The San Jose Fire Department hosted a Women’s Bootcamp to recruit female firefighters and help girls and women who are in the application process to network with other female firefighters from local bay area departments.
Why would a psychologist attend?
Anytime I get a chance to experience the physical demands, or the real-world parts of the job it helps me connect to my firefighter patients in a different way. Saws, hammers and shovels aren’t shown in many movies, but they are important tools in fire suppression.
One of the draws to the fire service profession is the physical aspect of the work. Firefighters usually enjoy being outdoors and moving around. When a firefighter is physically injured and cannot work out, they cannot get that energy out of their system. Recovery can be a very frustrating time.
One of the attractions of a busy station is the high call volume which gives a firefighter a variety of experiences. When one of my firefighter patients complained that the whole house was in a foul mood, I remember asking “When was the last good fire?”
“Yeah,” he paused,
“It’s been a while. Maybe that’s it.”
Today was a real-world opportunity to see firefighters at their best. It helps remind me what my current patients looked like before their symptoms started.
A firefighter can tolerate gruesome scenes without experiencing intrusive images for a while. They can be on vacation during high winds without becoming jumpy for a while.
No need for therapy, EMDR or critical incident stress debriefing for a while.
Today I saw the focus, enjoyed the humor, witnessed the comradery as an outsider and remembered, ‘This is how it used to be for my current patients.”
Some gruesome scenes stick with fire fighters. Sometimes high winds spread the fire across a highway and exceed the available resources.
The perspective of a rookie or a probie is much different than someone with 5-10 years’ experience or a Captain’s rank. After a while, symptoms like intrusive images or feeling on edge can develop and affect a firefighter’s home life.
Today I saw the passion these women had for the fire service. They were honest about other careers they had considered and why they chose the fire departments where they now work.
Following a traumatic incident, symptoms may start such as isolation, waking up at 3:00am, drinking more than usual, eating junk food, or weird vivid dreams like experiences in the daytime. When someone loses the motivation to go to the gym it has consequences. When food doesn’t taste good anymore and someone loses their appetite, they are not properly fueled for the physical nature of the job. Today I could experience the stimulating nature of this job in a small way and appreciate with great respect the effect of stress symptoms on the job.
Why are hips so important?
When a hose has water in it, there is an immense amount of pressure, and it is very heavy. Firefighters use their hips to absorb the nozzle reaction. Hips are important during heavy lifts like loading patients or moving fallen trees.
Long drives to assist on a strike team and sitting at meetings tighten up the hip flexor muscles. Poor quality boots in the beginning can shorten a firefighter’s career.
I didn’t carry 45-100 lbs. of protective gear during this workout. But after today I can appreciate the risk to a firefighter’s hips, lower back and knees.
Today the firefighter who was assigned to my small group was from Palo Alto Fire. She encouraged the women to stick with the application process (which can be quite long). She answered their questions and shared her experience. The enthusiasm she had for the circuit workout was contagious. She built a camaraderie within our small group by asking us to create a team name and a cheer. She cheered us on as we dragged dummies, did push-ups and climbed three flights of stairs with SCBA.
After the 90-minute circuit workout, a panel of firefighters, the Chief, and ladies who had retired from SJFD spoke to the group. They encouraged the girls and young women to apply to different fire departments, go on a ride-along in different cities to see what each had to offer. This is much better than watching TikTok videos about the fire service. They discussed a variety of jobs within the fire service, special strike teams or assignments. The women declined to say a maximum age for the hiring process – only mentioned the physical abilities test.