West Plains, MO. – In this next part of Local Perspectives, we talked to the West Plains Fire Departments’ own Lieutenant David Masterson. David talks to us about the difficulties of the year on firefighters, advice and training for those hopeful to become a fireman, and how mental health is important for everyone who is involved in emergency response.
Transcript Below:
Daniel Williams:
This is Dan with Ozark Radio News. And I’m here talking with Lieutenant David Masterson from the West Plains Fire Department. Thanks for talking with me, Dave. I’m actually going to do this as a part of our local perspective series, which means we’re going to talk about a few different topics involving your job and some of the responsibilities. You feeling okay with that?
David Masterson:
I’m feeling great. Thank you for having me.
Daniel Williams:
No. Thank you for showing up, man. It’s great to be able to talk to people, and I want to try to get a wide array of experiences whenever it comes to these types of conversations. So don’t worry too much. We’re going to keep this relaxed here. So as part of your experience, we’re just going to get right into it here, the drought has been a major issue this year. Obviously, people have had issues with their gardens. There’s been a lot more fires and whatnot. So I imagine you guys have been very busy. How would you say that this has impacted your job this year in comparison to others?
David Masterson:
Well, the call volume has definitely increased. I would definitely say in the city, it hasn’t been too bad because we do have an ordinance that puts control over outdoor open burning. And the county is another story, and our county departments have really felt the strain of it because it’s a lot harder to manage that outdoor open burning in the county. Whereas I might look at the ground cover fuels and see that it’s too dry, wind speeds are too high, it’s contributory to fire spread, somebody else might see it as something that they could handle and manage. And then the next thing you know, there’s a large multi-acre wildfire. And that’s not always the case. Sometimes just with the extreme dry ground cover fuels, trailer chain sparking a cigarette out the window, it can really be the most minute thing that can really spark a pretty decent size fire.
David Masterson:
And it’s not so much the size of one fire but the fact that it’s happening in multiple locations just about at once. You’ll have one here, one there. And with departments right now at a lower staffing level and already stretched thin, then it just stretches even further. And they’ve all done a magnificent job at handling the call volume, but it’s definitely putting a stress on them. And most of these departments are volunteers. They have different jobs that they do on a normal basis. And a lot of them are physically taxing on top of that. So you add fighting a massive wildfire in 100 plus degree weather. It’s hard on these poor folks’ bodies. And so we’re definitely glad that we got some rain and a substantial amount to where it not just ran off, but it soaked up, it greened up and it made the ground cover fuels less likely to spark.
Daniel Williams:
And I know we’re still in drought conditions right now, but I really feel for you guys out there having to fight those fires. Anytime that I’ve been on air, I haven’t been shy about sharing the fact that I take heat about as well as a gallon of milk outside in the summer sun. So I couldn’t imagine just standing in the middle of all those fires and trying to do something about that. And I know a lot of people have been talking about this, about how most agencies, whether they’re institutionalized, that the compensation doesn’t seem as high as what it should be. And I know that affects some of your recruitment and whatnot. Would you say that even the conditions that we’ve been running into this year or necessarily the funds have also impacted that? Have you seen the decline in recruitment over the years?
David Masterson:
Most definitely. Here in the city, we recently had a wage study done, and it brought most of our personnel up to par with most communities around us that employ firefighters full time. So we’ve been very blessed for that. It’s helped ours a little bit. Especially on the volunteer side, it was little to no pay. And so that has a certain factor of it too, especially nowadays where we are a lot busier. Our time is a lot more valuable than… At least I feel like mine is. As busy as I am, I feel like my time now is more valuable than it was when I had a lot more to spend. And so I think a lot of folks may see it like that, that the ratio of the compensation may not quite balance in a way that they see is appropriate to devote some of their time for that kind of service.
David Masterson:
But even in the city, we’ve had our own issues with recruitment. And the biggest thing is finding qualified personnel. We have a wonderful group of paid, on-call firefighters to choose from, but at certain times, it seems like when we have a group that’s certified, that’s not when we’re needing the help. But when we need the help, the group that we have isn’t quite certified yet. We ran into that a couple times this year, where we had to turn down some very amazing applicants physically and mentally capable of the job. They just weren’t quite certified. And so we couldn’t move forward with that. But now we’re setting on a pretty good pool of candidates. Things are looking good for us once additional positions open up.
Daniel Williams:
I’m curious about this. If somebody wanted to try to get that certification or to maybe just feel qualified to be able to enter to be one of the candidates to be a new firefighter, what would be some advice that you would give to somebody who was trying to get into that line of work?
David Masterson:
Here in the Howe County area, I would say get involved with your local fire department, whether it’s here with us in West Plains, Howe County Rural, any of the volunteer departments around. And that’ll get you plugged in. We at West Plains conduct a fire recruit academy, and that is where the candidates can receive their certification in hazardous materials at the awareness level and operations level as well as firefighter one and two. And firefighter one and two is essentially the bread and butter of fire service training. It covers a wide array of anything a firefighter, especially at an entry level, is going to encounter. And even if you can’t quite get plugged in with the department right now, we take civilians. There’s additional requirements for someone who’s unaffiliated, but we can take those two and make sure that they get the quality training that they deserve.
