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B.E.S.T. Practices and Stress

By Chief Jeff Cash, NVFC North Carolina Director

Article appeared in the December 2009 issue of Firehouse Magazine.

Picture the scene: a hot summer day, July 3, 1863, Gettysburg, PA. General Robert E. Lee and his troops faced General George Meade and his troops on the battleground. With the fate of the country at stake, not sure if the resources would hold out, if they even had the necessary resources or strategy, not having all of the reconnaissance needed, and with thousands of lives hanging in the balance, the stress factor was most likely off the scale!

Does the above scenario resemble, on a smaller scale, a fireground incident? At any fireground, firefighters and fire officers face many of these same uncertainties, all contributing to intense stress levels. How does this stress affect us as firefighters and fire officers?

The National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), through its Health and Safety Committee, has developed the Volunteer Firefighter Health and Safety Priorities to address key issues in the fire service. These priorities are set forth in a series of B.E.S.T. practices, which are divided into the categories of Behavior, Equipment, Standards, and Training. Although designed to target volunteer firefighters, they are just as applicable to career and combination firefighters and fire officers as well. Find all of the B.E.S.T. practices at www.nvfc.org/health_safety.

Under the Behavior category, the first bullet point is: “Support the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of all personnel.” You can learn more about the physical aspect of this best practice – maintaining a heart-healthy lifestyle – at www.healthy-firefighter.org. In this article we will focus on the issues of mental well-being and stress.

Most people experience stress in their daily routine. Those in other occupations may argue that they face all types of danger in their day-to-day job-related activities; however, few jobs deal with the same stressors firefighters face.

As firefighters and fire officers, what types of stressors do we encounter? We face the daily issues of life and family, shift work, demands of the job, running emergency calls, layoffs, budget issues, employee issues, health issues, peer pressure, and more. The list is endless.

So what is exactly is stress? The word or idea of stress is frequently used to describe the level of tension one feels. This action is placed on the mind and soul by the demands of career, relationships, and overall responsibilities in one’s daily life.

Stress is defined by two of the founding fathers of stress research. The most commonly accepted definition of stress, attributed to Richard S. Lazarus, is that, “Stress is a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is asked to mobilize.” However, according to Hans Selye, “Stress is not necessarily something bad – it all depends on how you take it. The stress of exhilarating, creative, successful work is beneficial, while that of failure, humiliation, or infection is detrimental.” 

There are three kinds of stress. Eustress is the good kind of stress that can help inspire and motivate us. An example of this would be the smile we see on a child’s face when the fire truck comes to their school. Neustress is that condition which is neither good nor bad in effect. An example of this type would be a new training program being developed by the training division in which everyone would be required to attend. The third type is distress. This is the bad type! This category is broken down into acute stress and chronic stress.

There are many warning signs you may experience when you have stress. These include changes in your sleeping and/or eating habits, fatigue, irritability, headaches, muscle tightness, digestive issues, and trouble concentrating, to name a few.

We also have built into us a natural response to stress known as “fight or flight.” When we face stressful situations, our brain will ask us if we want to flee or stand our ground. Our bodies will produce chemicals that will help us decide which option is best in a given situation.

The effects of long-term stress can damage the human body. Individuals who do not manage stress can increase the potential for illness and major health concerns, including heart disease, obesity, sleep problems, and depression, among others. Some of the common effects of stress that I see affecting firefighters and fire officers are exhaustion and irritability due to stressors such as the demands of the department, a second job, children, family, community, church, fellow firefighters, the adrenaline rush of a call, boredom, and more. These are always knocking at our door.

We must deal with a wide variety of issues within the fire service. We are confronted with major life events. We will face the death of family members, serious injuries and deaths of fellow firefighters, major incidents and catastrophes, and, one of the most difficult, incidents involving the death of a child. It takes a special calling for an individual to choose to be in the fire service. Those of us who choose this honorable profession, whether volunteer or career, must learn to take care of our fellow firefighters and ourselves.

On some occasions, our stress can be self-induced. Some of us have high-stress type personalities and some of us have low-stress type personalities. Some firefighters tend to worry more than others, and this type of activity invites stress. We must learn and implement methods and techniques to overcome these issues. Mark Twain once stated, “I’m an old man and I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”

Not only do we need to recognize bad stress, we must learn to properly manage stress. We need to find out what is causing stress, look for ways to reduce the amount of stress we are faced with, and learn healthy ways to relieve stress or reduce its harmful effects. The American Heart Association recommends the following 10 positive healthy habits to combat stress:

  1. Talk with family and friends daily to share your feelings, hopes, and joys.
  2. Make time every day for physical activity to relieve mental and physical tension.
  3. Accept the things you cannot change.
  4. Remember to laugh daily.
  5. Give up your bad habits such as too much alcohol, cigarettes, or caffeine.
  6. Slow down and pace yourself.
  7. Get six to eight hours of sleep each night.
  8. Get organized and make “to do” lists.
  9. Practice giving back by volunteering your time to help others.
  10. Try not to worry.


If these measures do not work, one may need to seek the advice of qualified professionals. We must alleviate the misconception that seeking professional help “is not the fire service way,” and ensure that the fire service culture knows that this is the right thing to do.

As firefighters and fire officers, we must take care of our bodies and our minds. We owe it to our family, our fellow firefighters, our communities, and to ourselves.

Jeff Cash has been in the fire service for 30 years serving in both the volunteer and career sectors. He has served as the Fire Chief of the Cherryville Fire Department in Cherryville, NC, since 1986. Chief Cash is a Certified State Instructor, Certified Level II Firefighter, Certified Level II Instructor, Certified NC Fire Inspector Level III, North Carolina Arson Certification, Certified North Carolina EMT, and Certified North Carolina Fire Officer. He served as President of the North Carolina Firemen’s Association in 2001 and is currently the North Carolina Delegate to the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC). He serves as the Second Vice Chair of the NVFC, is on the NVFC Executive Committee and Health and Safety Committee, represents the NVFC on the NFPA 1021 Committee and the IAFC Safety Health & Survival Committee, and has testified before Congressional committees on fire service issues on two occasions.