Interviews with several firefighters. One said, “Things we did 10 years ago are no longer working”
Smoke column from the Williams Fork Fire in Colorado Aug. 15, 2020. USFS photo.
National Public Radio has an interesting interview with several firefighters, and a researcher who studies issues that affect firefighters. Check it out — it’s only seven minutes.
And speaking of firefighters’ health, you need to read the story of one who has survived two fire shelter deployments. He describes some of the challenges he’s dealing with.
Typos, let us know HERE, and specify which article. Please read the commenting rules before you post a comment.
After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.
View all posts by Bill Gabbert
22 thoughts on “NPR: Firefighters are facing a growing mental health challenge”
We all make choices. I was referring to the comment that nothing that works ten years ago works today. Should the doctors looking at mass amounts of Death and give up? Cry? Fall to their knees? It is a job. There are no secrets about what the job entails. It is possible to live in a house that won’t burn. And a burned house or 2,000 mean nothing compared to the lives of the people I am charged with taking care of. I have no time to lose my s!#!t with emotions because something I expect and know will happen is happening. I can however remain calm and speak in a calming and informative manner to those people who may lose their homes. Its certainly not a war man.
0
0
Willie haha the anchor and flank doesn’t work when there isn’t anyone to work and the flank is 50 miles long. You have no idea what you are talking about.
The mental health aspect isn’t because they lose their S#@t at work, it’s because every assignment ends up being 21 days, the devastation is on a different scale, and people haven’t seen their families for months.
They can’t leave the fire because they feel the call of duty to the public, but it’s at the expense of their family’s wellbeing, a horrible choice.
Willie the fact that you feel the need to belittle others and being an internet troll reveals volumes about you, a sad human.
0
0
Did listen to the piece? Didn’t realize lawn darts were jumping fires with 50 mile long flanks. There is such a thing as IA and the comment that things that worked ten years ago don’t work today is simply untrue. There is plenty that works now that worked in the 1960s.
0
0
Dude willie take a break from the I am a bad ass and super smart posts. You have a handful of actual intelligent thoughts mixed with stupidity. Get off your high horse. You obviously have an agenda and its annoying.
Being a wildland firefighter- tech is the best job in the world. We all have different experiences and thoughts. You are quick to judge everyone and everything. It must be nice to be such a strong person and so smart.
How about you put some effort into helping move forward in a positive direction and actually put yourself in others shoes. Look at the community as a whole and see what needs to happen. The real problem are the folks like you. Live in your bubble and all is well criticizing everyone until its your turn to hit the wall……congrats on picking apart every post. Im sure you are an inspiring leader and human.
0
0
OK willie I really know you are a clueless troll now. We go out to large fires all the time.
0
0
So just to address the point that old tactics still work: yeah they do. That’s one reason the work force is getting demoralized. You know what has to happen to put a fire out but can’t do it because too many fires are burning so there is no one to do the mop up needed to secure the edge. When it spots and blows up during the next wind event everyone knew it would happen but could do nothing about it. On a larger scale you have the 100 year plus buildup of fuel, more building in the wildlands, lack of needed funding and political will for fuels treatments and we all know what will happen. The fact the fuels situation needs to be addressed and that climate change is making it all worse is also old news at this point. I for one have a hard time buying into something with enthusiasm when I know it isn’t going to work and we all know what the solution has to be. For me a supression based program is dead, a holding action at best, a waste of resources at worst. We need to be getting proactive. Structural firefighters have been doing for decades and reducing life and property losses so land managers need to do it to. Besides it’s often the best ecologicaly for the resource as well so let’s get to work.
0
0
ROTT: There was no joy in fighting fire anymore. Year after year, the blazes just got worse – firestorm after firestorm, thousands of homes lost, communities destroyed.
NEWBERRY: You just feel defeated. You know? The things that we used to do that worked 10 years ago are no longer working anymore
Anchor flank and pinch-still works. Prioritizing safety over property works. Not getting attached or defeated because some houses burn up works. If firestorms depress you, you probably shouldn’t be a FIREfighter. Poorly done piece. Maybe focus on real mental health challenges.
