Episode 302: How Expert Incident Leaders Think Under Pressure with Claire Cooper
Description
When everything feels uncertain, what guides your decisions?
Hello Smart Firefighting Community!
Welcome to another episode of covering real world innovations via interviews with fire service and technology industry experts that empower YOU to develop your very own Smart Firefighting strategy.
Recorded live at the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) 2025 Conference alongside the AFAC, WAFA, and Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience Conference in Perth, Australia.
In this episode, Claire Cooper shares what her research and real world experience reveal about how expert incident managers make decisions when conditions are complex and uncertain. Drawing from her PhD work on bushfire decision making and her role as Director of Strategy, Policy and Planning at Triple Zero Victoria, Claire explains why experience alone is not always enough, and how optimism bias, planning assumptions, and blind spots can quietly shape outcomes.
She discusses how strong leaders deliberately think through worst case scenarios, use mental simulation, invite critique, and build adaptive expertise that holds up when incidents scale beyond the familiar. This conversation offers practical insight for public safety leaders who want to strengthen decision making before the pressure is on and better protect both their people and their communities.
So take a listen to hear what she has to share.
Head to www.smartfirefighting.com to discover how SFF accelerates innovation for emergency responders, to find out when our next event is, or review our curated resources.
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