Fight or flight? Behaviour and experiences of laypersons in the face of an incipient fire [Kämpfen oder flüchten? Verhalten und Erleben von Laien im Angesicht eines Entstehungsbrandes]

Thielsch, Meinald T.; Kirsch, Julia; Thölking, Hannah; Tangelder, Lena; Lamers, Christoph

Abstract

Within minutes, an incipient fire can develop into a life-threatening full fire. Consequently, it should be fought as early as possible. But are laypersons capable of doing this? In such a situation, how do they behave and feel? These questions are addressed in the current study. Persons without any professional firefighting training (N = 64) were confronted in two experimental runs with a real incipient fire in the form of a burning pillow. The results show that most participants were motivated and able to extinguish the fire successfully. However, most of them made a number of mistakes. Of central importance for extinguishing the fire was self-efficacy. Furthermore, participants improved greatly in the second round, especially regarding reaction time span and various psychological variables (e.g. stress, mood). Particularly on the basis of these exercise effects, we can derive a number of practical implications.