After a Critical Incident: The First 72 Hours and the Weeks That Follow

Some calls end when you clear the scene. Others follow you into the station, the truck and the shower, and lie down next to you at 2 a.m. If you're reading this after a call like that, start here: what you're feeling right now is a normal reaction to an abnormal event. It isn't a sign that you're broken or that you're in the wrong job.

This guide covers the first few days, the weeks after, and the signs that tell you it's time for more than rest.

What's normal in the first days

After a critical incident, most people have some mix of:

• replaying the scene, or flashes of images, sounds or smells
• trouble sleeping, or vivid dreams
• feeling wired, jumpy or irritable
• going numb or detached, as if you're watching yourself from a distance
• second-guessing every decision you made
• a headache, an upset stomach, or exhaustion that sleep doesn't fix

The good news is backed by solid evidence. Canada's Federal Framework on PTSD notes that most people who go through a traumatic event recover, and that time, self-care and support from the people around them help. These reactions usually ease over days to weeks.

The first 72 hours: steady the basics

You don't need a perfect plan. You need a few basics done well:

• Sleep and food first. Eat something real, even if you're not hungry. Protect a sleep window, even if you only rest.
• Go easy on alcohol. It feels like it helps you sleep, but it wrecks sleep quality and tends to make intrusive memories and low mood worse over the following days.
• Move your body. A walk, a workout or yard work helps burn off the adrenaline your system is still carrying.
• Stay connected, on your terms. You don't have to talk about the call, but don't disappear. Be around people who make you feel steady.
• Keep your routine where you can. Ordinary structure tells your nervous system the emergency is over.
• Hold off on big decisions, like quitting, transferring or major money moves, for a couple of weeks if you can.

What about debriefing?

Many services still run a formal group "debrief" soon after a bad call, where everyone is expected to talk through what happened and how they felt. It's worth knowing what the evidence says about that.

A Cochrane systematic review of single-session psychological debriefing found it did not prevent PTSD, and in some trials it may have increased the risk. The authors concluded that compulsory debriefing of trauma victims should stop, and recommended a "screen and treat" approach instead. Canada's Federal Framework reaches the same conclusion: there's no evidence that debriefings prevent PTSD.

That doesn't mean talking is bad, or that checking on your crew is pointless. Practical, voluntary support is different from being made to relive the worst moment in front of a room. Good support looks like this:

• Make sure people have eaten, rested and gotten home.
• Give operational facts to anyone who wants them.
• Tell people where to find help, and let them choose when and whether to talk.
• Have a supervisor or peer quietly check in over the following weeks.

If you're in a mandatory session and it feels like too much, you're allowed to listen rather than share.

Week one to week four: watch the trend

The question isn't whether you feel bad. It's whether things are slowly getting better or staying stuck. Keep a quick daily note. Even three lines on sleep, mood and how often the call came back will show you the trend more honestly than memory will. The 30-Day Journal has a shift-work debrief page built for exactly this, if you want a structure to follow.

Look after the crew while you're at it. The partner who went unusually quiet, the one making dark jokes that land a little too hard, the one who swapped onto every overtime shift: a low-key "How are you actually doing since that call?" from someone who was there can matter more than any formal program.

When it's time for more than rest

Reach out to a professional, your EAP, or a trained peer supporter if, after about a month:

• intrusive memories, nightmares or flashbacks aren't easing
• you're avoiding places, types of calls, or people because of the incident
• you feel constantly on guard, or explosive at home
• you're drinking or using more to cope
• you feel numb, hopeless or cut off from the people you love

Getting help doesn't mean you can't do the job. Trauma-focused therapies have strong evidence, and many people who use them go on to long careers. Our Survival Guide covers why reaching out doesn't end a career. That fear keeps more people quiet than anything else.

If at any point you're thinking about suicide, don't wait for the four-week mark. Call or text 988 now, or call 911 if you're in danger.

One call doesn't define you

It's common to feel that one incident has rewritten who you are. Usually it hasn't. It has added weight to what you already carry. Every call before this one, and the years of exposure behind them, shape how hard this one hits. That's why recovery often means looking at the load you've been carrying, not just the latest call. If you want to talk with people who understand that, our peer chat is a place to start. For an overview of how repeated exposure adds up, see our page on complex PTSD.