A case study of C2 Agility in the 2014 Västmanland forest fire

Authors:

  • Björn J E Johansson
  • Jiri Trnka
  • Peter Berggren

Publish date: 2016-05-31

Report number: FOI-R--4259--SE

Pages: 37

Written in: English

Keywords:

  • Agility
  • C2 Agility
  • Forest fire
  • Case study
  • Emergency response operation

Abstract

This report presents a study where a case study template developed by the research group NATO STO SAS-085 is used to analyze an emergency response operation in order to identify and collect evidence concerning the occurrence of agility and command and control (C2) agility. The firefighting operation during the 2014 Västmanland forest fire is used as a case as it involved a multitude of organizations responding to a forest fire that evolved in a rapid and complex during rather extreme weather conditions in the Swedish context. This situation presented a challenge in terms of C2. The analysis suggests that the unusual and challenging conditions of the forest fire prevented the involved organizations to reach the appropriate C2 approach during the initial phases of the firefighting operation. The analysis also highlights the need to be prepared for response operations that are not commonly encountered. This in turn demands the ability to scale up and create or activate C2 support functions in order to achieve appropriate C2. Common operational picture (COP) is an essential component if such ability is to be demonstrated, something that was found insufficient or missing in the studied firefighting operation. At the same time, it cannot be ruled out whether the outcome of the firefighting operation would have been different if actions had been put in place in line with the agility and C2 agility concepts. Using the case study template proved to be challenging when applying it on data (reports and documents) collected for other purposes than investigating C2 and C2 agility. Above all, it is the difficulty in discriminating interesting facts from interesting details, and the difficulty of applying the concepts of agility and C2 agility. Applying the concepts of C2 agility can thus be seen as somewhat unjust as such a concept has never been used or applied in the Swedish context. On the other hand, viewing the handling of the firefighting operation during the forest fire in terms of agility and C2 agility has been helpful as it has highlighted some limitations of the current approach to large scale firefighting operations.