In the fire service, a Company Officer (CO) is the individual in charge of a crew

Crew

A crew is a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard...

 of firefighter

Firefighter

Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...

s and their responding apparatus

Apparatus

Apparatus may refer to:*Technical term for body of the Soviet and post-Soviet governments *Machine*Equipment*Critical apparatus, the critical and primary source material that accompanies an edition of a text-See also:*Fire apparatus...

. Company Officers have different titles depending on the table of organization for their particular agency, but commonly used titles in the U.S. Fire Service include Lieutenant

Lieutenant

A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...

, Captain

Fire captain

Captain is a rank in various fire services.In most American and Canadian fire services, a captain ranks above a lieutenant and below a Battalion Chief. This varies, though, between departments – in the Boston Fire Department, the captain is the officer in overall charge of a fire company...

, Sergeant

Sergeant

Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent....

, or other ranks which reflect the paramilitary organization of most departments.

Company Officers in U.S. career fire department

Fire department

A fire department or fire brigade is a public or private organization that provides fire protection for a certain jurisdiction, which typically is a municipality, county, or fire protection district...

s are generally promoted after passing a series of written tests, oral interviews, and tactical evaluations. A certain amount of time in service or time in grade is also often required before an individual is eligible to test for the next highest rank within the department. Seniority may determine whether an officer is in charge of one responding apparatus, or is in charge of an entire station where multiple fire apparatus are housed.

Officer ranks above the company officer level are frequently referred to as "Chief Officer" ranks. Whereas a Company Officer is generally involved with fireground tactical operations in addition to their supervisor

Supervisor

A supervisor, foreperson, team leader, overseer, cell coach, facilitator, or area coordinator is a manager in a position of trust in business...

y duties, Chief Officers are rarely involved with hands-on fireground operations.

Responsibilities and duties

The responsibilities of a company officer include:

• Meeting the organizations goals and objectives
• Keeping the work area free of health and safety hazards
• Building teamwork and cooperation
• Developing subordinates skills
• Keeping records and making reports

The duties of a company officer include:

• Maintaining health and safety
• Enforcing departmental rules and regulations
• Managing company activities
• Collecting pre-incident plan data
• Conducting company fire inspections
• Conducting company training evolutions
• Facilitating company communications
• Building company motivation
• Implementing departmental goals and objectives
• Performing career counseling and problem solving
• Keeping department records and making reports