0
0
Anchoring pinching and flanking did precisely nothing on the August complex this last summer because there was no where near enough people on the ground to execute it properly. There were simply not enough fire fighters to go around with a million acre complex not even being at the top of the list for regional, let alone national priority. Frankly it was a pretty demoralizing experience assessing dozens of structures, talking to some of the people who live in them, doing everything you could for weeks to protect them and most of them then burning down anyway. Easy to say just don’t care if someone’s house burns down, hard to do if you are talking with them. If I was a firefighter in California all the time I’d pro be burned out in 2 to 3 years given how their seasons have been going lately. It sucks fighting even winning battles in a losing war out there given the fuels treatment situation compared with where it needs to be to make an impact.
0
0
If anything I have learned in my years on the line and that I can pass on is this simple fact….we all need help at some point. We all need someone that we can reach out to for help. On top of what is already a very different, very stressful, very intense job (but also the most rewarding one) we have the added stress of covid and all that has brought upon us.
The more we can bring mental health issues to the forefront and openly discuss it….the better off we all will be.
Stay well
0
0
Please consider printing transcripts of interviews. Not all.of us process auditory stuff well. Thank you.
0
0
There is a transcript at the NPR link.
0
0
Now that I have completed my last fire season on the creek fire, I am already struggling with the fact that my family is so used to me being gone they don’t invite me to go with them on weekend vacations nor do they check up on me to see how I am doing, I will formally be retired in March 31 2021 and already have plans to stay engaged in the fire service as an AD instructor and SOF2 .
My daughter is 16 and my son is 9 …. maybe it’s just their ages but not even my wife calls to tell me they are safe and so on.
0
0
That’s disheartening! Maybe they feel they do not want to distract you with pulls from family while you risk everything for the common good? Just an optimistic possibility.
0
0
Dude, you have to be intentional about work life balance.
0
0
There is a recent study done on injuries and sleep done by the university of Idaho. Cliff notes version is that anything less than 8 hours of sleep in a day and your functioning at a lower level. Anything over 18 hours awake and you function at the .06 level. Yet Cal Fire sticks to 24 hour shifts. Go figure.
0
0
I’ve never understood the 24 hour shift thing in California, seems super inefficient in addition to being unhealthy.
0
0
Anything that NPR produces is generally NOT worth watching.
I do support the Firefighters !~
0
0
The comment above was posted about two minutes after the article was published.
People who care about the health of firefighters will find the piece to be a very good investment of six minutes.
0
0
Well, that’s quite a generalization, not objective I’d say. You could’ve left that comment aside and just say you support firefighters.
0
0
You know that Nate Rott was a wildland firefighter prior to working for the Washington Post and NPR right? There are few journalists that have the background to really understand wildland fire, and I think the work he does bringing the issues that we are facing to a larger audience is really important.
0
0
It’s a radio piece, soooo
0
0
So, what are the implications of it being a radio piece?
We all make choices. I was referring to the comment that nothing that works ten years ago works today. Should the doctors looking at mass amounts of Death and give up? Cry? Fall to their knees? It is a job. There are no secrets about what the job entails. It is possible to live in a house that won’t burn. And a burned house or 2,000 mean nothing compared to the lives of the people I am charged with taking care of. I have no time to lose my s!#!t with emotions because something I expect and know will happen is happening. I can however remain calm and speak in a calming and informative manner to those people who may lose their homes. Its certainly not a war man.
Willie haha the anchor and flank doesn’t work when there isn’t anyone to work and the flank is 50 miles long. You have no idea what you are talking about.
The mental health aspect isn’t because they lose their S#@t at work, it’s because every assignment ends up being 21 days, the devastation is on a different scale, and people haven’t seen their families for months.
They can’t leave the fire because they feel the call of duty to the public, but it’s at the expense of their family’s wellbeing, a horrible choice.
Willie the fact that you feel the need to belittle others and being an internet troll reveals volumes about you, a sad human.
Did listen to the piece? Didn’t realize lawn darts were jumping fires with 50 mile long flanks. There is such a thing as IA and the comment that things that worked ten years ago don’t work today is simply untrue. There is plenty that works now that worked in the 1960s.
Dude willie take a break from the I am a bad ass and super smart posts. You have a handful of actual intelligent thoughts mixed with stupidity. Get off your high horse. You obviously have an agenda and its annoying.
Being a wildland firefighter- tech is the best job in the world. We all have different experiences and thoughts. You are quick to judge everyone and everything. It must be nice to be such a strong person and so smart.
