The purpose of this 2-day course is to provide knowledge and skills for having difficult conversations to exercise leadership in addressing adaptive challenges. The goal of this course is for the participant to identify and apply skills for having difficult conversations as they relate to exercising leadership when addressing adaptive challenges.

This 2-day course is designed to develop the managerial, administrative and leadership skills necessary for the first-time fire chief or chief officer who desires a leadership position in their department. This course addresses critical knowledge and skills pertaining to the responsibilities of a fire chief.

Topics covered include:

Local politics and the role of the chief officer.
Liability and risk management.
Resources and items of knowledge needed to become a first-time leader in a new position in an agency.

This 2-day course is designed to develop the decision-making skills needed by Company Officers (COs) to accomplish assigned tactics at structure fires. All activities and scenarios used in this course are based on structure fires. With the real possibility of being the first to arrive at an incident, the CO’s initial decisions will have an impact throughout the entire incident. It is vital that COs be able to make good management decisions that have a favorable impact on the eventual outcome.

In addition to a possible role as the initial Incident Commander, the CO may well be assigned a subordinate position within the Incident Command System (ICS) organization. COs need to have a clear understanding of the system, the position that they are assigned to, and their role in the organization if they are to function effectively and help make the system work.

This course is an excellent review for experienced COs. The course is limited to 30 students, so register now.

Decision-making For Initial Company Operations

F0457 – National Fire Academy Course

Dates: April 25-26, 2026

Times: 8:00 – 17:00 Daily

Location: Bonneville County Fire District #1

Address: 2137 South Ammon Rd., Ammon, Idaho 83406

Course Description: This 2-day course is designed to develop the decision-making skills needed by Company Officers (COs) to accomplish assigned tactics and structured fires. Topics include: Building Construction & Impact, Size-Up, Incident Management, Command Sequence, Strategies & Tactics, and Firefighter Safety. Ideal for new, acting, or experienced Company Officers.

Target Audience: Company Officers, Acting COs, Firefighters seeking promotion

This course focuses on operations within an Incident Command System (ICS) as a Safety Officer and emphasizes response to all-hazards types of situations.

This 2-day course presents the supervisor with the basic leadership skills and tools needed to perform effectively in the fire and emergency medical services (EMS) environment. The course includes concepts related to a successful transition to supervisory and leadership roles, including concepts of adaptive leadership; change management; active followership; effective communication, including difficult conversations and advocacy-inquiry-based dialogue; ethics; authority; power; decision-making; and active engagement through development of a personal plan.