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With five generations currently serving in the fire service, new officers find themselves facing a unique supervisory challenge of learning how to lead diverse groups with different learning and leadership styles. This challenge is amplified when less experienced members are placed in supervisory roles, managing older or more experienced members.

This series reviews how new officers can effectively manage the “buddy-to-boss” transition, tips for new officers leading teams through crisis, and how to adapt learning and leadership styles to connect with all members.

Incident command is an essential function that every member must grasp early in their career. After all, just about any member could find themselves in this vital role, for example, if they are the first or highest-ranking member on scene. Would you know what to do? This FireRescue1 special coverage series shares a comprehensive approach for training members on the IC position, tackling the do’s and don’t of commanding your first fire, delivery of size-up quality reports and improving radio skills for new commanders, how to manage multiple crews, department procedures involving move-up assignments and more.

There are no words, even images, that can fully capture the devastation of September 11, 2001. For those of us who were not on the scene that day, we can only imagine what it must have been like for first responders to face 16 acres of horror at Ground Zero, to see a symbol of America’s military on fire, and to descend upon a Pennsylvania field covered in pieces of an airliner. Those who did face these unimaginable scenes have graciously shared their unique insights. It is through their eyes that we reflect on the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001.

Despite national recognition, widespread access to naloxone, and millions allocated to grants to combat the opioid epidemic, drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, killing an estimated 60,000 people in 2016.

This series seeks to explore why the fire service is on the front lines of the opioid epidemic, strategies to help protect first responders from fentanyl, empathy and progress in the opioid epidemic and more.

As firefighters and leaders find themselves embracing new technology, from in-mask thermal imaging, to CAD and GPS-enabled firefighter tracking systems, to drone-based size-ups, we’re collecting a wealth of information about fire behavior and fire service response.

The next steps are translating all this data to actionable steps to improve fire attack strategies, increase situational awareness, optimally direct fire response and maximize firefighter safety.

With public safety usage and applications exploding, fire department drones are poised to be the next technology to redefine emergency response. Already in use to identify wildfire origins and water deployment targets, to survey mass casualty incidents and disaster sites, and to provide eye in the sky views of active fires, the uses for UASs continue to grow.

A workforce made up of people with different beliefs, backgrounds and experiences contributes to improving the culture of the organization. It’s important our public safety organizations in turn reflect the experiences of the communities they serve, to promote understanding, community strength and trust.

This series seeks to explore strategies for recruiting and retaining the best quality candidates to preserve the integrity and diversity of the next generation of firefighters.