By Elaine Kluttz
The saying, “To whom much is given, much is required” is certainly applicable to firefighters. No other profession is required to run to and put out fires. Whether it is a hut or a warehouse, if it catches fire, firefighters will be called to put it out.
Not all fires are related to property. There are also constructive fires, those we light to help keep us warm, cook food, or to destroy contaminated items that can spread a contagious disease. Then, there are destructive, devastating fires that destroy people, places, and possessions. The irony about being a firefighter is that proactively participating in fire prevention activities is also an integral part of the profession.
What’s Your Point?
In training, you learn how to deal with what is known in fire service jargon as “fire point”: the lowest temperature at which a volatile combustible substance continues to burn in air after its vapors have been ignited. When preventing or fighting fire, often, the most formidable challenge is to answer the question, “What’s your point?” What’s the lowest temperature at which you allow volatile, combustible problematic situations to continue to burn in your life after whatever is bothering you has been ignited? In other words, what’s your mental and emotional Fire Point?
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Being the mother of an experienced firefighter who is a captain with the Saint Louis (MO) Fire Department and a Replenish Every Step Taken (R.E.S.T.) coach of firefighters, I have found that various situations and issues are much like the types of fires mentioned above. Like those fires, there are what I call “life fires” that can have a destructive effect on your mind, will, and emotions.
Three major factors often tend to plague firefighters (and their families) more than members of most other professions:
Number One: You are often tempted to neglect or even recognize the need to R.E.S.T. When you are working your shifts, it is almost impossible to fully and effectively rest! It doesn’t matter if you’re at a slow house or a busy house, the one common denominator is that you must always be “at the ready!” You must be prepared or available for immediate use, in position, poised, ready for use/action, waiting, on deck. Even though you’re allowed to sleep, it is not the kind of sleep you get at home in your comfortable bed. Your at-home sleep is not the same as your “at the ready” sleep. Sitting down at home or out to dinner with the family or friends is not the same as cooking and enjoying a meal with your fellow firefighters—”at the ready!”
Every single, solitary activity you do at home, at the gym, at a party, or visiting with your friends and family does not require you to listen for an alarm, be mindful of the details being radioed in, and have your firefighter gear positioned so you can jump into it.
What being at home does require, however, is that you intentionally and proactively make the time to rest! You must deliberately get in at least eight hours of night-time sleep. Remember, sleep and rest are not the same. Sometimes, sleep is not restful. It is essential that you learn to rest and relax by taking the time to do nothing. Get in your easy chair, prop your feet up, and close your eyes. You may also choose to sit in a chair with your back straight and take deep, cleansing, relaxing breaths. Put on some soothing music while you’re doing either.
A relaxing activity is still activity. The goal of resting is to do nothing else! Rest replenishes. Rest is fuel for the mind, the will, and the emotions. Rest replenishes like nothing else can.
Number Two: You are often tempted to neglect an extremely important, practice I call “personal, healthy housekeeping” (PHH). My son, the fire captain, has instructed everyone from firefighter recruits to fire chiefs. He gave me a very literal illustration of what a fire point is. He used the analogy of a chair sitting in the middle of an empty warehouse being set on fire. Because there is nothing else in the warehouse and the chair is sitting in the middle of the warehouse, it can burn up without burning down the warehouse because the chair is the only fire load. However, if the same chair were sitting in the middle of a warehouse filled with clutter, trash, and other furniture, the fire point would be sustained much longer. The ultimate result, without effective intervention, would be the destruction of the warehouse and its contents.
In another warehouse scenario, there are other contributing factors in addition to the fire load. The warehouse owner did not make sure there were regular, routine safety inspections, which would have revealed warning signs that would have indicated to the owner that a catastrophic fire was inevitable.
There were minimal proactive prevention practices such as keeping flammable substances away from flammable objects. There was no attempt to prevent the possibility of spontaneous combustion. There were no rules and regulations about smoking on the premises.
