Last year, Martinsville Fire Department responded to 1,900 emergency calls and provided fire protection and EMS first response to Martinsville, Virginia, a city of 15,400 residents. Twenty-eight career and fifteen volunteer firefighters provided the services from two stations. The problem was that conflict frequently occurred among departmental firefighters. Examples included signs of stress, short-tempers, irritability, and tension. Personnel who returned from a stressful fire or EMS call sporadically exhibited tension towards another firefighter that answered the same call. In other situations, a firefighter with a marital problem at home appeared, at the workplace, with characteristics of anger and conflict towards other members of the fire department. Finally, immediately following departmental promotions, fire personnel sometimes showed signs of anger towards other station personnel.The purpose of this research project was to develop strategies for managing conflict within the department. The action research method was used and answered the following questions: 1. What are possible causes of personnel conflict within the fire service? 2. What is the impact of conflict among the human resources of the fire service? 3. What are recommended strategies for managing conflict within the department? Research was conducted with an in-depth literature review. After carefully examining fire service publications, emergency service journals, and college-level managerial textbooks, the results were formed from the collected information. It was learned that possible causes of personnel conflict include role conflict, present functioning of the department, competition for limited resources, and developments within personal relationships. Also, insight was gained as to the impact of conflict, including both positive and negative consequences such as organizational changes, stress, tension, confusion, irritability, retaliation, and increases in group cohesion. Lastly, there are strategies for managing conflict. From the latter, the recommendation is to focus department efforts on three phases of conflict management including preparation, prevention, and a performing phase that adheres to a step-by-step conflict management strategy.