STAR Flashcards
Tell us about a time when you helped handle a conflict between two of your colleagues.
S: When working as a Wildfire Crew Member, we were unloading our helicopter after a day on Alert Status, it was realized that a jerry can of straight gasoline was loaded into the tail boom, as opposed to mixed gasoline, which our pump and saws run on. Of the two that loaded the tail boom, neither would admit to their mistake and blamed the other.
T: Understanding the gravity of how detrimental the fuel situation would have been had we been dispatched to a fire and the need for accountability on a crew in this line of work, it was important for the mistake to be owned up to and similar mistakes prevented.
A: Knowing what had happened, I spoke with the individual who was responsible for the action and told them that they should own up to it, as it is making the group as a whole look bad and sharing blame for an individual mistake. It wasn’t fair to the other crew member sharing the blame. I told them that it is not my place to elevate the issue to our crew supervisor but that accountability is crucial and I want to work alongside people that take responsibility for their mistakes.
R: The crew member that was responsible eventually owned up to the crew and we devised a better marking system to ensure such a mixup doesn’t happen again. Additionally, I took it upon myself to check over the gear once it has been loaded to ensure it is all there, in turn further preventing issues. Overall, we all learned a lesson in accountability, the importance of communication and preparation.
Discuss a time when you persuaded others to see your ideas.
S: Wildfire crew, large debate on Physical Training programming. Something I had a lot of expertise in due to varsity athlete background and it’s a topic I enjoy so I really immerse myself in reading and research.
T: Needed to convince my crew that a well thought-out, periodized, occupational specific strength and conditioning program was more effective and would result in less injuries or overtraining than the traditional wildfire training methods or random non-programmed workouts of other types
A: I began to explain to a few crew members my program and results and offered the books and research that it was based on, showing people evidence and concrete results is often a good way to show that something is effective.
R: A few of my crew members began using this new program and were extremely satisfied with the results, spreading the word to others that there are more effective ways to train. Overall, even though it wasn’t an entire organizational change - which wasn’t my goal to begin with, but improving the fitness and ability to perform our job for at least a few crew members was a lasting impact. It helped them on a personnel level but also improved the ability of our crew to perform on the job.
Time you disagreed with your boss?
S: Rookie wildland firefighter, didn’t feel proficient in my portable pumping, drafting and small engine skills. Our only training was in the form of a race between rookies, but I hadn’t had time to really feel comfortable with the skills to perform well. Conflict in learning style that wasn’t working for me. Told “thats how it’s always done” “Trial by fire - worked for some things, not all of them.
T: I needed to find another way to become more comfortable with these skills in a learning style that worked for me
A: I approached one of our senior crew members that was very knowledgeable and had strong firefighting skills and asked for assistance.
R: Whenever time was available, I’d ask him to go to the water source and work through the pumps with me. I combined this by learning as much as I could from our reading material. We slowly worked through pumping skills at my pace and really got familiar with small engines. This teamwork helped me to become proficient as well and now I perform very well with pumps.
Describe a time, in detail, when you took on a leadership role
S/T: Senior year of University Football, asked to be a leader in a non-traditional sense, more so off the field because I was seeing significantly less playing time that season but had a lot of experience and knowledge to share with younger players. Needed help adjusting to university life, being away from home, balancing schoolwork, learning playbook and football skills
A: Did my best to be a leader by example, as I feel that is my leadership style. Acted the best that I could through hard work and taking care of what needed to be done in order to show them what to mimic. It also developed my verbal leadership skills, something I previously lacked in. Spent time with them over meals, showed them around the city, gave them academic pointers, put them in the right direction for other help, worked with them on physical football skills. Always there for them
R: Resulted in them developing on and off the field, making the team better overall and making a positive impact in their lives. I think the goal of effective leadership is to create more leaders who can pass on their life experience and knowledge. Helped them learn from mistakes that I made.
Tell us a time you had a conflict with a co-worker.
S: Wildfire job. Every morning the junior crew members were to check/inspect the trucks and equipment. I had checked my assigned vehicle and everything was in working order. I watched a fellow firefighter of the same rank as me appear to check the other truck, then sit down to have breakfast, so I assumed the job was done. Later, when I went to grab a saw from that truck, I discovered the rear compartment was a mess and many things weren’t ready to go. This is a big problem seeing as we could respond to a fire and not have the proper equipment ready.
T: Therefore, the truck had to be dealt with immediately and it had to be ensured that this wouldn’t happen again.
