1. Introduction
Conducting an emergency response operation entails that people
and equipment are mobilised, that assessments are made, decisions
taken and actions carried out. Mobilisation, assessments, decision
making and carrying out decisions and actions are often made when
time is of the essence and in environments with major risks. Tactics,
command and leadership during emergency response operations
do not fundamentally differ from corresponding tasks in other
types of organisations. The difference can be considered to be that
working under crisislike conditions is the normal situation when
it comes to working conditions for a rescue service, at least in
terms of distress for third parties. The time aspect can often be
critical, and both human life and property of major economic va-
lue can be at risk. In other words, decisions must often be made
quickly and with much at stake, which places a number of special
demands on both the individuals who belong to a fire and rescue
organisation and the organisation itself.
The Swedish Civil Protection Act regulates society’s needs
for assistance in emergency situations. These assistance needs
that are necessary as a result of emergencies must be put in
focus. It is no end in itself to have a municipal structure for
providing rescue services or to conduct municipal emergen-
cy response operations. The starting point must be to protect
and rescue, and a municipality’s fire brigade must be adapted
thereafter. The importance of preventing emergencies from oc-
curring is naturally substantial. At the same time, there must be
an organisation that can provide assistance when individuals or
organisations cannot deal with the emergencies that occur de-
spite all measures taken to prevent them. For the time being, the
occurrence of various types of emergencies cannot be entirely pre-
vented.
We will begin with an overview of the book’s contents. That
which is described in this chapter will be addressed in more detail
later in the book.