Rapid Decision Making on the Fire Ground: The Original Study Plus a Postscript

This is an edited version of the original, unpublished 1985 study that identified recognition-primed decision making, with a new commentary added. The objective of this study was to examine the way in which decisions are made by highly proficient personnel, under conditions of extreme time pressure, and in environments where the consequences of the decisions could affect lives and property. The domain of fire-fighting was selected, and the research focused on the decisions made by fire ground commanders (FGCs). Interviews were conducted with 26 experienced FGCs (mean experience of 23 years). Each interview covered a critical incident that was nonroutine and that demanded expertise. A total of 156 decision points were probed in this way. In less than 12% of them was there any evidence of simultaneous comparisons and relative evaluation of two or more options. In over 80% of the decision points, the strategy was for the FGCs to use their experience to directly identify the situation as typical of a standard prototype and to identify a course of action as typical for that prototype. In this way, the FGCs handled decision points without any need to consider more than one option. A recognition-primed decision (RPD) model was synthesized from these data, which emphasized the use of recognition rather than calculation or analysis for rapid decision making.