Clear policy.
Built by the people
who run the calls.
A library of plain-English guides, checklists, and ready-to-adapt policy templates for the fire service, EMS, and law enforcement — grounded in NFPA, OSHA, NIOSH, NHTSA, IACP, and CALEA references.
Made for chiefs, training officers, medical directors, and volunteers who need policy they can hand to the newest probie at 2 a.m.
52
templates ready to adapt
3 disciplines
fire · EMS · law enforcement
43+
NFPA · OSHA · NIOSH · NHTSA · IACP
What you'll find
Everything you need, nothing you don't.
Four straightforward resources. Read what you need, download what helps, adapt the rest to your department.
Understand
Why policy matters
Plain answers on why SOGs reduce risk, protect crews, and hold up in court.
Learn
How to build one
A step-by-step guide from blank page to signed-off, adopted policy.
Plan
The recommended list
Every policy a department should have, sorted by priority and type.
Adapt
Templates & samples
Real, editable examples you can tailor in an afternoon.
Why this exists
Every firehouse deserves good policy. So every firehouse gets it.
Most fire departments in America are small. Volunteer. Run by a chief with a day job and a training officer who also sweeps the bays.
They need the same clear, defensible written guidelines as a career department in a city — and they deserve not to have to build it alone, or settle for binders of SOGs photocopied from the department next door.
Tailboard is a resource. Read the guides. Copy the templates. Change the department name. Have your chief sign it. That's it.
Incident Command System
Who’s in charge, how orders flow, when to transfer command.
Personal Protective Equipment
What gear, when to wear it, when to swap it, how to clean it.
Structural Firefighting — Interior Ops
When you go in, when you don’t, how you search.
Rapid Intervention Team (RIT)
What happens when a firefighter is trapped or down.
Two-In/Two-Out
Minimum staffing at the door. The OSHA rule every department must follow.
Mayday Procedures
What everyone — radio, IC, crew — does the second a Mayday is called.
Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus
Use, inspection, fit testing, air management, emergencies.
Fireground Accountability
How you know who’s on scene, who’s inside, and who’s accounted for.
Emergency Vehicle Operations
How rigs get to calls safely. The most common cause of LODDs.
Rehabilitation
How crews recover on scene — hydration, vitals, relief, medical monitoring.
Volunteer departments
If your policy budget is zero and your training time is scarce, start here.
Training officers
Fill gaps in your manual without reinventing what everyone else already has.
New chiefs
Inherited a binder from 1998? Here’s what modern, defensible policy looks like.