Burnout and trauma: huge climate cost on emergency workers revealed

The ongoing trauma inflicted by extreme bushfires on emergency services workers has been laid bare, with mental health issues among the most common injuries suffered by police and firefighters.

An analysis of more than 44,000 WorkCover claims lodged by first responders across Victoria shows there was an almost 50 per cent increase in workers’ compensation claims in which the cause was listed as mental injury during the Black Saturday and Black Summer extreme bushfire periods, compared with other periods since 2005.

A firefighter reacts as a blaze rages out of control during the Black Saturday bushfires, which claimed 173 lives in 2009.Credit: Jason South

Mental injuries accounted for 23 per cent of compensation claims lodged by emergency services personnel during the extreme bushfire periods, second only to “body stressing” – an umbrella term for injuries suffered by repetitive motions, including muscle sprains.

In average years between 2005 and 2023, mental injuries were the cause of 15.4 per cent of claims; during the bushfire disaster months of 2009 and 2019-20, they accounted for 22.9 per cent of claims – a rise of 48 per cent.

Ewan Waller was chief fire officer with the then-Department of Sustainability and Environment during the devastating Black Saturday bushfires, which killed 173 people and untold numbers of wildlife, and incinerated 450,000 hectares in February 2009.

Waller was among several agency chiefs heavily criticised by the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements (known as the bushfire royal commission) for their handling of the disaster.

Ewan Waller giving evidence at the Royal Commission in 2009.Credit: John Woudstra

Waller – who says the royal commission process helped communities heal, but exacerbated the trauma of Black Saturday for many agency personnel – knows more than most about the emotional scars left by bushfires.

“By the time I left ... physically and mentally, I was worn out, and I had trauma myself,” he said.

Waller said fire agency staff had received strong psychological support to help cope with the trauma and aftermath of Black Saturday, and a number of them had required support for years.

“You harden up so much to get through the period that you just become quite insular and unemotional about things ... you’ve just got to protect the inner core, and it comes at a price.”

Firefighters run for safety from embers during the Black Summer fires in December 2019.Credit: Nick Moir

Of the 1105 emergency services personnel who lodged claims for injuries suffered during the Black Saturday and Black Summer periods, 75 per cent were men, and 50.9 per cent were police officers. Another 27.2 per cent were ambulance workers, while one in five were professional firefighters.

The analysis shows older workers were over-represented in the compensation claims filed during extreme bushfire events compared with other times, which researchers said could be due to being seconded from leadership positions to frontline duties during a crisis.

Professor Karen Walker-Bone, director of the Monash Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health, co-authored the analysis of workers’ compensation claims lodged by emergency services workers over an 18-year period.

‘They’re trained for it, but they’re not necessarily prepared for it.’

Professor Karen Walker-Bone

In the peer-reviewed paper published in Nature Scientific Reports, Walker-Bone and her colleagues argue emergency services workers should receive mental health support before traumatic bushfires, rather than simply after them.

“We can expect the occurrence of extreme bushfires to increase around the world, and in the context of an ageing workforce in Australia and many other countries, these findings emphasise the importance of primary and secondary prevention in the emergency services workforce,” they found.

This could include free health assessments for older workers and increased mental health support.

“Our main worry is that bushfires are such unique events … and end up being fought by a huge group of people being pulled in for an emergency at short notice,” Walker-Bone said.

“Yes, they’re trained for it, but they’re not necessarily prepared for it.”

The Black Summer fires of 2019-20 were estimated to have scorched about 12 million hectares across Australia, and killed at least 34 people including nine firefighters. Another 429 people are believed to have died from the effects of bushfire smoke inhalation.

The researchers said that a changing climate leading to increased frequency and severity of bushfires, and an ageing population, highlighted the need for more health monitoring and psychological support for emergency services personnel.

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