The responsibility of a manager to safeguard the assets of his or her organization are just as applicable to an emergency response agency as to any business or family. Although their mission is to manage community risk, fire departments and other emergency service organizations must also be concerned with risk to themselves. In several different ways, those risks can keep the organization from successfully carrying out its mission. The fire department is open to a variety of risks similar to those faced by every private organization and enterprise. There are interesting parallels between the two sectors. A risk manager in a private enterprise tries to protect the assets of the enterprise and ensure that it can stay in business. Similarly, a risk manager in a fire department tries to protect public assets, including its personnel, facilities, and equipment--and make sure the fire department can perform its mission.