WEBVTT - Kerry Crivello: Fighting California’s Fires 0:00:05.559 --> 0:00:07.520 You're tired your head or as you've been out there 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:11.119 for twelve fourteen hours already, you're coughing, breathing in smoke, 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:13.640 just trying to get a breath of air, pulling your 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:15.880 shirt over your face, trying to find some way to 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:19.240 get a good breath as you're trying to defend this house. 0:00:21.239 --> 0:00:26.119 That's firefighter Carry Crivello in California, where she works. The 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.560 challenges are huge right now as historic fires ripped through 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.320 the state. But for Carrie, the satisfaction and sense of 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:37.280 purpose are worth the danger. I'm Kim Azzarelli, and this 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:40.720 is Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear. We're bringing you 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:44.280 one hundred of the world's most inspiring and history making women. 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:48.839 You need to hear now. Carrie Crivello is at the 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:53.480 front lines during a record year for California wildfires. To date, 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:57.040 more than four million acres have been burned. Smoke often 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.920 fills the sky in the Los Angeles area, where nine 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:04.000 thousand people have been told to evacuate. There aren't too 0:01:04.000 --> 0:01:06.800 many firefighters like Carry. She's the mother of a six 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:11.320 year old son in a profession that's ent mail. In fact, 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:14.280 she was the only woman in her graduating class of firefighters. 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:18.479 Her job is physically and emotionally demanding, and she's often 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:22.119 working twenty four hour days, if not longer. Why did 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:25.560 she do it? Listen and learn why. Carrie Crivello is 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:30.280 one of Seneca's one hundred Women to Hear. Thanks so 0:01:30.319 --> 0:01:33.720 much for joining me today, Thanks for having me. So, Carrie, 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:35.880 tell us a little bit about what you do. So, 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:38.080 I'm a firefighter and a paramedic for the City of 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.959 Los Angeles UM SO, as a municipal department for a 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:45.479 big city like this, we cover every type of emergency 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:49.000 you can imagine, and being in California where brush fires 0:01:49.000 --> 0:01:51.880 are a huge thing, of course, we also go out 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:54.160 and we help with brush fires. Sometimes they're within the 0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:56.560 city and that's something we're going to pull all our 0:01:56.600 --> 0:02:00.200 resources immediately out and do our best to control the fire. 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.960 Sometimes they're larger fires somewhere else in the county or 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.440 even somewhere else in the state, and then we pull 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:08.520 our resources in what we call a mutual aid and 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:11.280 we pack up and head out to go help um 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:15.120 wherever we can. On a day to day basis, we're 0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:18.840 more more than anything, we're doing medical calls in the 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:21.600 city working as a paramedic, whether I'm on a fire 0:02:21.680 --> 0:02:24.600 engine or a fire truck or on an ambulance, the 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:26.480 majority of the nival one calls we get in the 0:02:26.480 --> 0:02:29.799 city are actually for medical emergencies. How bad are the 0:02:29.840 --> 0:02:32.840 fires in California and how dangerous is it for those 0:02:32.919 --> 0:02:35.600 fighting them? Yeah, We've actually had a string of tough 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:39.400 years for fires in California. UM, this year it's been 0:02:39.440 --> 0:02:43.040 particularly bad. We had a really dry winter, so the brush, 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:46.640 especially that the grasses in the shrubbery dried out really 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:50.320 early this year, and that kind of fuel leads to 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:52.799 the types of fires we're seeing with this massive amount 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:55.480 of acreage that's spreading really quickly, that's really difficult for 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.640 firefighters to get a hold of in the initial phases 0:02:58.680 --> 0:03:01.480 of the fire. UM. On top of that, it seemed 0:03:01.480 --> 0:03:03.520 like sort of a perfect storm of factors all came 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.280 together right around Labor Day when there were some storms 0:03:06.280 --> 0:03:10.440 with lightning and also a ton of heat waves all 0:03:10.480 --> 0:03:13.200 in a row. Um, which creates sort of a situation 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.640 where the fuels, like I'm talking to you know, the shrubs, 0:03:15.680 --> 0:03:18.280 the grasses not only are they dry to start out, 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:22.000 but overnight the temperatures aren't cooling, there's no moisture coming 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.800 back into the fuels, so any small thing can spark 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:27.440 it off, whether it's lightning or whether it's started an 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:32.040 accidental start from some campers or some even unfortunately intentional 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:35.160 starts sometimes by arsonists. And these fires have just been 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:39.960 spreading extremely rapidly, and when they all sort of kicked 0:03:40.000 --> 0:03:45.160 off simultaneously