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Must-read books for fire service leaders and firefighters

Explore the books fire leaders, FireRescue1 contributors and experts recommend to advance your career, build leadership skills and inspire the next generation

Books

By FireRescue1 staff

Whether you’re seeking inspiration, looking to sharpen your leadership skills or aiming to expand your operational expertise, reading is a powerful tool for professional growth in the fire service.

We’ve gathered book recommendations from fire service leaders and FireRescue1 contributors, as well as book excerpts showcasing reads that cater to firefighters, aspiring firefighters and fire service leaders. These picks cover leadership, operational tactics, personal development, and even children’s books to inspire the next generation.

Pick up one of these highly-rated reads as a gift for a firefighter in your life and let these titles motivate you to learn, grow, and lead in the ever-evolving world of firefighting and emergency response.

Dive into a good book
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Top book picks from fire leaders

Recommended books for entertainment or professional development
Daily reading will make you a better provider, stronger leader and a more gracious colleague
Check out this list of books to help launch your station’s leadership library so all members can access great content any time
Books about the catastrophic 9/11 attacks and the long return to normalcy are crucial to the historical record of those we lost and how we moved forward
Dive into a curated collection of must-read public safety books, from thrilling accounts and leadership lessons from the front lines, to read-aloud children’s favorites
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Firefighter Book Excerpts
Chief Bill Killen – surviving member of the original Apollo rescue team and former IAFC president – details the history of these unique teams
Robert Ulrich’s book shares tips, tricks and stories from a life of service
Retired Captain Cindie Schooner-Ball offers readers a woman’s perspective on working in this male-dominated profession
A trailblazing memoir from Clare Frank, California’s first (and only) female chief of fire protection
Lt. Kiel Samsing addresses the balance that firefighters must strike between quick, intuitive thinking and slower, deliberate reasoning
Clark A. Kendall and Carol L. Petrov offer finance-focused guidance, including tips for savings and pension plans, to firefighters and other first responders
Chapter 4 of this comprehensive desk reference about EMS in the U.S. untangles the origin and history of the EMS Star of Life
FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief Frank Leeb details the response to American Airlines Flight 587, which crashed in Queens just 2 months after 9/11
What happens when the sights, sounds and smells from tragedy become too much to bear

Quick click: Shop the firefighter book recommendations

Leadership/career development picks

Firefighter memoirs

FireRescue1 is using generative AI to create some content that is edited and fact-checked by our editors.

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