Intuition based decision making: How is your past influencing your decisions & how words can steer our actions.
Christopher Lewis
Saturday, June 13, 2026
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
This presentation is for the” Fire Nerds”, whether a Chief Level Officer or a Back Step Warrior, who are friends with the cool kids. A look at traditional decision-making will be discussed and how many of us on scene are probably not utilizing this well-known traditional process on incidents. We will have a discussion about how our life experiences and skills build our intuitions, and how stories we hear impact the decisions we make. Just like our other skills our intuitions can be honed, and it just takes work, we will look out how this skill can be honed to better prepare us for the fast-paced changing environments that we respond to. We will close out the discussion with some talking points on how specific wording can affect our missions and what impact these words have on the operations while we are both en-route to the scene and also while operating on them. I hope you will join me in this discussion that will hopefully bring new insights to your craft so we can continue to build our professionalism within the service.
Christopher Lewis
Currently a Captain with the Fripp Island Fire Department in charge of Operations. I have served with Fripp Island Fire Department since 2015. Previously a Captain with the Burton Fire District on Engine 84 where I served full-time from 2009 until 2024. Two years were spent as a volunteer from 2007-2009 with the Burton Fire District while finishing my enlistment aboard MCRD Parris Island.
I have been able to learn valuable leadership skills from my time within the United States Marine Corps, where I served as an Infantryman and Field Training Instructor. My leadership skills continued to be honed during my time within the fire service helping me to be who I have become.
For formal education I have a B.S. in Fire Science Management and am a graduate of the National Fire Academy Managing Officer Program. Have been an instructor for many local classes and weekend training programs, as well as an instructor with Animal House Training at the Metro Atlanta Fire Fighting Conference (MAFFC) “All in Search” class.
