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The objective of this study was to examine the way decisions are made by highly proficient personnel, under conditions of extreme time pressure, and where the consequences of the decisions could affect lives and property. Fire Ground Commanders (FGCs), who are responsible for allocating personnel and resources at the scene of a fire, were studied using a critical incident protocol analysis. The major finding was that in less than 12% of the decision points was there any evidence of simultaneous comparisons and relative evaluation of two or more options. Instead the FGCs most commonly relied on their experience to directly identify the situation as typical and to identify a course of action as appropriate for that prototype. A Recognition Primed Decision (RPD) model is proposed which emphasizes the use of recognition rather than calculation or analysis for rapid decision making.
Klein et al. (Mon,) studied this question.