Daniel Williams:
And just out of curiosity here, the training facility that you guys would operate out of, is that the one that’s out near City Hall in Galloway Park and whatnot?
David Masterson:
That’s correct.
Daniel Williams:
Okay. Have you actually experienced that facility? I’ve always seen it from a distance, but I’ve never really taken a close look.
David Masterson:
I have been over probably just about every square inch into that facility, less than others. Some of our guys have spent a lot of time up there with me being gone for the last year. There was a lot of training that I missed out on, but it’s a very sophisticated building, especially for what we are able to provide here in the Howe County area. It provides areas for firefighters to train on class A material burning, which is what I call anything in a trash can, wood, paper, et cetera, a class B burn room, which is a propane simulator room, search and rescue simulator, rope rescue. We can repel. We can ascend. We can do all sorts. We can do forceable entry. Just about any skill that we would need to certify on in firefighter one and two we can accomplish at our training facility.
Daniel Williams:
Okay. So what you’re saying is that some of the certifications that someone might need in order to be able to work with you guys, they can get literally just by going to you and going through those courses themselves just directly through you guys.
David Masterson:
Absolutely.
Daniel Williams:
That’s awesome. Well, while I’ve got you here and we’re talking about different aspects of the job, what would you say is one of the most memorable jobs you’ve had to work?
David Masterson:
Oh my goodness. I’ve been in the fire service for close to 17 years now. I’ve been with the city of West Plains almost 12. Really anything involving a rescue, that’s where I feel like we really make a difference, between that and the EMS assistance we prov we provide. Anytime someone is in need of CPR, we respond with South Howe County Ambulance and provide that assistance because doing a resuscitation in somebody’s house is an extremely intricate process. There’s so many moving parts to it. And the more people that you have there to do compressions so that the paramedic can push the medications and the EMT can focus on the patient’s airway, everything going on, I feel like we really make a difference in those situations because we’re literally saving someone’s life.
David Masterson:
But vehicle rescues are probably some of the most common rescues we perform, performing extrication on a vehicle that’s been involved in a collision. I’ve worked some that probably go into hours, upwards of an hour, hour and a half. And you spend a lot of time with that person in there, especially trying to talk to them, keep them conscious, keep them with you. And to finally get them out, especially after a very complicated extrication process, is an incredibly rewarding experience. And just about any patient that we’ve extricated that I can think of, especially after a long process like that, has gone on to make a full recovery. And like I said, that’s an incredibly rewarding part of the job. To say there’s one in particular, it’s hard for me to say because after a certain period of time, for me, they’ve all just blended, and nothing specifically really stands out anymore. But I really think of highlights from different calls that I’ve ran.
Daniel Williams:
Works like a highlight reel in your head [inaudible 00:09:38].
David Masterson:
Basically, yeah.
Daniel Williams:
I got you.
David Masterson:
Somebody not affiliated with emergency services, one of the first things he asks us was the craziest or worst thing you’ve saw. And for some folks, that can be a trigger. It can trigger a very bad memories because we’re still human. But for me, it’s a hard thing to explain.
Daniel Williams:
Well, I imagine when you’re in such a stressful position because I used to work at a few different EMT bases myself. My dad is an EMT, and I know that a lot of stuff, you just have to shut it off in a lot of ways. There’s so much stress and trauma that goes on with the job. And it doesn’t even necessarily have to happen to you. But if you’re any empathetic for other people, you experience that trauma through the person going through it, and it can be a lot to handle. So I know a lot of people, they either get burned out, or they learn how to shut it off. And I imagine that’s probably what causes some of these jobs to blend together.
David Masterson:
I think so. And I learned that. I watched a couple people early in my career in their careers over the mental anguish that they incurred from a really bad call. And that was when I learned that I need to try to separate myself from it as much as I can. And the more challenging aspect of doing this job is doing it in a smaller community, such as West Plains or even the even smaller communities are that surround us. Everybody knows everybody, and at some point in time, you’re going to be responding to someone’s emergency that you know, that you might be really close to. And that’s typically where it hits home. But for most people, typically, 9 times out of 10 I would say, what comes up is a call involving a child, an injury, an illness, whatnot. We all could probably recall about a couple of months ago, there was an incident on the highway that took the lives of three people. And that was incredibly sad, for lack of a better term.
Daniel Williams:
It was intense.
David Masterson:
It was incredibly intense. I was working EMS that day, and just the off tempo of the incident… My involvement in it wasn’t very direct, but my guys were there. They had direct involvement in it, and they saw things I didn’t have to see. But the one thing that we could take solace in was the fact that one life was saved, that we were able to save young man’s life. We were able to transport them to higher care and get him the care that he needed for his injuries. And I think that’s one thing that we can at least get the feeling like we really made a difference, at least for someone.
