Top Five Actions or Inactions That Will Create Legal Challenges for You

Every day, the Fire Chief and their staff face issues, some having a legal impact on their departments and others taking common sense to resolve. Legal issues require a solid understanding of the consequences of not paying attention to the department, especially personnel issues.

The fire service is in the risk prevention and mitigation business designed to prevent and resolve situations that harm the general public we are bound to protect. The many laws and guidelines, such as the NFPA standards, state and local laws and ordinances, and your training, response, and safety policies, are in place for your protection, the firefighters, and the community.

Laws are in place for many reasons. To act as guidelines, as a reminder that we need to play by the rules, to act as a deterrent for any current or future action, and to model behavior with staff and firefighters on how to act, respond, manage, and mitigate situations facing your department. It’s not rocket science - it's your education, experience, focus, and proactive action.

This class will outline several issues (out of hundreds) that could place your department in legal jeopardy. The class is designed to identify several of those issues and provide some solutions to assist you in preventing a legal conflagration that may affect your department.