How Being a Firefighter Prepared Me for Motherhood

In February of 2002, I was a single homeowner looking to be more involved in my community and gain some experience as an emergency medical technician. I was hired as a paid on-call (volunteer) firefighter/emt. Nine years, a husband and a daughter later, I am still using concepts and skills I learned as a firefighter. If any of my former crew members are reading this and shaking their heads, bear with me, you'll see just what I mean.

REVAS is one of many acronyms used in the fire service. For the lay person, I'll briefly explain what it means for the firefighter. Upon arriving to the scene of a fire, the fire crews need to carry out tasks in a particular order. The captain does a "360 walk around" where he/she quickly walks around to assess all sides of the structure and REVAS takes place. REVAS stands for rescue, exposure, ventilation, attack, salvage. The first is rescue (the occupants of the structure), followed by exposure protection which means protecting any surrounding structures from catching fire. Ventilation involves opening up the windows, the roof or strategic placement of fans to aid in extinguishment or the attack phase of the operation after which salvage is performed.

Parenting a toddler is hard work! Her curious little mind never stops thinking of things to explore. Inevitably, disasters happen. I have found that employing REVAS is the best way to take care of any toddler-influenced crisis. So the next time you hear, "Mommy, HELP!" or the ever-popular "Uh-oh!" you'll have a plan of action that really works.

First do a "360 walk around" assessment of the disaster area, then:

Rescue--rescue the toddler and/or family pet(s)

Exposure--protect anything that is in imminent danger of damage

Ventilation*--take a deep, cleansing, calming breath and

ATTACK!--the spill, stain, mess, etc

Salvage--fix what needs to be repaired, clean what needs to be cleaned, and chuck anything unsalvagable.

Once everyone is safe, everything is cleaned up and your toddler is quietly (for the moment) watching the Sprout Channel, you can go play computer solitaire while you mentally prepare the verbal incident report for daddy when he gets home.

I once thought that being a firefighter was the most physically demanding and rewarding job I could have done. At that time, I had no children. Now I can honestly say that being a mother is the most demanding yet rewarding job I could ever do. Fortunately for me, being a firefighter prepared me a little bit for it.

*this step may also require opening windows or turning on fans in the event of a poo-related emergency.