“Don’t overreact… especially to someone else’s overreaction.“

As a third generation firefighter, Captain Ben West always knew he wanted to join the fire service. His father is currently the Fire Chief of the Portland Tennessee Fire Department and Chief West plans to retire in the near future.

Captain West grew up in the firehouse — going on calls with his dad from a very young age. Seeing the impact that the firefighters had on their community gave Captain West an early glimpse into the most rewarding aspect of firefighting: shining a light on a very dark day for others.

“The most challenging part of firefighting is seeing people struggling with difficulties at home and not being able to change that.”

As a firefighter, you’re probably a person that wants to help and give back to others. While this is rewarding it can also be overwhelming, especially if you look to fix everyone’s problems.

When Capt. West sees individuals in tough situations at home, he thinks to himself, “I wish I could do more, I wish I could do more, I wish I could do more,” but he also knows that he can only do so much in those situations.

In these moments, it helps to remember that you’re not alone in your efforts to take care of your community. Your colleagues are likely having similar thoughts and it can be very helpful to speak with them.

Don’t overreact… especially to someone else’s overreaction.

“We find ourselves in stressful situations pretty regularly and it’s likely that someone will overreact. Someone needs to keep a cool head and stay calm.”

You shouldn’t overthink what you need to do for your community either. They’ll tell you most of what you need to know including past call volumes, demographics, and types of buildings. Working this information in with knowledge of your equipment, apparatuses, and tax base that you operate under gives you a clear picture of what your citizens need and how to meet their expectations.

Until you master those routine expectations, it doesn’t help to go to the next step.

When you’re consistently meeting and exceeding the routine expectations, the next step may be a new discipline to learn or connecting with other firefighters outside of your community. For Captain West, joining the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF) was the perfect next step.

Today, Captain West is a Deputy Advocate Manager for the NFFF. Becoming an advocate for the NFFF has helped Captain West grow professionally while learning from and connecting with firefighters of all ranks from all over the country.

If you are interested in learning more about the NFFF, you can find more information here.

In 2009, Ben West was driving the rescue truck en route to a fire at an apartment complex. Two children were reported to be trapped on the second floor of the burning complex.

When they arrived on scene, there was heavy smoke showing from the first and second floors of the complex.

While the engine company was stretching a line to the front door of the apartment, Ben and his partner found the father of the two children around the back of the apartment on the ground. The father had attempted to rescue his children but he couldn’t get to them through the smoke and he bailed out of the second story window.

He was fine after the fall and told the firefighters that his sons were indeed trapped on the second floor. Ben, his captain, and another firefighter went upstairs to begin the search for the two boys.

Within 45 seconds, the other firefighter had found the first child. He was unconscious after taking in too much smoke. Although Ben was fairly certain that the boy had passed away, he carried the child down to his EMS personnel.

When Ben returned upstairs, his colleague called out to him — he’d found the second child.

To their dismay, the second child was also lifeless.

At that point, they had taken care of the fire. Ben, his captain, and the other firefighter gathered to share a solemn prayer for the family and the two boys they pulled from the apartment just minutes before.

On their way out of the apartment, an engineer said, “Did you hear about the kids?”

They thought that the engineer must not have known that they were the ones who found the boys. The three shrugged off his question; they didn’t want to talk about it.

“EMS brought the boys back back and transported them to the ER. They’re going to be alright,” the engineer’s words stopped Ben and his colleagues in their tracks.

The two boys ended up recovering fully with only minor issues from smoke inhalation.

“Our job isn’t to decide who’s going to make it or who’s not going to make it. Our job is to get to them as quickly as we can and ensure that they have every chance to survive.”

This experience helped Captain West grow as a firefighter and he hopes you can pull value from his story as well.