From the author: This 3rd edition is about organized common sense in the fire service. Section One provides support to fire departments that already have a strategic plan and just need to update and revise their existing plan. I have found over my 30 years of consulting with fire department’s that they want to accomplish their next iteration of their strategic plan as rapidly as possible. Section Two provides a detailed “How-to” guide to help a fire department create its first strategic plan. Section Two is divided into four parts: (1) Understanding the Department, (2) Understanding the Situation, (3) Understanding the Strategic Issues Facing the Department, and (4) Creating Organizational Change. A new chapter (Chapter 20) provides assistance to those departments having challenges with their strategic plan and obtaining the desired outcomes/results. It adds a new troubleshooting process for those departments having challenges to create an effective and successful strategic plan. The book is designed to be effective as a manual to develop an individual fire department’s strategic plan as well as a textbook for use in upper division college/university courses or as a text for post-graduate courses.

From Book's Introduction: Today fire departments use many terms for educational fire and injury prevention programs. Programs differ in size and approach, but the goals are the same: Change the behavior of the public so that there are fewer dangerous situations, fires, and injuries. This guide uses a five-step planning process for developing and implementing successful fire and life safety public education programs. From identifying the fire and injury risks in the community, developing and implementing a program, and evaluating the results, planning is the process that ensures that the program strategies and initiatives really address the problems. This updated guide recognizes that fire prevention is now an important part of the larger goal of preventing injuries and unsafe situations. Fire departments often provide emergency medical services. Preventing injury, illness, and other unsafe situations is often part of the mission of saving lives.

Public Fire Education Planning: A Five-Step Process describes a systematic approach to designing, implementing, and evaluating community safety education programs. This manual will help those of you who are new to community safety education understand some of the basic concepts about how to get started with an organization's community safety education programs. It also will assist you with some hints and techniques on a variety of topics, such as methods for locating partners to assist with community education or techniques for locating resources for your safety programs.