Logo: to the web site of the Swedish Defence University

The forest fire in Västmanland 2014 is one of the largest crises in Swedish modern history. The management of the forest fire raised some questions about the Swedish crisis management system and in particular the function of the on-call desk officer[1], which did not work as expected. The crisis management system has some key-positions who need to posses a certain kind of knowledge. The Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency recommends the government which authority should hold the position on-call desk officer. It is the on-call desk officers’ job to initiate and establish the crises management in serious crises. What happens if the desk officer on-call does not posses the knowledge that is needed to initiate and establish crisis management in a serious crisis? The aim of this study is not to assess the management of the forest fire in Västmanland. The case forest fire in Västmanland is used to investigate which level of knowledge is expected and what given prerequisites of it is to acquire the expected knowledge. The study indicates that the on-call desk officer lacked knowledge in the handling of the forest fire in Västmanland 2014. The lack of knowledge consisted of two parts, the lack of knowledge of the Swedish crisis management system, and lack of expected knowledge of forest fires.

[1] There is no formal English translation of the Swedish position: Tjänsteman i beredskap. The word on-call desk officer is the author’s own translation of the position.