throughout the state, it became more challenging for 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:48.240 us to manage as firefighters because our resources are spread 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.240 more thin throughout the state. So we share resources like 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:55.160 the super scuber airplanes and the water dropping helicopters, and 0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:58.600 those are often leased or shared between different fire departments 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:01.720 and agencies, and we're just spread really thin and having 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.240 to rely on national resources which take a little longer 0:04:04.280 --> 0:04:07.440 to get here. So when you're fighting these fires, what 0:04:07.680 --> 0:04:12.440 is a day like? I understand you work shifts, sometimes longer. Yeah, 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:14.760 we normally work twenty four shifts. So in the city, 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:17.560 when we come to work, become at six one morning 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:19.719 and don't go home until six o'clock the next morning, 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:23.120 and that's our standards. So we're all pretty used to that. 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.360 When we get out on a brush fire, um initially 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.760 we're usually going to be sent out for a minimum 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:32.599 of thirty six sometimes even forty eight hours before you 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:35.080 get a break, so you may be actively fighting fire 0:04:35.640 --> 0:04:38.960 without sleep for multiple nights in a row. Um, you 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.760 may not even get your first meal or food for 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:46.480 sometimes twelve to six eighteen hours into the fire before 0:04:46.520 --> 0:04:48.440 you're able to get a break, just to have something 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:52.919 to eat, um, so that can be really challenging. We 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.599 we've all are as prepared as we possibly can be. 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:57.440 Every day on the fire engine, we have with us 0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:59.760 a bag. We call it our go bag, so we 0:04:59.839 --> 0:05:04.720 all always have some stuff with us, some screened water, chapstick, um, 0:05:04.720 --> 0:05:06.640 everyone has a couple of little snacks, whether it's like 0:05:06.760 --> 0:05:09.120 beef jerky or trail mix or protein bar, is something 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:10.800 that you can have so that in the event we 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:12.920 do get sent out, we can get by with what 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:14.800 we have just in our little pack for the first 0:05:15.279 --> 0:05:18.000 twenty four hours and maybe a dry t shirt or 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:20.960 some clean socks to throw on. And then it's not 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.160 really until these fires develop into a bigger incident, so 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:28.560 maybe forty eight hours in or sometimes even longer than that, 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.480 when they establish a full base camp, and that's at 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:33.839 that point we're going to have resources we need. They'll 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.880 have trailers with showers, they'll have food for us, and 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:38.920 they'll be able to meet our needs and have enough 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.400 personnel and resources so that you can take your engine 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:43.920 and your company down off the hill for a little bit, 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.520 get some food, sometimes, get a nap, sometimes a few 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.200 hours of sleep, and let somebody else come and take 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:51.200 over the work you are doing so we can sort 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.960 of basically it becomes shifts then and then those are 0:05:53.960 --> 0:05:57.560 typically either twelve hour work periods or sometimes twenty four 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:01.440 hour work periods, and then you'll get a rest period between. Wow. Incredible, 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.599 Well it sounds like obviously very difficult, dangerous work. Why 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:07.920 do you do it? Um? What motivates you to keep going? 0:06:09.000 --> 0:06:10.840 You know, I feel really lucky to have the job 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:12.839 I have. I love it. Um. Every day we go 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.680 to work is something different. It's not like I know 0:06:15.760 --> 0:06:17.560 I'm going to go in and have a meeting and 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:21.000 write a paper or submit a draft of something. It's 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:23.919 every single day you show up and who knows. You 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:25.600 could be in the middle of breakfast and have the 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:28.120 biggest fire of your career. You could be in the 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:30.640 shower and get sent to a shooting. You could we 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.880 just anything could happen at any moment, and there's some 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:38.280 fun to that, some element of excitement and adrenaline and 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:41.440 and just fun of the unpredictability of it. But I 0:06:41.440 --> 0:06:45.320 think the biggest thing is the camaraderie we get from it. 