From AcciMap to AgileMap: An Iterative Approach to Revealing Interactive Complexities and Risk in Wildfire Management

Sammanfattning

Wildfire management is a complex sociotechnical system where enterprise and strategic level decisions significantly impact operational safety. This research explores iterating Rasmussen’s AcciMap through participatory co-design to enhance sensemaking and systems thinking in the U.S. Forest Service. An evolving series of AcciMap-inspired visualizations made from the Eicks Fire Organizational Report was used for ten iterative sessions with wildfire practitioners across the system’s enterprise, strategic, and operational levels. Findings reveal that while initial AcciMaps are often overwhelming, enhancements like color-coding and a stepwise reveal transform them into the ‘AgileMap’- a powerful tool for visualizing interactive complexity. The study demonstrates that these visualizations were successfully improved because of practitioner-centered co-design, making them able to show elements of complexity like how risk cascades from law, bureaucratic policy, and interagency agreements – ultimately compressing decision space for frontline operators. The AgileMap is seen as complementary to narrative reports, fostering systemic dialogue necessary to identify organizational risk patterns in the high-hazard wildland fire environment.