Wildland fire dispatchers burning out as flames ravage U.S.

• Veterans suffer stress coordinating fire response
• Dispatchers report high levels of anxiety, depression
• Pay cuts looming for federal wildland firefighting force

RICHMOND, Virginia – When Eric Wiersma moved to working in a dispatch centre coordinating often-complex firefighting field operations after working on an engine for about 20 years, he swiftly learned the job was much more than simply answering radio calls.

"We're kind of running it and in command of that incident until someone gets there on the ground," said Wiersma. "At the end of the day ... we make sure that everybody else gets home safe before we close up shop and go home. 

"And when you get some of these people that are able to come into dispatch and spend some time, it's always fun to hear them say man, dispatch is so much different than what I thought - and what an eye-opener it was for them."

As fire season ramps up and threatens broad swathes of the western United States, wildland fire dispatchers like Wiersma, the oft-overlooked but vital people helping battle blazes, are hurting.

Dispatchers had higher incidence of anxiety and depression than those reported in other emergency responder studies, according to a groundbreaking study published this year.

And dispatchers, along with other federal wildland firefighters, are again staring at a potential pay cut that has many pondering whether to leave the job entirely. The profession already faces broader recruitment and retention issues at a time of more frequent and destructive blazes.

"In a lot of cases, they're closing down (dispatch centres) and being consolidated because we can't fill (them)," said Luke Mayfield, president of the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters.

Mayfield said dispatchers were "absolutely integral and a part of any kind of suppression or prescribed fire operation ... they're the catch-all ... When something bad goes on in the field, they're part of the fire family."

Mental and physical stress

A group of academics and those with experience in the field published a study this year, one of the first to comprehensively look at the mental health of wildland fire dispatchers specifically. 

It found that roughly three-quarters of respondents to depression screening questions exhibited at least mild depression, with 25% of the study population screening positive for severe depression.

Wildland fire dispatchers had a higher incidence of alcohol abuse, anxiety, binge and restrictive eating, and depression than those reported in other emergency responder studies, but lower rates of ADHD and mental health service utilisation, the authors found.

"So all of those things, even compared to police, firefighters, other emergency responders – we're seeing higher rates of that in our dispatch population," said Robin Verble of Missouri University of Science and Technology, a lead author on the report.

The comparatively lower reported rates of ADHD could be due to the demands of the work weeding out people not able to multi-task in a high stress environment, she said.

And the stigma against seeking out what limited mental health resources are on offer could account for some of the lower rate of mental health service utilisation, Verble explained.

"I think there's a stigma ... where they think I'm not supposed to feel as bad as everybody else, even though I do," Verble said.

"Partially due to location, partially due to that feeling of, 'I'm not supposed to feel like this' – you know, police are dealing with violence," she continued. 

"There's not violence in that sense, so I think they feel somehow that they're not supposed to be included or (their) identities aren't well defined as emergency responders sometimes," Verble said.

On top of the stress, it can also be nearly impossible to properly take care of your physical health, said Bobbie Scopa, a former wildland firefighter.

"The nervous anxious eating that's going on is high," she said.

Scopa said for a hotshot superintendent or people out in the field, there was a certain amount of stress that necessarily comes with the job.

"But think about your body's reaction to stress – oftentimes one of the best ways to alleviate the stress is to do physical activity. And with firefighters who are out there hiking up a mountainside, cutting line, they're spraying water ... they're spending a tremendous amount of energy and that can help dissipate some of that stress.

"Dispatchers have got the stress, but they're just sitting there behind their console in the dispatch centre. They don't have an outlet to take care of that stress," Scopa said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service, which employs the majority of federal wildland firefighters, said it was committed to supporting the health and wellbeing of wildland fire personnel, including dispatchers.

"The referenced study, in conjunction with our internal efforts, have helped refine our understanding of the challenges they face, including demanding workloads and the mental health toll from what they experience on the job," they said.

The Forest Service and the Department of the Interior are working on a joint programme aimed at supporting the health and wellbeing of federal wildland firefighters, including their behavioural health. The benefits of the programme are being expanded to include dispatchers.

Pay cuts coming?

Both dispatchers and other federal wildland firefighters have benefited from pay supplements initially included in President Joe Biden's 2021 infrastructure law that Congress has extended on a stopgap basis. But lawmakers will likely need to act soon to keep the payments going.

The supplement is a big reason why one dispatcher came back to the wildland firefighting field.

"If that were to get pulled away, I would have to look at other options," said the dispatcher, who asked to remain anonymous. "The uncertainty of pay creates a stress with that."

As Mayfield referenced, staffing issues had already forced the closure of at least one centre, in Bozeman, Montana.

"When Bozeman shut down, now the Custer Gallatin National Forest is dispatched through Billings, Montana – a three-hour drive from Bozeman," he said.

"So now you're putting more on the plate of the Billings dispatch centre. You're just passing that on and you're moving it further and further away from the people that are doing the work.

"And it all works – it's not like there's bad folks in Billings or anything like that, but it creates more distance."

The dispatcher who expressed concern over the pay supplements pointed out that people could at times be glued to their computers for up to 16 hours a day.

"It's really hard for folks to maintain any sort of self-well-being ... you're always worried about the people out there, but what about the people in here (who) are worried about the people out there?"