First on the list for any Christian chaplain is of course the Bible. One Bible that is very useful is the Soul Care Bible. This edition of the Bible has many sidebars and Bible helps for those who have a need to counsel and console others.

Another excellent Biblical resource is the Bible Promise Book. This small pocket sized book is available in many different versions of the Scriptures and by many publishers. The book is laid out by topic and under each topic you can find relevant Scripture verses to share with others. See your local Bible bookstore for more information on this resource book.

Also useful is the book A Grateful Nation Celebrates Those Who Serve. This book is filled with inspirational quotes and stories that pay tribute to the men and women of our nation who serve the people of our country. The target audience includes military personnel, fire fighters, police officers and health care workers. This book is produced and distributed by Family Christian Press. To find out more about this book check out their web site at FamilyChristian.com or visit your local Family Christian Store.

Another excellent resource is the Placer County Law Enforcement Chaplains manual. They have made this manual available free of charge and will allow you to customize it for your department with no charge as long as you include a reference to the originators of the original document. You can download this manual as a zip file by clicking here. pclec.zip

For those who will be involved in Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM), especially Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD), the best book available is Critical Incident Stress Debriefing: An Operations Manual for CISD, Defusing, and Other Group Crisis Intervention Services. The book is written by Jeffrey T. Mitchell and George S. Everly, Jr. I am currently using the third edition which is the latest edition at this time.

To get a feel for what fire fighters go through on a daily basis I have a few recommendations that will prove useful.

First would be Report From Engine Co. 82 written by Dennis Smith. This book is considered a classic on American fire fighting. Dennis writes from his years of experience as a fire fighter and gives glimpses into the life of fire fighters in the station, at a working scene, and even on their off days.

Also by Dennis Smith is his book Report From Ground Zero. Dennis uses the same style from his earlier book to take us to Ground Zero on September 11th, 2001. With interviews from survivors we learn the details of the life and death of fire fighters and other rescue workers along with the impact on their families from the time of the first plane's impact until months later.

For the chaplain who wants a better working knowledge of what a fire fighter does I recommend reading the book Essentials of Fire Fighting 4th edition. This book is the classic textbook written by the International Fire Service Training Association. Reading through this book will provide you with the answers to how and why fire fighters do what they do on the job.

Finally for those chaplains who have spent any amount of time at a fire house will know, meal time is the highlight of the day. With that in mind I recommend the following book by Dorothy Jackson Kite, The Firehouse Cookbook: 150 Recipes From Firehouses All Over The U.S.

Our departmebt SOG's on fire chaplaincy can be read by clicking on the following links. Fire Chaplain Program Fire Chaplain Job Description

If you have any books that you feel are beneficial for fire chaplains to read, please send the title, author and a brief description of the book to me by clicking on the e-mail icon on my homepage.

Last updated on August 28, 2004

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