Unfortunately, bad things happen to even the best fire departments. We are great at responding to other people's emergencies, but are we prepared to respond when tragedy strikes our department or we have become the focus of negative attention? This class will review various crisis situations confronting large and small fire departments across the country every day. Participants will be shown the common threads of response to all fire department crises--a focus on maintaining clear communications with our members and the communities we serve and taking definitive actions to maintain the public's trust—and will walk away with a better sense of how to prepare their fire department to weather a potential crisis situation.