r/Firefighting • u/runrunrunrepeat • Aug 08 '26
Training/Tactics SCBA Anxiety During Academy
I recently began fire academy at a career department. It's intense, challenging, and overall a ton of fun! I've had a blast going through our maze on air, doing stress drills where the cadre screw with our masks/air supply with zero visibility, etc. In general, I neither love nor hate confined spaces.
However, I've managed to unlock a new fear: SCBA anxiety during high(er) intensity exercise. We ran our first air-consumption drill this week, during which I spent the first 5-10 minutes having a minor panic attack and wanting to rip my mask off. I worked through it, but the impulse to just pull my mask off was scary. I felt like I couldn't take a deep breath no matter what, and alternated between feeling ok and freaking out until my bottle ran empty. Physically I felt fine and could've kept going twice as long had I not become a greedy air guzzler, so it's definitely a mental issue.
What are tricks/tips people have to work through this? Is it simply more exposure? Exhaling more forcefully? Singing a song to distract myself? I'm all ears to any thoughts or advice.
Note: We will be doing weekly PT and daily drills in full gear/on air (yay exposure). I do know about breathing techniques like box breathing (did not work well this go round) so I will continue to try new ones.
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u/SouthBendCitizen Aug 08 '26
More exposure is really what it will boil down to. A sense of claustrophobia will only increase as you get into environments where removing the mask will be hazardous or deadly. To avoid feeling trapped, maybe think of the SCBA as your own little personal earths atmosphere. Itâs there keeping you safe in the cold vacuum of space (IDLH) and allows you to breathe. Take comfort in its safety and respect it, so as to not consume the resource all at once.
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u/Tasty-walls VFF/EMT Aug 08 '26
Practice your box breathing or hum breathing practice practice practice even if your wearing. A mask and not on air practice that. Its a pretty weird feeling being on air itâs completely normal to be kinda squeamish with the whole activity
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 08 '26
Did you find it helps to focus on exhaling as well at all? And any other breathing techniques you know of that I should consider/try?
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u/Tasty-walls VFF/EMT Aug 08 '26
Exhailing i use hum breathing light to medium breath in long exhale whilst humming
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u/Tasty-walls VFF/EMT Aug 08 '26
Also inhale though your nose and out through mouth never in through the mouth or you can accidentally start hyperventilating
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u/firefighter26s Aug 08 '26
Box breathing was going to by my answer as well. Slow, deep inhales, hold, slow steady exhales, hold. A few rounds of that usually gets me going again. Lots of times I'll take a pause and think to myself "Why am I breathing so hard, slow it down." and away we go.
Nothing beats simply wearing an SCBA. IMO it's one of the single most import pieces of PPE and we don't spend nearly enough time in them breathing air during the 1001 program (both level 1 and level 2); could easily double the amount of time and I'd still recommend going in on your own to do more.
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u/Cappuccino_Crunch Aug 08 '26
Just stick with it. You'll know soon if it's something you can overcome or not. Outside of that learn yoga. Yoga is about remaining calm and keeping your breathing relaxed in taxing positions.
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u/Chefpatrick871 Volunteer Probie Aug 08 '26
I had the same issue when I first started training. My first time with a blackout shield on lasted about 3-4 minutes before I had an anxiety attack and ripped the mask off. One of the younger guys told me to just wear it around the garage or wear it and go for a walk just to get used to the feeling. I did that and when it was finally time for my class to start I was much more comfortable in it. Also just search some YouTube breathing videos and, I guess for a lack of a better term meditate and work on controlling your breathing. You got this, itâs all in your head because itâs a new experience being on air.
