Volunteer Firefighting: The use of applied psychology that teaches the value of goal setting and self-talk (Business and Public Service).

Firefighting is an important part of our society and it hasn't received the national attention and support it needs. We can learn by studying and looking at this service type why not only firefighting is struggling to recruit new members but also why some of the other services experience similar issues (The military, policing, EMT, etc.). finding solutions can be fostered through the use of applied psychology and how that can be used to improve performance among current firefighters. The Nature of Firefighting is Changing.

Young people are very much concerned with global warming and other environmental issues that would be a good catalyst for interest. Likewise, there is a higher percentage of people who want to support their communities and utilized other skills to do something meaningful with their time and lives. Not to mention other untapped resources from the business world and the lessons we can learn through the study of this population and how that might apply to organizational development. 

From the study below you will begin to see some of the psychological processes firefighters are using in training and actualized performance as tactical athletes. What can ascertain on a broad sense from the study below is that goal setting and mental preparation is important in realized outcomes (Same for firefighters and employees). 

When we study organizations outside of business such as firefighting we can sometimes take lessons from those who must performance in their roles to save theirs and others lives so we can put that to good use not only in the first responder world but perhaps also in the business world as well. 

The Psychology of Firefighting: 

A study conducted in Milwaukee N=109 studied the Big 5 Personality Theory on Saucier’s 40-item Mini Markers scale on the psychological mechanisms of live performance tactical firefighter athletes.  Because injury rates are around 17.7% there is a need to understand psychological performance that leads to outcomes and reduce injury. You can read the a The Psychology of Firefighting

-Of the basic skills, firefighters’ reported using goal setting most frequently and relaxation least frequently in both practice and performance.

-Firefighters’ reported highest scores for their ability to use emotional control and lowest scores for their ability to use automaticity in both practice and performance

-Firefighters in the current study reported using self-talk more during practice than during performance (As a note one must wonder if high stress situations rely on prior embedded learning of action and instinct.)

National Firefighting Stats:

NFPA provided some great information and resources on firefighting. HERE. You can also review their report HERE.  There is a great need to support local fire departments. Businesses could have a large scale impact on that in a way that gives employees the life-work balance they need to stay engaged (quoted below).

-NFPA estimates there were an estimated 1,041,200 career and volunteer firefighters in the United States in 2020. Of the total number of firefighters 364,300 (35%) were career firefighters and 676,900 (65%) were volunteer firefighters.

-In 2020, 89,600 firefighters were female (9%). Of the career firefighters, 17,200 were female. There were also 72,400 volunteer firefighters who were female.

-Fifty percent of firefighters are between 30 and 49 years old.

-There were 29,452 fire departments in the United States in 2020. Of these, 18% were all career or mostly career departments and protected 70% of the US population.

-Nationwide 37% of fire departments provided no emergency medical services, 46% provided basic life support (BLS), and 17% provided advanced life support (ALS).

A Few Ideas on Business and Firefighting Could CoCreate

Unexplored outlets that reduce silos between businesses and community. While some might be great and some not practical it is usually the exploration of ideas that lead to new ideas. 

-Encouraging people to be involved in their community through firefighting and other activities could have a positive influence not only on moral but also on leadership training and human capital development as knowledge bleeds from one organization and industry to the next.

-Businesses that support and sponsor firefighting organizations may gain un realized public relations/brand benefits. For example, our fire department has an immediate need for $10K in air bottles and $5K in locks.

-Donating to firefighting not only is tax deductible but could reduce insurance costs for companies and locations.

-Business knowledge could have a major impact on firefighting effectiveness as processes and capacity increases.

-Executives could donate some time to solving community problems with their higher systems, social connections, and evidence based strategic decision making.

-Employees who feel they are spending some of their time doing worthwhile activities like firefighting may have more satisfaction with their jobs. i.e. employee fundraising, administration or active firefighting, social media/marketing, as donations of time.

-Offering free tuition and company sponsored tuition to volunteer firefighters that log a certain amount of hours.

-Sponsoring research on firefighting improves those departments, saves lives and show positive corporate citizenship with actualized outcomes. i.e. industry-university-fire department research.

-Utilize fire departments as constructive outlets for company employees but also a source for recruitment of new motivated employees. The expectation that those who volunteer have certain characteristics that make them highly desirable by companies.

-University could utilize fire departments for training, education, and course work (i.e. management or marketing case studies or class projects.)

-We have a youth disconnection problem and this could be one way of training them, engaging with them, and socializing them for greater local/national human capital outcomes.

-Partnering with local firefighting departments to develop evacuation plans, inspect properties, check fire safety/first aid equipment, health/first aid knowledge, egress signs, etc...

-Perhaps a tax benefit for companies that actively support, fund, and recruit for/from fire departments. As our national budget is likely to see some adjustments it is one way to encourage community based funding that takes the burden off of the national government.

Is the above called brain storming or brain writing? Maybe you can think of a few of your own