"The Fire Officer's Guide to Management and Leadership: A Scenario-Based Approach will help develop critical decision-making skills. The fire service has emphasized the importance of emergency response size-up. The majority of situations for which an officer is solely responsible are in the station, relying on on-the-job training for guidance"--
John Norman has updated his best-selling book, a guide for the firefighter and fire officer who, having learned the basic mechanics of the trade, are looking for specific methods for handling specific situations. In this new fourth edition, readers will find a new chapter on lightweight construction, a new chapter on electrical fires and emergencies, updates to many chapters including such topics as wind-driven fires, and many new illustrations.
Whether youre a new officer or in need of a mentor, From Buddy to Boss: Effective Fire Service Leadership, is a must-have management book youll turn to over and over again. Fire service veteran Chase Sargent has taken his popular course and written a no-holds barred leadership book for the fire service in a conversational and easy-to-read style. He tells you how to accept and survive politics, deal with the fringe employees, and keep your cool -- tricks of the trade that usually takes years to acquire. In this book youll learn: ***Your credibility is a valuable currency that takes time to build up. What you do, not what you say, is the ultimate test of your credibility, reinforcing your expectations*** ***That leadership requires individuals and organizations to create an environment where people and their ideas can thrive*** ***How to use stories to impress upon our new members the necessity of doing certain things*** ***That the quickest ways to lose trust are to inconsistently apply and enforce rules and to allow your personal feelings to dictate what you will and wont enforce*** ***Why leading by example and from the front, doing not saying, is critical to you success*** Reading From Buddy to Boss is like turning to a trusted friend for wisdom and advice you can count on to improve your job performance. Use this book to master your leadership as well as your management skills and successfully make the transition to boss.
The Fire Chief’s Handbook, 7th Edition continues Fire Engineering’s 82-year tradition of publishing the definitive resource for advanced fire service training. The text has been completely updated to meet the changing environment and added responsibilities of the fire service. Returning authors have rewritten their chapter to address today’s leadership and administrative concerns, while new authors are also introduced to offer new perspectives. This comprehensive guidebook is designed for firefighters, company officers, and chief officers of all ranks and department types who want the latest information on the fundamentals of leadership in the fire service, as well as managing the day-to-day operations of a fire department.
Bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be. Do you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to evaluate behavior, performance, and readiness? Read Mastering the Fire Service Assessment Center to identify what you need to learn and understand how to learn it. There is no way you can read and reflect on the wisdom in these pages and not become a better person and a better firefighter. Why Read This Book? The American fire service is facing a new normal fueled by mass exodus, influx of new generations of firefighters, a lack of hands-on leadership training, sweeping changes in mission, decimated budgets, and the genetics of task-oriented, reactive forefathers. The greatest and perhaps only area that we can affect directly is hands-on, inspiring, realistic, and useful training for our aspiring and incumbent leaders. This book will help you regardless of the fire officer rank you seek. It will help you know where you need to improve, how to develop a specific personal plan to become an excellent officer, and how to do well with whatever assessment center exercises throw at you. NEW MATERIAL in this second edition: --Enjoy reading “Wisdom from the Masters” from 18 fire service luminaries. They provide invaluable insights and challenges you will face as you prepare to promote, whether for the first time as a company officer or up the chain as a chief officer. --Learn lessons from thousands of students from the past 12 years whose feedback will benefit you in this second edition. --Benefit from the many new elements in this book, including relevant articles, additional exercises, and content regarding the dimensions of leadership, management, and emergency operations. The complexities of being a fire officer in the 21st century require an undercurrent of humility while continually pursuing mastery of leading in the modern fire service. Learn how to lead the modern-day firefighter in a modern world, with modern technology, modern fire behavior, and modern sociopolitical and economic challenges. Many firefighters ask themselves if they really want to do this job, but nothing is as professionally rewarding and challenging as leading others in battle to save lives! “This book will give you the greatest probability of success in your assessment center process.” —Bobby Halton, editor-in-chief, Fire Engineering magazine
One of the fire service's most well-known and respected leaders reveals principles and events that have shaped his and other chief's careers and leadership values that no "cookie-cutter" leadership or management book can provide. The real-world experiences and lessons that are vividly detailed in the book provide a roadmap for any aspiring firefighter wishing to be promoted, a company or chief officer looking to go to the next level, or a fire chief who wishes to further develop their leadership skills. Fully Involved Leadership, written by Chief Gary Ludwig addresses the tenets of leading firefighters at all ranks and levels, and provides a blueprint for not only motivating firefighters but inspiring them; not showing them how much you know, but how much you care; that leadership is not a position or title - it is an action and examples; reminding you that rank does not equate to leadership, the inverted table of organization, and much more! Fully Involved Leadership is filled with powerful leadership topics and at its core addresses the values of trust; the two key qualities needed to be a fire service leader - character and competence; how to keep your emotions in check by using I before E - intelligence before emotions; how to keep from making a wrong decision; why it is important to show honor to your firefighters, plus a whole lot more! Chief Ludwig offers warm and engaging stories of not only his experiences but other chief officers and how they learned from their mistakes when it comes to leadership. Chief Ludwig provides insights and hard lessons learned that makes you reflect upon the question, "Who would you follow if your life depended upon it?
