“We need more resilient firefighters.” “They need to get more resilient.” “This newer generation isn’t as resilient as past generations…” Sound familiar?
Is resiliency something firefighters can build, or is it something we are born with?
After interviewing hundreds of chiefs and leaders from five continents, I have heard the word “resilience” often in relation to firefighters’ mental health.[i] Fire chiefs are clearly in search of more resilient firefighters everywhere. But what does that actually mean?
Are firefighters becoming less resilient? Is resiliency only a thing that exists with some and not others? Were firefighters more resilient in the past? These are all questions that fire chiefs discuss and contemplate as they search for cultural change in the fire service.
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Are We Teaching Resiliency?
After spending 15 years in the fire service, I have heard the phrase, “We need to be more resilient” too often. Are we teaching resiliency, or are we just telling firefighters to be more resilient?
We don’t say to new firefighters, “Go pump water out of the truck,” on day one. We spend weeks educating them, teaching them about friction loss calculations, pump pressure, cavitation, Venturi effect, etc. Then, when they’re ready, we walk them through all the steps: turning on the truck, engaging the pump, flowing water. And then we revisit pumping training, often, throughout our careers.
Are we training our firefighters to be more resilient? I set out to learn more about the current state of mental health in the fire service. I wanted to learn what other fire departments are doing to manage the mental health of their firefighters. What preventative measures do fire departments put in place for their members? We have employee assistance programs (EAPs), peer-support teams, and even clinicians, in some cases. We have the services in place to help our firefighters should a psychological injury occur. But what role where these services playing in helping to prevent mental health injuries from occurring?
The interviews brought forth a number of different ideas and questions about resilience. Generational changes or issues came up time and time again in several different areas, but mainly as chiefs answered questions like: “What is the most challenging problem you are facing right now?” Chiefs and leaders continued to talk about the generational gaps and how the younger generation might not be as “resilient” as older generations. Their work ethic is different; they act differently on scene; and they seem to be more willing to speak up when they feel they aren’t being treated fairly. Some chiefs are seeing younger firefighters going off on psychological injury leave, sometimes within the first few years of being on the job, something that was unheard of in the past, even 10 years ago in the fire service.
Are We Less Resilient?
Is it true that newer, younger firefighters are less resilient? As the interviews progressed, some chiefs shared differing perspectives and experiences. While certain leaders highlighted generational differences as a recurring theme, others began to question whether the newer generation might actually be more resilient. Many observed that younger firefighters often demonstrate an openness and willingness to recognize when they need help—and to act on it.
Sometimes, taking a leave of absence was perceived as a sign of strength, not weakness. These decisions reflected self-awareness and an understanding of personal limits, which some chiefs saw as a form of mental resilience. For some, this might include acknowledging that the job wasn’t the right fit, especially when their only exposure to the realities of firefighting—intense calls, death, and life-threatening environments—came after they were hired. Many of us, after all, cannot fully anticipate how we’ll respond to such experiences until we face them.
As I attended more and more traumatic events during the early years of my career, I often looked to my crew for guidance—or at least for a sense of normalcy. Externally, everyone seemed to handle things in their own way. Some would say nothing, as if unfazed, while others turned to dark humor to cope (I fell into this category). And then there were those who were harder to read. We’d ask one another, “You good?” Without fail, the answer was always: “Yes.”
There weren’t conversations about how a call was keeping one of us up a night or how I couldn’t shake a particular image. We just didn’t address any of it. And yet we would talk about each other, not from a place of judgment, but from a place of love. We raised general concerns about our crew members: their drinking or substance issues, how their demeanor had changed, or a drop in attendance or enthusiasm at work. We know exactly how to trigger one another, how to set each other off…and how to get along.
We avoided or brushed off many hard conversations because we thought we were protecting one another. We weren’t helping to build each other’s resilience; rather, we were feeding off of each other’s fears, thinking we were protecting one another by not saying anything.
What stood out during the research was the significant concern expressed by many chiefs about the well-being of their retired firefighters. Many noted that these individuals face challenges such as depression and substance abuse, highlighting the difficulty of transitioning from a long-standing and unique career like firefighting. While this reality is concerning, another perspective emerged from the interviews: some chiefs described retired, more senior firefighters as being “more resilient.” This contrast underscores the complexity of resilience, particularly when transitioning out of a profession so deeply tied to identity and purpose.
