Fire Officer: Principles and Practice

Fire Officer: Principles and Practice is Jones and Bartlett's fire officer manual, published in partnership with the IAFC, the International Association of Fire Chiefs. SkillsTrain imports and supplies it into Africa for fire fighters stepping into an officer role. It sits alongside IFSTA's Chief Officer and Fire and Emergency Services Company Officer titles as an alternative from a different publisher.

The move from firefighter to fire officer is a genuine change of job, not just a change of rank. The officer now supervises people, commands scenes, manages resources and carries administrative and accountability duties for a crew's performance and safety. This manual is built around that transition, covering the leadership, supervision and administration skills a newly promoted officer needs to be effective from day one rather than learning only by trial and error on the fireground.

The book is written to NFPA 1020, Standard for Fire and Emergency Services Instructor, Fire Officer, and Emergency Medical Services Officer Professional Qualifications, the same consolidated officer standard IFSTA's range maps to. Departments already running Jones and Bartlett materials through the Public Safety Group often prefer to keep officer training in that family. The choice between this and the IFSTA officer titles comes down to publisher ecosystem rather than the standard, since both are written to NFPA 1020 and target the same qualification.

Who it is for: fire fighters moving into a fire officer role, and departments that already train with Jones and Bartlett materials. SkillsTrain supplies this as Jones and Bartlett's own published work, developed with the IAFC, and claims no authorship over it.