What conceptual blocks were experienced by the smokejunpers?
Vertical thinking: when the fire was catching up with them, most smokejumpers ran up for the ridge. They were not able to think laterally; the only solution seemed the most straightforward.
One thinking language: none of them were able to visualize how a burnt surface could save their lives; instead of a solution, they saw it as a worsening of their problem.
Stereotyping based on past experience: The crew expected what they called “a 10:00 fire”, that is, they expected the fire to be extinguished by 10:00 next morning. Their mental image of that problem was much smaller than what the real problem looked like.
Noninquisitiveness: when Dodge tells them to move away from the river, they do not understand but do not ask why; the same happens again when he asks them to drop their tools and to jump into the soil he had just burnt. If they had asked, maybe they would had understood and would have followed his instructions.
What steps in analytical problem solving were skipped or short-circuited by the fire crew?
Problem definition: the team did not define the problem properly. At the beginning of the operation, the fire was classified as a Class C fire, and most of the subsequent decisions were made on the assumption that this classification was correct. Should the fire had been classified as a stronger fire from the very beginning –in other words, should the problem had been properly defined– the final outcome might have been different.
Generate alternative solutions: when Dodge saw that the fire had crossed the gulch and was moving towards them, he decided to turn the crew around and angle up the hill towards the ridge. He did not skip the step –he generated an alternative solution,– but it was short-circuited by the fire crew when they did not get involved in why this new alternative had been chosen. They did not participated in it, nor they understood why this decision had been made. And exactly the same happened again when Dodge yelled at the crew to drop their tools, or when he started an escape fire and asked them to join him.
Evaluate and select and alternative: this step was completely skipped by most members of the crew, with the exception of Dodge, who decided to lie down in the ashes of his escape fire. Sallee, Rumsey and Hellman reached the ridge, so it seems that they did some kind of quick assessment, but the others seem to have completely short-circuited their mind processes and were just probably running for their lives.
Implement and follow up on the solution: none of the suggested solutions were satisfactory implemented, mainly because Dodge failed in generating acceptance of those who were affected.
How do problem-solving and decision-making processes change under time pressure or crises?
This case is sadly the perfect example of how decision-making processes are deteriorated under time constraints or, in this situation, life-threatening scenarios. We have just described how literally all four steps involved in analytical problem solving where short-circuited or simply skipped by virtually all but one member of the fire crew.
Problem-solving gets more difficult under pressure. In situations of time constraints, most people would think that defining the problem, generating alternatives and evaluating the possibilities is just a waste of time, and they would just try and jump into the last step, that is implementing a solution. The problem is, when you skip three out of four steps you do not have a process, you just have a last-minute decision based on your experience on your knowledge, but not on an objective assessment of that particular situation.
What would you suggest to help avoid such disasters in the future? What kinds of conceptual blockbusters could have been useful?
It is true that unexpected things happen all the time, and it is not possible to have every single situation under control, but creative thinking to prevent conceptual blocks can definitely be practiced, and as any other skill it can be improved over time. Therefore, in order to prevent disasters like this happening again in the future, it would be useful if fire crew members received some training in creative problem solving, so they are better prepared to go through extremely stressful situations and still being able of creative thinking beyond mere survival.
Regarding the conceptual blockbusters that could have been useful, they could follow the four stages involved in creative problem solving, with an emphasis in preparation: in the case of fire brigades, this should include examining situations like this one in order to learn from past mistakes.
Works Cited
Whetten, David A., and Cameron, Kim S. (2011). Developing Management Skills. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
