Most chiefs will never personally manage a large-scale critical incident, but for those who do, that one critical incident can define their tenure. The day-to-day demands on a chief do not leave time to focus on preparing for an incident that has a low chance of occurring. Staffing, budgets, political pressures, and personnel issues consistently demand attention. As a result, critical incident preparedness is often pushed to the background and, at worst, ignored. In many organizations, there is an assumption that a large-scale critical incident might not occur and the phrase “that can’t happen here” is normalized. That mindset does not eliminate risk. Leaders should instead normalize the phrase “it could happen here” and prepare accordingly.

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