The Pothole Lake fire: an analysis of emotion in a successful emergency response

This study explores the emotional content of an effective disaster response situation and its coordination by the Incident Command System. Twenty-seven firefighters and local residents were interviewed during a major wildfire in 1991. The resulting videotapes were transcribed, coded, and analyzed for their emotional content. Results indicated that a variety of factors led to the success of the disaster response effort, including the use of the Incident Command System, luck, the nature of the disaster, and the cooperation of the town and local agencies. This methodology is recommended for future case studies researching emotions and crises. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.