Tactics, command, leadership

In the case of a response operation for a minor apartment fire,
reason tells us that the best way, depending naturally on certain
situation dependent circumstances, of fighting the fire is to send
in personnel equipped with hoses to extinguish the fire from the
inside. Logic tells us that it is not a good idea to shoot water from
the outside into the building. It is not, for example, certain which
room or rooms the fire is in, and fire fighting from the outside of
a building requires more water, which can cause more extensive
secondary damage. The floor plan etc. makes it difficult to reach
the flames from the outside. Also buildings normally have a de-
gree of protection against external moisture. Information such as
”... there is a fire, on TV ...” normally gives us an instantaneous
insight into the problem and how it should best be approached,
even with limited experience. In such cases we compare with, for
example, a burning sofa, which purely in principle amounts to
the same thing. But it is perhaps necessary to take other criteria
into account, such as enthalpy of combustion, i.e. the amount of
heat that may be generated when certain objects burn.
The conclusions of rationalisation are drawn through deduction, by
applying generally applicable rules. From the general case, through
further deduction, conclusions are drawn for the special case.
This process can be put to good use in connection with fire
service work, in order to draw conclusions on a particular situa-
tion. The search for information can unwittingly be restricted as
a result of standard, routine procedure. Information channels or
experience that is familiar is applied which is often, in the case of
response operations, limited simply to visual impressions. At the
same time, it is obvious that we, to a greater or lesser degree of
awareness, also use other senses, such as hearing, feeling, smell
and taste. The smell of the smoke can in some cases result in con-
cluding the central source of the fire. In the same way the sense of
smell can be used in some types of chemical accidents, providing
that the concentrations of material that have leaked are not so
strong as to be a direct danger to health. Listening involves more
than just listening to the spoken word (via radio or direct commu-
nication). Our hearing also allows us to distinguish between, for
example, high pressure or high flow rate and low pressure or low
flow rate leaks. They sound different. Some types of fire techno-
logy phenomena also emit characteristic sounds which can help
us draw conclusions.