The Vineland, New Jersey Fire Department serves a diverse and growing city whose July 1, 1998, population was estimated at 55,484 residents. As the population of the city has increased, the number of incidents where there was a communication problem due to a language barrier between emergency responders and the customer(s) requiring assistance has gradually increased. While there had never been a documented incident where a language barrier problem had a significant negative impact on the outcome of an emergency incident, the department wished to be proactive and attempt to explore the options that may be available to better facilitate communication on the emergency scene with those customers who do not speak or understand English.The department also wanted to attempt to be more accessible and customer friendly to the non-English speaking customers that we encounter during routine non-emergency operations. The problem, which resulted in this research being conducted, was that twenty to twenty-five percent of Vineland Fire Department customers speak a language other that English as their primary language, and the department was not prepared to communicate with those persons who do not speak English. The purpose of this research was three folded The first objective was to determine how other fire departments deal with incidents involving non-English speaking customers. The second objective was to determine if it was feasible to develop some type of quick reference manual, containing key phrases, id est, "Where is the fire?" for use by field personnel.The final objective was to develop procedures or a prototype quick reference manual containing key phrases in commonly encountered foreign languages to allow members of the department to more effectively communicate with non-English speaking customers. The evaluative research method was utilized to attempt to answer the following questions: 1. How many fire departments have a formal policy or procedure in place to deal with incidents involving non-English speaking customers? 2. How many fire departments provide formal training to their members on communicating with their non-English speaking customers? 3. How many fire departments have some type of quick reference manual containing key phrases in commonly encountered foreign languages? 4. In fire departments that do not have a formal policy for dealing with incidents involving non-English speaking customers, how do they handle these situations? 5.How many fire departments actively recruit and/or compensate bilingual personnel? 6. What are the requirements for recruitment and/or compensation as a bilingual firefighter? 7. Are there any other sources of foreign language assistance available to emergency responders? An extensive review of pertinent literature was conducted to determine what may have already been written or developed which would address this subject. A survey instrument was developed to determine how other fire departments communicate with their non-English speaking customers. A total of 97 surveys were returned, all of which were utilized for this research. The survey indicated that only 16 departments that responded (16.5%) had a formal policy on dealing with incidents involving the non-English speaking. Even fewer departments, 10 (10.3%), provide formal training to their members.Fourteen departments (14.7%) indicated that they have bilingual personnel on duty at all times and 12 departments (13.5%) utilize a quick reference manual for field operations. Additional information was gathered on how departments determine who is considered bilingual, how they assign bilingual personnel, how they deal with language barrier problems without a formal policy or procedure, and the effectiveness of quick reference manuals. Recommendations for the Vineland Fire Department included immediately subscribing to A T and T's Language Line, implementing foreign language training programs within the department, and developing a network of on call translators. Development of a formal policy to address emergency communications with the non-English speaking was also recommended.Finally, additional evaluation was recommended to examine the benefits of utilizing quick reference manuals and whether it is feasible to develop one in-house or if it would be more beneficial to adapt an already available one for use in the city.