‘Struck’ in the midst of action: Incident commanders from Denmark handling everyday emergencies

This paper investigates micro-sociological events which affect the
construction and negotiation of sense in the handling of emergency situations.
Through participatory observation and action-cameras attached to fire brigade
incident commanders, critical events are identified and condensed. The effects
of these critical events upon the incident commanders are analysed in dialogical
sessions. The dialogical sessions reveal vulnerability when critical events affect
them cognitively, but especially when affected emotionally and physically.
Acknowledging and understanding the effect of these striking moments is the
baseline from which incident commanders and researchers can gain insight into
the realities of practice. This paper argues that in order to gain insight into the
actual practice conducted in the midst of everyday action we need to shift our
view of incident commanders from privileged sense-makers to privileged
sense-facilitators.