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:47.360 It's like being on a team. I was on sports 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:49.720 teams in my whole life, and then this is sort 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.680 of just a continuation of that. We show up to 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:55.520 work and we each have a different position we're riding 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:58.760 that day, whether it's driving the fire engine to being 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.880 the captain on the engine, or riding as a firefighter 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.200 on the seat on the left or the seat on 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.360 the right, and knowing exactly where you sit is going 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.400 to dictate what you do. So if on Monday, I'm 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:11.640 riding in the seat on the left as a firefighter, 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:13.560 I know exactly what I'm gonna do when we show 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:15.800 up on a fire on Tuesday, I'm riding in the 0:07:15.800 --> 0:07:18.240 seat on the right. Instead of pulling a nozzle to 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:20.080 the fire, I'm going to be connecting to the hydrant, 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:22.080 or I'm gonna be grabbing one tool instead of another. 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:24.920 So it's almost like a choreographic dance. We all know 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.600 exactly what needs to happen, and obviously that requires a 0:07:27.600 --> 0:07:30.480 ton of training, but there's something so satisfying when we 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:33.480 actually get out. We have that moment we need to perform, 0:07:33.520 --> 0:07:35.480 and everyone does exactly what they're supposed to do and 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:39.800 it all comes together in sort of this like perfect process. 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.080 Of course, nothing is ever perfect. Something always is going 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:44.800 to go wrong, but it's about adapting, overcoming, and then 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:47.000 in the end when we solve the problem, whether it's 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:49.440 putting out a fire or getting pulses back in a 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.920 cardiac arrest, or figuring out a way to cut into 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:56.520 a car that has been smashed and we're having to 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.680 perform extrication to get a patient out, whatever it might be, 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.240 it's a experience of working together with your teammates or 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.640 coworkers and then coming out with this common goal that's 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.840 just like, ultimately so satisfying. I think that's really what 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:13.320 keeps all of us coming back. Sounds amazing, sounds like 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:17.080 such purpose driven work, and I could see why, um, 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:18.640 why you get up and we're so lucky you get 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:20.480 up and do that every day and we appreciate it. 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.120 What are the challenges of being one of the few 0:08:23.200 --> 0:08:28.400 female firefighters, especially doing this, you know, very intense physical work. Yeah. 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:32.400 You know, I've been really lucky in that I live 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:34.360 and work in the city of l A, which is 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:38.920 pretty forward thinking city. Um. And there were some really 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:41.280 strong women who came before me who were truly the 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:44.760 trailblazers who really like cut the path, and we're the 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.240 first women in the fire department improved that women could 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.360 do it. Of course, we get tested. Every new firefighter 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:54.760 gets tested, and everybody is expected to meet the standards 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.440 and perform the same exact tasks, whether it's lifting a ladder, 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.040 pulling a hose line, cutting through a roof with an axe, 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.880 the kinds of things that are truly really physically demanding. 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.840 And I think the guys, once you prove that, the 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:11.760 guy's respect the females on the job equally. There's no 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.720 I've never had any experience where anyone held it against 0:09:15.720 --> 0:09:17.600 me that I was a female. I've always felt like 0:09:17.640 --> 0:09:20.600 I was welcomed in and treated with respect and treated 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.080 like I was just one of the guys. UM. I 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:27.400 think the biggest challenge females face is just the physical limitations, 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:29.679 and that's mostly just based on size and strength, And 0:09:30.920 --> 0:09:33.120 of course there are guys who are also small or 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:36.280 maybe not as strong as others, but just overall, females 0:09:36.320 --> 0:09:39.640 are typically stronger and typically I'm sorry, typically smaller and 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:42.480 typically not as strong as the guys. And when you're 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:44.640 asked to wear the same equipment and performed the same job, 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.559 it's just naturally going to be more challenging. So two 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:50.319 pound ladder. For me to put up a two hundred 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.160 pound ladder while I'm wearing eighty pounds of gear, it's 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:54.960 going to be a lot more challenging than it is 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.120 for the two fifty pound guy who's also wearing the 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.120 same amount of gear and putting up the same weight ladder. 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.440 But it doesn't mean it's not possible. It just means 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:05.719 it's going to require a little more strength from me 0:10:06.120 --> 0:10:08.520 than it would from him. So what made you get 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:10.640 into this latin work? You know, I kind of came 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:12.880 at it from a very different side than most people. 