Oldenburg Fire Service Puts Crew Leaders Through Their Paces in Ten-Hour Decision Drill
Published on 10/24/2026 at 19:03 | Editorial boerse-global.de
Before a fire crew can move, someone has to decide where it goes. That responsibility fell under the spotlight in Hude, where the Oldenburg district fire service (Kreisfeuerwehr Oldenburg) ran a hands-on decision-making course for its commanders on Thursday and Saturday at the local fire station.
A nine-person crew, a split-second call
The centrepiece was a ten-hour session built around the role and duties of the group leader — the officer who directs a standard firefighting squad of nine responders. Coordinating that many people safely in a live incident demands structured decision-making and a sharp read of the situation, all within a very tight window.
David Piesik of the Bremerhaven professional fire service led the training. His focus: practical techniques for weighing up options under heavy pressure and reaching dependable decisions even when the information available is incomplete.
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Six years and counting
This is no one-off pilot. The format has been part of the district's training calendar for six years and runs several times a year for its personnel. Planning documents confirm it will remain a fixture of the district training programme next year as well.
Such recurring instruction is meant to ensure commanders have what they need to launch the right protective measures quickly — whether at a fire, a technical rescue or another emergency.
46 hours, no sleep, 26 scenarios
How far decision-making under stress can be pushed is illustrated by a cross-agency exercise in Vorarlberg, Austria. Commanders from the fire service, police, mountain rescue, water rescue, the Red Cross and the Samaritan Association took part in the demanding course "FĂĽhren in Extremsituationen" (Leading in Extreme Situations), known by its German acronym FIES.
The 24 participants went without any sleep for 46 hours straight, from 15:00 on Thursday until midday on Saturday, working through 26 different scenarios. Among them: rescuing a person from a 30-metre construction crane, complex ravine rescues, and realistic simulations of rampage attacks, terrorist incidents and hostage situations. Around 230 people were involved in staging the large-scale exercise, designed to push incident command to its limits.
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