Case Study Dodge Fire

1. There were several conceptual blocks experienced by the smokejumpers. The first conceptual block occurred when Dodge saw that the fire had crossed the gulch ahead of the crew and he redirected them to start ascending up the hill. The smokejumpers could not understand why Dodge would instruct them to go this route when it seemed much safer and more feasible to keep trekking toward the river. This is an example of compression. The smokejumpers were not seeking to find much needed information or clues to help aid them in the process of controlling the fire. The smokejumpers were to set on following orders instead of being observant, if they had been they to would have seen that the fire had crossed the gulch just as Dodge did. They were more focused on the quisitive notion of trekking through the bunch grass instead of filtering out this irrelevant information.
The next incident that blew the smokejumpers minds was when Dodge lit the fire in their only fathomable escape route and instructed them to lie down in the area the he had previously set on fire. They each looked at him puzzled and proceeded to do the complete opposite. The smokejumpers could not see the reasoning behind Dodge telling them to lay in the ashes. They did not realize it at
The second step of the analytical problem solving process, generating alternative solutions, was short circuited because the initial plan never left room to discuss any possible alternatives that could present themselves during the firefighting process or strategy. Dodge instructing the men to follow his directives, was the only procedure in place. As a result there was no compliance stemming from the conceptual blocks impeding the men’s thought processes. It only seemed feasible that if the foreman had time to stop and take pictures and eat dinner that they would surely have enough time to come up with immediate and long term alternatives to different scenarios that could have potentially presented