Daniel Williams:
And I remembered seeing that young man that you guys rescued because I was following the updates on it as well. I was there covering it that day.
David Masterson:
Who wasn’t?
Daniel Williams:
Yeah. It was all kinds of people coming and going from that one. But from what I understand, he’s actually recovered quite well from the incident, all things considered, which is pretty amazing and of itself. But I can’t imagine the lasting impact that must have on the people who have to work so closely to it. Is there any advice or anything or any direction you might be able to point people into? And I not to go too far into mental health and everything like that, but I just imagine with your job, it’s really good preparedness whenever it comes to mental health has to become paramount at some point. And I wonder, is there anything that you might be able to advise people on whenever they’re dealing with something like that?
David Masterson:
Yes, definitely. And there’s all sorts of things that can be said. But if I were to sum it up in a couple words, seek help. Know your body. Know your habits. Try to be cognizant of any changes in your own behavior. Look out for each other, for somebody who may know somebody who’s going through that. Try to be cognizant of different changes in their behavior, and encourage them to seek help. We took that call specifically very seriously as far as mental health because it affected so many of us, right. And really, if it would’ve just affected one of us, we would’ve had the same response. But the city was really on the ball in making sure that we had services available for us if we needed them. And I believe a couple of our personnel may have taken advantage of that. And that’s the most important thing. And it’s something I’ve seen in the fire service, EMS, military side, is encouraging people to seek help and knowing that it’s okay to not be okay.
David Masterson:
But on the flip side, a couple of our guys were, were coping with it fine. And they were almost concerned that since they didn’t feel bad that something was wrong with them. That’s okay too. Everybody handles stress and stressful situations differently. And the key factor is knowing that if you feel a change, and if you feel a change, that’s whenever it’s time to seek help.
Daniel Williams:
And that actually does make a lot of sense to me too. Thinking about a person who goes through this, you develop an armor on yourself in a way. And nobody, is I think, fully aware of the chink that might be in their armor in different places. But it’s important to recognize that, like you said, it’s okay, whether or not it’s hurting you or not, because you develop this hardness about it. But you never know when something is going to hit one of those soft parts.
David Masterson:
And even with me not being able to articulate anything specific incident or occurrence that may have happened, that may have stood out, even with the way I’ve been able to cope with those incidents, it could still happen to me. And I’m always, I hate to say always, consistently on the hunt for the change in my own behavior. And I’ve dealt with my own bouts of mental health issues, and I sought help. And I have some very good friends, very upstanding individuals that encouraged me to do it, that said that they went through it themselves. And they helped remove that stigma for me, and I received the help I needed. And it made a monumental difference for me. And so that’s why I advocate the way I do for seeking help. With the stigma being lessened, I think that at some point hopefully it doesn’t put too much of a strain on that system that handles that. But it’s incredibly important to try to seek that help and work through those issues in a healthy manner.
David Masterson:
There’s a number of unhealthy ways to cope with it. And all that will do is just make the situation worse. Find healthy ways to deal with it, and some people have their own ways. They have a hobby. They made garden, tinker with an old vehicle, go to the gym and work out. That’s turned into one of my own ways of coping with things, is picking heavy things up and putting them back down again.
Daniel Williams:
Yeah, yeah. Makes sense. And I know we’re on the topic, but I think it is important, like you’re saying, because I think everyone has experienced being around somebody who’s been in some a high stress job, whether that’s medical with nursing or an EMT or a firefighter or law enforcement, that you can tell the stresses of their job are making them a little disillusioned about things. There’s nothing wrong with that, though, because it just means that the job is getting to them. And it just means that they should be aware of that change in behavior. And it’s one of those things where I think people just need to recognize that even those who are in a position of rescuing are still just as human as anybody else who’s involved in the incident. Bit of a roller coaster conversation here, but we’re hitting a bit of a long point on here. So I guess we’d probably better wrap it up. Thanks for talking with, Mr. Masterson. Or should I just call you Dave?
David Masterson:
I prefer Dave. Yeah.
Daniel Williams:
But thanks for talking with me, Dave. It’s been an interesting conversation. Sent in some different directions that I expected it to, but I think it’ll be fun for people to listen to as well.
David Masterson:
Well, and I hope it sheds a little bit of light to the general public to what their responders do go through. Quick hit on mental health. Even if it’s not somebody that’s in a high stress occupation, just because you don’t feel like you have those triggering mechanisms doesn’t mean that you might not have an issue and that it’s still okay to not be okay. But yeah, I’m very pleased to hopefully shed some light on a few things and let the public know that we’re your neighbors. We’re the same people you see in the grocery store and stuff. It’s just there’s times where we go to work, and we just do a different job.
Daniel Williams:
All right. Well, thanks again for talking with us, Dave. Happy to get you in here at another time. And also, be aware, everybody, they’re getting ready to go through their Muscular Dystrophy Association charity event that’s going to be going on here pretty soon. So keep that in mind as well, and stop by and donate if you get a chance. Thanks again.
David Masterson:
Thank you.
