THE RESILIENT FIREFIGHTER
It went from smokey, to smokey with fire over our head, to little smoke and fire pushing out the front room at us. I turn to my left and start applying my stream. The extinguishment through my smooth bore nozzle is giving a good fight to a well involved fire. Then I hear, “Protect the stairs.” I turn to my right, and up the stairs flies my Captain to try and get to the victim. We did not rehearse this, but this is a deviation I should expect as after all, we go to fire to save lives first and foremost.
Part 1: The Resilient Firefighter
It is a cold and icy afternoon in February 2018, and I have been out on the floor for approximately a month after finishing up a six-month training academy at my new department. I was previously a career firefighter at a suburban fire department and wanted the action that only an urban fire department can bring. I worked hard during the academy and was lucky enough to earn a spot at the busiest fire house in the state. Just north of downtown, in a neighborhood that has fallen on several hard years, sits station 4. I am sitting at the computer reading my playbook, trying to memorize the pieces that should fall into place for a particular incident and going through deviations of the play.
The tone sounds, “Structure Fire Response Three.” I get to the rig fast, as the crew here gets to the rig fast on every call. The captain of this crew is known to be aggressive and expects quick turnout, even if that means leaving the boot behind. I notice, while getting to the rig, that the bay is smokey. We sit on 9th and University, and the fire is on 13th Street. A street that I will have several fires and shootings on in my years at this station. My acting driver, a young experienced firefighter, releases the air break and gets the engine moving quickly out the door. Dispatch updates units that there is a victim on the top floor of the house. This is why we have been training. I start to box breathe in hopes of keeping my heart rate down and don my fire helmet.
We make the four blocks fast, and we can see the fire pushing out the window of the AB corner. My driver stops and sets the break, and I open the door, but the ice is so bad that we continue to slide a few more feet. My captain gives his size-up and the order for the line to the front door, as neighbors and police officers fill the front yards screaming that there is someone inside. I weave my way around the bystanders and patrol cars, striving for that perfect stretch. Truck 1 arrives, and I can see the crew are off fast and ready to VES with their ground ladder. My officer starts forcing the security door of the house. Once through, he gets through the house door easily, and there it is, a mountain of stuff piled at the front of the door. He looks back and says, “Let’s go.” Lucky for me, the delay in forcible entry allowed me to bleed my line and don my face piece and gloves. I was ready, and we started to leapfrog each other passing the line as we went.
It went from smokey, to smokey with fire over our head, to little smoke and fire pushing out the front room at us. I turn to my left and start applying my stream. The extinguishment through my smooth bore nozzle is giving a good fight to a well involved fire. Then I hear, “Protect the stairs.” I turn to my right, and up the stairs flies my Captain to try and get to the victim. We did not rehearse this, but this is a deviation I should expect as after all, we go to fire to save lives first and foremost.
I guard the stairs as if people’s lives depend on it, because for the first time in my career and my first fire at my new department, they do depend on me for exactly this. Crews on the upper floor make quick work of their search and get the victim out via the ground ladder. My captain comes back down the stairs, and we finish extinguishing the fire.
This is standard stuff, even though firefighters can go their whole career without being in this situation. But these are not your standard firefighters. All the members from Station 4 and Station 1 are outstanding. They are perfectionists, masters of their craft. They gave me a clear view of what it looked like to be good at this job. As I dissected the traits of each of these firefighters, I noticed that they all had one common quality: They were resilient.
A couple of weeks after the fire, my captain was talking to me about stress response. On the white board he started to draw what looked like a bell. I had seen and heard of this before, but I could not remember where. He started labeling the graph and talked about where he thought I was on the graph compared to other high performers on the crew. I took a mental note. I wanted to be one of them. I wanted to be better.
Having recognized the graph, I went home the next morning and went through my books, and there it was in both Firepsyche and The Warrior Mindset. What he drew was the Yerkes-Dodson law model of the relationship between stress and performance. I read through the pages, taking notes as I reviewed on how the authors use this model to train military, police, and firefighters to perform when they are in these high stress situations, and I was hooked. I started mapping out avenues of progress for both my professional and personal life. I recognized that by doing the hard things, the things no one else wants to do, I can train my body to respond to the more austere conditions, ultimately making me a better father, husband, and firefighter.
-Cody Nicely-Green-