​VANFIRE Wellness

Behavioural

• wanting to limit contact with others.
  
  

• substance abuse, increased smoking.
  
  

• vacant stare.
  
  

• Acting out anger (hitting/kicking the wall).
  ​
  

• Change in appetite.

Five common reactions:

These are survival moves. They come online fast. None are good or bad. They are automatic.

Fight
Your body surges. You push hard, take control, get loud or very firm.
Firefighter example: stepping in and taking the nozzle or command voice when things get chaotic.

Flight
Create space, back out, reposition, call for more resources.
Firefighter example: moving the crew to a safer location or switching tactics quickly when conditions change.

Freeze
A pause or stall. Mind goes blank for a beat. Body goes still.
Firefighter example: reaching a doorway and having a one second blank before the next step lands. Often passes fast once someone calls the next task.

Take cover
You turtle down to protect and preserve. Reduce exposure.
Firefighter example: mask check, control your breathing, tighten the circle with your crew, use the rig or a wall for cover while you reset the plan.

Give up or check out
System overload. Autopilot. You do the task but feel detached, or you wait for a direct order because your mind is foggy.
Firefighter example: hands move tools but the head feels far away, then you need a clear prompt to re engage.

ON CALL COUNSELLING SERVICE:

​​​The Connection to Care service is a free and confidential phone support line available to municipal workers in BC. This service connects individuals with trained mental health professionals who have completed the FireFighter Occupational Awareness Program, ensuring they understand the unique challenges and pressures associated with firefighting. You call this service to help with any stress or situation you may be facing, you dont have to be struggling to call.

​This service is not meant for crisis situations, so you don’t need to be in a crisis to reach out. You can call simply for advice or to navigate challenging life events and everyday stresses.

Thinking

• Slow thinking, confusion.
  
  

• memory problems.
  
  

• re-living the event (flasbacks).
  
  

• Distressing dreams.
  
  

• Difficulty making decisions or problem solving.
  
  

• difficulty focusing or concentrating.
  
  

• disorientation (place/time).

What helps crews and families

On duty

• Quick crew check after tough calls. One sentence each. What landed. What you need.

• Name normal signs so folks do not build shame in silence.​
  

• Simple recovery moves during the rest of the shift. Fluids. Food. Fresh air. Ten slow breaths.
  

• Clear path to peer support and a pro if needed. No drama.
  

At home

• Tell your people the pattern ahead of time. Bring them into the plan.
  

• Simple script. I am home. I might be quiet for a bit. It is not you. I care about you. If I am rough please say pause and I will reset.
  

• Short walk or shower before re entering family space
  

• One small connection ritual every day you are home. Ten minute check in at the table. Phones down.
  

• Sleep basics. Dark cool room. Limit caffeine late.
  

• Watch for alcohol or doom scrolling as a default shut off. Swap in sleep, food, movement, or a call with a trusted peer.
  

• If numb or jumpy sticks around or gets worse, talk to a pro who knows first responder work.

How we adapt on the job

We train to work against some survival reflexes because our job asks for control in chaos. Common on duty adaptations include:

• Task focus and checklists
  

• Crew drills and muscle memory to keep action moving when thinking stalls
  

• Controlled breathing to settle the system enough to think
  

• Clear radio language and hand signals to fight confusion
  

• Scenario practice to build a map in your head before you need it
  

• Brief reset moments behind cover to widen attention again
  

• Peer checks and officer prompts that name the next step out loud
  

• Rotations, nutrition, fluids, and quick resets to manage load across a long shift
  

These are smart and they let us do hard things safely.

this list includes more common symptoms of a stress reaction, but does not detail all cis indicators, if you are concerned about the way you are feeling, speak in confidence to a CISM team peer or professional.

Emotional

• Anxiety, fear, guilt, anger.
  
  

• depression, sadness, irritability.
  
  

• Feeling lost, feeling isolated.
  
  

• worried about others, sense of shock.
  
  

• feeling numb or abandoned.
  ​
  

• exaggerated startle response.