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.000 I would say most firefighters. It's sort of something they 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:17.320 wanted since they were little, whether they were a little 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:22.200 kid growing up. Of course, kids typically idolized a little 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.480 bit the firefighters. Police look up to us, see us, 0:10:25.520 --> 0:10:27.160 wave at us, all that. Of course I did that 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:29.280 like any normal kid, But I didn't grow up wanting 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:32.680 to be a firefighter. I went to college. I thought 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:34.240 I was going to be a doctor. I ended up 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:36.520 going to grad school for psychology. I was planning to 0:10:36.520 --> 0:10:40.360 be a psychologist, totally on a different path. Had been 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:42.679 working on an ambulance just to pay for my grad 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.079 school and really fell in love with it. I fell 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:47.960 in love with running nine one calls helping people as 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:50.560 an e m T. And then I went to paramedic 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.880 school liked that even more. And then when I was 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:56.880 working as a paramedic, I was running the calls alongside 0:10:56.920 --> 0:10:59.439 the fire department, and I was having to sit outside 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:01.240 the fire and wait for them to bring a patient 0:11:01.280 --> 0:11:03.120 out to me, or sit at the top of the 0:11:03.120 --> 0:11:05.360 cliff while they went down and performed a rescue on 0:11:05.440 --> 0:11:08.000 a hiker and brought the hiker back to me. And 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:10.080 that was it. It was like I didn't want to 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:12.240 be sitting there waiting. I wanted to be doing everything. 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.320 I wanted to be participating and having fun with them. 0:11:15.320 --> 0:11:18.760 So I decided to become a firefighter. And it's really competitive, 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:23.120 it's really challenging. Um the process is really hard and 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:27.000 can sometimes be uh disheartening. It takes a lot of 0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:28.800 work and often a lot of years and a lot 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:31.120 of tries before you actually get hired with a fire department, 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:35.440 but it's definitely worth it in the end. UM really 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:37.320 happy to be doing what I'm doing, happy to be 0:11:37.520 --> 0:11:39.600 getting up and going to work every day. And there 0:11:39.640 --> 0:11:43.120 aren't very many people who can say that. So it 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:44.680 took me a little while to get there, but I 0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.640 finally figured out what I really enjoyed doing, and I'm 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:52.240 happy that I was able to do it. Senecas one 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.240 hundred women to hear will be back after the short break. 0:12:05.480 --> 0:12:08.360 What has been the most difficult moment you've experienced during 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:11.200 these fires and how did you get past it? Yeah, 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:15.959 you know, I think, UM, the classic answer to that 0:12:16.000 --> 0:12:19.640 would be any of the moments where all of a sudden, 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:23.520 the fire kind of turns and turns towards you. UM, 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:27.240 whether you're fighting brush fire or structure fire, that moment 0:12:27.280 --> 0:12:30.400 where all of a sudden you feel like vulnerable, you 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:33.280 feel the fire coming up at you. I've the distinct 0:12:33.360 --> 0:12:37.800 memory from a summer ago UM fighting fire, trying to 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:41.120 defend a structure. The brush fire was coming up the 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:45.079 hill towards us, and then one of the structures one 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.079 of the homes to the side of our the home 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.680 we were defending, took off, and then the home to 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:51.560 the other side of the one we were defending took off, 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:53.600 and all of a sudden, you're you look up and 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:58.120 you realize you're surrounded by fire. Um, the air's really smoky. 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.800 We're not breathing off of a tank like we wouldn't 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.560 a structure fire, So on these brush fires, you're sort 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.959 of coughing, choking through the smoke, trying to put some water, 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:10.880 trying to defend the home that we were there protecting, um, 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.920 and then ultimately having to make the judgment call that 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.280 for our safety we had to retreat, we had to leave. 