Surveyed 89 fire chiefs (aged 33-62 yrs) about their own accounts of factors affecting the difficulty level of decision making during major emergencies. The purpose of the survey was to uncover the needs and necessary conditions for implementation of decision support systems that would enhance emergency operation performance. Interview data revealed that setting priorities in lifesaving operations and evacuations, and whether to adopt an offensive or defensive fire fighting strategy were perceived as the most difficult types of decision tasks. Perceived stressors related to lack of information during the initial phase of an emergency response. Emergency management, being a control task, is analyzed within the framework of distributed dynamic decision making. Information needs differ according to the decision-maker's position in the distributed system. A model for evaluation of information transmitted to the emergency management system is proposed

Surveyed 89 fire chiefs (aged 33-62 yrs) about their own accounts of factors affecting the difficulty level of decision making during major emergencies. The purpose of the survey was to uncover the needs and necessary conditions for implementation of decision support systems that would enhance emergency operation performance. Interview data revealed that setting priorities in lifesaving operations and evacuations, and whether to adopt an offensive or defensive fire fighting strategy were perceived as the most difficult types of decision tasks. Perceived stressors related to lack of information during the initial phase of an emergency response. Emergency management, being a control task, is analyzed within the framework of distributed dynamic decision making. Information needs differ according to the decision-maker's position in the distributed system. A model for evaluation of information transmitted to the emergency management system is proposedSurveyed 89 fire chiefs (aged 33-62 yrs) about their own accounts of factors affecting the difficulty level of decision making during major emergencies. The purpose of the survey was to uncover the needs and necessary conditions for implementation of decision support systems that would enhance emergency operation performance. Interview data revealed that setting priorities in lifesaving operations and evacuations, and whether to adopt an offensive or defensive fire fighting strategy were perceived as the most difficult types of decision tasks. Perceived stressors related to lack of information during the initial phase of an emergency response. Emergency management, being a control task, is analyzed within the framework of distributed dynamic decision making. Information needs differ according to the decision-maker's position in the distributed system. A model for evaluation of information transmitted to the emergency management system is proposed