If you have been near a radio or a TV this political season, you probably heard the three leading candidates for the Democratic and Republican parties debating one another on who was best qualified to take a phone call at 3 o'clock in the morning. The inference to all the discussion is that there would be a crisis somewhere in the United States or somewhere in the world and whoever is President of the United States would have to deal with it when the hot line rang at 3 A.M. But what about firefighters who answer the 3 A.M. bell all the time?
Jim Page, who many have dubbed the "Father of Modern EMS" and who died in 2004, wrote a book called The Magic of 3 A.M. In the book, Jim describes what happens when the phone rings at 3 o'clock in the morning at the 911 center and subsequently what happens when we respond to those calls. Getting up and out of bed after being asleep at 3 in the morning is the equivalent of going from zero to 60 in one second in those car commercials. Your blood pressure and pulse are sub-normal and within one second, they instantly are elevated to above-normal limits.
I never went into a deep sleep when I was on duty and always felt I was in some state of suspended animation. I was asleep. I was dreaming. But it was never a deep sleep. Almost the same as when I fall asleep on a plane these days.
All the discussion about who is best qualified among the candidates for President of the United States to take that 3 A.M. phone call got me to thinking. What is so extraordinary about getting a phone call with a crisis at 3 in the morning? Those of us in the fire service experience this every day of the year. Even though I am no longer on shift work, as a deputy fire chief for a large metropolitan fire department, my pager frequently goes off at 3 in the morning with a notification of a working fire, an injured firefighter, a burned civilian or any other significant event. In essence, what is the big deal about somebody in the White House answering a phone at 3 in the morning?
There are tremendous demands on the human body, physically and psychologically, when getting that 3 A.M. call. If the three candidates for the Presidency think there is something unique and challenging about answering a phone in the early-morning hours, then they should check out those who work in the fire service.
For those in the fire service, getting the call at 3 in the morning can be challenging. For instance, if you have been up all day and got very little sleep, sleep deprivation may impact your performance. Recent sleep-deprivation studies describe the challenges placed on the mind and body when there are prolonged periods without sleep or rest.
In a 2006, the National Sleep Foundation released a study called "Sleep-Wake Cycle: Its Physiology and Impact on Health." The study found that people who were awake 19 hours or more scored significantly lower on performance and alertness tests. Essentially, your ability to perform certain functions and make decisions is not at the level it should be.
Each day in this country, firefighter/EMTs and firefighter/paramedics find themselves in the same situation. They have been running all day and at 3 A.M. they are running on another call. They have to drive to the scene and maybe to the hospital. They may have to make some life-altering decision for a patient -- all while being sleep deprived.
What was most frustrating for me was to get one call after another in 10- or 15- minute intervals when I just fell asleep and the bell would go off again. I would have rather had continuous calls, one after another, without lying down. I can remember sometimes driving home in the morning barely able to keep my eyes open. One that I distinctly remember was trying to make it home one morning after a severe winter storm hit St. Louis and we ran non-stop for 24 hours from one call to the other.
Getting that call at 3 in the morning may not be as grim as what we can envision a President of the United States may have to deal with, but whether it is a phone call in the White House at 3 A.M. or a bell going off in a fire station in middle America, they both will deal with life and death.
Alan Brunacini, the former fire chief of Phoenix, would use an analogy to suggest that outside the fire service there are not many professions whose practitioners would be allowed to come through your back door at 3 o'clock in the morning and go into your daughter's bedroom. His point is that the public has tremendous trust in us. But it is ironic that he chose to use 3 A.M. in the description of his point.
As Jim Page so eloquently described it, there is magic that happens at 3 A.M. Extraordinary and dedicated individuals in the fire service rise to meet many types of challenges that many politicians would have a hard time even beginning to know where to begin to deal with the crisis. But those in the fire service are ready, willing and able to answer the bell when it goes off at 3 in the morning.
GARY LUDWIG, MS, EMT-P, a Firehouse® contributing editor, is a deputy fire chief with the Memphis, TN, Fire Department. He has 30 years of fire-rescue service experience. Ludwig is chairman of the EMS Section for the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), has a master's degree in business and management, and is a licensed paramedic. He is a frequent speaker at EMS and fire conferences nationally and internationally, and can be reached through his website at www.garyludwig.com.
