Terms of use for FIR training materials
These terms apply to every FIR course, student guide, field card, certificate and credential. They are short on purpose: what our training is, what it is not, and what completing it does and does not mean.
About FIR training materials
This material and the course it accompanies are educational. They describe the Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience’s methods and program doctrine; they do not provide legal, engineering, medical, financial or other professional advice, and their use creates no advisory, fiduciary or client relationship with FIR. Nothing in FIR training guarantees any outcome or level of readiness. Where this material differs from applicable federal, state, tribal or local law, regulation, code or adopted standard, the law and standard govern; questions of legal authority belong to the reader’s own counsel. Content reflects the record as of the build date shown on the cover and may change; the online course at fir.foundation is the version of record. Completion of a FIR course, and any FIR certificate or credential, attest to training completed or to evidence reviewed against a FIR standard at a point in time. They confer no license, regulatory standing, or authority to represent FIR.
The sections below explain each part of that notice in plain language and add the terms that govern copying and use. If the two ever differ, the notice above and the course itself control.
1Educational purpose
FIR courses, student guides, field cards, quizzes, capstones and related materials (together, “training materials”) are provided for education. They teach the Foundation’s methods and program doctrine for Black Sky Event readiness so that you can apply them in your own role. They are general in nature and do not take your organization’s circumstances into account.
2Not professional advice
Training materials do not provide legal, engineering, medical, financial, tax or other professional advice, and taking a course does not create an advisory, fiduciary or client relationship with FIR or with any instructor. Where a course tells you to route a question to counsel, a licensed engineer, a utility, a medical professional or another qualified person, that routing is part of the lesson, not a formality. Follow it.
3No guarantee of outcome
FIR does not guarantee any outcome from training — no level of readiness, no protection from any event, and no result from any plan, communication or program you build with what you learn. Readiness is the product of decisions, resources and work in your own community that FIR does not control.
4Law, regulation and adopted standards govern
Where anything in a course differs from applicable federal, state, tribal or local law, regulation, code, or a standard your organization has adopted, the law and standard govern. FIR expresses no legal conclusions in its courses; questions about your authority to act, to speak for an organization, or to enter agreements belong to your organization’s own counsel.
5Currency and version of record
Courses are revised as the record changes. A downloaded guide reflects the record as of the build date printed on its cover. The online course at fir.foundation is the version of record; if a printed or downloaded copy differs from the course, the course controls. FIR may revise training materials and these terms at any time without notice.
6Certificates and credentials
A FIR certificate of completion attests that you completed the named course and its assessments. A FIR credential (Community Resilience Coordinator, Certified Infrastructure Resilience Planner, Certified BSE Readiness Assessor, and any others FIR issues) attests to training completed and, where applicable, to evidence reviewed against a FIR standard at a point in time. Neither is a professional license, a regulatory approval, a government certification, or a guarantee of employment or engagement.
7Course-specific notices
Individual courses carry their own notices where the subject requires it — for example, that no security testing is performed outside authorized engagements, that no electrical work is done outside licensed, utility-authorized work, or that persuasion technique is never a licence to overstate the record. Those notices are part of the course, are assessed, and apply in addition to these terms.
8Representing FIR
Nothing in any course, certificate or credential authorizes you to represent the Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience, to speak on its behalf, or to make commitments in its name. FIR Authorized Training Providers and FIR Members act under separate written agreements that define what they may do.
9Third-party content and links
Training materials cite public sources and may link to third-party sites, documents and services. FIR does not control them, does not endorse them, and is not responsible for their accuracy, availability or terms. Citations are provided so you can check the record for yourself; source discipline is taught, not delegated.
10Disclaimer of warranties
The Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience makes no representations or warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise regarding the content of training materials, third-party content or references to services or information referenced or available through links therein, and further disclaims all warranties regarding any information contained therein, including any implied or express warranties of merchantability, satisfactory quality, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, or quiet enjoyment, arising out of any course of dealing or usage of trade, that the third-party service will be uninterrupted, error free or free of harmful components.
11Copyright and permitted use
Training materials are © Foundation for Infrastructure Resilience. All rights reserved. Enrolled students may download and print course guides and field cards for their own study and for use in their own role. Training materials may not be copied, redistributed, resold, posted, or used to deliver instruction to others without FIR’s written permission; instruction to others is delivered through the FIR Authorized Training Provider program. FIR program names, course titles, tier names and credential names are marks of the Foundation.
12Questions
Questions about these terms, about what a certificate or credential means, or about permission to use training materials: contact FIR.
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