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.840 So you're there doing everything you can, putting yourself in 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.880 a situation where you're physically really uncomfortable, you're tired, your head, 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:26.600 or it's you've been out there for twelve fourteen hours already, 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:29.679 you're coughing, breathing in smoke, just trying to get a 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.360 breath of air, pulling your shirt over your face, trying 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:34.319 to find some way to get a good breath as 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:37.320 you're trying to defend this house, and then ultimately having 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:39.760 to say for our safety, you know we can't. We'll 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:43.160 risk a whole lot. If there's a somebody we can save, 0:13:43.679 --> 0:13:47.320 we'll do a decent amount. If there's a structure we 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:49.400 can save, But at some point, no matter what, we 0:13:49.480 --> 0:13:52.839 have to pull out for our own safety. So that's 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:55.120 a moment that definitely comes into my head. But when 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:59.080 you ask that question initially, I think, really the biggest 0:13:59.160 --> 0:14:02.920 challenge for me isn't so much the specific moments on 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:04.760 the fire. That's what we're chained to do, that's what 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:07.160 we signed up for, and we all know what we're doing. 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:08.880 We take the risks, we do our very best to 0:14:08.880 --> 0:14:10.880 stay safe, and of course we have scary moments. We 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:13.319 have to take a deep breath, gather yourself and make 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:15.640 an appropriate decision, whether it's continuing to fight or to 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:18.080 back out, or whatever it is you need to do. 0:14:19.160 --> 0:14:22.480 But I think sort of a different answer, that's really 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:25.200 the most challenging thing for me, and I think for 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:27.160 a lot of the guys and girls I work with, 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.560 is just figuring out how to balance such an intense 0:14:30.600 --> 0:14:34.000 and demanding job and then having a normal life too, 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:37.560 and trying to come home from four days where you're 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:43.040 risking your life fighting fires and come back home and 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:48.760 be a normal parent and normal husband, wife, brother, sister, 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:52.400 just to function in a normal world where people are 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:55.960 really stressed out about something that, relative to what you've 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.800 just seen, seems so mundane and so not important. But 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:00.240 you still have to interact and be a part of 0:15:00.240 --> 0:15:02.560 the normal world as well. I was just thinking about 0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:04.440 that as you were talking and you were describing your work. 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.320 I was thinking, Wow, what we deal with and the 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:10.320 things that are sort of pressures in everyday life must 0:15:10.360 --> 0:15:13.560 seem pretty ridiculous when you hear about them. I was 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:15.880 thinking that exact thought. So how do you how do 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:17.880 you do that? I mean, you must be relatively good 0:15:17.880 --> 0:15:19.920 actress as well, or you have to learn to learn 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.200 to be you know, learned to be empathetic because people 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.680 are standing obviously not in your shoes, but I can 0:15:24.760 --> 0:15:27.120 understand how it could be hard. Yeah, of course, And 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:30.880 there's I have a six year old, so I don't 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.240 know if how familiar I was six year old, But 0:15:33.760 --> 0:15:36.880 sometimes very small things become very big deals when you're 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:39.160 a six year old, and it's sometimes I have to 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:43.720 remind myself, Okay, like he's really upset that we're out 0:15:43.760 --> 0:15:47.320 of his favorite snack. But that in that moment, that's 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:50.000 his emergency, even though I'm thinking, like, come on, kid, 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.160 you don't know what the six year old I just 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:55.120 saw yesterday who had to deal with a family member 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.680 getting severely injured in front of him, or the things 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.680 that we we see that other kids e variance. You know, 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:03.400 I'm lucky. My kid is lucky. He has a good 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:05.120 life and he hasn't had to deal with that. So 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:07.480 for him, maybe the fact that we're out of Goldfish 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.480 is a really big deal. But so of course we 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:13.400 have to transition well, and sometimes it can be challenging, 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:15.760 and I think we all depend on our families and 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:18.800 try to communicate with them and teach them to be 0:16:18.840 --> 0:16:20.840 as understanding as they can that when we Sometimes we 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.040 come home from a really rough shift, maybe we had 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:26.640 a something really stressful happen at work. Maybe I just 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:28.680 told a mother that her son died, and then I 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:30.160 have to come home and be a mom to my 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:32.440 own son. Sometimes it's a lot, and you have to 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:36.240 find coping mechanisms um and you have to have people 0:16:36.280 --> 0:16:39.360 you can rely on. So I have family, and I'll 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:41.560 sometimes say to my mom, Hey, I need to go 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:43.840 take a walk, I need you to watch my son. 