A Guide to Fire Officer Development

By Wayne L. Eder
Published Thursday, December 1, 2011 | From the December 2011 Issue ofFireRescue

All fire departments need new fire officers to be trained and developed so that they can eventually step up to lead the organization—and it’s an issue that never goes away. This is particularly true in rural and volunteer fire departments. Fortunately, our forefathers realized this need when they formed the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and the National Fire Academy (NFA). What other profession can claim that training for supervisors and managers is provided at no cost?

But why aren’t more of our officers taking advantage of these opportunities? The first concern is always time, but if you’re going to step up and be a leader, you need to learn to manage your time effectively. With that in mind, let’s look at the variety of resources available to aspiring officers, and how they can best manage their time in order to gain the knowledge, skills and abilities they need to promote to fire officer and become tomorrow’s fire service leaders.

Read more: http://www.firefighternation.com/article/professional-development/guide-fire-officer-development