Breathwork for Firefighters
Control what you can control — starting with your breath
Firefighting is one of the few professions where breathing is both a performance skill and a survival constraint. When you're on air, every breath matters — panicked breathing burns through an SCBA cylinder in half the time. Controlled breathing literally buys you minutes.
Beyond the fireground, the cumulative stress load of emergency calls — cardiac arrests, fatal MVAs, pediatric calls — creates a sustained sympathetic burden that most firefighters never properly discharge. The culture says "suck it up." The physiology says that approach leads to PTSD, cardiovascular disease, and suicide rates 2-3x the general population.
Breathwork fits the fire service because it's practical, fast, and doesn't require anyone to sit in a circle and talk about their feelings. Two minutes of box breathing after a bad call. Coherence breathing during downtime at the station. A physiological sigh between dispatches. Small resets that prevent the big collapse.
Recommended Patterns
SCBA efficiency and post-call reset. Slows breathing rate, conserves air, and manages acute stress.
Between calls. One breath to discharge the stress of the last run before the next tone drops.
Station sleep. Critical for firefighters who need to fall asleep fast and sleep through anything except the tones.
When to Use It
- En route to a call — box breathing in the rig
- On-scene during rehab between work cycles
- After a bad call before returning to service
- At the station to decompress on shift
- Before sleep at the station or at home
Frequently Asked Questions
How does breathing technique affect SCBA duration?
A panicked firefighter at 30+ breaths per minute burns through a 30-minute cylinder in 12-15 minutes. Controlled breathing at 12-15 breaths per minute can extend that to 25+ minutes. The difference is life and death in a search-and-rescue scenario.
Can this help with PTSD from bad calls?
Breathwork is not a treatment for PTSD. But it's a daily maintenance tool that prevents acute stress from accumulating into chronic trauma. The physiological sigh after a bad call helps your nervous system process and discharge the stress response instead of storing it.
How do I get my crew to try this?
Don't call it breathwork. Call it tactical breathing or combat breathing — same technique the military uses. Do a 2-minute drill in the bay after a training evolution. The results speak for themselves.
What about during physical exertion on the fireground?
Nasal breathing during moderate exertion and controlled recovery breathing during rest cycles. On air, focus on slow exhales — it's the exhale that conserves air and calms the nervous system simultaneously.
Breathwork for Other Professions