe’s decontamination wipes are practical tools designed to protect firefighters from harmful contaminants while continuing to develop operational competence. Links to both, along with Ed’s downloadable presentation, can be found in the episode notes.

Connect with Ed HERE

Find Command Competence HERE

For those undertaking professional development, CPD is available for listening to this episode through the Institute of Fire Engineers - email membership@ife.org.au

You can also download the full presentation using the link HERE

Access all episodes, documents, GIVEAWAYS & debriefs HERE

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our partners supporting this episode.

• GORE-TEX Professional Clothing
• FIRST TACTICAL- tactical gear for elite operators
• MSA The Safety Company
• JAFCO
• IDEX
• FIRE & EVACUATION SERVICE LTD

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***The views expressed in this episode are those of the individual speakers. Our partners are not responsible for the content of this episode and does not warrant its accuracy or completeness.***

Please support the podcast and its future by clicking HERE and joining our Patreon Crew

London Fire Brigade protects one of the most complex urban environments on the planet. The resident population of London sits at around 9 million people, but that number is misleading. On a typical weekday, when commuters, tourists, and transient populations are added in, the number of people moving through the city regularly swells to 11 to 12 million, sometimes more during major events or peak travel periods.

Around a quarter of all fire and rescue service calls in the UK come into London. Around 70% of the UK’s high rise residential stock sits within the M25. This is not just a big fire brigade. It’s a service operating at global city scale, with global city risk.

In this episode, I sit down with Jonathan Smith, Commissioner of London Fire Brigade, to talk honestly about what it takes to lead a service like that in today’s operating environment.

We start with Jonathan’s journey into the fire service, from training and operational life through promotion and leadership, but this is not a career timeline conversation. It’s a working discussion about responsibility, decision making, and pressure at scale.

We talk about training and professional standards, what was lost after the early 2000s, and what it really means to professionalise a modern fire service. We explore high rise firefighting in London, lessons learned from Grenfell, and how evacuation, control, and operational command have fundamentally changed over the last decade.

This conversation deliberately looks beyond a single service or even a single country. We frame London alongside other global cities like New York, Paris, and Tokyo, because the risks London faces don’t stop at national borders. Climate change, lithium battery fires, terrorism, urban density, and geopolitical tension all show up on the streets of this city, and the fire service has to be ready for that reality.

We also talk culture, not as a buzzword, but as lived behaviour. Leadership, accountability, psychological safety, and what it actually takes to create an organisation where people can do their best work without fear or silence. And finally, we zoom in on the personal cost of leadership, resilience, and how you stay grounded when the stakes are this high.

This is a grounded, boots on the ground conversation about the future of firefighting, leadership in complex systems, and how our profession can continue to shape its own destiny.

Access all episodes, documents, GIVEAWAYS & debriefs HERE

Podcast Apparel, Hoodies, Flags, Mugs HERE

our partners supporting this episode.

• GORE-TEX Professional Clothing
• FIRST TACTICAL- tactical gear for elite operators
• MSA The Safety Company
• JAFCO
• IDEX
• FIRE & EVACUATION SERVICE LTD

Send a text

Support the show

***The views expressed in this episode are those of the individual speakers. Our partners are not responsible for the content of this episode and does not warrant its accuracy or completeness.***

Please support the podcast and its future by clicking HERE and joining our Patreon Crew

This mini series opens a door into the International Fire Instructors Workshop 2026 in Australia, a gathering that for nearly two decades has been built on closed room conversations, honest challenge and the exchange of experience between some of the most respected fire instructors in the world.

With the full support of the organisers and attendees, these recordings bring that environment into the open. The theme this year is Back to Basics, a deliberate return to the fundamentals that genuinely change outcomes on the fireground and in the training environment. What you are hearing is live and unfiltered, complete with the movement and background of a real working room, because that is exactly where the learning happens and why it is so valuable.

Alongside the operational learning sits a clear commitment to longevity in the job and reducing the hidden risks that come with realistic fire behaviour training. The support from Enduro Protect and De Wipe reflects a practical approach to contamination control and long term health, based on repeated use in live burn environments and consistent performance over time. If we are serious about pushing our competence and exposing ourselves to high fidelity training, we have to be just as disciplined about protecting ourselves from the long term consequences of that exposure.

This first episode features Karel Lambert, Division Chief at Brussels Fire Department, presenting on air consumption during tunnel firefighting. His session is a detailed and operationally grounded exploration of how air use is affected by workload, heat, movement, profile and decision making in one of the most demanding environments we face.

For those undertaking professional development, CPD is available for listening to this episode through the Institute of Fire Engineers - email membership@ife.org.au

You can also download the full presentation using the link HERE to study the data, models and learning points in greater depth.

Access all episodes, documents, GIVEAWAYS & debriefs HERE

Podcast Apparel, Hoodies, Flags, Mugs HERE

our partners supporting this episode.

• GORE-TEX Professional Clothing
• FIRST TACTICAL- tactical gear for elite operators
• MSA The Safety Company
• JAFCO
• IDEX
• FIRE & EVACUATION SERVICE LTD

Send a text

Support the show

***The views expressed in this episode are those of the individual speakers. Our partners are not responsible for the content of this episode and does not warrant its accuracy or completeness.***

Please support the podcast and its future by clicking HERE and joining our Patreon Crew