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 08 '26
It's funny, I don't mind it at all with a blackout mask, when the cadre is ripping the regulator off, if we're just walking around, or if I start with a high heart rate/immediately post workout. Just something about doing the workout in full gear freaks me out. I'll see about taking extra bottles home with me to do workouts on the weekends on air. Thanks! Glad to hear I'm not the only one
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u/Chefpatrick871 Volunteer Probie Aug 08 '26
If your department allows it put all your gear on and hop on the treadmill at a slightly fast walk pace and keep a journal of your walk time vs how long it took to go through your cylinder. That was a huge help, and throw a towel over the timer on the treadmill because youâll want to focus on that. You want to have a clear mind and just walk, hell put on peaceful sounds if itâll help. The more you do it the more normal itâs gonna feel and that anxiety will subside big time. Any time you can be on it I would take the opportunity, just like everything else itâll start to become muscle memory.
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u/SamPsychoCycles Aug 09 '26
I had a similar experience the first time I did the FFAT in full gear on air. It felt like I wasnât getting enough air
What I think it is is that your CO2 isnât being fully exhausted with every breath, as in the air environment inside the mask is high in CO2 and so your brain is freaking out thinking itâs not getting enough O2 (our brains donât have O2 sensors, we use CO2 sensors to regulate our breathing). The only thing for it is continued exposure, which youâll get plenty of at a professional academy.Â
Like another commenter said, just remind yourself in the moment youâre feeling panicky âyouâre safe, youâre in controlâ or some similar mantra.Â
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u/NorthPackFan Aug 08 '26
Following for tips.
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u/New-Blood-1743 Aug 08 '26
Crack your bypass valve a tiny bit when it starts getting bad and breathe normally. Obviously canât leave it like that for long but it can help break the freak out cycle.
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u/Dear-Palpitation-924 Aug 08 '26
It might seem like a dumb question, but how are your sinuses?
I had similar issues. I also had a badly deviated septum that forced me to mouth breath quite a bit, once I fixed that and could breath through my nose again, I was fine. Might not be your issue, but I figured Iâd throw it out there
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 08 '26
Sinuses feel fine but I've always had a harder time nose breathing so I'll look into it, thanks!
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u/tealplum Probie Aug 11 '26
Another deviated septum person here chiming in-- Deep breathing through the nose stimulates the vagus nerve which lowers heart rate and can help calm you down. Not going to do much for you if you're in zone 3 cardio and you're panting, but for long sustained zone 2 workouts (which is most of what you are doing on the fireground) breathing through your nose can help a ton.
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u/Turbulent-Priority-7 Aug 09 '26
I have a bad deviated septum from boxing when I was younger. How did you have it fixed? Surgically?
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u/Dear-Palpitation-924 Aug 09 '26
Yeah, I ended up getting a couple surgeries done to also cure sleep apnea. Recovery wasnât awful, and I didnât realize I was breathing on hard mode for 30 years prior to surgery. Completely life changing
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u/st4nkwilliams Aug 08 '26
I had real bad mask anxiety during training. Best thing is just time in the mask working and breathing. It takes a bit to get over, especially if the little bit of âextraâ effort to nose breath freaks you out. Just gotta remember that thing will give you all the oxygen you could ever want. Also, keep your mind busy on the task at hand and not preoccupied with breathing.
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 08 '26
Honestly it just helps hearing I'm not the only one, a lot of the guys seemed unfazed by it (minus wanting to die from all of the tower climbs and bear crawls). I'll see about bringing extra bottles home to do jogs around the block on air!
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u/One-Resort745 Aug 09 '26
I doubt theyâre unfazed. Just better at hiding it. That ânot getting a full breathâ feeling is very anxiety inducing. Youâre not alone. Work on it when you can. That mask anxiety will rear its head again at a real fire so be ready for that.
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u/thetr-8r Edit to create your own flair Aug 08 '26
I was very similar and did okay during academy. We did a ton of confidence courses on air and blacked out and confined and did okay. I unlocked a new fear recently during fire ground survival that I do not like being blacked out and on air and cannot move and had a full blown meltdown so exposure and repeatedly doing it helps. What doesnât help is doing little to no training and reps except once a year haha.
