FFP1810C – Fire Fighting Tactics and Strategy I is a 3-credit, 45-contact-hour college course covering how fires are fought at the command level: sizing up an incident, choosing a strategy, and deploying the resources available. Institutions title it Fire Fighting Tactics and Strategy I, Firefighting Tactics and Strategies I, and Fire Service Strategy and Tactics I.
Unlike the Minimum Standards courses, this one carries college credit and counts toward an A.S. in Fire Science Technology — and it simultaneously satisfies part of Florida's Fire Officer I pre-certification requirement. The same content is delivered through the Florida State Fire College as BFST1810 / ATPC1810.
The shift in perspective is the point. A firefighter executes assignments; an officer decides what the assignments should be. The course asks what is burning, what it will do next, what must be protected first, and whether the resources on scene are sufficient to attempt an interior attack at all.
Content covers fire behavior applied to tactical decisions; size-up — the systematic assessment on arrival and its continuous revision; strategy versus tactics — offensive, defensive, and transitional modes; tactical priorities — life safety, incident stabilization, and property conservation; the incident command system and fireground organization; resource deployment — apparatus placement, staffing, and assignment; water supply and fire flow requirements; building construction and its tactical consequences; tactics by occupancy — residential, commercial, high-rise, and vehicle; pre-incident planning; firefighter accountability and safety on the fireground; and post-incident analysis.
Offered at approximately 12 Florida institutions with fire science programs, and through the Florida State Fire College and regional training centers.
Florida fire education runs on two parallel tracks with different numbers, and students routinely conflate them:
| Track | Numbers | Credit | Leads to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum Standards (PSAV) | FFP0030C, FFP0031C | 0 credit, clock hours (191 + 301 = 492) | Florida Firefighter certification |
| Fire Science (college credit) | FFP1810C, FFP1510, FFP2xxx | 3 credits each, 45 contact hours | A.S. Fire Science Technology and Fire Officer I / Inspector I |
The 0 in the thousands position marks a PSAV clock-hour course. A student who needs an associate degree, or who is working toward officer promotion, needs the FFP1xxx/FFP2xxx courses — Minimum Standards hours will not supply degree credit except through a local articulation agreement.
On most Florida courses a C marks an integrated lecture-and-laboratory course at roughly 60 contact hours. Fire service courses are a standing exception: FFP1810C carries 3 credits at 45 contact hours because the course is built to the state certification module, and BFST1810 / ATPC1810 is a 45-hour block. The C reflects the applied and practical work in the course — size-up exercises, tactical simulations, and pre-incident survey work — not an additional lab schedule. The same holds for FFP1510 Codes and Standards. Do not expect the hour count to scale with the suffix.
FFP1810C satisfies part of the Florida Fire Officer I pre-certification requirement, but that depends on the section being delivered to the state syllabus. Ask the program coordinator whether the college section is state-approved for Fire Officer I, not merely a college course of the same number. This is the same caution that applies to FFP1510 for Fire Inspector I, and it is worth confirming before enrolling rather than discovering at application.
Fire Officer I certification in Florida requires the full sequence of required courses, a state examination, and satisfaction of the requirements in Chapter 633, F.S., and Rule Chapter 69A-37, F.A.C. — and generally firefighter certification and documented experience first. The Division of State Fire Marshal, not the college, issues the certification.
This is the most current and consequential content in the course. Research from UL FSRI and NIST over the past fifteen years on flow path, ventilation-limited fire, and the behavior of contemporary furnishings has revised long-standing fireground doctrine — particularly around coordinating ventilation with attack, and the effectiveness of applying water from the exterior before entry. Instruction and textbooks that predate this work teach tactics the research does not support. Students should work from current material and should read the UL FSRI studies directly; they are free.
The NIOSH fatality investigation reports are freely available, specific, and unsparing, and most tactical lessons in this course trace to one. They are difficult reading — they describe how firefighters died — and they are the reason the size-up and accountability content is taught the way it is. Instructors generally assign them, and students who read beyond the assignment develop judgment faster.
FFP1810C is followed by FFP2811 (Fire Fighting Tactics and Strategy II, corresponding to BFST2811). It sits alongside FFP1510 Codes and Standards, FFP2540 Private Fire Protection Systems, and FFP2770 Ethical and Legal Issues for the Fire Service in the A.S. curriculum. Prerequisites vary; some programs require firefighter certification or department employment, so verify locally.
Generated August 31, 2026 · Updated August 31, 2026