Firefighters or Cops? You Tell Me!

Who has more stress on the job?
A firefighter or a cop?
Why?
What can you do about it?
You know that STRESS KILLS!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike "Lapo" Lapotasky on May 28, 2010 at 9:56am

What are you kidding me? Get a grip dude. Job satisfaction is definitely higher on the fire/ems job.
Stop it. Just stop it. This is not a question of ego. Your statement makes no sense. You just said its hard to wake up...FROM SLEEPING. We all do it. Is it good for us? No. Does it mean we are more stressed...NO WAY. Someone has badge envy.

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Permalink Reply by Mike "Lapo" Lapotasky on May 28, 2010 at 10:02am

Well stated. We must remember that firemen get shot at too. Cops run into house fires with no gear. They do CPR; sometimes by themselves for up to five or ten minutes. Some of the EMS fatties I have seen can't do a full round without needing their own O2!

Most officers see someone die at least once a week or more. They ride the same calls we do and when we are 2-5, they go back on the road to deal with the worst people on the planet. They deal with mostly the negative and the aftermath of things. WE see positives all the time. CPR save, extrication save, deliveries, a good stop on a ripper, a baby or puppy or kitten saved, and other positives renew us all the time.

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Permalink Reply by Mike "Lapo" Lapotasky on May 28, 2010 at 10:05am

Well, it stirred things up thats for sure. However, I must point out that you are talking about physical stress. We, from what people have written, took the question to mean mental stress.

Nobody, I mean NOBODY, has the physical stress from heat, exertion, and exhaustion/exposure that FFs do. In that respect, WE ARE the most stressed job ON THE PLANET!

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Permalink Reply by Mike "Lapo" Lapotasky on May 28, 2010 at 10:07am

Again, although I participated in this thread...I think WE should be spending our time talking about how to prevent LODDs and keep our crews safe, not having the age old argument between police and fire.

BUT...FDNY, at least until next year, IS BETTER AT HOCKEY than NYPD! HA!

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Permalink Reply by Mike "Lapo" Lapotasky on May 28, 2010 at 10:08am

AMEN!

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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on May 28, 2010 at 10:33am

I think WE should be spending our time talking about how to prevent LODDs and keep our crews safe, not having the age old argument between police and fire.

Those discussions have taken place and do show up, but rarely do they get the same amount of traffic and thought and even debate, except when discussing standards or lack thereof.

Point is you can't expect a coffee table type of discussion to be on training, and the fire service all the time. There are times for other "old arguments" and differing opinions.

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Permalink Reply by WestPhilly on May 28, 2010 at 10:36am

Mike,

Just so you know, Art (the guy who started this thread) has written extensively here on FFN and other sites about LODD prevention and firefighter safety in general. There's room for a thread of this type - even if it does involve a certain degree of badge envy.

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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on May 28, 2010 at 10:40am

That soldier/Marine isn't carrying that amount continuously. One of our new hires is a former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan and the question did come up about carrying gear. I can't speak for everyone though and like you, I was former Navy.

However, a point to be made is that FF ensamble and PPE also retains heat and prevents the body from cooling itself when wearing the gear. A soldiers gear still breathes and doesn't retain the heat like a FF's PPE does, meaning the body can still cool itself.

Now really this discussion isn't about the military, but the point was brought up, those who served would say the military has more stress than these two jobs. The military is stressful enough during peacetime, let alone during war.