By Jay Lowry
Initial company operation on the fireground can be hampered by the officer’s inability to make critical decisions. In some cases this is brought on by fear of making a mistake. This is often amplified when the “perfect call” is expected to be made.
Shooting for perfection is a common goal in society but when it comes to making decisions at an emergency the enemy of a good, fundamental decision is waiting on the perfect decision.
The fact is perfect decisions are merely good decisions that go your way. Understanding this allows the officer to make critical decisions without fear of failure. If failure occurs there is a need for exploration of the decision but it must be judged side by side with good decisions and not with perfect ones.
A fantasy world of always making the right call exists in the minds of some officers. Buildings burn down in spite of best efforts and this can lead to a great deal of self doubt. In turn this leads to poor decisions in the future or something even worse.
What’s worse than a poor decision? A “no decision” or delayed decision can injure or kill civilians and firefighters. If officers are scared to make the wrong decision they will do just that because they will delay or ignore giving orders.
One of the ways to improve decision-making in departments without a substantial call volume is over-training. You heard me correctly. Over-training means an officer is trained so much that when a vital decision has to be made, it will be made as almost a motor reflex.
One example of this with firefighters is walking through the station, and at any point during the tour, telling a firefighter in a loud voice to call a mayday. It will jolt the firefighter, and at first the response will be delayed but repeatedly doing this over the course of a career will ingrain in the firefighter an instinct for making that call, explaining in full what information is needed to call the mayday.
The same principle applies to company officers. Constant training and education on tactics creates a reservoir of good decisions. When faced with a critical decision on the fireground, the officer will have a base form which to operate.