October 1, 2024
Time is an unforgiving opponent. In emergency services, it’s the relentless adversary we’re always racing against. When disaster strikes, every second matters. Yet, how often do we truly grasp the weight of each passing moment?
In my previous article, “40-Second Decisions: Applying Boyd’s Air Combat Tactics,” I explored how John Boyd’s OODA loop strategy, observing, orienting, deciding, and acting faster than the opposition, can apply to public safety. While the military strives to outmaneuver its enemies, in emergency services, we face a different kind of opponent: time.
We receive a call for a structure fire. The dispatcher’s voice is urgent, and we speed to the scene with sirens piercing the quiet. By the time we arrive, flames have engulfed most of the home. Later, we learn it all started as a small grease fire, a forgotten pan on the stove. If someone had acted in those first critical seconds, simply covering the pan with a lid to smother the flames, the family might not have lost everything. Those initial moments are crucial.
There’s a concept I often think about, a curve that represents the relationship between time and the effectiveness of our actions in an emergency. It starts high and drops sharply. At the very beginning, our actions have maximum impact. Every second that passes sees that impact diminish significantly. In those first moments, small steps, like placing a lid on a grease fire or starting CPR, can drastically change the severity of an incident. But as time slips away, even our best efforts might not be enough.
We can’t stop time. We can’t really “save time.” We don’t possess it, and we can’t pause it. It just is. However, we can determine when we act. Time can’t stop us from doing that.
At the 2024 Executive Fire Officer and Leadership Symposium, I listened to a great presentation from Kris Blume titled “Leadership Through Upstream Thinking,” which spurred many of these thoughts. Chief Blume delved into the book Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen by Dan Heath. Heath emphasizes the importance of looking at root causes rather than merely reacting to downstream effects. In emergencies, breaking down processes to eliminate unnecessary steps is an upstream solution that prevents bigger problems later (Heath, 2020).
Consider the grease fire again. If addressed immediately by covering it with a lid, the fire can be extinguished before it spreads. Wait too long, and that simple action becomes futile. Throwing a lid onto a fully involved kitchen fire isn’t going to do anything. The window of opportunity for that simple intervention has closed. As time passes, the effectiveness of our actions decreases dramatically.
There are a few ways we can battle this enemy of time: using technology as a force multiplier, training teams to make instinctual decisions, decentralizing authority to enable simultaneous decisions, and empowering the public. Let’s start with the public.
Empowering the Public
Here’s the crucial point: the public is already there. When an emergency happens, bystanders are often the first on the scene—not us. Their ability to intervene is almost simultaneous with the emergency itself. According to our time/action effectiveness curve, this immediate proximity means their interventions can have an even greater effect than ours. They’re at the very peak of the curve, where actions have the most significant impact.
Imagine the power of that. When ordinary people act immediately, smothering a small fire with a lid, starting CPR the moment someone collapses, controlling bleeding right after an injury, they’re intervening at the most critical point. Their actions can prevent a situation from escalating, saving lives and property before professional help even arrives.
But public education must also be measured against the time/intervention effectiveness curve. How can we simplify action to encourage immediate response?
An example of this is the shift to hands-only CPR for bystanders. Traditionally, CPR training included both chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. However, the requirement to perform mouth-to-mouth often discouraged people from initiating CPR due to concerns about disease transmission or lack of confidence in performing the technique. By changing the guidelines to focus on hands-only CPR, we removed a significant barrier to action.
Now, bystanders can focus on providing chest compressions without worrying about rescue breaths. This simplification accelerates the decision-making process, allowing people to act immediately during those critical first seconds. By evaluating public education and removing steps that could delay action, we empower more people to step in when it matters most.
Evaluating Tools and Procedures Against the Timeline
When considering adopting new tools, technology, or procedures, it’s essential to evaluate them against this timeline. Will they allow us to act sooner at the beginning of an incident, or will they delay us during those important first seconds? It doesn’t help us if we adopt new analytical software to develop strategic plans if that software causes delays in the first few seconds of an incident. Any innovation should be scrutinized for its ability to enhance our immediate response.
Implementing advanced technology can help us act earlier and enhance our effectiveness. One significant example is the use of auto-dispatch systems.
Auto-dispatch was something we implemented in 2012. In the earlier process, the call was entered, it became available in the queue, and then the dispatcher had to press multiple keys to dispatch units: pressing CTRL-D to dispatch, hitting enter to confirm, pushing the station alert on the radio panel, and then verbally giving out the dispatch information. It doesn’t seem like much, but each of those steps took seconds, and those seconds added up to minutes. With auto-dispatch, all the system needs is a location and a call type, and the call is sent to emergency responders automatically.
By automating the dispatch process, we shifted our interventions up the timeline by almost a minute and a half. Moving everything up by 90 seconds at the very start means all our actions and interventions occur sooner. Every subsequent step we take, arriving on scene, assessing the situation, beginning treatment, happens earlier. According to our time/action effectiveness curve, earlier interventions are exponentially more effective. Our actions are now occurring closer to the peak of the curve, making them significantly more impactful.
