Fire Station Wisdom

After just 2 years of fireman school and one summer of full-time work, I can't say that I am an experienced firefighter.  But either how it gave me some wisdom, that would be hard to get elsewhere.

My internship was finished and it was time for me to join a team. From just being on the sidelines watching learning and helping out with easier things. I would now join a team, look and work like anyone else.

I clearly remember my first alarm, an apartment fire on the street I lived. This was a good thing because I knew how much time I would have to prepare my gear inside the firetruck. When we arrived, flames were coming out from the kitchen window, so you could easily see where we had to go. I was positioned as smoke diver "two" (helping the person with the hose) that's where most people start. Together with smoke diver "one", you are the closest one to the fire and it's your job to put it out.

As a fireman, you have to be prepared for many different scenarios. So being close as a team and having a lot of experience through the team is essential. For example, the team would never let me do something they don't believe I could do. So you need to know your team's strengths and weaknesses and try to rehearse as many different scenarios as possible, to prepare for the unknown.

When you are asleep and hear the bell ring, you can feel the adrenaline going through you. Knowing that you have to be in the truck in 90 seconds doesn't help. But something that surprised me was how calm all my colleagues were, even in the most stressful situations (in hindsight it makes sense because how can the people at the accident stay calm if we are not ?).

So how can you stay calm?

Practice and experience. Psychologists would call it exposure therapy. With exposure, you will slowly manage it better.

Take good care of your body. See your physical body as a vessel, do you want to ride a rusty car that can break down at any moment. Or do you want to drive a car that can take you anywhere, whenever you want, at any speed you like?

Breathing is one thing that stays with us from the moment we are born to the day we die. Learn to breathe and it will calm you down.

Seeing yourself as a problem solver with a whole team to back you up. When you come from this direction, it's just a matter of time before you find the solution.

Switching from laser focus to helicopter view. When you switch between these, you better understand what is going to happen next and still focus on the task at hand.

As a fireman, you will be put in traumatic situations. And in my brief time at the station, I experienced more traumatic events than I wish for anyone to see in a lifetime. When you see a mother die on the floor, with her husband and kids crying in the next room. That's an image that is not that easy to scrape away from your forehead and I believe it will never truly go away.

So how can we cope with traumatic events?

How people dealt with an event was very personal. Some needed to be alone, some journaling, and others would talk about it out loud.

We had a meeting with the team afterward and talked about the experience. A therapist could be assigned if needed.

Believe it or not, humor was one of the ways many processed it. It sounds horrible, but with that much exposure... To keep the workplace a happy and positive place to be, it's hard for me to see any other way.

Stressful situations, traumatic experiences, and a lot of dead people. Makes you think about death.

Death makes you think about how short and precious life is.

Death makes you think about with who you want to spend your life.

Death makes you more honest and rightful.

Death makes you go after your dreams and goals.

Death makes you more present and lets you enjoy life more fully.

Death makes you embrace love.

Death makes you grateful for the life you have.

Ritual
When you are a new member of the team, they had the ritual that you have to prepare dinner. I share this with you because it's a beautiful way to get together and tighten the team. I must be honest with you and say that I was cheating a little bit (I had my mother send some delicious Thai food). But most of the food I cooked myself and we had a wonderful dinner at the station.

Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.

~ Michael Jordan

Thank you.