The experience of trauma in forest firefighters through indirect exposure.

Jaime Senabre

Director of SINIF.
University of Alicante, Spain.

One of the characteristics of work in the extinction of forest fires is the exposure of forest firefighters to situations that require a great demand of personal resources, both physical and psychological, which is an important source of stress for these professionals. On occasion, forest firefighters face critical situations that can be a traumatic experience capable of generating deep discomfort, both individually and collectively. This type of negative events can cause invisible emotional scars, difficult to erase and complex approach. Now, we know that an inadequate management of empathy towards victims can facilitate the initiation of a process of secondary traumatic stress in firefighters, due to emotional contagion. This paper deals with indirect exposure to trauma through the indiscriminate consumption of images and traumatic stories offered by the media (press and TV) or social networks. Our research team was able to observe how Forest Fire Brigades, which participated as Control Group in a study on emotional impact in forest firefighters after a forest fire in Spain with fatalities, manifested post-traumatic symptomatology, almost at the same level as those firefighters who participated directly in the works of extinction of that fire. The conclusions indicate that indirect exposure to trauma, uncontrolled empathy towards victims, and social or professional identification with victims may have (both in emergency professionals and in the general population) emotional consequences, similar to those produced in the direct victims of the fire, as well as a latent predisposition to manifest maladaptive behaviors before similar situations or that remember the lived experience.Finally, guidelines are offered on "what to do" to avoid emotional contagion due to indirect exposure to trauma, such as, for example, a dosed and unrepeated consumption of news and images with a heavy dramatic load.

 ScientificTracks Abstracts: J Psychol Psychother

 Citation: Senabre, J. (2018). The experience of trauma in forest firefighters through indirect exposure. Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy. ISSN: 2161-0487. Volume 8. World Summit on Stress, Mindfulness and Philosophy. Boston, USA. Book of abstracts. pp52. DOI: 10.4172/2161-0487-C4-032

World Summit on Stress, Mindfulness and Philosophy. August 27-28, 2018 | Boston, USA.

Characteristic profile of forest fire risk from social perception: A study with Spanish population.

Jaime Senabre^1,2

¹Director of SINIF.

² Research Group on Climate and Territorial Planning. University of Alicante. Spain.

Forest fires represent an evolutionary opportunity for some species and, at times, a tragedy for human societies. The devastating fires of 2017 in Portugal and 2018 in Greece are a clear example of this. Forest fires have been considered by many researchers as a Natural Hazard or Risk, something that makes us disagree, given that the human being has a predominant influence on the origin of most ignitions and, in the evolution and consequences thereof.

From an anthropogenic vision of the fires, we are convinced that not only must we work on prevention, self-protection and integral management of the territory, but also on proactive fire education programs.

For this reason, we present a characteristic profile of forest fire risk, developed from the study of the social perception of this threat with a population resident in Spain. There is no doubt that there are many factors that can affect the social perception of risks: cultural, sociological, situational, psychological, psychosocial and those related to the qualitative characteristics of the source of risk. All these factors are interrelated.

The evaluation of the qualitative characteristics of forest fire risk based on the study of social perception, will allow us to better understand the reasons for not acting proactively in the face of the threat of forest fire. Also, it can be useful when designing campaigns to raise awareness and prevent forest fires, in short, as a tool for education on environmental safety issues.

WC Climate Change 2018: Impacts & Responses

September 13-15, 2018 | Rome, Italy 

Citation: Senabre, J. (2018). Characteristic profile of forest fire risk from social perception: A study with Spanish population. WC Climate Change 2018: Impacts & Responses. Rome, Italy. Book of abstracts. pp45. https://innovinc.org/images/preconference/vi_30.pdf

Violence in fire stations: A study with Spanish firefighters.

Jaime Senabre Director of SINIF.

University of Alicante, Spain.

