COMPETENT FIRE OFFICERS IN THE

The rank of Lieutenant, the entry-level fire officer position within the Bloomfield Township Fire Department, is a position in which no formal fire officer training is required prior to promotion and which has no means of orientation, consistent evaluation, or mentoring after promotion. The purpose of this Applied Research Project was to identify the deficiencies currently existing in BTFD’s fire officer training, investigate what others have done to address the training and orientation of new fire officers, and recommend a program that will develop qualified, competent first time fire officers for the Bloomfield Township Fire Department. Descriptive and evaluative research was used to find out what programs have other fire departments used to train, orientate, or mentor new fire officers; what skills, knowledge, and abilities have others in the fire service identified as necessary for a line officer to possess; what issues or needs do our current fire officers identify as items that should be included in an officer development program; what are the skills, knowledge