What does it take to lead people into a burning building? How do the leaders of the New York City Fire Department develop so much loyalty, trust, and grace under pressure that their subordinates will risk their very lives for them? As a high-ranking officer of the FDNY, John Salka is an expert at both practicing and teaching high-stakes leadership. In First In, Last Out, he explains the department’s unique strategies and how they can be adopted by leaders in any field—as he has taught them to organizations around the country. In a tough-talking, no-nonsense style, Salka uses real-world stories to convey leadership imperatives such as: first in, last out—your people need to see you taking the biggest risk, as the first one to enter the danger zone and the last to leave manage change—the fire you fought yesterday is not the one you’ll be fighting tomorrow communicate aggressively—a working radio is worth more than 20,000 gallons of water create an execution culture—focus your people on the flames, not the smoke commit to reality—never allow the way you would like things to be to color how things are develop your people—let them feel a little heat today or they’ll get burned tomorrow Illustrated by harrowing real-life situations, the principles in First In, Last Out will help managers become more confident, coherent, and commanding. On the web: http://www.firstinleadership.com
Leadership at the informal level is becoming a lost art in the fire service. We lack men and women who are willing to lead regardless of their current position. Preparing yourself to lead at the informal level starts now, today. You may not carry a title, but it doesn't mean you can't influence others around you. You can lead from the jump seat.
The Complete Fire Officer III and IV Training Solution! Chief officers need to know how to make the transition from company officer to chief officer. Chief Officer: Principles and Practice is designed to help make the transition from company officer to chief officer a smooth evolution. Covering the entire scope of Levels III and IV from the 2009 Edition of NFPA 1021, Standard for Fire Officer Professional Qualifications, Chief Officer combines current content with dynamic features and interactive technology to better support instructors and to help prepare future chief officers to become problem-solving leaders for their organizations. Chief Officer: Principles and Practice has a clear focus on instilling fire fighter safety throughout an organization’s culture. Reducing fire fighter injuries and deaths requires the dedicated efforts of every fire fighter, fire officer, and fire department. The entire fire community must work together to achieve one common goal: to ensure that everyone goes home. Chief officers therefore set the tone for safety in their organization, and this textbook embraces that philosophy. It is with this goal in mind that the 16 Firefighter Life Safety Initiatives, developed by the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, are integrated throughout the text. The features in this textbook will help students take that extra step toward becoming outstanding chief officers. These features include: • Scenario-Based Learning. You Are the Chief Officer and Chief Officer in Action are found in each chapter to encourage and foster critical thinking skills. • Practical Tips for the Chief Officer. Chief Officer Tips and Voices of Experience essays are integrated into each chapter to provide helpful advice from experienced chief officers. • Level IV Job Performance Requirements. Fire Officer Level IV content is highlighted to discern Level III JPRs from Level IV. • Walk the Talk. Additional activities encourage students to take what they have learned in the chapter and apply it to their own department.
