Wildland Fire

Sensemaking in Organizations

Weick's account of sensemaking becomes concrete at Mann Gulch, where a crew fleeing wildfire could no longer fit a lethal situation to its roles, tools, or expectations. Foreman Wag Dodge improvised an escape fire that saved him, but the action did not become a plausible instruction to the others; the case reveals how identity and enacted evidence can coordinate action or collapse, while later research shows that leaders, stakeholders, institutions, and power shape which account becomes actionable.