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First 90 Days as a Company Officer

A practical checklist for new lieutenants and captains

Your first 90 days in the seat set the tone with your crew and your battalion chief. The officers who start well tend to do the same unglamorous things: they show up prepared, say out loud what they expect, check the rig themselves, and deal with problems early and in private. This checklist breaks those three months into four phases.

What's inside

Phase	Items
Before your first shift in the seat	11
Weeks 1–2	18
The first 30 days	20
Days 31–90	19
Total	68

How to use it

• Print it and keep it with your officer's notebook.
• Check items off as you finish them, and write the date next to the big ones.
• Come back to it at day 30, 60, and 90 to catch what you skipped.

Crew Expectations Worksheet

Put your day-one expectations in writing before you say them out loud

Your crew will figure out what you expect whether you tell them or not. Better they hear it from you, on day one, in plain words. Fill this out before your first line-up and keep it in your officer's notebook.

What's inside

• My day-one expectations: three to five, short and enforceable, on yourself first
• What you can expect from me
• What I won't change yet
• How I'll make decisions, on a call and around the station
• Revisit at 30, 60, and 90 days

One-on-One Conversation Guide

The first sit-down with each person on your crew

You won't learn much about your people at line-up. Sit down with each one, alone, in your first 30 days. You're not evaluating anybody. You're finding out what they're after and what they need from you.

What's inside

• Setting it up so it feels normal, not like a summons
• A question bank: goals, what they want to learn, promotion plans, what they need from their officer, home and life
• Listen more than you talk
• After the sit-down: follow through
• A reusable one-on-one notes page

Size-Up and Radio Report Pocket Card

Practice the first report until it comes out right on a bad day

Your first report off the rig tells everybody still coming what they're heading into and what you need. Getting it out short, calm, and in the same order every time takes reps. Page 1 covers printing and practice. Pages 2 and 3 are four pocket cards, fronts and backs.

The report on the card

• UnitWho you are, and that you're on scene.
• BuildingSize, height, construction, occupancy.
• ProblemNothing showing, smoke, or fire, and where.
• ActionsWhat your crew is doing, and who has command, per your SOPs.
• NeedsResources, water supply, or nothing further.

A practice aid, not policy. If your department uses a different report format, order, or terms, use those, and write them on the card. To print: double-sided, flip on the long edge, at actual size.

Buddy to Boss Worksheet

Work through your own crew before, and during, your first 90 days in the seat

Leading the crew you came up with goes better when you've thought it through on paper first. Take this one part at a time. Some parts are for before your first shift, some are for your first few weeks, and the 90-day check-in is for day 30, 60, and 90.

It goes with the guide Buddy to Boss: A Field Guide to Leading Former Peers as a New Fire Officer.

What's inside

• Map your crew
• My one or two standards
• My first line-up
• Plan the one-on-ones
• Prep for a first correction
• What I give up, and what I keep
• 90-day credibility check-in
• My mentor shortlist

Keep this private. It has names and honest notes about your crew. Keep it secure and out of sight, not on the station desk, and follow your department's policies on personnel records.