From ABC News, this article also includes a top-10 listing of most stressful jobs. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2012/04/best-and-worst-jobs-of-2012-most-stressful-careers/
I really have to take exception to firefighter being #2 on the most stressful list. Thanks to the fire prevention efforts of the 70's and 80's, there are very rarely any big fires anymore, so firefighters spend most of their time responding to medical calls (where they're usually not needed), car accidents (where they generally just get in the way & block traffic), or hanging around the firehouse and sleeping/watching TV.
:biglaugh: C'mon man - you cannot apply a narrow, New England perspective to an entire profession. The perception you list above is incorrect at a majority of fire departments out there. I could just as easily say that cops should be ranked as more stressful because you guys are always just one step ahead of an IA investigation and a Grand Jury indictment. :biglaugh:
What Bruce is saying is not a New England perspective either. I have the same perception from living in SoCal, Pacific Northwest, and the Mid-Atlantic. There is not as much danger for firefighters as there was even 20 years ago. 9/11 aside, being a Firefighter would be one of the greatest jobs a person can get. 24 on (sleepy time, cooking, working out, and the above mentioned not so dangerous call outs) and 72 off with generous retirement and benefits. I'd drop my current career in a heart beat to join two of my buddies on the fire department. Your exception does not make the rule. When candid, most Firefighters will cop to my above statements. Unless of course its bond time again, then it's a different story.
Thanks to Facebook and message boards such as this, I have friends all across the country and the world. Trust me, that is NOT a New England-only perspective, but rather the rule and not the exception. Even FDNY people just aren't nearly as busy as they were a generation ago, because fire prevention & education, combined with stricter fire safety codes (mandatory sprinklers), have made big multi-alarm fires very rare these days. We go to every fire call, while they don't go to our calls, so I see it first-hand. Don't get me wrong....when there is a big fire, those guys earn every penny of their paychecks, but to rank it the second most stressful job is laughable.
Some of the items are laughable: Firefighter stressful? Not even close. I have family members who are firefighters. Bruce is right on with his comments. Meter Reader 7th worst job? Come on. They either walk or drive around and collect readings. They make $38,000 plus ~$15,000 in benefits per year on average. That's very good pay for a job that requires no skills or education whatsoever. Meter Readers, Utilities Enlisted Military Soldier 3rd worst job? This is a tough one (going to war sucks) GOArmy Total Compensation Military Education Programs
When I used to work the midnight shift, I would sarcastically apologize to the hose draggers for waking them up when they arrived at a call at 4am. Now on the evening shift, we say to each other "Gee, I hope we didn't interrupt their barbecue". BTW....what's most stressful about being a police officer is that you often go from full stop to full speed in the blink of an eye. You can be having a calm conversation with someone, and the next second you're in a fight for your life with them. That, and all the bureaucratic bullshit that comes from the command staff.
Disclaimer...I may be biased because I used to be an enlisted soldier. I think this definitely has to go in the top 10. Not sure why they made it specific to the point of stating enlisted. We used to laugh at those "Total Compensation" charts. Does a military member get a lot of benefits? Yes. Does the chart accurately reflect that? No. The stress really depends on the job. There are some jobs where soldiers just sit around (for the most part). Then there are some where they work from can to can't under a lot of pressure.
Again, you are showing an East Coast big-city perspective because those guys truly think that the only reason they exist is for fighting fire. They have been slow to get into EMS and other response types and have, as a result of what you noted, found themselves becoming less and less critical. The vast majority of smaller departments are not like the big city depts. in the U.S. like the BFD, FDNY, Detroit, SanFran and others (okay, no one really believes that San Francisco is part of the U.S.). I never said that firefighting was stressful. That number two ranking is a bit inaccurate in my view. In fact, my stressful days are few and far between - the majority of my days are spent doing paperwork. I just take exception when people who are under the impression that all we do is sleep all day and play cards. Yeah, everyone knows some firefighters who are lazy. I know a few cops who are alcoholics and beat their wives - yet I am not narrow-minded enough to say that must be the rule and not the exception. I work for a career fire department, but I would not call myself a firefighter first - I am an EMT first since 85% of our call volume is EMS. We do public education, fire prevention, code enforcement, train for about 3-4 hours per shift, and do maintenance on rigs and equipment. We do not work a 24/72, we work a 24/48 which is far more of a common schedule. We have paramedics, EMTs and are the primary providers on all medical calls. At my dept., we do a lot of shit all day long even if some of it is busy work. That is more of the rule than the exception, at least in my area of the country.
Best: When you look forward to going to work (regardless of vocation) Worse: When you hate going to work (regardless of vocation) Love what you do and you won't have to work a day in your life.
Very few fire departments around here are the primary EMS providers, cities either contract with private ambulance companies for dedicated coverage, or have a separate EMS departments. As I mentioned, most of the time at medical calls they just hinder things by blocking the street, and most of them aren't even EMT's anyway (it's not required, although they get a stipend if they do). Ditto for traffic crashes....they usually just screw up traffic, and in one case they cut the battery cables of a witness's car who wasn't even involved in the crash. As I said, all the fire prevention efforts of the 70's and 80's, combined with stricter safety codes, has resulted in very few big fires anymore, so fire departments are desperate to justify their staffing and budget. That's one of the reasons I became a cop....greater job security, because crime prevention hasn't seemed to have worked out very well.