What your body does under stress

This is the built in package. You do not pick it. It just happens.

• Adrenaline and other stress hormones rise
  

• Heart rate and blood pressure climb
  

• Breathing rate changes and can get shallow
  

• Blood shifts toward big muscles and away from skin and gut
  

• Pupils change, sweat increases, fine motor control can drop​
  

• After the surge you can feel shaky, tired, or wired
  

Connect with Our Employment Assistance Program (EAP) support by phone:
​call 1-800-663-1142.

As an employee you have access to Homewood Health, here you can access their Trauma Care (20 sessions) and Depression Care (20 Sessions) with a trauma informed counsellor. They also offer assistance for family members and short term counselling on other life problems that can arrise. 

The Home Side of things

The same adaptations that work great on duty can turn into problems at home. This is not a character flaw. It is your work gear showing up in the kitchen.

• Task focus becomes not present
  

• Controlled emotions becomes flat or cold
  

• High alert becomes jumpy or irritable
  

• Dark humor lands wrong
  

• Need for order becomes controlling
  

• Protecting others from hard details becomes secrecy​
  

• Empathic shielding becomes low empathy
  

Family and friends can take this personal. They may think they are the problem. Most of the time they are not. It is the work pattern still running.

How you percieve the call can change

You are not broken if these happen. They are common under load.

• Tunnel vision or narrowed attention
  

• Auditory exclusion or sounds seem distant or muted
  

• Time changes feel slow or too fast
  

• Memory gaps or spotty recall​
  

• Task focus so strong you miss other cues nearby

Now that we've identified all of this: what can we do about it? 

Prioritize Wellness and self care: Decompression Page

Take care of your self after significant Calls or events : Bad Call Button Page

Talk To someone who is trained to help you through this : Finding a Mental Health Professional Page 

Set up and maintain a open dialoge with your family support system at home so they know what youre going through : Family Page

Educate yourself on the psychological toll this job can take on you through our:
 Firefighter Occupational Awareness Program

Disclaimer

Stress and Trauma in the Fire Service

You do a job that asks you to step toward things that we are naturally evolved to step away from. Your brain and body do their best to keep you alive. Sometimes those same systems work against you on scene or at home. This page lays out what is going on and how we can work with it.

​The kinds of trauma we face

Primary trauma
Direct exposure on scene. You were there. You saw the event, immersed in the scene. 

Secondary trauma
You were not the primary responder or you came after. You are still affected by the story, the scene, or the person. This can also show up when you support a coworker who is struggling after a call.

Vicarious trauma and cumulative load
Vicarious trauma builds from repeated exposure to other people’s trauma. Cumulative load is the stack effect over time. One call on its own might be fine. One hundred adds up. It can be just as powerful as if we were there and can equally change how you see and feel about the world

Moral injury
This is when what happened breaks what you believe is right. Maybe you could not act the way your values wanted you to. Maybe systems tied your hands. The wound is to your sense of right and wrong, and it can carry guilt, shame, anger, or grief.

 Physical

• Chest pain, difficulty breathing.*
  
  

• Rapid heart rate, rapid breathing.
  
  

• increased blood pressure.
  
  

• dizziness, profuse Sweating.*
  
  

• upset stomach, diarrhea.
  
  

•  feeling uncoordinated.
  
  

• sleep disturbances, headaches.
  ​
  

• tremors (lips, hands).*

Monday-Friday 7am - 10pm
778-247-2273 (CARE)

Why checking in matters

Firefighters are excellent at shutting the emotional brain and getting the job done. You can look around the bay after a call and think you are the only one feeling it. That is rarely true. People are just wearing the mask. A quick check in lowers isolation and blocks the shame story that says I should be fine because everyone else looks fine.

