Fire service is a very broad based public safety entity. Over the preceding 30 years, fire service & expertise has expanded to routinely comprise emergency medical response including cross training as EMT's & paramedics, hazardous materials situations (HAZ MAT), building & infrastructure extrication, & disaster & critical incident response in conjunction with other public safety partners. Fire equipment, personnel, training, & infrastructure such as stations are incredibly costly to public government.

Assignment: Writing

For this writing assignment, you will write this paper as the Fire Chief responding to your supervisor, the City Manager. Do not worry if this is something you haven't done before & the instructors are not concerned whether you have any previous knowledge or expertise.

The Scenario: You are the Fire Chief in a municipality of approx. 100,000 residents. The surrounding County also has a fire & emergency medical response agency. Both agencies utilize mutual aid & the closest fire department responds to emergencies, regardless of location.

Your agency has been told by the City Manager to prepare for a 10% budget reduction the next year & to provide the Manager with some recommendations for how to do that. For this writing assignment, prepare a paper which provides recommendations for a budget reduction. For example, what will you "cut" or recommend & why? It is recommended that you define for the Manager what are "essential" components of your agency to help the Manager determine what should or should not be potentially reduced or eliminated.

For this writing assignment, utilize at least one (1) resource from the Resource list provided on that page & one (1) other vetted resource. You are also welcome to speak to administrators in any fire service agency but cite them as a resource if used. Use these resources to support your arguments & theories.

Length: 300-600 words. Instructions are the same for all writing assignments. Word counts, grammar, spelling, resource use, & general content etc are important. A grading rubric provided can help you determine criteria for this assignment.