The main thing the owner was guilty of was forgetting that no house should house clutter, especially a warehouse. A warehouse should be a temporary holding place. Items should be shipped in and, after a short time, shipped out, leaving only the absolute necessities.
As a firefighter, PHH must be your premier priority. When you’re on duty, being “at the ready” is a necessity, but it should be shipped out once you’re off duty.
PHH is about the following:
v Not letting your emotions rule you.
v Not becoming a “he said, she said” hoarder, keeping things
that someone told you someone allegedly said about you.
v Not screening whom you allow into your personal mental space.
v Not taking optimal care of your whole self-spirit, soul, and body.
v Not seeking professional help, especially for traumatic life events.
v Not holding on to the past and present hurt. It does more harm and no good.
v Not making petty problems a priority and knowing the difference
between petty priorities and pertinent priorities.
Number Three: Learn to know yourself well enough to answer the question, “What’s your point?” Effectively answering this question is an ongoing process that you must practice until you become as proficient at it as you are in fighting fires. There are routine tasks that you do at the firehouse that keep your equipment, the fire truck, and even the firehouse ready for you to move efficiently and effectively when a call comes in. You and everything at the engine house must be ready ahead of time.
As a R.E.S.T. coach, I not only coach clients in learning how to R.E.S.T. but also on how to connect the dots in their life. For example, firefighter is your job title. Fighting fires is what your job entails. It is not the sum of who you are as a person. In your training to become a firefighter and to become proficient at the job, you can apply significant principles to your personal life. To thrive as a firefighter, it is crucial that you do the following:
Work with a team. No matter how gifted, talented, and skilled you may be, your gifts, talents, and skills will be best served when you work with a team. Without a team, the load gets too heavy. Effective, efficient, strategic teamwork is essential for fighting life’s fires. When the alarm goes off at the firehouse, a team mobilizes to go and fight the fire. It takes a team of instructors to learn how to fight a fire. How much more is a team necessary to fight life’s fires and to help you learn how to determine “your point?”
Drill when there is no fire. Reacting to a crisis in and of itself is not the problem. Not being prepared to react causes negative outcomes. Yes, the unexpected happens; but as a firefighter, you expect the unexpected and prepare for it. You are ready and waiting when you are at the firehouse. Do you have mental and emotional drills when there are no life fires to fight? Do you have drills to help you know “What’s your point” ahead of time?
Make prioritizing a priority. Unfortunately, it seems that in today’s world, there is a propensity towards procrastination, anti-planning, and an inability or unwillingness to prioritize. On the job, your employer often predetermines priorities. However, what is not always taught is how to prioritize.
You will seldom go wrong when dealing with principles because they can be applied to almost any area of your life. Just as knowing the fire point and the fire load can help you prevent fires and deal with the fire scene more effectively, knowing your personal fire point and fire load can do the same when you encounter life’s fires.
Make learning who you are first on your list of priorities. You will then become your own, most productive first responder. You were trained to gear up in 90 seconds or less so you could expedite your response to all kinds of situations. When everything is under control and you can think clearly without distraction, that is the best time to ask yourself, “What’s your point?”
“To whom much is given, much is required.” That’s even more reason to take optimum care of you. The better you take care of yourself, the better you will take care of everyone and everything else for which you are responsible. Taking care of yourself means making sure you get regular, routine rest, an off-duty responsibility. When your PHH includes a daily declutter regimen, stress weighs less. This process is greatly enhanced if you have on your team coaches, counselors, and others who have your best interests at heart. Your team can help you drill when there are no life fires. They can also provide another point of view when identifying priorities. Life fires are inevitable. Equip yourself with the tools needed to prevent life’s fires. Edify your mind, your will, and your emotions. You will be better able to fight life’s fires and learn the answer to the question: “What’s your point – your fire point?”
Elaine Kluttz, R.N. (ret.) R.E.S.T. Coach, is the owner/founder of Coachlight Connections. For nearly two decades, she has taught the benefits of mental and emotional fitness.
