There comes a moment in every fire chief’s tenure — whether it’s during a line-of-duty death investigation, a contentious labor negotiation or a multi-alarm fire — when the decision must be made: Do I stay at the strategic level or do I step into the tactical details? That moment, often subtle and unfolding in real time, defines the tension between leading from the top of the hill and leading from inside the fight. It’s a dilemma that doesn’t just test our knowledge or experience — it reveals the depth of our leadership maturity.
We’ve all known chiefs who live too high in the clouds, untethered from the realities of operations, unaware of the pressures facing crews in the street or the administrative hurdles slowing progress. On the other end, some chiefs can’t resist pulling hoselines or editing policies word by word, leaving no room for subordinate leaders to learn, grow or own outcomes. Both extremes are unsustainable. One creates confusion and the other breeds dependency.
The challenge for a fire chief isn’t whether to be strategic or tactical; it’s learning when and how to move between the two with clarity and purpose.
| SPECIAL REPORT: What Firefighters Want in 2025
From 30,000 feet to in the weeds
Just like a CEO or top organizational position, strategic ownership never leaves the fire chief. We are accountable for the vision, the mission and the condition of the organization at every level. That responsibility cannot be delegated. However, tactical execution belongs to the professionals we’ve hired, trained and empowered to act. That trust is foundational, but it must be informed by awareness.
Knowing when to zoom in is not a sign of weakness or micromanagement. It’s a function of context. Suppose the organization is facing a pivotal challenge. In that case, whether it’s a funding crisis, a recruitment failure or an operational breakdown, the chief may need to step in, ask hard questions and walk alongside the team to stabilize the foundation — then, when conditions permit, zoom back out and return authority to the appropriate levels.
This “altitude shift” requires emotional intelligence, clear communication and steady leadership presence.
Staying grounded while seeing ahead
Success as a fire chief comes from learning when to lead from the front, when to support from behind, and how to do both without disrupting the rhythm of those around you. That flexibility requires us to have strong self-awareness, trust in the team and a deep sense of the organization’s pulse. The reality is messy and fluid. It will change with time and circumstance, making it sometimes turbulent and nearly impossible to navigate.
Strategic leadership requires us to look ahead, anticipate potential barriers and prepare for change well in advance of its arrival. But that doesn’t mean retreating to an office or surrounding ourselves with plans, graphs and assumptions. The most respected leaders in the fire service are the ones who remain operationally relevant, not because they run calls or handle every detail but because they stay connected. They show up. They walk the bay floors. They sit at kitchen tables. They listen not to respond but to understand.
When our people see that we care enough to be present — not to critique or inspect, but to support — they begin to trust that our strategic decisions aren’t made in isolation. That trust matters, especially when difficult choices have to be made down the road. That’s the job, and those decisions are rarely easy.
It’s equally important to know when not to step in. A leader who intervenes every time something feels off robs the organization of their leaders’ ability to grow through experience. Delegation doesn’t mean disengagement, but it does require discipline. By giving our people room to lead, we also accept the reality that mistakes may occur. Those moments, when properly supported, often become the most valuable opportunities for development.
On the other hand, when the situation carries high consequences — like when the stakes involve public trust, firefighter safety or organizational reputation — our visibility and presence are non-negotiable. That doesn’t mean taking control, but it does mean being available, removing obstacles and providing real-time support. A chief who is absent during critical junctures will find that their authority erodes quickly, regardless of how sound the strategy might be on paper.
The rhythm of leadership in the fire chief position is not steady but rather dynamic. The pace changes, the environment shifts, and what your people need from you today may be very different from what they’ll need tomorrow. Our job is to stay in tune, to adjust and to never get too comfortable at any one altitude. After all, we lead best when we stay rooted in reality, grounded in relationships and anchored by the purpose that brought us to the job in the first place.
The fire chief doesn’t have the luxury of choosing one lens and staying there. Our leadership must flex, refocus and adapt as the environment demands. That is especially true in today’s public safety landscape, where operational complexity, political pressures and workforce expectations collide daily. We are expected to see the whole picture while remaining aware of the details frame by frame.
The dual burden of command in smaller systems
While the ideal balance between strategy and tactics is often discussed in binary terms, the reality for many fire chiefs, particularly in mid-sized or smaller agencies, is far more complex. In these environments, the fire chief isn’t just the architect of vision. They’re also frequently the duty officer, the public information officer, the training director and sometimes the board’s secretary.
For those positions, there is no luxury of separation. The same leader who testifies before the legislative body about next year’s capital improvement plan may also be the first to arrive at a structure fire later that evening, coordinating the initial attack while simultaneously thinking through the political and staffing implications of the incident. This isn’t a flaw of the system; it’s a reality of the role. And for many, it’s where the leadership craft can make or break their effectiveness.
The danger really lies in ignoring the cost of constantly shifting between those roles. Operating with a foot in both worlds demands acute self-awareness. If we’re not careful, the operational urgency that dominates our daily calendars can begin to erode the long-range thinking that the organization needs from us. Conversely, living only in the abstract and being preoccupied with plans, data and politics will disconnect us from the credibility that comes from showing up in a real-time when it matters most.
Harvard’s Ron Heifetz, in his work on adaptive leadership, points to this tension. He argues that effective leaders must learn to “get on the balcony” to rise above the dance floor and see the larger patterns at play while still being willing to step back onto the floor when necessary. That movement, in and out of the action, allows leaders to stay responsive without becoming reactive and visionary without becoming detached.
In the fire service, that balance is more than theoretical. Our people know when we’re engaged and when we’ve drifted. They know when we’re showing up to understand versus when we’re appearing to direct. Presence must be genuine, and timing is crucial. Some moments demand your full attention, and there are times when stepping back is the most powerful statement of trust you can make in your team’s competence.
There’s no universal rule for when to step in or out, but there is a discipline to checking in with yourself. Are you defaulting to the comfort of tactics because strategy feels intangible? Are you clinging to the safety of vision because the operational messiness of today is harder to face? Neither posture, in isolation, will serve the organization well.
The best chiefs that I’ve learned from can talk on the radio and to the state legislature with equal comfort. They know when to take the buggy to the call and when to stay behind to build the next five years. They don’t romanticize the fireground, nor do they become enamored with titles. They lead in real time, guided by presence, timing and relevance.
Leading where it counts
So, whether you’re leading a department of 20 volunteers or 2,000, the expectations don’t change. Strategy matters. So does action. The strength of a fire chief is rooted in their ability to move between both with intent. This isn’t balance for the sake of balance. It’s awareness of when your team needs vision and when they need proximity. When they need silence and when they need your voice. When they need a leader on the balcony and when they need one in the street.
The one thing we all realize when we leave shift work is that there will always be more work than hours in the day. For the fire chief, the pace of change will continue to accelerate, and that list or stack of work will never disappear. But if we stay rooted in our mission, grounded in service and responsive to the needs of our people, we can lead with the kind of clarity that outlasts our tenure. The kind that doesn’t just move the organization forward but makes it stronger long after we’re gone.
That is the work. And it’s worth every step.
