Everyone in the fire service – from the highest leadership position to the least-tenured recruit – has a role in risk management. That may seem strange because we tend to think of “risk management” as the realm of insurance companies and adjustors and actuaries – people we generally try to avoid and certainly not who you were hoping to become when you joined the fire service. After getting over the idea that risk management isn’t one position on an organizational chart devoted to a “numbers guy” whose realm is not fire calls, EMS calls and community education, but rather calculators and spreadsheets, we tend to make another mistaken assumption regarding risk management. We assume it’s the “safety stuff.” And we are right – risk management is about the safety stuff. But it’s about so much more.