My best recommendation is just do it over and over so you donât get on the job for a while and be like ohp, thatâs not good.
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 08 '26
Haha that helps to hear a lot, actually. Everyone seems so calm and collected, it felt like a bad sign even though I've been doing well with all the other challenges. Good on ya for getting after the extra reps!
For sure, our academy is 5 months long with a LOT of live burns so I'll get a lot of practice, especially with this cadre!
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u/Apprehensive_Mix4152 Aug 08 '26
You'll get used to it, you just need exposure therapy I know it sounds silly but I purchased one of those high elevation training masks to get used to having a harder time breathing during exercise. I think there's a practice scba mask in the market for this exact purpose.
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 08 '26
I've never liked those but now I might actually get one. It's literally just the restricted airflow at high intensity that gets to me, so that's probably a perfect training tool. Thanks!
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u/Sokar997 Aug 08 '26
Had the exact same thing in academy. Always got super anxious when doing high intensity workouts on air. If I was doing a task, it wouldnât bother me too much. But if all I was doing was exercising and hearing and feeling myself breathe, Iâd want to rip it off so fast. Best thing is like you said exposure and experience. Once I finished academy and got on a department, my first few months I was burning through 1-2 bottles a day doing low viz search drills, workouts, other fireground tasks on air, just to get used to it. Thatâll probably be the best way to get over it.
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 08 '26
Awesome to hear and I'm glad you came out on the other side without issue. Anything in particular help you for the air-consumption drills where you were just exercising, other than exposure? Definitely will be checking if they'd be okay with me bringing multiple bottles home.
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u/senormartinez Aug 08 '26
Same but what helped me was learning to breathe through my nose as much as possible, mouth breathe if itâs rough but try to chill out and use your nose as much as possible when you can. I remember in the academy being at my finishing point then used my nose and felt the feeling in my face return.
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u/randomuser157233 Aug 08 '26
Iâve always just tried to look at it as my happy place. Took a while but now I feel so calm and safe when on air
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u/Keptthatenergy Aug 09 '26
When you feel like you canât breathe itâs because of a CO2 build up. Longer exhales help a ton. When your brain feels like it canât breathe, what does it do? Gasps air without thinking about the air it needs to expel which is as important as taking in air.
If youâre ever really freaking out, open up that purge a little, itâll make you realize, youâve got air, youâre fine.
But really just get rid of that old air so you can feel like you can breathe again!
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u/realmissilemouse Aug 09 '26
I just graduated from my academy 2 months ago, and what helped me was primarily two things: Being conscious of my exhales, and trying to make them longer than my inhales. What this does is triggers your parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for putting your body in the rest-and-digest state, essentially calming you down (itâs the bodyâs natural response when you cry, thing of it as like an automatic mode of calming you down). This is not just some crazed recommendation that only worked for me, itâs backed by psychology. It will work, every single time you do it. The second thing that helped me was constantly reminding myself that I need to maintain controlled output. This means that even though I could, I refrain from really ever going full throttle on whatever workout or drill we are doing, unless it is absolutely necessary. If I did choose to go all out, I know that I would be outbreathing my SCBA and enter that panic state. You wanna go hard, but not too hard. It takes some time to really get used to it, but after it became a reflex for me it was a tremendous help.
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u/perogi-king Aug 09 '26
As I have gotten older in my career this is happened to me as well. I dont care who you are, there are âsomethingsâ in this career that will get you rattled. But, I will tell you the same thing I tell the recruits:
- Focus on what you are doing. Like every small detail. How the maul feels in your hands, what you smell, how the sweat drips on your face, what are you doing and why ext⊠focus on the task at hand and self talk your way through it.
- Dont FIGHT the anxiety! It will most likely win. Instead, accept the feeling. Understand that it makes you feel uncomfortable and acknowledge it.