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:47.600 I need a little time just to calm down and 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:50.960 clear my mind and be ready to then switch into 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:52.720 the role of being a mom and being able to 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:54.200 be there for him. So I think part of it 0:16:54.240 --> 0:16:56.200 is just recognizing when you are tapped out, when you 0:16:56.240 --> 0:16:58.360 do need a break or you need some help. It 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.080 sounds like you know, with your ocasional background to your 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:04.800 super well prepared UM I mean to make those transitions. 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:07.320 I mean, how how have you found other people coping? 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:11.120 What are the coping mechanisms that people use in these situations? Yeah, 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:13.120 A lot of the A lot of it is actually 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:15.560 just depending on the camaraderie we have at the station. 0:17:15.720 --> 0:17:18.760 So while of course the department has resources for us. 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:23.919 We have psychologists, we have UM liaisons, peer support groups 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:25.679 that will actually come out to your station after a 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:29.440 particularly stressful incident to do a debriefing, and all of that. 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.320 That's all there for us. But I find more often 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:34.320 than not that the guys really just want to all 0:17:34.320 --> 0:17:36.480 sit around the kitchen table, have a cup of coffee 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.520 and vent to each other. There's sort of a the 0:17:39.600 --> 0:17:42.960 experience we have is really hard for outside people to understand, 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:45.920 so it'd be hard for me to come home and 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.399 tell one of my friends the details about what I 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:51.760 saw at work, because it would either be traumatic to 0:17:51.840 --> 0:17:54.200 them or they just wouldn't understand it or wouldn't exactly 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.119 know how to respond in a way that I needed. 0:17:57.440 --> 0:17:59.879 And so we really depend on each other for that. 0:18:00.040 --> 0:18:03.440 So we'll come back anytime there's a stressful call. People 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:06.199 always seem to gather in the kitchen, sit around the 0:18:06.240 --> 0:18:08.439 table and talk and talk about what I saw, what 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.160 did you see? What did we do right, what did 0:18:10.160 --> 0:18:11.800 we do wrong? And most of the time it's like 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:14.480 we did everything we could. That was just a bad situation, 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:17.199 and this is the outcome. And and there's rarely a 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:20.200 time where people are blaming themselves or getting really down 0:18:20.240 --> 0:18:23.560 on themselves or anything like that. It's usually just just 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:28.360 benting together, experiencing that camaraderie and support from each other. 0:18:28.400 --> 0:18:30.480 And then of course, if it's something beyond that, then 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:34.040 we absolutely will use the resources that are there for us. So, 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:38.000 in this period of COVID, how has the job changed 0:18:38.040 --> 0:18:40.359 and what has been your experience as a frontline worker 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:43.320 during this period. Yeah, so this has been a really 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:45.880 tough year for us over here because we started with 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:51.040 COVID and then we went right into UM the BLM 0:18:51.080 --> 0:18:53.520 and the riots that went along with that, which hit 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:57.600 our city pretty hard, and then right now into one 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.160 of the worst brush seasons we've ever had. So it's 0:19:01.160 --> 0:19:04.920 been a a long year for the firefighters. The COVID. 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:09.320 When it first started, we were um sort of just 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:13.080 scrambling to keep up with the demands and scrambling to 0:19:13.480 --> 0:19:15.879 try to figure out how we could keep ourselves safe 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:19.040 as there was I'm sure everyone experienced, but lots of 0:19:19.080 --> 0:19:22.680 different information that didn't always line up coming in. So 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:27.159 we were having our protocols constantly being adjusted as information 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.600 was coming in so that we could keep ourselves safe UM. 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:34.880 Primary goal being that we are not bringing anything home 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:40.800 to our families of course, UM and sort of seemed 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:42.920 like we got. We took a little bit, but we got. 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:44.840 We got on top of it, and we had all 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:48.160 the necessary equipment in gear and we were doing our 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:50.120 best to take care of all the patients while keeping 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.119 ourselves safe. And we were very lucky as a department. 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:59.000 The number of people who got COVID UM wasn't super high. Unfortunately, 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:01.159 we did have one fire rider pass away from it. 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:04.560 But for the most part. We were able to keep 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:09.080 it in check within our department, just using good practices 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:14.639 with sanitation and UM cleaning everything every day, multiple times 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:18.399 around the station, cleaning the resources, wearing appropriate pps. I 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.640 think the biggest challenges any department is going to face 0:20:21.760 --> 0:20:24.879