Abstract

Violence of any kind between humans is nothing new. In the last decades a great interest has been awakened by the study of violence developed in work environments. Variety, temporality and frequency are necessary criteria for diagnosis. Factors related to the organization of work and the work environment could facilitate this type of behavior. Likewise, personality factors of the aggressor and the victim could play a role in the whole process, as well as the type of response of the aggrieved person. For the analysis, three questionnaires will be used, one of personality factors, the LIPT-60, on perception and strategies of workplace harassment and a Spanish adaptation of the MBI conducted by Senabre (2005) for fire services. The sample is composed of 34 firefighters, of which 20 are forest firefighters. Preliminary results suggest that 8.82% of the participants in the study reported that they had the perception that they were being harassed in their work, compared to 91.17% who don???t think that they have this work situation. Affability, age and emotional fatigue do seem to play their role in different ways. Younger professionals seem to be the most vulnerable to suffer this type of behavior, as well as those who are more emotionally exhausted. However, the more affable firefighters, that is, those who are more pleasant and friendly can be less affected by this type of aggression. Another important fact that emerges from this research is that there is a clear trend in these groups to deny any behavior of harassment, so the figures could be higher. Thus, we can conclude that workplace harassment is present in the fire services, being the strategies of job loss of prestige and intimidation manifested the most prevalent in the sample studied, followed by the obstruction of progress. The loss of prestige in the workplace is more frequently used by forest firefighters and the intimidation manifested among structural firefighters. According to the data provided in this study, we can notice that violent behaviors and harassment occur in fire stations, especially when working conditions are more precarious.

Citation: Senabre, Jaime (2018). Violence in fire stations: A study with Spanish firefighters. In Journal of Child & Adolescent Behaviour, Vol. 6, pp 43. DOI: 10.4172/2375-4494-C1-006

Journal of Child & Adolescent Behaviour | ISSN: 2375-4494 | Volume 6

30^th World Psychiatrists and Psychologists Meet. Osaka, Japan.

Psychosocial perception of wildland fires in the province of Alicante (Spain)

Jaime Senabre Director of SINIF.

University of Alicante, Spain.

Abstract

The concern for the environment is part of the discourse of societies. The Planet is immersed in an ecological crisis in whose nucleus is the human being. The way in which humans are interacting with the natural environment is aggravating environmental deterioration, which is contributing to a breakdown of the global climate balance. The interpretation of the role that the human being occupies in the causality of disasters needs an honest exercise of analysis. Every year, thousands of hectares of forest burn around the world. The emissions of polluting gases into the atmosphere discharged by wildland fires constitute a global environmental problem that causes, directly or indirectly, human and economic losses, as well as a degradation of the air we breathe. In the Mediterranean countries, with Spain and Portugal at the head, 70% of the forest fires in Europe occur. The studies on perception of risks trying to analyze the effective and ethical relationships that a determined community establishes with the environment with which it interacts and lives. The attachment and the value of the place of residence are part of the environmental perception, a topic that is of interest to social psychology. In the present study, we try to analyze how citizens of the province of Alicante perceive the risk of wildland fire. This area of southeastern Spain has been historically punished by fire and in which, according to the surveyed population, 50% of citizens suffer the impact of forest fires every year. Some of our findings determine that the citizens' concern about wildland fires is very high, being perceived as a product of society, an aspect that invites us to reflect. Another outstanding aspect that emerges from our study is the consideration of citizens to establish greater restrictions on the use of fire as a fire prevention measure. Citation: Senabre, Jaime (2018). Psychosocial perception of wildland fires in the province of Alicante (Spain). In Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology, Vol. 8, pp 53. DOI: 10.4172/2161-0525-C3-017 Journal of Environmental & Analytical Toxicology | ISSN: 2161-0525 | Volume 8 17th International Conference on Environmental Toxicology and Ecological Risk Assessment. Chicago, USA.

The emotional impact caused by a traumatic event and the process of second victimization in forest firefighters.

Jaime Senabre

Director of SINIF.

University of Alicante, Spain.

Abstract:

The forest fire extinguishing services sometimes face critical situations that can suppose a traumatic experience capable of generating a deep discomfort in the interveners, such as the loss of companions during the work of extinction, burns caused by the fire, the emotional impact in situations of entrapment, etc. This type of negative events can provoke fear and feelings of terror in the victims, as well as invisible emotional scars, difficult to erase and of complex approach.

An inadequate assistance to this type of professionals, affected by a critical incident of these characteristics can originate various processes of victimization, causing a psychological damage characterized by pain, anger, indignation, guilt, fear, awe, intense re-experimentation of what was lived, physiological and psychological hyperactivation, apathy, helplessness, feeling of loss of control, insecurity and avoidance behaviors.

The absence of empathy and sensitivity of the staff that attends to the victims, together with a lack of information and a mismatch between the expected and received treatment can cause a negative feeling in the firefighters affected by the traumatic incident, capable of initiating a process of revictimization called second victimization. In this work, concepts such as traumatic experience, traumatic event, psychological damage and second victimization are addressed.

Likewise, the conditioning factors of the emotional impact (external and internal), the objectives of the psychological help work and the basic skills to develop it are pointed out. Also, the phases through which the forest firefighters go when they suffer a revictimization are indicated. 

