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Permalink Reply by Allen Wahlstrom on September 2, 2008 at 11:13am

I totally disagree.

I have worked on busy departments, slow departments and departments that have guys go 20 years and see 1 fire.

Burnout occurs in all of the above.

Running every shift from start to finish is exhausting and taxing on the soul, but...and it's a big but. The shift is over before you know it and then you are off to pursue other interests.

Going to the station and training over and over on basics, because you never use the skills in anger is far more taxing on the psyche.
Looking at the clock at 9:43 and thinking "dear god I still have 22 hours and 17 minutes to go" is stressful.
Being in a slow department means worrying if you are going to remember that subtle step, that means the difference between you, your crew, or the general public you are paid to protect getting out in one piece or not.

Throw in, boredom leads to a lot of time for crews to get on each others nerves. With few emergency calls to garner that closeness that the busy companies have, there is more petty jealousy and arguments that go along with that lack of camaraderie.

Both departments lead to burnout. Both departments have either emotional or physical strain that leads to burnout.

To say because your department runs 500 calls a year that makes your members any more "heavily involved" that the department that runs 100 is arrogant. What about the Companies that run 3000 calls a year, to them your 500 may seem miniscule and insignificant.

Guys in slow departments still have to maintain their apparatus, service test hose, hydrants, pumps and do periodic inspections on businesses and residences in their jurisdiction.
Many times it is the guys who are not actively fighting fire that do the most work and get burned out.

Specifically in volunteer departments...

A perfect example is my Uncle a former Chief of Department ,who has both Crones and Lupus (He served over 30 years with Crones and 10+ after being diagnosed with Lupus).
Until a year ago he still made every meeting, was the City Fire Inspector and Fire Marshall, and though he served that department for 36 years, was looked at by the younger members as a relic that didn’t have a clue how to fight fire.

This man did all the city fire inspections, worked with the old guard directors to make sure things got done, showed up at Move’s to direct traffic, got out of bed just like everyone else to make sure there were enough bodies on scene to be effective and this was all after he was in his mid 60's.

This man was heavily involved. This man led me to the fire service as a teenager and was there to support me in my return over 20 years later.
This is heavily involved...much as Art is heavily involved.

Heavily involved is a lot more that being a hose jockey on a department that makes 503 runs.

That is being heavily involved, much more so that the grunt who takes orders from the heavily involved OIC.

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Permalink Reply by Anna on May 7, 2010 at 10:37am

hi!
I'm interested in psychological help in your country. could you describe it for me, please ?! did you know some psychologyst who can tell me more about ypur help system?
greetings
Anna

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Permalink Reply by Olivia Jones on May 8, 2010 at 2:03am

Anna, here in the good ole USofA, unless you have privet health insurance access to mental health professionals is hard to come by. Clinics do exsist and the waiting list is long and from what I have heard the help they are able to give is limited.

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Permalink Reply by Marty D. Ross on May 8, 2010 at 9:36am

I have been in this for thirty years and really couldn't tell you anything on burn out. But I think if someone with less than ten years is talking of being burned out they are either in the wrong business or in it for the wrong reason. There are good and bad days but I still love it.

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Permalink Reply by Norm Tindell on May 8, 2010 at 9:52am

I know that as a volunteer we must maintain realistic priorities. I keep work and family first. If I were a paid guy at a busy station that would be a whole different ballgame. Too many factors, as you eluded to. Is it fun to go to work every shift or is it a grind? May depend heavily on who your co-workers are and what type of leader your officer is.

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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on May 8, 2010 at 11:04am

As the thread starter, part of the reason that I started this thread and pointed to members talking about burn out after a short stint in their service is because sometimes, I think they post it for attention and to gain sympathy.
We all have our local support group in the people that we serve with. We rely on our families, friends and our community churches, perhaps to prop us back up and to keep nudging us forward.
When people post their experience here, I believe that it is important and telling that they do. Depending on how it is written will determine the types of responses that you can find here. Some will be VERY sympathetic. Others will be "been there; done that" and still others will say "maybe you weren't cut out for it".
I find that topics like this are an exercise in human behavior.

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Permalink Reply by Jack/dt on May 8, 2010 at 12:02pm

Barring underlying medical conditions, I think most "burn out" is a result of not being able (never having learned) how to deal with setback, frustration and failure. As things become difficult for a person, frustration and anxiety begin to set in and starts a spiral into 'burn out'.

Also burn out can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Tell someone that at some point down the road they may suffer from burn out, or don't do this or that or you will get burn out, and low and behold, they get burn out.

Everyone experiences some degree of burn out, that's what vacations are for.

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