This article presents the results of a series of ethnographic observations at the Berlin fire brigade control and dispatch center during routine and severe weather situations.The weather-related challenges of a fire b...This article presents the results of a series of ethnographic observations at the Berlin fire brigade control and dispatch center during routine and severe weather situations.The weather-related challenges of a fire brigade lie between the anticipation of events and their potential consequences,and the ad hoc reactions to actual impacts of weather.The results show that decisions and actions related to high impact weather are not necessarily motivated by weather warnings alone.Instead,they are reactions to the experience of impacts,for example,an increased number of missions or emergency calls.Impacts are the main trigger for the decision making.Weather is one additional external factor that influences the operational capability of a fire brigade.While commanding officers in a fire brigade control and dispatch center experience weather primarily through technical equipment,verified by ground truth,observations showed that direct personal contact with the regional weather service and colleagues on the ground takes on a greater role in actual severe weather situations.The observations point to the need for increased interagency communication between the emergency services,the weather service,and other organizations to integrate weather information,impacts,and non-weather-related tasks into coherent weather-related decision making.展开更多
Communicating meteorological uncertainty allows earlier provision of information on possible future events. The desired benefit is to enable the end-user to start with preparatory protective actions at an earlier time...Communicating meteorological uncertainty allows earlier provision of information on possible future events. The desired benefit is to enable the end-user to start with preparatory protective actions at an earlier time based on the end-user's own risk assessment and decision threshold. The presented results of an interview study,conducted with 27 members of German civil protection authorities, show that developments in meteorology and weather forecasting do not necessarily fit the current practices of German emergency services. These practices are mostly carried out based on alarms and ground truth in a superficial reactive manner, rather than on anticipation based on prognoses or forecasts. Emergency managers cope with uncertainty by collecting, comparing, and blending different information about an uncertain event and its uncertain outcomes within the situation assessment to validate the information. Emergency managers struggle most with an increase of emergency calls and missions due to the impacts of severe weather. Because of the additional expenditures, the weather event makes it even harder for them to fulfill their core duties. These findings support the need for impact-based warnings.展开更多
基金This research network of universities,research institutes,and the Deutscher Wetterdienst is funded by the BMVI(Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure).
文摘This article presents the results of a series of ethnographic observations at the Berlin fire brigade control and dispatch center during routine and severe weather situations.The weather-related challenges of a fire brigade lie between the anticipation of events and their potential consequences,and the ad hoc reactions to actual impacts of weather.The results show that decisions and actions related to high impact weather are not necessarily motivated by weather warnings alone.Instead,they are reactions to the experience of impacts,for example,an increased number of missions or emergency calls.Impacts are the main trigger for the decision making.Weather is one additional external factor that influences the operational capability of a fire brigade.While commanding officers in a fire brigade control and dispatch center experience weather primarily through technical equipment,verified by ground truth,observations showed that direct personal contact with the regional weather service and colleagues on the ground takes on a greater role in actual severe weather situations.The observations point to the need for increased interagency communication between the emergency services,the weather service,and other organizations to integrate weather information,impacts,and non-weather-related tasks into coherent weather-related decision making.
基金funded by the BMVI (Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructures)
文摘Communicating meteorological uncertainty allows earlier provision of information on possible future events. The desired benefit is to enable the end-user to start with preparatory protective actions at an earlier time based on the end-user's own risk assessment and decision threshold. The presented results of an interview study,conducted with 27 members of German civil protection authorities, show that developments in meteorology and weather forecasting do not necessarily fit the current practices of German emergency services. These practices are mostly carried out based on alarms and ground truth in a superficial reactive manner, rather than on anticipation based on prognoses or forecasts. Emergency managers cope with uncertainty by collecting, comparing, and blending different information about an uncertain event and its uncertain outcomes within the situation assessment to validate the information. Emergency managers struggle most with an increase of emergency calls and missions due to the impacts of severe weather. Because of the additional expenditures, the weather event makes it even harder for them to fulfill their core duties. These findings support the need for impact-based warnings.