THE RESILIENT FIREFIGHTER PART 2: DO HARD THINGS
Part 2: “Do Hard Things”
Resilience Fire Co. defines resilience as the psychological and physical fortitude to endure the path and achieve the mission. To achieve resilience, we must first identify our mission so that we can work towards building a resilient mind and body.
Resilient Mind
“You can do hard things.” My family believes in it so much that as you come down the stairs to start your day, after the photographs of the family, there it is, framed, “You can do hard things.” When my sons and I are doing something challenging together, that pushes our boundaries of comfort, we first let each other know that we are in it together. Then, we usually repeat our motto. These are so much more than words. Our motto gives us clarity and reminds us that the only failure in life is to stop doing things that challenge us.
Mindfulness is the concentration of thought and the welcoming of your situation and surroundings. Being present in the moment allows us to stay below our level of arousal, allowing us to focus on the task at hand but detached enough to see the bigger picture. At my first fire, in part one, it would have been easy to get caught up in the moment as the scene we pulled up to was full of chaos: bystanders and police officers throughout the front yard and people across the neighborhood yelling. And yet, my acting driver was cool in the moment, performing tasks that would normally be covered by arriving engines. Knowing we would need water, he hand jacked over 250’ of 5” in the ice and snow, caught the hydrant, and secured his only water supply. I never had to wait on water, nor did I lose any pressure. My Captain, unphased by the commotion in the front yard, was task-oriented. With great pace, as he always had, he gave clear, direct orders, forced both doors, and above all, trusted me with his life to secure his only known way out.
Resilient Breathing
The primary function of the medulla is to get rid of waste and to bring in oxygen to enrich our blood. This is pre-programmed, but there are some things that we can do to make our bodies more efficient. First, we need to get back to diaphragmatic breathing through our nostrils. When we do this, our bodies release feel-good chemicals reducing our heart rate and the need for oxygen. This is especially important when we talk about keeping our heart rates low enough so that we can stay below our stimulus and perform when people need us most. Once we get that down, we can then build tactical breathing via box or triangle breathing. These will increase our oxygen efficiency, aiding in optimal performance on the fire ground, especially while on air.
Resilient Body
“I’ve heard the argument that ‘legacy’ members’ job experience and tactical knowledge can make up for decreased fitness. Don’t be distracted by this argument. The nature of this work is it’s unpredictable, and fire responders need to be physically prepared for the worst day. Legacy members should know this more than anyone.”(Rob Shaul) Many are familiar with fight or flight, but we often forget the freeze part of the process. This is where we are so overstimulated that we cannot perform even the simplest tasks, like tying a figure eight on a bight. And this is a part of the process that needs to be considered too.
115 BPM fine motor skills deteriorate.
145+ BPM complex motor skills deteriorate.
175+ BPM auditory exclusion, peripheral vision and depth loss.
Possibly Catastrophic failure of cognitive processing. Physiological pg 30 Warrior Mindset (Grossman)
It is paramount that we physically discipline our bodies. Our programming must keep us quick, while at the same time, being able to push and pull moderately heavy weight. Yes, weight training is important, because there are not many things more difficult for firefighters than finding an unconscious victim, in a blacked out over-heated environment and having to extricate them. The other thing that is important when it comes to physically training our bodies is to drill in our gear as the extra weight decreases our movement efficiency. Yes, the only way to do this is to drill in search and rescue techniques, hose deployments, forcible entry, and more.
We must find a way to be the answer for our victims.
Rogue Training Consulting does a phenomenal job of showing firefighters and their departments the standard for performance. Rogue and Resilience Fire Co provide scenario-based training that revolve around facts and science, and we are here to help you get to the top of your game. Be on the lookout for our upcoming trainings.
Stay disciplined. Stay RESILIENT!
-Cody Nicely-Green-