How about you put some effort into helping move forward in a positive direction and actually put yourself in others shoes. Look at the community as a whole and see what needs to happen. The real problem are the folks like you. Live in your bubble and all is well criticizing everyone until its your turn to hit the wall……congrats on picking apart every post. Im sure you are an inspiring leader and human.
OK willie I really know you are a clueless troll now. We go out to large fires all the time.
So just to address the point that old tactics still work: yeah they do. That’s one reason the work force is getting demoralized. You know what has to happen to put a fire out but can’t do it because too many fires are burning so there is no one to do the mop up needed to secure the edge. When it spots and blows up during the next wind event everyone knew it would happen but could do nothing about it. On a larger scale you have the 100 year plus buildup of fuel, more building in the wildlands, lack of needed funding and political will for fuels treatments and we all know what will happen. The fact the fuels situation needs to be addressed and that climate change is making it all worse is also old news at this point. I for one have a hard time buying into something with enthusiasm when I know it isn’t going to work and we all know what the solution has to be. For me a supression based program is dead, a holding action at best, a waste of resources at worst. We need to be getting proactive. Structural firefighters have been doing for decades and reducing life and property losses so land managers need to do it to. Besides it’s often the best ecologicaly for the resource as well so let’s get to work.
ROTT: There was no joy in fighting fire anymore. Year after year, the blazes just got worse – firestorm after firestorm, thousands of homes lost, communities destroyed.
NEWBERRY: You just feel defeated. You know? The things that we used to do that worked 10 years ago are no longer working anymore
Anchor flank and pinch-still works. Prioritizing safety over property works. Not getting attached or defeated because some houses burn up works. If firestorms depress you, you probably shouldn’t be a FIREfighter. Poorly done piece. Maybe focus on real mental health challenges.
Anchoring pinching and flanking did precisely nothing on the August complex this last summer because there was no where near enough people on the ground to execute it properly. There were simply not enough fire fighters to go around with a million acre complex not even being at the top of the list for regional, let alone national priority. Frankly it was a pretty demoralizing experience assessing dozens of structures, talking to some of the people who live in them, doing everything you could for weeks to protect them and most of them then burning down anyway. Easy to say just don’t care if someone’s house burns down, hard to do if you are talking with them. If I was a firefighter in California all the time I’d pro be burned out in 2 to 3 years given how their seasons have been going lately. It sucks fighting even winning battles in a losing war out there given the fuels treatment situation compared with where it needs to be to make an impact.
If anything I have learned in my years on the line and that I can pass on is this simple fact….we all need help at some point. We all need someone that we can reach out to for help. On top of what is already a very different, very stressful, very intense job (but also the most rewarding one) we have the added stress of covid and all that has brought upon us.
The more we can bring mental health issues to the forefront and openly discuss it….the better off we all will be.
Stay well
Please consider printing transcripts of interviews. Not all.of us process auditory stuff well. Thank you.
There is a transcript at the NPR link.
Now that I have completed my last fire season on the creek fire, I am already struggling with the fact that my family is so used to me being gone they don’t invite me to go with them on weekend vacations nor do they check up on me to see how I am doing, I will formally be retired in March 31 2021 and already have plans to stay engaged in the fire service as an AD instructor and SOF2 .
My daughter is 16 and my son is 9 …. maybe it’s just their ages but not even my wife calls to tell me they are safe and so on.
That’s disheartening! Maybe they feel they do not want to distract you with pulls from family while you risk everything for the common good? Just an optimistic possibility.
Dude, you have to be intentional about work life balance.
There is a recent study done on injuries and sleep done by the university of Idaho. Cliff notes version is that anything less than 8 hours of sleep in a day and your functioning at a lower level. Anything over 18 hours awake and you function at the .06 level. Yet Cal Fire sticks to 24 hour shifts. Go figure.
I’ve never understood the 24 hour shift thing in California, seems super inefficient in addition to being unhealthy.
Anything that NPR produces is generally NOT worth watching.
I do support the Firefighters !~
The comment above was posted about two minutes after the article was published.
People who care about the health of firefighters will find the piece to be a very good investment of six minutes.
Well, that’s quite a generalization, not objective I’d say. You could’ve left that comment aside and just say you support firefighters.
You know that Nate Rott was a wildland firefighter prior to working for the Washington Post and NPR right? There are few journalists that have the background to really understand wildland fire, and I think the work he does bringing the issues that we are facing to a larger audience is really important.
It’s a radio piece, soooo
So, what are the implications of it being a radio piece?