First responders suffer more burnout and ailments as a warming world brings more disasters

Climate change is challenging our capacity to respond

Paid subscribers, here are The Green Dispatch updates for this week. Just click here. If you’re not a paying subscriber but are interested in accessing these timely updates, just click the “Subscribe now” button below.

---

The wildfires in Canada have been so great that their smoke has blanketed much of the U.S. to the south. Climate change probably doubled their likelihood, as well as increased the number of hectares that went up in flames.

Similar headlines describe wildfires in France, Spain, and the rest of Europe. Over the last two decades, fires have increased in number and intensity throughout the continent. Last year was the worst fire year in the European Union, as one million hectares were scorched. Once again, we know the culprit: climate change.

All those fires throughout North America, Europe, and the rest of the world are quelled by firefighters, lots of them. At least 14,000 firefighters fought the Pacific Palisades fire that raged through 37 square miles of Los Angeles neighborhoods in early 2025. Take that number, 14,000, and multiply it perhaps 100 times over, and you get an idea of the number of people involved in keeping us fire safe.

As a warming world brings more fires, it also brings more drought, floods, and other environmental crises. Forty years ago, the U.S. experienced just over three weather disasters that each cost one billion in inflation-adjusted dollars. In the past three years, that average has shot up to 20, and last year we had a record 28 of these billion-dollar disasters.

Firefighters are fighting more fires, and other folks are on the front lines of disaster relief of more and more climate-driven catastrophes. What does this exponential increase mean for their health?

The toll on physical and mental health

In the line of duty, firefighters, as well as other first responders, see victims in distress, sometimes with severe injuries, sometimes dying or dead. Studies have shown that repeated exposure to these traumatic events can bring about compassion fatigue and emotional exhaustion. Seeing children suffer or witnessing incidents involving mass casualties can be particularly stressful, with long-lasting emotional distress.

Emergency personnel respond to calls in the middle of the night, and they often put in long, grueling hours. All this can lead to sleep deprivation, which can affect cognitive functioning and the ability to make decisions. People who are sleep deprived can be prone to emotional outbursts. Continual or repeated disruption of the natural daily wake/sleep cycle can result in chronic physical and mental health problems.

These unpredictable and demanding work schedules mean absences from family and missing important times like birthdays and holidays, resulting in tensions with families and loved ones. Firefighters are 10 to 15 percent more likely to divorce than the rest of the population.

When fighting fires, crews are ever vigilant of danger in a constantly changing environment, which keeps stress hormones elevated for long periods of time. Research shows this level of hypervigilance can lead to cardiovascular problems, immune system suppression, and accelerated aging.

Although first responders are trained to deal with crises and trauma, even still, many report long-term anxiety and depression stemming from their experiences. Since the COVID pandemic, the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) reports that the increasing number of crises has resulted in a corresponding increase in first responder burnout.

The health effects for firefighters can be cumulative, much of it due to inhaling smoke. A firefighter working for 25 years has a 43 percent greater risk of lung cancer and a 30 percent greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

There are websites and places for first responders to contact if they feel as though they need help. What is severely lacking, however, is any recognition on the part of the federal government to ameliorate the suffering of these very important people. I guess when an administration asserts that climate change is a hoax, it will claim all the suffering caused by a heating world is a hoax as well.

How about you? Are you a first responder? Have you and your family experienced more floods or fires in recent years? Please share by clicking the “Leave a comment” button below.

Previous Green Dispatches on climate change and health: