“Firefighting takes a toll on your body and your mind, but the beauty of it is: you’re not in this alone.”

Chief Dave Downey has been in the fire service for 37 years. As a member of search and rescue teams, he was at the World Trade Center after 9/11, in Turkey and Haiti after the devastating earthquakes they suffered in 1999 and 2010 respectively, and all over the world offering search and rescue assistance.

The fire service has provided Chief Downey with nearly all his friends and family. The friendships he has built in the fire service reach all across the globe — including Antarctica! His wife, Julie, rose in the ranks similarly. She also has more than 37 years of experience in the fire service and she currently is the Fire/Rescue Chief of Davie Fire-Rescue Department.

Chief Downey grew up playing sports, especially baseball and football. For him, firefighting was the closest option to sports that allowed him to make a living. The camaraderie and the anticipation of never knowing what the next moment would bring hooked him on firefighting from the beginning.

“Be sure your core reason for joining is to help people and be prepared to develop throughout your career.”

For you firefighters, Chief Downey suggests that you should stick to your core competencies and become great at that or those skills. “All too often, I’ve seen firefighters try to become a jack of all trades,” he emphasized the importance of excelling at one or two skills in order to raise in the ranks for the fire service.

Chief Downey believes that the best solution for post-traumatic stress is to talk about it. At the same time, he knows that you can’t just talk to family or friends about the things you have to see and do. You must be able to talk with your brothers and sisters at the fire station because they’re the only ones who can truly understand.

“Firefighting takes a toll on your body and your mind, but the beauty of it is: you’re not in this alone,” Chief Downey knows from experience. “As an officer or veteran in the fire station, it’s your duty to set the precedent by talking with your crew after a bad call and creating an environment that encourages those difficult discussions.”

Chief Downey used to say to his wife, “If we had a gathering every time we went to a call where a kid was hit by a car, we would never run any calls.” And then he had that call.

A serious fire he responded to killed four children and their mother. After going home for his two days off, he realized he was dealing with serious post-traumatic stress. When he returned to work, he was putting his equipment on the truck in the morning with one of his firefighters who didn’t ever say much. His firefighter looked at him and said ‘I haven’t been able to sleep.’

“That was a light bulb moment for me. I knew we needed to address it.”

All of the firefighters who responded to that call came together to talk about how it had affected them. That was all it took for Chief Downey. Once he realized that others were dealing with the same issues, if not more, he felt at ease. He knew he was not alone and he could lean on his colleagues for assistance.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue had six firefighters commit suicide in a span of 18 months. This wasn’t an isolated occurrence either. Phoenix Fire Department experienced a similar tragedy around the same time.

In an effort to prevent these tragic deaths moving forward, Chief Downey and his team took measures to combat this. They created a help line for firefighters to call if they were struggling, put up informational posters, and shared stories from firefighters who were on the verge of suicide. They didn’t have another suicide after that.

Chief Downey shared a story with us that drove home a very valuable lesson in firefighting. Here is the story in his words:

As a new firefighter we are always taught to ‘stay low’ in a fire.  We teach civilians the same thing.  All the smoke, heat, and fire gases collect at the ceiling.  For firefighters, this means visibility is better at the floor, for civilians: visibility, and fresh air.

Early one December morning I was the Lieutenant on an engine company which arrived on a reported house fire.  When we arrived, we observed heavy smoke coming from every opening.  It was a 1-story home, not exceptionally large, approximately 30’ X 50’ — a fairly typical home in my territory.

After sizing up the structure and fire I directed the officer of the rescue (a 3-person unit) to conduct the Primary Search for victims.  I was told by a bystander when we arrived that “someone is in the house.”  I directed my 4-person crew to stretch a 1 ¾” attack line to the front door for fire attack.  My nozzleman and I entered the structure with the hose line while another firefighter functioned as the ‘doorman’ pushing hose in.  Two of the 3-person rescue crew followed us in to begin the search.

Upon entering we had significant fire in front of us (living room) that was extending through the dining room and into the kitchen.  The bedrooms were to our left, this is where the search crew headed.  We proceeded to extinguish the fire, moving from the front to the back.  As we knocked down the fire in the kitchen area, the officer of the rescue met up with me and verbally told be the Primary Search was “All Clear”.  I transmitted over the radio to the Chief (Command) “Fire Under Control” and “Primary Search All Clear”.  I told the rescue officer that he and his firefighter could head out; we’re just taking care of some hot spots.

As I moved to the living room area to help pull some of the hose back towards the front door, I heard water running. 

As I was low, on my knees, I shined my hand light towards the sound and saw a person’s arm hanging out of a bathtub. 

I moved to the room which was a bathroom and the victim had been laying in the tub with the shower running on him, conceivably to keep the heat and fire away.  I lifted the unconscious victim out of the tub and dragged him to the front door where I handed him off to a group of firefighters.

After the fire was out and all the smoke had cleared, I re-entered the house with the rescue officer and firefighter who had conducted the search.  They were obviously very distraught that they had missed a victim.  We could see the “smoke line” indicating the level of the smoke about 4’ above the floor.  The rescue crew explained that they had minimal heat and that they were walking rather than crawling to perform the search.

Two things allowed me to find that victim: experience, and staying low.

Earlier in my career I had missed a victim in a bathtub with the shower running assuming someone just left it on exiting in haste because of the fire.  Secondly, I was low, crawling on the floor not because it was hot but because I could see better. 

I was always taught, if you can’t see your feet, you should be on the floor.  Lesson learned.