Free Introductions · The FIR Method
The FIR Introductory Set
Five short books that explain, in plain language, why a prolonged loss of the electric grid is so dangerous — and what a household, a community, and the people who assess and certify it can actually do. They assume no background. They are free overviews, not a substitute for the FIR courses, which remain the version of record for instruction. Everyone starts with Book 1.
Read in order
Each book builds on the one before it. Book 1 is the shared picture everyone needs; from there they go deeper by role — the assessor’s method, the resilient community, the certification path, and the domains where the hardening actually happens.
Foundations
The one book everyone should read. What a Black Sky Event is, how a modern community is built as a dependency stack, who and what threatens it across the three vectors — cyber, physical, and EMP/GMD — and what a household can do to get home and last 30 days.
The Assessment Method
How a trained assessor reads a community and turns it into a plan that can be funded — scoping the work, scoring each of the three vectors on its own, the ten dimensions behind the score, and the honest claim form that states exactly what was and was not proven.
The Resilient Community
What a community that has done the work looks like in a prolonged event — how it governs itself, keeps people fed and safe, transitions its economy and its workforce, and sustains a functioning limited society until outside help returns.
The Certification Path
How readiness is independently verified and credentialed — the evidence standard and chain of custody, the Diamond Blue certification, the credential ladder (CRL, CRC, CIRP, CBRA), and the independent panel that signs it or sends it back.
The Domains
How each kind of infrastructure is actually hardened, sector by sector — energy, water and wastewater, control systems, communications, and food and agriculture — and where the work hands off to the licensed professionals who run those systems.
The reference that sits beside them
Where the five books are the narrative, the Field Handbook is the quick reference — for readers of the books and students in the courses alike.
Handbook
FIR Field Handbook
The definitions of record for the whole method — the FIR Maturity Model, the declared-scope claim form, the Prudence Notice, a field card for every course a practitioner carries, and the glossary of record. Keep it open while you read the books or take the courses.
Open the Field Handbook (PDF) →These six documents are free introductions and references. They give a clear overview of the FIR method — enough to understand it, plan with it, and know where the detail lives — but they are not a substitute for the FIR courses, which remain the version of record for instruction. Where a book and the Field Handbook differ on a definition, the Handbook governs; where either differs from a course, the course governs.
Ready to go deeper?
The books are the on-ramp; the courses are where you learn the method in full and earn FIR’s credentials. The four Foundation courses and the free member orientation cost nothing to start.
Browse the course catalog Start BSE 099 — Free© 2026 Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience · fir.foundation · The FIR Introductory Set is free to read and share.