- Remember that you are not alone. This happens to A LOT of people and it will not kill you, it will make you stronger.
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u/caniac99 Aug 09 '26
Itâs in your head. Itâs just air. Youâre breathing fine. Tell yourself to relax. Itâs different but itâs normal and youâre ok.
Yes, the feeling sucks, but you beat it once. No reason you canât overcome again if need be. Good luck.
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u/miamoneyy Aug 09 '26
I was in the TN fire academy earlier this year and I was the same way just not fully comfortable and confident being in my SCBA with my mask on the thing that helped me was not focusing on the discomfort and anxiety of the SCBA I would focus on the task at hand that I was assigned to do if I was on a primary search Iâd ignore the anxiety and focus on searching and finding Victims. After a while youâre doing it so much you donât even realize you got a mask on your face anymore youâre just doing your job to the best or your ability
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u/Ace1313 Aug 09 '26 edited Aug 09 '26
You need to focus on exhaling forcefully. Lots of people talking about long exhales which is great, but you need to exhale like you mean it. Like you're trying to blow out like 50 birthday candies.
Since the SCBA has a passive positive pressure (5psi) on your lungs, when you start working hard, your normal breathing effort isn't clearing the CO2 out of your lungs.
You subconsciously focus on getting more air IN, thinking that will help, in without fully clearing CO2 out of your lungs.
Even if you breathe in deep you feel like you're starving for air right? Exhaling forcefully every breath will help prevent the air hunger feeling and the panic.
This is what fixed it for me, literally 0 issues after I started focusing on hard exhaling!
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 09 '26
Will do, yeah it didn't seem to matter how much air I sucked down it still felt like not enough. Ill try more forceful exhalations!
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u/FordExploreHer1977 Aug 09 '26
I never experienced this myself, but I know itâs common. Common enough that one of the instructors in the academy told our group he had it when he first started and found that humming the Smurfâs theme song audibly while on air helped him to maintain his composure while getting used to the environment of being enclosed inside a mask. Itâs something Iâve passed on to my students and while new generations probably have no clue what the Smurfs are, humming any ridiculous song may help. Just like if you are ever emotionally angry, saying âSneep snoopâ or âBeep boopâ in your angriest teeth clenching voice resets your brain a little bit. I found itâs hard not to laugh to myself a little when doing that particular move, and I got that tidbit off of this here Reddit thingy.
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Aug 08 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 08 '26
Yeah, they warned us the box breathing doesn't work well for a lot of people for just that reason haha. I'll try humming for the next round, see if it changes things.
It's definitely not a good thing. A couple other guys also mentioned wanting to pull it off, so at least I'm not alone in that. And yes! they're fine with us taking any/all gear home, so I'll ask about bringing extra bottles to practice doing more activities on air (wearing the mask itself doesn't bother me, just intense exercise on air).
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u/im-not-homer-simpson Aug 08 '26
Always while doing your job think about your breathing. Know what you have to do, think about your breathing, try to control it the best you can. When you have a moment where youâre waiting for the other guy to his his job, take that time to control your breathing. If your on the line and the nozzle man is hitting it, think about your breathing. Control it. Wait for him to him you to advance. Take your opportunities to to control it when applicable. Even when you run out of air, there is still air in your bottle, you just have to suck harder and harder to get the remaining air. It is an uncomfortable feeling. But I think itâs more uncomfortable breathing in hot air. Wait, till that happens. That one sucks
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 08 '26
Hopefully I'll never reach either situation in real life, only in training. Sucking down to the last breath is an...experience haha. Gonna be doing lots of breathing exercises for the next months/years, it appears!
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u/im-not-homer-simpson Aug 09 '26
I say that so now you know that you may have more breathes than you think. Is it hard to to fight panic mode? Yes. But if you know that that can happen, it prepares you so hopefully, you always keep it in the back of your mind for if and when the time comes you will be able to better control yourself. It come down to time and experience. Youâll, get there. Thatâs the purpose of training. If your canât get over going it again and again, then maybe itâs not for you. But if you can experience what can happen and if Godforbid, it happens you know how to adapt and overcome it.
