The problem was that the members of the Vista Fire Department and the fire service in general lack adequate situational awareness. The purpose of this research was to define situational awareness and identify methods for improving situational awareness at all levels of the fire service. Research questions to be answered using the descriptive method are: (1) What is situational awareness; (2) What are the best practices utilized by other organizations; (3) How does a lack of situational awareness affect safety and operations at the Vista Fire Department; and (4) How can situational awareness be increased? A questionnaire was sent out to the company officers of the Vista Fire Department. Two investigators from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health were interviewed to gain their insights into situational awareness issues identified during firefighter fatality investigations.The results of the report indicated that there was a lack of situational awareness at the Vista Fire Department at all levels of the organization and there was a lack of situational awareness in the fire service in general. Based on the research, the recommendation was to improve the quality of training by increasing the realism of the training, developing a combination of subjective and objective measurements of the operator's results, and providing feedback to the operator.