Sabrina Cohen-Hatton

Cohen-Hatton was born and raised in Marshfield, Newport, South Wales.[2] She attended Bassaleg School.[2] Her mother was of Jewish heritage and her father was born in Israel to Moroccan-Jewish parents, but the family did not mix with the Jewish community in Wales or attend synagogue. However, her father is buried in a local Jewish cemetery.[3] At the age of 15, Cohen-Hatton was made homeless after her father died of a brain tumour.[3] Her school was aware that she was not living at home, but did nothing to support her. They also insisted that she wore a wig to cover her dyed hair during her GCSE examinations.[3] During her homelessness, she sold The Big Issue and slept on the streets of Newport, Wales.[4]

At the end of her school career, she slept in a derelict building.[3] During the time she spent on the streets, Cohen-Hatton suffered from antisemitic attacks.[3][4] For around two years, she either slept rough or was vulnerably housed. It took her several attempts to get off the streets and into secure accommodation, including a spending some time sleeping in a van.[5] She joined the fire service in South Wales in 2001 at the age of eighteen.[6] She was the first woman firefighter at that station. Whilst serving as a firefighter, she completed a bachelor's degree in psychology at the Open University, eventually completing a PhD[7] in the behavioural neuroscience lab at Cardiff University in 2013.[2] She has since become an ambassador of The Big Issue and has said that it saved her life.[4][8][9]

Cohen-Hatton's husband is also a firefighter. In an interview, she recalled a moment where she had responded to a fire and found a horrifically injured firefighter who she thought was her husband. It was not, and she credits that experience to promoting her interest in reducing human error and making firefighters safer.[10] This was also the driver for her to study psychology.[4][2] Following her PhD, she began to lead research on behalf of the National Fire Chiefs Council (then CFOA). Her research project fitted helmet cameras to incident commanders as they went out on incidents. Her research identified that 80% of the decisions made by firefighters were due to gut instinct, with the other 20% due to an analytical approach.[2]

Cohen-Hatton presenting her ideas in Sydney

Cohen-Hatton's research resulted in a new decision control process that helps commanders consider goals, consequences and risks that they take under pressure.[2] She found that if firefighters took part in goal-oriented training the number of commanders operating at the most significant level of situation awareness increased up to five times.[11]

As part of her research, Cohen-Hatton investigated different training interventions, including virtual reality, firehouse training and live burn.[12] She completed her PhD.[7][2][13] Her work helped to shape national fire service policy and informed the National Fire Chiefs Council.[14] She co-supervises a research group at Cardiff University with Rob Honey, supported by the National Fire Chiefs Council, that considers decision making in the emergency service environment.[15]

Only 3.1% firefighters in Britain are women, and Cohen-Hatton has worked to inspire girls to become firefighters.[3][16] She served as Assistant Commissioner seconded to Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services and as a Deputy Assistant Commissioner for the London Fire Brigade.[17] Her first book, The Heat of the Moment, was published by Penguin Books in 2019.[18] She was appointed Chief Fire Officer of the West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service in 2019.[14]

Cohen-Hatton is married to firefighter Mike Hatton and they have a daughter.[3] She keeps Xolo dogs.[18]