Well, if you're just trying to get her to 50, why worry about IOs?
That said, build for defense would be my suggestion. Fire can be squishy.
BrandX Future Staff Fighter
The BrandX Collection
You are smart to build for defense and recharge- healing flames being up often is vital to your success. Just as important is making sure you're cutting down on the enemy's chances of hitting you. It is fairly easy to build for both. I also find it very helpful to carry a full complement of purples at all times. FA has decent resists, it just needs a defensive boost every now and then.
Words to the wise aren't necessary- it's the stupid ones that need them.
"You're right...I forgot...being constantly at or the near the damage cap is a big turn off. Definitely not worth it."
- Vitality
You will want to invest in some sort of KnockBack protection as well as the aforementioned defense and recharge.
currently reading: A Mighty Fortress (David Weber)
Damn. My wife always wants flowers, new shoes, or jewelry. I need to get her to rethink her priorities... if all she wanted was a new lvl 50 villian I would count myself lucky.
If your looking for easy go with ss/wp 
Well, now I am lucky person whose spouse likes to play CoX. However she doesn't like to play on the Villian side, she doesn't like the why the islands look, and perfers blueside.
Well the other night the group we run with wanted to do a VEAT and she doesn't have a fifty to unlock the Widows or Soliders. So I told her I would go ahead and work another brute and she could team along with me to level up. So I XP pacted with her, and will probably do most of the playing on Red side.
So I rolled up a SS/Fire brute. Now I know it is or was a FOTM for awhile, so I am hoping that there is enough people out there who can give me some input on it. Is it similar to IOing like a fire tank? Layer some defense, and recharge? Or is it better on red side to go with someother game plan? Any other hints would be nice as well. Right now sitting at level 10 on Liberty.
"...well I have wrestled with reality for thirty-five years, Doctor and I am happy to state I finally won out over it." Elwood P Dowd (from the movie Harvey)