Training for Instinctual Actions
For both emergency personnel and the public, training is key to making swift, correct actions instinctual. Regular drills, simulations, and hands-on practice help ingrain responses so they become second nature. By simplifying training and focusing on essential actions, we reduce hesitation and encourage immediate intervention.
Simulation training is crucial for developing instinctual responses. By recreating high-pressure scenarios, teams can condition themselves to respond instinctively. Repeated practice helps actions become reflexive, reducing hesitation during real emergencies.
This kind of training isn’t limited to professionals. Community programs that offer simulation training for citizens, like mock fire drills or first-aid workshops, can empower the public to react swiftly during emergencies.
Decentralizing Decision-Making
Centralized decision-making can create bottlenecks that cost precious time. By decentralizing decisions, we allow for simultaneous actions that address multiple aspects of an emergency at once. Empowering team members at all levels to make decisions accelerates response times and enhances overall effectiveness.
Systems like the National Incident Management System (NIMS) help us decentralize while staying organized. NIMS provides a consistent nationwide approach for all levels of government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector to work together during incidents. It allows for flexibility and rapid decision-making on the ground while ensuring everyone is coordinated and working toward the same objectives.
When evaluating organizational changes, we should consider whether they enable quicker action during those crucial first moments. Will decentralizing decisions help us act sooner, or will it introduce confusion and delay? Clear protocols and trust in team members’ abilities are essential to make decentralization effective.
Embracing Action
We need to challenge the ingrained habits of overthinking and hesitation. Encouraging a culture where safe, swift, decisive action is valued can make a significant difference in outcomes.
When implementing new policies or cultural initiatives, it’s important to assess their impact on our ability to act quickly. Do these changes promote immediate action, or do they add layers of complexity that slow us down? A culture that supports prompt action and trusts individuals to make the right decisions is crucial in emergencies.
However, it’s important to note that promoting swift action does not mean encouraging reckless behavior. Safety must be ingrained in our actions. We should be trained and empowered to instinctively make safe and effective interventions quickly. A responder getting into a dangerous situation without proper precautions, organization, and communication can exacerbate the emergency, moving all interventions rapidly down the timeline and causing exponentially more damage. The goal is to act swiftly and safely.
Every Emergency Has a Time Component
Time is relentless, but how we use it determines our effectiveness in emergencies. Moving our actions up the timeline makes them exponentially more effective. By leveraging technology, simplifying public education, training for instinctual responses, and decentralizing decision-making, we can maximize the effectiveness of those critical first moments.
Every emergency has a time component, whether it’s a fast-moving situation requiring immediate intervention or a prolonged community crisis. Here are some examples:
- Automatic sprinkler systems are an example of technology and early action working together. According to the National Fire Protection Association, sprinklers activated in 92% of reported structure fires where they were present and were effective at controlling the fire in 96% of those incidents (NFPA, 2013). In homes with sprinklers, the death rate per 1,000 fires was 81% lower compared to homes without sprinklers. These systems act immediately when a fire starts, operating at the very peak of the time/action effectiveness curve.
- During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw how rapid action could curb the spread of misinformation and save lives. A study by Loomba et al. (2021) showed that exposure to COVID-19 vaccine misinformation significantly lowered people’s willingness to get vaccinated. By acting swiftly to set up rapid vaccination hubs and disseminate accurate information, we were able to administer vaccines before misinformation spread. Our community ended up having one of the highest vaccination rates in the area (Blaskovich, 2021).
The Takeaway
So, what’s the takeaway here? Time keeps on ticking, but if we’re all prepared, decisive, and proactive, we can make every moment matter. Acting earlier doesn’t just make us faster; it moves all our actions and interventions up the timeline, making them significantly more effective. Whether you’re a professional responder or a bystander, don’t underestimate the power of acting swiftly. Your immediate intervention could be the most significant factor in the entire chain of events.
It’s important to recognize that this approach doesn’t work in all situations. There are non-emergency scenarios where waiting for the most accurate, strategic response is best. What we’re focusing on are emergent situations where every second counts, and immediate action can prevent further damage.
In the minutes you took to read this article, time kept moving, bringing us all a bit closer to the next emergency. I hope this has sparked some thoughts on how we can prepare and be ready to act when it matters most. By reflecting on our actions and continuously striving to improve, we can make a difference when every second counts.
References
- Blaskovich, S. (2021, September 23). This part of Allen is one of the most vaccinated areas in Collin County, data shows. Dallas News. Retrieved from https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2021/09/23/this-part-of-allen-is-one-of-the-most-vaccinated-areas-in-collin-county-data-shows/
- Heath, D. (2020). Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen. Avid Reader Press.
- Loomba, S., de Figueiredo, A., Piatek, S.J., de Graaf, K., & Larson, H.J. (2021). Measuring the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on vaccination intent in the UK and USA. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(3), 337–348.
- National Fire Protection Association. (2013). U.S. Experience with Sprinklers. NFPA.
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security. (2008). National Incident Management System. FEMA.