A: Even though I had already done my portion of the job and really wanted to sit and eat breakfast, I organized and inspected the other truck. Later, I pulled the firefighter aside and asked him what the deal was with the inspection. The reply was “everything looks good to me”. I told him that I’d rather just take care of things myself than assume the job is done. If that’s the case just let me know. I also asked if he didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to do, and I could walk him through it.
R: He apologized and said he was in a bit of a rush that morning and that it wouldn’t happen again. Following that, he’d ask for help instead of pretending he completed a task.
Have you ever been in an emergency situation? What did you do?
Give me an example of a situation when you saw someone in distress and helped him.
S: During a night out with my brother and some friends, one of them had a severe mental health crisis.
T: My friend had a random, violent and emotional outburst, seemingly not knowing who he was or where we were and becoming detached from reality. To our knowledge he didn’t have any underlying disorders and hadn’t taken any substances other than alcohol that night.
A: My brother and I attempted to calm him down and eventually got him home. Once at home he began attacking us, not knowing who we were. Another friend called 911 for the safety of everyone. Before the arrival of emergency services, he locked himself in his room on the third floor, which he then proceeded to jump through the window. We went outside to find him laying in the snow. My brother, a lifeguard, held C-Spine while I began to obtain his vital signs, in which he was still alive but only verbally alert and motionless. We had other friends gather blankets and I called 911 again to update the situation.
R: Police, Paramedics and Fire arrived and took over patient care from my brother and I. He was taken to hospital and luckily only sustained a few fractured bones. He was held in hospital for a few days and received psychiatric evaluation and ended up getting treatment and assistance for mental health related concerns.
Tell me about the most stressful job you ever held. How did you handle the stress?
S: The most stressful job that I’ve had was working patient transfer during the peak of the COVID pandemic
T: I was transferring 4-8 patients per day between hospitals, long term care homes and private residences. In many cases there were COVID outbreaks at the facilities our patients were at, we were transporting patients pending COVID testing results. It was difficult dealing with the fact that I could easily contract the virus and potentially spread it to others.
A: In order to mitigate the stress of contracting the virus and spreading it, I ensured that I could control what I could control. I took great care in properly using all PPE, decontaminating all equipment, following public health guidelines in regards to distancing myself from others outside of the job. In terms of stress relief, I have a few close people in my life that I can talk to and confide in, which helped to ease my fears. I also enjoy using exercise as a stress reliever.
R: Thankfully I made it through the period of time working without any negative health effects. I believe that the stress induced by this work, while sometimes nearly overwhelming, helped to make me a stronger person and better equipped me to deal with stress in all aspects of my life, as well as preparing me for future job-related stress.
Describe a time when you had to persuade a reluctant person to take a particular course of action.
S: While working patient transfer, an elderly patient was extremely reluctant to be transferred out of the hospital to a long term care facility. She was not very trusting of the medical staff because she had been moved from facility to facility very frequently due to the pandemic. She was convinced that she would be separated from her husband, even though he was going to the same facility the next day.
T: I had to persuade this individual to allow us to transport her to the long term care home.
A: Due to the delay her reluctance was causing, I first called our dispatch to inform them we will be held up on our way to the next call, allowing them to be notified so there weren’t any further issues in the day. My partner and I began to speak with the patient and reassure her that her husband would be transported to the same facility the following day and that her family had chosen an excellent place for them to stay. I had previously been to that care home and told her that it is one of the best. I asked one of the nurses for the transport paperwork for her husband, this showed in a different method that they would in fact be kept together. I also explained how important it was for her to leave the hospital and go to LTC, where they are better suited to tend to her needs and that she will be better protected from outbreaks.
R: My reassurance and ability to take my time and explain all of the details to this patient helped to calm her down and accept transport to her new care home. She felt a lot more comfortable making the transition and we had a great conversation on the ride over. Overall the patient was happy, the staff at both facilities were happy, my partner, myself, our dispatch were satisfied and I’m sure her family appreciated our assistance.
Tell me about a time that you served as a leader of a group.
S: Although I was not in a supervisory position, myself and a few other firefighters of equal rank were working a section of an urban interface fire. There was a municipal volunteer crew in our section looking for further direction and my crew leader and wildfire commanders were tied up with incident command or other sections.
T: As the firefighters were unsure of what to do, I had to determine how they should be utilized and what the most effective way to contain our section would be.
A: I communicated our overall action plan to the municipal crew, so they had a better picture of the overall goal and tasks. We were operating a long hose lay with poor water supply, so we were able to utilize the volunteer apparatus to supply water, in which we devised a line of communications between their pump operator and our nozzle team. I also informed them which areas we were working to contain and had them suppress some of the other areas, utilizing their various tools and skills.