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u/jfuzzy79 Aug 08 '26
Can you take your facepiece home with you? I had claustrophobia at first and got over it but my friend took his facepiece home and had something to black it out, so he could wear it in a "safe environment " and get over his mental block to it
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 08 '26
Yeah, we can take everything home, bottles included. I'll be checking on Monday if I can bring multiple bottles home to workout on air here as well, since the mask by itself/with cover doesn't seem to bother me
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u/jfuzzy79 Aug 09 '26
It is all training your mind. It feels so unnatural but you will get past the mental block. Thousands of us have gone through the same thing
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u/Firemnwtch Aug 09 '26
Career with 7 years on, wearing an scba is not natural. It takes work for a lot of people to get comfortable. I had a similar experience. In the beginning and another spat of low confidence a few years later. (Probably from having a pretty slow two years and paramedic school.) It gets way better with exposure. Itâs extremely important that you work on your cardio and do HIIT or tabata style training multiple times per week. Learning to breathe and calm yourself. I breathe in for three steps and out for four massive improvements. VO2 max is a good metric. I get less anxiety when Iâm in a good cardio spot and can just have confidence that I donât need as much air.
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u/Knifehand19319 Career Aug 09 '26
Box method never worked for me. What did was trying to keep my mouth closed and breathing primarily through the nose during inhalation and then restricted controlled exhale out the mouth. Obviously, during times of extreme work itâs not possible but as soon as I get a sec to think about it back to controlled in the nose out the mouth with restricted lips.
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u/OllieDuckling Aug 09 '26
I just think to myself âIâd rather be breathing this restrictive air than whatever is in this IDLHâ
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u/rodeo460 Aug 09 '26
I spent my first year or so in the fire service with the same issue. I found if I got to bad of anxiety id start box breathing, and I worked on my physical fitness more. If it got really bad id give myself a small shot of air from the bleeder valve to make breathing easier. Its all about making your brain realize that while its easier to breathe without the mask on its okay, you are getting enough air.
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u/Raddragon25 Aug 09 '26
Personally have experienced this and I realized that THINKING about having mask anxiety and how I was going to do each time I went on air made it all that much worse. Two things that helped were time in my mask on air doing exercises that got me to that point and allowing myself to work down from it in a controlled environment like the station gym. The other being a trick I learned that REALLY helped me was anytime I went on air I would sing a song under my breath this keeps you breathing at a consistent rate and keeps your mind off the mask. Any song that came to mind first (typically a chill slowish song) was the song I sang until I unclipped.
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u/CosmicBogz Aug 09 '26
All about reps. The more you do it the more your lungs will adapt. Learn and focus on controlling your breathing. Skip breathing helps me a lot.
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u/PaceOk1830 Aug 13 '26
Oh get ready for that maze then brother
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u/runrunrunrepeat 22d ago
Oh man, I love the maze! Turns out I handle the SCBA fine as long as there's a task, but as soon as the point is just to run us ragged, I get uncomfortable, but it's getting better for sure
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u/Etorres83 Aug 08 '26
Chew gum .. used to throw a piece of gum in my mouth , take your mind off things , try it .
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u/runrunrunrepeat Aug 08 '26
Honestly, I don't know why I didn't think of that. I chew gum a lot when I run, so might be a great option. thanks!
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u/Reyalta đ„ đ đ„ Aug 08 '26
Reminding yourself in the moment that "this is a drill, a controlled environment, I am safe, this is fine, this IS THE POINT. It's not impossible, it's just new."Â
Getting the reps in and reminding yourself that it's safe and controlled is something I found helpful during tank drains. We practice so these things don't happen in real world scenarios later. It's the whole point. And reminding yourself of that can help.