The problem was that the Iowa City Fire Department did not train its members to understand and minimize the physiological and psychological effects of stress on performance. The purpose of the research was to determine how fireground stress impacts performance, and to determine what models or methods exist to train operators to recognize and minimize the effects of stress on performance.The descriptive research method was used to answer four research questions: (a) How does incident stress impact the performance of emergency operators? (b) What methods do other professions use to reduce the physiological and psychological effects on stress on performance? (c) What methods do other fire departments use to reduce the physiological and psychological effects of stress on performance? (d) What models or methods should the Iowa City Fire Department use to train members to understand and minimize the physiological and psychological effects of stress on performance? A survey instrument was used to examine both experiences of diminished performance due to stress and sufficiency of stress training on the ICFD. A second survey instrument was used to determine how police, military, EMS and other fire service organizations train tactical operators to be effective performers under stress.Significant findings of the research were that stress has a significant negative impact on tactical performance, that awareness of the true nature of the stress environment is fundamental, and that mental control techniques exist to maximize tactical performance under stress. Further, comprehensive and sequenced training models are rarely used in the American fire service and not used at all in the ICFD. Recommendations produced by the research were to adopt the Warrior Mindset training paradigm developed by Dr. Asken, as well as provide explicit training that details both the complex reality of the fireground and the physiological and psychological effects of stress.