Finally, some guidelines are offered on what to do to avoid a second victimization.

Citation: Senabre, Jaime (2018).  The emotional impact caused by a traumatic event and the process of second victimization in forest firefighters. In Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Vol. 8, pp 38 DOI: 10.4172/2161-0487-C3-030

PDF link

Journal of Psychology & Psychotherapy

Forest fires and social perception of the landscape: A study with Spanish population.

Jaime Senabre
University of Alicante, Spain.
Director of SINIF.

Abstract 

Forest fires are a global environmental problem that burn millions of hectares every year throughout the planet, causing human and economic losses as well as significant degradation of the natural environment. In Southern Europe, with Spain and Portugal at the head, 70% of the continent's forest fires occur. The growing human population and continuous occupation of the territory, exercise a role of domination and submission of nature. For this and other reasons, we can´t omit the involvement of humans in the probability of occurrence of fires in the world. At present, it seems obvious that we are experiencing a change of trend in aspects such as temperature and precipitation rates, something that, together with other environmental evidences, has been associated with global climate change. In this context and as it always did, fire plays a modulating role in the characteristics of the vegetation and the structure of the landscape. This last aspect is the one we focus on in this study. Some of our findings determine that 95.90%, of the Spanish population surveyed, consider that there is a representative and characteristic landscape in the area where they live. We have also found that the "recreational" value of landscape is greater than the "economic" value, an aspect that may be relevant when it comes to forest management and forest fires. On the other hand, we have been able to confirm the high concern of Spanish citizens for the threat posed by natural phenomena to the landscape of their community and, especially, the concern about the threat of forest fires on the landscape, where 80.34% of our sample has identified damage to the landscape due to the impact of forest fires. Studies on social perception are a good tool for planning and improving prevention and risk management, as well as for the development of environmental policies appropriate to each specific territory. 

Environment Pollution and Climate Change Open Access (ISSN: 2573-458X)

PDF: Forest fires and social perception of the landscape: A study with Spanish population.

Citation:  Senabre, Jaime (2018). Forest fires and social perception of the landscape: A study with Spanish population. In Environment Pollution and Climate Change, 2018, Volume 2. pp84. DOI: 10.4172/2573-458X-C1-002

 

5^th World Conference on Climate Change. 2018, London, UK.

Recent Publications 
1. Senabre J (2018) Forest fires from the perspective of environmental psychology. Climate Change 4(13).
2. Senabre J (2017) Wildland fires, climate change and society. J. Earth Sci Clim. Change 8(10).
3. Senabre J (2016) Wildland fires and climate change. J. Earth Sci Clim. Change 7(5).

Forest fires and soil loss: A threat to biodiversity.

Jaime Senabre.
University of Alicante, Spain.
Director of SINIF.

Abstract:

Society doesn’t seem to be aware of the negative effects that forest fires have on the soil, whose degradation can become irreversible in many cases. The soil is one of the fundamental elements for life on Earth and that isn’t given due attention. In the same way, in the studies on forest fires the action of the natural risks in territories affected by forest fires and the influence of these in the loss of soil are little taken into account. A determining factor of plant productivity is the quality of the soil, a limited resource that is easily destroyed, not only by the incidence of fires, but by the climatic and meteorological conditions to which the area affected by fire can be subjected: Torrential rains, floods, droughts, extreme temperatures, strong winds that can accentuate the loss of nutrients and erosion. According to data obtained from a survey on the perception of risk by natural phenomena carried out with the Spanish population (n=1223), 67.54% of the respondents think that they live in an area threatened by some natural phenomenon and 73.02% indicate that at some moment in his life, some natural disaster has occurred that has damaged the community in which he lives. In this line, another study conducted by our research group provides us with relevant data on the frequency perception of forest fires in Spain (n=1068), where 58.52% of the population declare to suffer the impact of forest fires each year, 5.34% every 10 years or more and 3.46% never. Given these findings on risk perception and based on actual incidence data, it is possible to prepare, not only forest fire risk maps, but also risk maps of natural hazards to relate them, in order to establish the potential risk of loss of soil and the possible threat to biodiversity, based, mainly, on the observed changes in fire and natural disaster regimes.

Citation: Jaime Senabre (2018). Forest fires and soil loss: A threat to biodiversity. In Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography. Volume 8 (pp 43). DOI: 10.4172/2157-7625-C4-041 

Journal Link: 

https://www.omicsonline.org/ArchiveJEE/biodiversity-congress-2018-proceedings-tracks.php 

7^th International Conference on Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Management

 July 26-27, 2018 Melbourne, Australia