the consequence. One is caught in a vicious circle. The group’s
survival is dependent on a type of leadership that can hold to-
gether individual members and subgroups in working towards a
common objective. This is especially important when the group
and its members, including its leader, are subjected to stress.
Stress is often an entirely normal phenomenon. The problem is
rather how one copes with stress. One often speaks of an optimal
stress level at which the body is sufficiently activated so that one
feels good, produces good results both physically and mentally,
and has a sense of general wellbeing (Swedish Rescue Service
Agency, 1992). Stress reactions can also have a survival value, i.e.
reacting ‘just enough’ to stress can entail that an individual esca-
pes unharmed from a given situation. This optimal stress level va-
ries from individual to individual and from situation to situation.
Ethics, morals and values
An important foundation for decisions is constituted by the de-
cision maker’s ethics and morals. Within Swedish municipal fire
brigades, there are no established ethics rules or any code of con-
duct for how one should conduct oneself during an emergency
response operation. In other countries, fire brigades often have
some form of code of conduct in exercising their profession. An
association that has established such a code is the International
Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF). There is, however, an embryo
of rules for ethics and a code of conduct within the Swedish res-
cue services as well. This is often illustrated with an eightpoint
star that symbolises the code’s key aspects.
- Knowledge
- Endurance
- Skill
- Tact
- Courage
- Consideration
- Loyalty
- Attention
It is not sufficient, however, to rely on a symbol without reflec-
ting upon what it entails and placing the symbol and what it re-
presents in a context. Göransson (2004), for example, addresses
the importance of ethics, theory and practice together, i.e. that
the heart, brain and hand jointly constitute an important basis