People in emergency services organisations face adversity all the time – it comes with the territory. However, the consequences can be devastating on both people and organisations, burning people out and sustaining toxic cultures. In extraordinary events, to simply point people in the direction of the traditional counseling service is not a sufficient or acceptable response.

Whilst firefighters were still on the ground in Dunalley, senior staff within the Tasmania Fire Service recognised the significance of the out-of-scale event, and wanted to both learn from adversity and ensure those involved were cared for appropriately. It was decided that a field ride (aka staff ride but renamed acknowledging organisation diversity) would be one way to try and understand what happened and how decisions were made. The Inala Road field ride had 3 purposes: (i) to help the people involved come to grips with what happened; (ii) to assist others to learn from their experiences of an out-of-scale event and (iii) to assist the organisations to continue to build a learning culture which included reviewing practices that might need to change.

Staff rides are not a new concept; they are a well established training and leadership development tool. However, the Inala Road field ride demonstrates how the opportunity to “tell-stories” allows both individuals and organisations to move on from near-misses and provide opportunities for others (including whole agencies) to learn. The presentation will discuss the contextual background features necessary to support success, as well as some of the potential danger points that would need to be mitigated. The tensions that inhibit learning from adversity will also be discussed, and how we need to continue to care for each other long after the excitement has gone.