I think I'd have to give my nod to the para's. I have a real problem with whiners and malingerers and they have to deal with that a lot(at least in our neck of the woods).
Stress-the feeling of conflict that arises when your mind overrides your body's desire to choke the living sh*t out of some assho*e that desperately needs it.
Stress is what you do to you.
I wouldnt say that I have never felt stress either as a firefighter or a paramedic. I LOVE them both the same, but both different. kinda weird.
I love going to work, I love doing my job, I love my crew. I just love the damn fire service, fire, medical aid, haz mat....it really is what you make it.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what I can say is this. I have saved dozens of lives pulling people out of fires and hundreds, nay, thousands on EMS calls. But I will never forget the calls where I had children under the age of 10, pass away while in my 'charge'. I can remember every last detail of those calls. Not stress....sadness.
Around my area, you have to be at least an EMT to even be considered by a professinal fire dept. Most are hiring only paramedics these days. With the outsourcing of private ambulance companies to fire dept's, its just makes sense to hire paramedics.
We have a couple professional guys on my vollie dept. They all say they average around 10-15 EMS calls on their working day and may have a working fire once every two weeks. If all they did was fight fire, they would be sitting around alot.
As far as the stress thing, I dont really think you can compare. I've worked a good amount of fires and have handled plenty of pt's as well. Sometimes the fires are stressful, sometimes they are fun. Same goes for EMS.
my brigade respond to lots of mva, we have had more mvas this year than fire n we have had a high fatality rate too, we dont deal with the patient for as long as the paramedic but we are there for one of the hardest on the patient,
i think it may vary in different areas of the job but i think it is probably the same
Hmm....I disagree! try being trapped in a room knowing the fire is above and below you and the only way out is thru a small window that a ladder has yet been placed, or hear on the radio that your crew is introuble! i think both of these are far more frightening. I have been in all three positions, i would take the pt not breathing everytime!
Stress is what you make of the situation presented.... some deal with it better than others. It is not my emergency so very little stress. But when it becomes your emergency then it becomes stressful.
Like, how do I pay all these monthly bills on this crappy firefighter/emt pay????
In my area, we are required to be both firefighters and paramedics. So, we can honestly speak from both sides of the table. One thing that must be said, is that there is a definite difference between Fire/EMS and sole role EMS. We can get into who offers the best of patient care at another time or in another forum, but we must address that there is a definite difference. As far as who has the more stressful job, I believe that it is all relative. Each person can speak from his/her point of view or bring up a particular incident that was boiling with stress, but it differs with each individual. You and I will handle the same situation differently. It may be more stressful for me than you or vice versa. So, again it is all relative and really a loaded question to ask. No harm no foul and no disrespect intended.