FIRE21 - Research 2022 - Norway

FIRE21 is a four-year-long project that investigates problem-solving in the Fire and Rescue services in the 21^st century. Work package 2 is researching network-based problem-solving in the Fire and Rescue services.

The Norwegian research in 2022

In 2022 the Norwegian research group in FIRE21 has mostly been occupied with data gathering for work package 2- Benchmarking Network-Based Problem-Solving in the Fire and Rescue Services (FRS). Two out of three case studies have been conducted, and the data material consists of about 20 qualitative interviews.

Case study 1 – a small rural FRS

The first case study was carried out in a small rural Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) in the mountains of Norway. This FRS serves a large geographic area with few inhabitants. Except for the fire chief, there are only part-time firefighters. Although there are few professional or “full-time” emergency actors, there are many informal actors in the local community to rely on to maintain a local emergency response.

Case study 2 – a large, specialized FRS 

Our other case was a large FRS serving both a large city and several smaller surrounding municipalities. This FRS is of interest because of the specialization and centralization required by this organization. In 2021, there was a large fire in a parking house connected to the local airport. Studying this incident has given insight into how the organization mobilizes problem-solving networks during a fire.

Interesting themes have been identified

Several interesting themes emerged during the data collection. Here are three of the themes we want to look at in more detail.

Theme 1 – qualities of rural FRSs

• How is it possible to have adequate preparedness in a large area with limited resources when it comes to personnel, limited water supply, and physical equipment?
• What are the primary qualities?
• What is today´s role of the part-time firefighter in rural Norway?

Theme 2 – Common operational picture (COP)

• The position (formal/informal) of COP in FRSs in Norway and Sweden.
• What activities involved in an incident are a part of the COP?
• Can COP be defined as a process or a product, or both? Or is it something completely different?
• Come closer to a definition of COP in a Norwegian context and find a “best practice” of the operationalization of the concept.

Theme 3 – The need for both stability and flexibility in FRS.

• What is the relation between these two qualities?
• How do these qualities materialize (different) in rural and urban FRSs?
• How is it possible to facilitate both flexibility and stability?

Next step in the research – a third case study

In 2023, the third and last Norwegian case study will be conducted. It will probably involve an FRS that recently handled a landslide incident.

The analysis will give a common understanding

The data material from the three cases will be carefully analyzed. Through thorough collaboration with Sweden and Denmark to develop a common understanding of our data in a Nordic context. The result will then be presented in various scientific articles.
 

FIRE21 start page