The survival mode trap

When call volume and life both ramp up, many of us drop our heads and grind. Get through the shift. Get through the week. Then a month goes by. Common signs the tank is running low

• You feel nothing or you feel everything
  

• Sleep is junk or you wake up wired
  

• Short fuse at small things
  

• Hard to enjoy stuff you used to like
  

• Body aches, gut off, headaches​
  

• You avoid calls or you chase them to feel something
  

This is the time to pull your head up. Small resets work. Food. Water. Movement. Sleep basics. One honest talk with someone you trust. If you are stuck in the mud, reach out to a clinician who knows our world.

Setting a solid foundation for your career

You are stepping into a job that can be amazing and also demanding. These are the main things that matter early on. Nothing fancy. Just the stuff that actually shows up in real life for new firefighters.

Build a couple trusted people

You only need one or two classmates or similar seniority firefighters you can talk to when something is bothering you. You do not need deep talks every week. Just someone to talk when you feel off.

Example

After a tough call you pull one of them aside and say that one sat weird with me. That is enough to keep you grounded.

Get a counsellor early

Book a counsellor when life feels normal. This gives you a baseline so you both know what steady looks and feels like. Makes future check ins easier because you have already built the relationship.

Example

You go in for a first session and nothing is wrong. Later on if your sleep tanks or you feel stuck, the counsellor already knows your usual self.

Do a check in each season

One session each season. Fall. Winter. Spring. Summer. A quick tune up goes a long way.

Example

You sit down for twenty minutes and say sleep is rough this month or I have been more irritable. You catch it early instead of drowning in it.

Protect your sleep

Shift life hits your sleep harder than you expect. Sleep is the backbone of your mental health in this career. A small routine helps. Cooler room. Less late caffeine. A wind down when you get home.

Example

You finish a busy shift and instead of going straight into your day you take ten minutes to settle your system before bed.

Eat during the shift

Your patience, focus, and mood go downhill fast when you do not eat. Nerves sometimes make recruits skip meals. Do not do that.

Example

You pack something simple like a wrap or yogurt so you can grab a bite between calls.

Keep life outside the hall

Do not let the job swallow your whole identity. Keep hobbies and friends alive. It gives you balance and keeps you from tying your entire self worth to the career.

Example
You still play hockey or meet a friend for coffee on your days off. That outside world keeps you steady.

Expect the awkward first year
Everyone questions themselves. Everyone wonders if they fit. Everyone has moments where they feel like they are behind. This is normal.
Example
You freeze for a second on a call and think everyone noticed. They did not. They have all been there.

There will be a call that sticks
Every firefighter has one. Not graphic. Just real. A call will land heavier than you expected. That does not mean you are weak. It means you are human.
Example
A call that seemed routine ends up staying in your head for a few days. That is normal and talking about it early stops the shame story.

Watch your own signals
Pay attention to changes in sleep, patience, interest in hobbies, appetite, or if you start feeling disconnected from people.
Example
You notice you are snapping at small things for two straight weeks. That is a signal to talk to someone.

Do not pretend you are fine
Pretending everything is fine only gives stress room to grow. Saying something simple like that one bothered me usually takes the pressure off.
Example
You tell a trusted peer I do not know why but that call sat funny. You feel lighter right away.

Dark humor stays at work
Dark humor is a normal pressure valve at the hall but it does not land well at home or with friends. Keeping that boundary protects your relationships.
Example
You catch yourself joking the way firefighters joke and you see it does not sit right with your partner. You switch gears.

Avoid comparing yourself to senior firefighters
They have years of reps behind them. You are just starting. Comparison only messes with your confidence.
Example
A senior firefighter moves through a scene smoothly. You feel clunky. That is normal. Smooth comes with time.

Adrenaline crash
After a big surge your body drops, and that drop can feel like sadness, irritability, or fatigue. New firefighters often think something is wrong with them. It is just your system settling.
Example
You feel pumped during the call then three hours later you feel drained or emotional. That is biology, not weakness.

Isolation creeps in
When you are tired or overwhelmed your system sometimes pulls back to protect itself. Isolation feels easier in the moment, but it makes things worse long term.
Example
You go quiet at home for days because you feel off. A small move like texting a friend or going for a short walk with someone breaks that cycle.