Firefighters are hailed as heroes and pillars of strength, bravery and courage. But the daily stressors and traumas of their jobs take a heavy emotional toll that largely goes unnoticed by the public.
Articles on Firefighters
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My research focuses on how to support children with a parent who must travel afar for work. Strategies that boost understanding and maintain connection with the absent parent build resilience.
I entered firefighter school at 23 and thought I was hard enough to withstand anything thrown at me. Fourteen years later, I can say firefighters are not indestructible.
Emergency service workers already have poorer mental health than the rest of us. In the wake of this bushfire crisis, we need to make the well-being of our first responders a top priority.
Relatively little has changed since the Black Saturday tragedy. It is as though Australia suffers amnesia when it comes to bushfire preparedness.
In commemorating firefighters as heroes, we can fall into the danger of overstating their ability to control fires, absolving ourselves of responsibility.
Farmers seeking relief from the drought and firefighters stretched to their limits have turned to crowdfunding for help. But public appeal shouldn’t replace good governance.
Emergency Leaders for Climate Action have a simple message: we’re in “a new age of unprecedented bushfire danger” due to climate change. But Morrison refuses to acknowledge it as a central issue.
Emergency responders and military personnel need to think creatively – even imaginatively – to save lives under pressure. Analyzing the Grenfell Tower Fire in London reveals useful lessons.
A sociologist spent time as a volunteer firefighter – and learned more about how institutional culture can shape a person’s behavior.
Victoria’s Country Fire Authority was founded in the aftermath of a previous bushfire tragedy – the 1939 Black Friday blazes. But its creation was a bigger political saga than many people realise.
Wildland firefighting has always been a risky job, but development in fire-prone areas is making it more dangerous by putting forest firefighters in situations they are not equipped or trained for.
The 10,300 women serving in fire departments across the US face ill-fitting gear, hostility and sexism. But in the end, they say, people “don’t care you’re a woman when their house is on fire.‘
The UK’s blue light services need to adapt and modernise or they will face their own emergency.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’ firefighter reforms have much to recommend them, but there are still many hurdles to jump before they are peacefully implemented.
A new training course designed to help volunteers feel like a key part of the team could help to reduce attrition rates among Australia’s estimated 240,000 volunteer emergency service workers.
There are other ways to make savings that don’t ride rough shod over firefighters’ contracts.
The federal government’s bill to protect volunteer firefighters following a long-running dispute in Victoria will not solve the problems to which it was allegedly directed.
Malcolm Turnbull is using Victoria’s long-running enterprise bargaining dispute between the CFA and firefighters’ union to highlight the Liberals’ credentials to challenge union militancy.
For a firefighter, knowing when it’s time to evacuate can be the difference between life and death. But that can be a difficult call to make when you’re trying to protect life, property and resources while…
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Professor of Employment Relations, School of Business and Law, CQUniversity Australia
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Professor of exercise and work physiology, University of Montana
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Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour, University of Wollongong
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Emeritus Professor of Public Policy, RMIT University
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Professor, Geography Department, University of Utah
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Professor of Leadership and Management, Edge Hill University
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Project Manager, University of Wollongong
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adjunct professor, School of Psychology & Public Health, La Trobe University, La Trobe University
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Postdoctoral fellow, University of Leeds
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Honorary Professorial Fellow, The University of Melbourne
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Deputy Director, Center for Environmental Journalism, University of Colorado Boulder
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Professor of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University
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Professor, University of Sydney Business School, University of Sydney
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Associate Professor in Organisations and Leadership, University of Canterbury
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Research Associate, University of Wollongong