High Stress & Saving Lives - Firefighters and EMTs Need Teamwork Most [Interviews]

“Team work means having each others back. You cant run a truck without 2 people doing the primary search, and you can’t run an engine without your MPO. For the fire service to work you must run as a team.”

This interview is reaching out to a broad audience to help me (and you!) get a better understanding of just what people actually think about teamwork and how it impact their lives. I hope you enjoy it and maybe gain an insight or two.

Interviewee Profile

1) What is your official job / position title?

Firefighter/EMT

2) What is your direct supervisor’s official job / position title?

Fire Chief

3) What industry do you work in?

Protective Serivces

4) How many years have you been in your current industry and job?

5) What are 3 to 5 of your most important skills, specialties, or areas of expertise?

EMS, Fire, Hazmat

Interviewee Responses

01) Describe (in your own words) what you think ‘teamwork’ means.

Team work means having each others back. You cant run a truck without 2 people doing the primary search, and you can’t run an engine without your MPO. For the fire service to work you must run as a team.

02) Think about a person you feel needs team-building training. How do you think this training would help him/her?

It would benefit them because it would allow them to use their training in the heat of the moment. Most mistakes are made when the pressure is on. With training it allows them to build confidence for the real deal.

03) How do you think teamwork could help a company or business?

Instead of everyone working for themselves, I believe bigger goals can be met by working as a team. Different things can get done faster by multiple people working together instead of 1 guy doing 10 different things.

04) Describe a teamwork / team-building exercise or event you’ve been through at your work, school, or during training.

A lot of our training is team building exercises. Whether its a live fire or search in rescue, we work in teams. This also helps build confidence and trust in one another.

05) Explain at least 1 thing you’ve learned from a team-building exercise and how it has helped you.

It has shown to me that my brothers have my back. In the heat of the moment I need to know I can depend on them. With these exercises it helps me build confidence in my team as a whole.

06) Think back to a team-building exercise you did *NOT* enjoy. What do you feel could have been improved and why?

If one small thing happens, its hard to recover. If one person messes up, the whole team feels it and has to suffer. This is something that we need to work on is recovering from our mistakes.

07) Describe what you like *most* about team-building efforts and training.

The best part of the team building is building confidence in your group. It’s much more relaxing to the mind to know your teammates know what they are doing when the real deal rolls around the corner!

08) What are a few things you like *least* about team-building efforts and why?

Probably the fact that you HAVE to instill the trust into them, whether you like it or not. You may not like your teammates on a personal level sometimes. But you still have to trust them to do the job.

09) When learning about team-building, would you rather read about it, listen to a trainer, watch training videos, or physically participate in an event? Describe why you feel that way.

Physically participate in an event is the best way. A lot of people can TALK about team work, but I want to see it happen. That way I KNOW first hand you are capable of your job.

10) Pretend you are asked to give a quick team-building presentation at work. What are your first couple of steps to get prepared?

The importance of team work is a big one. Also why teamwork can speed up production. Lastly, how teamwork can save lives.

11) In your opinion, what type or personality of person do you think could benefit most from team-building efforts?

I don’t open up to people easily. So these team building exercises allow me to open up and trust my buddies. I benefit most from the social interaction and competition.