Flash Point: A Firefighter’s Journey Through PTSD

After a challenging and lonely childhood, Warren (host of the podcast The Firefighter Deconstructed) finds purpose in her teens working as a first responder. As an EMT in college, then as a paramedic and eventually as a firefighter, Warren realizes that she loves the physicality and rush of her job. In this book, she describes her career, highlighted by promotions and complicated by injuries, both on and off the job. Feeling she has something to prove to her bosses, teammates, and herself, she constantly pushes herself through grueling shifts. Over her 25 years on the job, she constantly witnessed the sights, smells, and trauma of human emergencies and encountered dismissive attitudes toward women firefighters. Warren could no longer handle it all on her own. In seeking help, she finds new struggles with insurance companies, workers comp claims, and treatment.