By Nature, We're Doers and Problem Solvers

Objective The U.S. fire service experienced increased demands due to COVID-19. This qualitative study explored the pandemic’s impact on work-life balance and safety. Methods Five interviews and 10 focus groups were conducted with 15 fire departments in the COVID-19 RAPID Mental Health Assessment. Coding and multi-level content analysis were conducted in NVivo. Results Four department support themes were identified: Emotional/Social (33.1%), Policy (28.4%), Instrumental (22.9%), and Informational (15.5%). Four work-life balance themes were identified: Life (51.2%), Children (18.1%), Physiological (16.5%), and Work (14.2%). We observed more departmental resources to help mitigate job demands within the work environment compared to those for work-life demands. Conclusions Job resources are needed to mitigate demands and improve safety culture and mental well-being of the fire service under normal conditions, and for the next pandemic, natural disaster, or long-term emergency.