the forest fire season, one can continually be updated with re-
gard to fire risk assessments and weather forecasts. And through
this continually carry with you a mental model depicting how a
possible forest fire may develop and the resources that may be
required to deal with it. In this way emergency preparedness pro-
duction can be continually accounted for, and the conditions are
created to gain and maintain control when response operations
are being executed.
To provide effective emergency response operations it is neces-
sary to, at an early stage, identify the variables and parameters in-
fluencing the situation, in order to act and not parry (Johansson,
2000). It must also be possible to distinguish between cause and ef-
fect, and this necessitates models which depict or explain the links
between these variables and parameters. A model of the situation
must also include the damage aspect and its development as well as
the resources and their strengthening and application. This is to say
that it must encompass the problems to be tackled and the means of
tackling them.
Knowledge of reality is gained, principally, in two ways. One is
through empiricism and the other through rationalism (Molander,
1988). Empiricism bases gaining knowledge of the outer world on
- sensory impression
- memory, and
- experience.
The outer world is taken up via five senses, we remember these
impressions and our memory forms experience. Most people nor-
mally need to see reality in order to understand it. It is conse-
quently often not enough to have reality explained it must be
experienced. Rationalism bases knowledge on
- reason,
- logic, and
- spontaneous insight.
Here the senses or experience is not being used; something is ac-
cepted as true or false on the grounds of reason, logical conclusion
or instantaneous insight. Examples of the latter are the insights
that the shortest distance between two points that are close to-
gether is the straight line between them, or if something is wet it
cannot be dry.