Olivia Holter is a Utah-based licensed health psychologist whose husband is a wildland firefighter. Last year, their young son was playing with a toy helicopter when the danger of the fireline suddenly became clear – and overwhelmed him.
“He was throwing it up in the air and it was falling, and all of a sudden he just had this extreme panic,” Holter recounted. “And I was like, ‘wow, this is a potentially traumatic event for our son.’ And I started kind of digging into what resources were out there and really realizing that there's nothing for families.”
That’s exactly what the advocacy group FiredUp Partners was responding to with its new Wildland Firefighter Family Handbook.
“In these pages, you will find a practical guide to being the partner of a wildland firefighter, written by partners of wildland firefighters,” the recently published handbook opens. “Whether your relationship is just starting and you are not sure how dating in the summer will look, or you are thinking about family planning while in a wildland relationship, we hope that you will find some advice that is relevant to your life and experience here.”
Its many sections cover common fireline terminology, handling relationships and childcare during the long summer months and how to support firefighters reintegrating to family life once the season slows down.
“Fire season often becomes a season of solo parenting,” Holter said of her experience. “There's a lot of time away from each other, and there's a lot of missed opportunities on both sides.”
Holter volunteered her expertise to the group and authored the mental health section.
“Even now, I still feel a pit in my stomach before the first fire assignment of the season. But I also feel more prepared than I once did,” she wrote in its foreword. “This handbook was written with that experience in mind. It acknowledges the very real challenges of wildland fire, both for those on the line and those supporting them at home, while also reflecting the truth that people can and do find ways to navigate those challenges over time.”
“I want to normalize the emotions,” she said of her goals for the chapter.
And, in the wake of three high-profile burnover deaths in Colorado earlier this month, there have been a lot of emotions in the air.
“We all feel this loss very deeply,” she said of the Rifle Helitack crew members killed.
She acknowledged that federal agencies are doing more to address the mental health burden of wildland fire, like the free therapy service that was launched last year. But even with some positive changes, she said many firefighters and their partners still get to the end of the season and wonder if they can endure another.
“I hear this from my friends: ‘I don't know if I can keep doing this,’” she said. “And sometimes those thoughts are said out loud in the worst moments. I wish there was more support for us in those moments.”
She also said that fire partners can help each other with childcare and yard work and other household tasks that draw down limited energy. Some firefighter families, who Holter described as “fiercely independent, can struggle to ask for help, but she said many friends, family and neighbors would love to be asked.
“It is immensely difficult at times,” Holter acknowledged. “And I think it also is, and can be, just a really important and joyful job too.”
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
