- Author
- Proulx, G.
- Title
- Cool Under Fire.
- Coporate
- National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
- Journal
- Fire Protection Engineering, No. 16, 33-35, Fall 2002
- Report
- NRCC-45404
- Distribution
- FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: National Research Council of Canada, Institute for Research in Construction, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0R6, Telephone (613) 993-2607, Fax: (613) 952-7673, Email: [email protected] Website: http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/fulltext/nrcc45404/
- Keywords
- decision making | emergencies | stress (psychology) | panic | human behavior
- Identifiers
- stress is not panic; impact of September 11, 2001; missing data
- Abstract
- Day-to-day decision-making such as choosing a meal from a menu or picking up the best road to get to a meeting on time is quite different from decision-making during an emergency. Even major life change decision-making regarding the choice of a career, buying a house or getting married is still different from decision-making during a fire. There are three main reasons which differentiate decision-making during a fire. First, there is much more at stake in a fire. The consequences of a decision could determine the survival of the decision-maker and of the people he or she values the most. Second, the amount of time available to make a decision is limited. Often the decision-maker will feel that a decision should be made quickly before crucial options are lost. Third, the information on which to base a decision is ambiguous, incomplete and unusual. It is also usually impossible for the person to find more appropriate information due to the lack of time and the means to get information.