An Open Letter to the Fire Service

What does professional psychology have to offer the fire service? I give you Exhibit A from Dr. Andrew Holter, an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist, in his recent article that appeared on?FireRescue1 .

The reality of generational differences: It’s about society, not individuals

In a comment for my post on LinkedIn, Dr. Holter said:

Thank you, Robert Avsec,?for sharing my article and highlighting the case for more professional inclusion in the fire service.

Professional inclusion? What do I mean?

I mean that the fire service does not have all the answers. We need people to help us with things like GIS, data analytics, fire chemistry and physics and we have accepted that. But we also need help on management, leadership, and organizational development. Which translates to help with recruitment and retention, officer development, hiring practices, and employee policies. Lean on other industry professionals to help make your organization the best it can be on all fronts.

In my most recent article posted to FireRescue1, 5 firefighter safety issues we shouldn’t still be talking about , the sub-header read “It’s time to put these issues to rest once and for all – and start doing the right thing.” The five issues I addressed were:

• Seatbelt Use on Fire Apparatus [Lack thereof]
• On-Scene Accountability [Lack thereof]
• Wearing Proper PPE [All the time]
• Conducting 360 Size-Ups at Structure Fires [All the time]
• Fire Service Culture [The common thread through the previous four]

Firefighters are by nature “risk-tolerant,” and safety policies and SOGs are “risk-aversion” tools. A fire department’s success in implementing those “risk aversion” tools depend heavily upon its ability to develop firefighters and officers who have a good balance between risk tolerance and risk aversion.

But educating firefighters and officers about risk tolerance and risk aversion through policies, SOGs, and training is not accomplishing the goal.

The Fire Service Doesn’t Have the Answers, But Psychology Does

The U.S. Fire Administrator,?Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell , aka, "America's Fire Chief, has included firefighter behavioral health under the umbrella of her “One Voice” Initiative at the US Fire Administration. However, intervention after the fact (e.g., peer support, post-traumatic stress, suicide) is only one piece of the firefighter behavioral health “pie.”

I/O psychology is one of the four domains of psychology that are recognized by the?American Psychological Association 's Division 18, Police and Public Safety, the others being Assessment, Intervention, and Operations, with Consultation as a common thread amongst all four domains.

The Operations domain addresses the psychological aspects of human factors, decision-making, and safety and risk. Psychologists trained and educated in the Operations domain are the professionals who can help us to better understand Why firefighters and officers engage in unsafe behaviors (e.g., not wear their seatbelt, not wearing their PPE, not conducting size-ups) even though they’ve been trained and educated not to do so. Why they do so despite their fire department having policies and SOGs that provide guidance and direction?

It's imperative that professional psychologists become active participants in helping the fire service to develop national strategies to address all the behavioral health issues affecting firefighters, officers, and their fire departments.

But as part of the larger "team" that includes researchers, and fire service stakeholders (e.g., the?International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) , the?International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) , the?National Volunteer Fire Council , the?National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) .

The psychologists at the?Fire Service Psychology Association- Admin ?stand ready to make positive contributions to the work of "America's Fire Chief" as a member of her team. But it’s going to take those major stakeholders—Who should have the best interests of their members at heart, right? —demanding that professional psychologist representing those four domains be added to the team.