R: We were able to quickly contain the fire and all agencies involved worked well together, demonstrating that teamwork and communication helps to safely accomplish job tasks.
Tell me about a time when you used your communication skills to make a difference in a situation.
S: While working for a wildfire crew, we were on a patrol of an area including many campgrounds and recreational areas during a burn ban due to extreme fire risk.
T: We came across multiple camp fires and were tasked with enforcing that they be put out. Our crew spilt up to different camp sites in order to handle each situation quickly. One group of campers did not want to put their fire out and were disappointed that they couldn’t have one. I informed my crew leader over the radio that I was having some resistance but I should be able to handle it, although I’d keep him updated.
A: I began to explain to the campers that there had just been a large wildfire in the region caused by a campfire, and that any burning was putting the public at risk. I explained how quickly wind can carry embers and start a large fire, which would be a very dangerous situation in a camping area. I also showed them the website in which they can see the status of fire bans, allowing them to better choose a date or site in which they can enjoy campfires safely. Finally, I said that I’d prefer if they put it out themselves, rather than us and that technically we could have an investigator fine them for having a fire during a ban, but I’d prefer to educate them on the situation and make it a learning experience.
R: The campers ended up putting out the fire with my help and we had a brief discussion about my job and the role of wildfire crews, as they didn’t have much knowledge of the career. I thanked them for co-operating and told them to enjoy their camping trip, and they were happy with not receiving a fine and learning more about what we did. Overall, it was a positive interaction between my agency and the public.
Tell me about a time that you worked outside of your job profile to solve a problem.
S: After working a fire from 11 pm to 5 am the previous night, then being on shift all day, we spotted a wildfire while on patrol. Upon circling we noticed a woman laying in the smoke not moving.
T: Once landed in an adjacent field, everyone grabbed their assigned equipment and approached the fire quickly but safely. It appeared that we would need to extinguish the fire and asses the situation of the woman. It was also crucial to preserve any evidence, as there was a strong possibility it could be arson.
A: Noticing the woman was still unmoving, we quickly cut a barb wire fence, I dropped my fire equipment and approached her, moving her out of the smoke and path of the fire and beginning a medical assessment and utilizing skills I had learned in my more advanced First Responder course. After determining her situation, I began treating for dehydration and communicated with our IC that she was semi-conscious but needed further medical attention. I helped move her to the helicopter, assisted in med-evacing her to an ambulance waiting on the highway.
Upon landing, we were informed by the police that there were armed individuals looking for this woman and we needed to evacuate immediately. The police were attempting to contain the area and find the individuals involved. I immediately radio’d to my IC, sharing the information, before flying back to the fire. We quickly contained the perimeter, demobilized our equipment and flew out of the area.
R: The woman involved received proper medical care, the fire was contained and extinguished the next morning, the armed individual was apprehended and everyone on our crew, paramedics and police went home safely. Our rapid decision making, strong communication, safety and situational awareness contributed to success during this dangerous incident.
Describe a time when you had to solve a problem as a group. How did working with a group help you solve the problem?
S: During a training exercise as a rookie wildland firefighter, myself and three other new employees were tasked with extinguishing a controlled fire, given no further instruction and required to use what we had learned in training so far in order to extinguish the fire as efficiently as possible.
T: We had to locate the best water source, choose the proper pump and hose size for the volume and rate of spread for the fire, as well as the distance and elevation between the water source and fire.
A: As a group, we quickly determined that we all had strengths and weaknesses that could best be used to solve this problem. One teammate with lot’s of small engine experience setup and operated the pump, while the rest of us worked as a team to estimate the length of hose required, stretch the line to the fire and successfully suppress it.
R: We learned that communication is key, especially in high stress situations, that personal safety and that of our crew members is reliant upon the actions of all members of the team. It showed how every person involved in a team is crucial, in this case the pump operator, the nozzle operator and the two controlling the hose. Without any one of these the operation would not be possible.
Ordered to do something you didn’t agree with
S/T: On export to a dead fire in Fort Mac. Instructed to basically keep busy for a week. Fire was receiving large amounts of resources because of nearby oil infrastructure. Difficult to do because of extreme fire situations in other provinces and areas of Alberta.
A: Realized that it was out of our control which fires we were working on and that either way we had a task to accomplish. If for some reason this fire picked up again it would take even more resources away from areas that need them.
R: We accomplished our task without complaint and our efforts were noted by the incident commander, reflecting well on our district.
Helped a Marginalized Person
No Hand
You took a stand for something
Racist/Sexist Comments