Resilience, in this context, is about cultivating the capacity to move through adversity with acceptance, understanding, and willingness. As we continue to discuss resilience in firefighters, it raises an important question: to which aspect of our profession does resilience truly apply? Is it physical—facing fears and dangers head on? Or is it mental—the ability to process and withstand the psychological toll of the job?
I do not feel that it is fair to compare one generation to another regarding who is more resilient. If we had been teaching resiliency within the service, shouldn’t we be creating incredibly resilient firefighters? Are we not products of our environment and or our training? If so, then where has our training failed us? Who are our role models, and what tools of mental resilience have been instilled through their teachings?
There is no one to blame or shame. Generations are different; they always have been and always will be. We know that we are more aware of the challenges with mental health today than ever before. We have started to talk about it, and this means that we are learning about it.
The Ties That Bind
One of the positive takeaways from the COVID pandemic for our crews was that it made us more resilient. At first, it broke us down and created judgment, fear, and extreme external and internal challenges. It helped to bring a lot of things to the surface for each of us: our egos, beliefs, our own humility. And then, it bonded us afterwards in ways we never knew were possible. There were many conversations about who was right and who was wrong. Some members were persistent, and others bit their tongues. As time went on, it wore on all of us. After a fight, most firefighters, like siblings, would make up. It was clear that many of us were struggling. As the dog days of COVID stretched on, we began to talk about what was going on with each of us. The gym in the hall became a safe sanctuary. Perhaps we had a daily challenge: 10 pull-ups on the hour every hour. It may have became a safe space to share feelings with a friend because only two people were allowed to work out at a time.
From the outside, it might have looked we were showing weakness, but on the inside, we became stronger than ever. Confidence grew among the team, camaraderie reached new heights, and we deepened our bonds, building our resiliency together.
I cannot tell the stories of the giants who came before me; I can only share my experience as a firefighter and what I’ve learned through my research. On more than one occasion, I have been asked: “Can someone build resilience?” A definitive answer remains elusive, however based on my research and experience, resilience is something that needs to be practiced. It needs to be built, developed, taught, shown, and revisited on a consistent basis. Life will present you with the opportunity to build your resiliency, and you’re probably not going to like how life decides to do this. It’s not through an easy walk in the park or a winning lottery ticket. Life presents challenges in all different ways, shapes, and forms. These challenges are also opportunities: opportunities to react differently, to reflect in a new way and overcome whatever challenge is present.
Being resilient is developing the awareness and tools to be able to reflect on these challenges without judgment, to observe how a new perspective might feel, and reflect on the past as lessons for our future. We can change the things we want to change about ourselves. We can see the beauty and love that someone has brought into our lives and start to understand how light always emerges from shadows, if we have learned how to see it.
Resilience is a continuous effort because life itself never pauses—it keeps moving forward. For those called to the profession of firefighting and EMS, resilience is not just about mental or physical strength; it’s about embracing the whole picture. It means finding ways to continue the job after the fire is out, developing coping strategies before trauma takes hold, and acknowledging that the emotional toll of this work is significant and deeply impactful.
The journey of resilience is undertaken alone but supported by our communities. Let’s take a moment to focus on building a strong foundation—not just for ourselves, but for the people around us. Health and healing aren’t things we handle alone—they’re deeply connected to the support we get from our crew and our community. In the fire service, we’re part of something bigger. What we do, how we show up, and how we care for ourselves impacts the whole team—both on the fireground and our day-to-day lives.
REFERENCE
Evans, Brandon. Heroes Are Also Human: An International Examination of Mental Health in the Fire Service and Its Impact on the Emotional Well-being of Firefighters. Brampton, Ontario: Self-published by Fire to Light, 2024
Brandon Evans is a retired firefighter from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, with 15 years of experience in the fire service. He is the founder of Fire to Light, which focuses on the research and development of preventative mental health education and programs for firefighters. Brandon is also the author of Heroes Are Also Human, and has conducted global research on firefighter mental health, focusing on building resilience and well-being within the fire community.
