Most Dallas firefighters don’t trust their top leaders, around a quarter of almost 900 workers say they’ve experienced symptoms of depression, and nearly 1 in 10 employees say they’ve thought of harming themselves, according to the results of an internal city survey released Thursday.
The survey assessing the mental health of Dallas Fire-Rescue workers also found 37% of respondents reported drinking more alcohol since starting their job, and 34% say they have increased anxiety. Most are aware of several programs offered through the city to decrease stress, but 83% say they don’t use any of them.
Jim McDade, president of the Dallas Fire Fighters Association, described the results of the survey as disturbing, but not surprising. The union head said many firefighters feel the city has offered few solutions to increased emergency calls, protections from COVID, and a safe space to report personal issues to management without it being used against them.
Issues with getting paid on time have also shaken faith, he said. The fire and police unions are in an ongoing lawsuit with the city over delayed pay increases.
“A lot of what the survey shows is a culmination of two years of incredible stress on our members who have gone above and beyond for this city and feeling like they have very little support,” McDade said.
The fire department responded to around 236,000 calls in 2020, according to the department. McDade said the call load typically increases around 5% a year. The majority of calls firefighters respond to are medical-related.
COVID also hit the department hard. More than 900 fire-rescue workers tested positive for the virus between March 2020 and January 2022, according to the department.
Fire Chief Dominique Artis, who sent the results of the survey in a memo to the mayor and City Council members Thursday, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The survey was conducted by the fire agency’s safety division, and the poll was sent to 1,600 Dallas firefighters and paramedics. The survey had 895 people respond. The department has a total workforce of around 2,000.
The survey was done for the safety division to better understand the mental state of workers, and the data will be used to develop programs to better serve employees, Artis wrote in the memo.
“DFR leadership is committed to addressing all the survey responses,” Artis wrote. “In fact, work had already previously begun addressing issues that were subsequently presented in the responses.”
He mentioned as examples the department holding informal meetings to get input from workers on how the agency responds to and dispatches calls and that the city is planning to hire staff psychologists for the fire department and stationing them in office space not owned by the city.
The City Council on Wednesday approved paying more than $190,000 over five years for the fire department psychologists to be based in a privately-owned West Dallas office building.
Artis made no remarks about the survey results in the memo.
The department has peer support, stress management and employee assistance programs among initiatives offered to help address mental health of firefighters.
The City Council in March approved city workers who experience a traumatic event while on duty to take paid time off.
He said the union also provides services to help with the mental health of staff, but there isn’t enough trust of upper management.
“When you call the department peer support team and a deputy chief answers the phone, there’s a a fear of being open and honest because the feeling is the chief will be more loyal to the city than to members,” McDade said.
“If someone says they’ve been using drugs to cope and they’re looking for help, they’re afraid it’ll lead to them getting disciplined instead.”
McDade said the survey comes after the department has had at least one member die by suicide for the last five years. He said two workers have died by suicide in the last six months and a third attempted to harm themselves.
According to the survey, about 38% polled workers said they believed the fire department’s top managers, including the chief, care about their well being.
The numbers rose significantly when it came to lower levels of management like deputy chiefs (60%), battalion chiefs (85%) and fire station officers (96%). The survey found 95% of firefighters believed their peers cared about their well-being.
The survey found 83% of workers said they’ve never used any of the services offered by the city to aid their mental health despite the majority of workers knowing all the options available.
Also in the survey, 88% of workers said the job has hurt their sleep, but only 35% said they’d be willing to change their work schedule.
“The survey is a step in the right direction,” McDade said. “But until we’re able to address the workload on our members the impacts are going to continue taking a toll on our members.”
Twitter: @EvertonBailey