Public expectations of the fire service continue to expand along with their expectation of doing the right thing every time. Fire departments are expected to be experts in every type of emergency. This puts a huge amount of pressure on the first arriving officer at an emergency scene, especially when that officer is acting in the capacity of (AIC) the regular officer. The problem was that the Corvallis Fire Department (CFD) had not established a comprehensive AIC company officer development program for firefighters wishing to become acting company officers placing the public and firefighters at risk. The purpose of this research was to identify the components of a comprehensive AIC company officer development program to properly prepare new officers for many of the expected challenges they would likely face in the fire station, in the public, and during emergencies. A descriptive research method was used to answer the following four research questions: (a) What components are necessary for a comprehensive AIC company officer development program, (b) What are other departments doing to provide AIC company officer development training, (c) What training methods would work best to provide effective training, and (d) What benchmarks could be used to determine when an AIC company officer candidate is properly prepared to fill the position? A thorough search for literature pertaining to AIC company officer standards was conducted along with a questionnaire to determine how other departments are preparing AIC company officers. Literature results mostly uncovered an all-or-nothing approach, expecting all company officers to be equal in education, training, and certifications. The questionnaire revealed that departments generally use the methods that best fit their circumstances. The recommendations were to use the information and data gathered along with the identified tools to establish a workable solution for CFD.