Fire Service Case Studies

Command Competence fire service case studies examine significant emergency incidents to help firefighters and fire officers build vicarious experience, recognize patterns, and improve fireground decision making. Each case brings together available evidence to examine how incident conditions, fire behavior, tactical operations, command decisions, and other factors interacted over time.

Learning from Experience

Direct incident experience is essential, but no firefighter or officer can personally encounter every problem they may face. Case studies extend that experience by allowing us to examine incidents experienced by others. They can help identify recurring patterns, unexpected developments, effective actions, and decisions that did not produce the intended result. For a broader discussion of this approach, see Learning from Case Studies. [LINK: Learning from Case Studies]

How Are Fire Service Case Studies Developed?

Command Competence case studies draw on multiple sources when available. These may include fire department investigative reports, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) line-of-duty death reports, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) technical analyses, UL Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) fire incident analyses, incident audio and video, photographs, news reporting, and interviews or first-person accounts.

From Case Study to Decision Practice

Case studies are not intended to reduce complex incidents to a single cause or a checklist of lessons. Their value comes from examining the conditions firefighters and officers faced, the information available to them, the actions they took, and what happened next. This retrospective analysis can support pattern recognition, critical thinking, and professional discussion. Related scenario-based decision practice is available in the 10-Minute Training Library.

Incident Case Studies

The following case studies were developed by CFBT-US, LLC. The collection includes structure fires and other incidents involving rapid fire progression, hazardous materials, Mayday events, water supply, strategy and tactics, and command decision making. Use the document table below to select and download a case study.