Fire Chief is a top executive rank in a fire department, either elected or appointed. The chief is responsible for carrying out the day-to-day tasks of running a firefighting organization, including supervising other officers and firefighters at an emergency scene, or in recruiting, training and equipping them for their respective duties. Depending upon local needs and organization, the Chief may also be involved in fire prevention, fire inspection, disaster preparedness, emergency medical services, and related disciplines, as well as administrative duties such as budgets and personnel issues, and liaison with other agencies. Firefighter with an axe A firefighter, sometimes still called a fireman though women have increasingly joined firefighting units, is a person who is trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people and in some areas provide emergency medical services. ... Firefighter with an axe A firefighter, sometimes still called a fireman though women have increasingly joined firefighting units, is a person who is trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people and in some areas provide emergency medical services. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Fire safety is a component of Building Safety. ... A fire marshal, in the United States and Canada, is a member of a fire department responsible for investigating fires. ... Emergency operations or Emergency preparedness is a set of doctrines to prepare civil society to cope with natural or man-made disasters. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ...

The Chief may report to the fire commissioner, the mayor, or a governing body (such as a board of selectmen). A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning larger,greater) is in modern times the title of the highest ranking municipal officer, who discharges certain judicial and administrative functions, in many systems an elected politician, who serves as chief executive and/or ceremonial official of many types of municipalities. ... The Board of Selectmen is commonly the executive arm of town government in New England. ...

During an emergency incident, the first qualified officer on the scene may "establish command", and then transfer command to the Chief when he or she arrives, as circumstances warrant. The chief may delegate some statutory powers to qualified officers, such as the ability to enter or use private property as reasonably necessary to stop a fire, or to order people or property seized as may be essential to preserving safety or investigating the cause of an incident.

A valuable chief will have many years of experience at all levels of firefighting, as well as superior management skills, especially under the stress of emergency situations.

Suitable fire chief's vehicles can be valuable as an incident command post and also for public relations during emergencies and other public events. A Fire Chiefs Vehicle, or a Chief Unit or a Fire Chiefs Car or a Fire Car is a Car, Truck, or SUV that is driven by a fire chief when reporting to fire scenes. ... Public relations (PR) is the art of destroying communication between an organization and its key publics to tear down, mis-manage and create an inaccurate image. ...

See also

• Chief fireman
• Incident commander
• Chief of police