Incident Resilience: A Critical Incident Stress Management Success Story

By

Eric Brown

Safety Officer, Northwest Incident Management Team 7

and

Ross Fielder

Engine Captain, Deschutes National Forest

In August of 2023, wildfire burned through a small town and several hundred homes were totally destroyed—literally wiped off the map.

“They wanted to give us hugs. They were thanking us and offering us drinking water because they wanted to make us cookies. But their house had burned down. So this was all they could offer. I don’t understand how they can do that after losing everything.”

These words were spoken by a firefighter during a “defusing meeting” held at a Drop Point. In this context, the facilitators defined “defusing” as the term for the process of talking it out—taking the fuse out of an emotional bomb (explosive situation) within 72 hours of the incident occurring.

Over the course of their fire response, two Incident Management Team (IMT) members from the state-sponsored team, the Incident Operations Section Chief and the Safety Officer, discussed the observation that several of the firefighters who were on the initial attack and now were engaging in mop-up had expressed signs of stress working alongside grieving homeowners.

As part of the response to the community impacts from this fire, the state emergency management organization mobilized a Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) team to help. This team introduced themselves to the IMT to let them know they were in the community. Both the Operations Section Chief and the Safety Officer had experience with CISM. After deliberating, the IMT decided that using the CISM team for “defusing” would be appropriate. Tactical pauses were scheduled to offer defusing sessions on the fire’s three Divisions. A local CISM-trained fire department chaplain was also there to assist, along with his therapy dog.

The firefighters were encouraged to remove their yellow flame-resistant shirts and get some cool water. The defusing locations were held at Drop Points with no threat of fire—green shady parks within the town.

After some brief introductions and initial leader’s intent of the meeting, the Operations Section Chief first shared his experience from the fire’s initial attack phase. The firefighters were then given an opportunity to share. After an awkward pause, the stories and thoughts began to pour in. Each defusing lasted about an hour. You could feel a sense of relief build throughout the session. Several of the firefighters came up and thanked the IMT overhead for providing this opportunity to share.  

The IMT also saw the need for CISM support within the affected community, not solely with the fire responders. CISM team members interacted with the community at town hall meetings. These sessions showed the public a different facet of fire response than they typically see in informational public meetings. Though the tensions and uncertainty associated with a traumatic, ongoing event were still present, firefighters and community members were able to share a sense of understanding and compassion with one another.

The full range of participants in these CISM sessions during the incident included public information officers (PIO), law enforcement, medical responders, and district employees, in addition to firefighters and community members.   

This “preemptive” CISM team played a crucial role in helping the responders and community members deal with the aftermath of the fire by providing them with necessary emotional support and guidance.

Different agencies and organizations operate CISM programs that, while addressing the same need, do so in different ways using different protocols. Some of the useful CISM services that were identified during this response included:

1. Psychological First Aid: Providing immediate support to individuals impacted by the wildfire. The CISM team will assess the individual’s needs and provide aid such as emotional support and practical help.

2. Crisis Support: Providing more intensive support to individuals experiencing acute distress because of the wildfire. The CISM team can provide one-on-one support and information to help individuals cope with the situation.

3. Debriefing: The CISM team can conduct group debriefings to help individuals process the event and its impact on them. This can be particularly beneficial for first responders who may have witnessed traumatic events during the wildfire.

4. Referral to Additional Resources: For individuals who require additional support, the CISM team can also provide referrals to other resources such as mental health professionals or support groups.

Of course, no one therapeutic method is universally effective for everyone, and one shouldn’t expect that all participants during a CISM response will engage equally. Some may prefer not to participate. It is important to respect that choice. With a variety of services offered by CISM, or by programs like Peer Support, we can meet more of our colleagues where they are with the kind of assistance that works for them.

It is worthwhile to further explore how we keep the mental health of our firefighters as a value at risk. How are we facilitating a culture of dealing with stress, not just for the firefighting resources, but also for the many support resources who might also be impacted by the stress of year-round emergency response?

The services listed in this blog post are too important to be left only for “when we have time.” The CISM team that responded in this incident is trying to change the culture around mental and emotional health. They have started calling themselves an “Incident Resilience Team.” Whenever possible, finding the time and space for resilience-building throughout the fire season could be a vital addition to post-traumatic CISM response to traumatic events.

Firefighter and public wellbeing are primary values at risk on every incident, and that includes mental and emotional wellbeing.