A fire chief or fire commissioner is a top executive rank or commanding officer in a

fire department A fire department (American English) or fire brigade (Commonwealth English), also known as a fire authority, fire district, fire and rescue, or fire service in some areas, is an organization that provides fire prevention and fire suppression se ...

Nomenclature

Various official English-language titles for a fire chief include ''fire chief'', ''chief fire officer'' and ''fire commissioner''. The latter can refer to a fire chief or to an overseer who works for the local government. "

Chief fire officer Chief fire officer (CFO), formerly often just chief officer, is the highest rank in the fire and rescue services of the United Kingdom. There are currently 50 chief fire officers serving in the United Kingdom in charge of the local authority fire ...

" is the usual title in the United Kingdom. Traditionally, a fire chief in Scotland was known as a "fire master", but this was changed in 2006. The definition of the term ''fire officer'' varies by country, but generally refers to all firefighting personnel who have some command duties. This is comparable to the usage of "officer" in the military, rather than the term ''

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

''. In fire departments of the United States, fire officers who are part of an engine company or other unit (lieutenants and captains) are ''company officers'' and those ranked higher (e.g.

battalion chief A battalion chief is the rank and title of a subordinate fire chief or commanding officer in the firefighting command structure. The title of battalion chief is usually synonymous with firefighting in the United States and Canada. A battalion chi ...

s) are ''chief officers''.

Appointment

A fire chief is usually appointed by the authority who oversees the running of the fire department, such as the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

for a municipal fire department. It varies among countries as to whether it is the norm or not for fire chiefs to be former frontline firefighters. This is the case in the United States. It is also the norm in the United Kingdom, though in recent years there have been exceptions. By contrast, in France, fire officers and frontline firefighters are recruited separately in a similar way to the military.https://www.wafa.asn.au/wh/6807/images/Churchill-Report-Version-2-April-17.docx

Duties and functions

A fire chief's role varies considerably depending on the size of the department. Some countries have a single national fire service, such as Israel and New Zealand. Conversely, some countries, like the United States and Germany, have autonomous fire departments even in small towns. Others organize their fire services based on subdivisions such as regions, counties, provinces or sub-national states. The larger the fire department, the more ranks will exist in between the chief and regular firefighters, such as assistants or deputy chiefs. The chief of a small

volunteer fire department A volunteer fire department (VFD) is a fire department of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction. Volunteer and retained (on-call) firefighters are expected to be on call to respond ...

is likely to be the main

incident commander The incident commander is the person responsible for all aspects of an emergency response; including quickly developing incident objectives, managing all incident operations, application of resources as well as responsibility for all persons involv ...

for the majority of their call-outs and is nearly always a volunteer as well. However, the chief of a large fire department is employed in a mostly administrative role, and will only be called out to the largest incidents.

Administrative

The fire chief is responsible for carrying out the day-to-day tasks of running a

firefighting Firefighting is the act of extinguishing or preventing the spread of unwanted fires from threatening human lives and destroying property and the environment. A person who engages in firefighting is known as a firefighter. Firefighters typically ...

organization. Such tasks include supervising other officers and

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

s at an emergency scene and recruiting, training, and equipping them for their respective duties. Depending upon local needs and organization, the chief may also be involved in

fire prevention Fire prevention is a function of many fire departments. The goal of fire prevention is to educate the public on the precautions which should be taken to prevent potentially harmful fires and how to survive these fires in the event that they do o ...

, fire inspection,

disaster preparedness Emergency management or disaster management is the managerial function charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actual ...

emergency medical services Emergency medical services (EMS), also known as ambulance services or paramedic services, are emergency services that provide urgent pre-hospital treatment and stabilisation for serious illness and injuries and transport to definitive care. ...

, and related disciplines, as well as administrative duties such as budgets and personnel issues, research into safety and regulations, and liaison with other agencies. The chief is answerable to the local or national government that oversees the fire service. As well as the position of chief of scheduling.

Incident command

During an emergency incident, the first fire officer on the scene must "establish command", which can then be transferred to more senior officers such as the chief. The chief may delegate some statutory powers to qualified officers, such as the ability to enter or use private property as reasonably necessary to stop a fire, or to order people or property seized as may be essential to preserving safety or investigating the cause of an incident. A

fire chief's vehicle A fire command vehicle, also called a fire chief car or fly car, is a vehicle used by a senior officer of a fire department to respond to firefighting incidents. Its markings typically indicate the rank of the senior officer. In the 19th centur ...

is not only a means of transport, but can act as an

incident command post According to the National Incident Management System (NIMS), and the Incident Command System (ICS), the incident command post (ICP) is one of five predesignated temporary facilities and signifies the physical location of the tactical-level, on-scen ...

and a contact point for media reporters.

References

External links

Official website
of the

National Fire Protection Association The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is an international nonprofit organization devoted to eliminating death, injury, property and economic loss due to fire, electrical and related hazards. As of 2018, the NFPA claims to have 50,000 mem ...

Official website
of the International Association of Fire Chiefs
''Fire Chief''
magazine for fire protection officials Firefighter ranks {{Emergency-services-stub