A Firefighter's Entire Routine, from Prepping Equipment to Saving Lives

"The most rewarding part of my job is being able to help the public." Fire Captain Maria "Peggy" Diaz shares her entire routine—including her fitness and wellness practices while pulling a 24 hour shift at the firehouse.

She explains how wearing very little skincare products helps protect her while wearing equipment and why getting regular acupuncture keeps her mentally and physically prepared.

Peggy shares her experience as the first Latina hired as a city firefighter and the types of calls she has answered in her 20 years on the job.

She also takes us on a firehouse grocery run with a coworker as well as gives us a peek inside the garage gym where her and other firefighters workout together.

- Hi, I'm Maria Diaz andI'm a Hoboken Fire Captain,and this is how I work it.I'm gonna take you through 24 hoursof my beauty and wellness routine.I was actually the first Latina hiredin Hudson County, New Jersey.I've been a firefighterfor almost 20 years.I was promoted in 2011,so that's about nine and a half,almost 10 years as a fire captain.As a captain, you have ahouse that you supervisewith a bunch of different firefighters,and you lead them into a fire,and you let them know what they have to dowhen we arrive on the scene.Good morning, it's about 6:00 AM,and I'm about to get my day started.It's 6:30 AM right now,I just finished my stretchingand a little bit of meditation, so.It's shower time,I am washing my hair,conditioning, combing it in here,and then I apply...Some leave-in, Ouidad,it's a great product for curls,it keeps them from being frizzy.On the days that I'm on shiftmy beauty routine is pretty simple.We just try not to wearanything that's flammable,we don't wear perfume, wedon't wear heavy lotions.My beauty routine is justa little bit of lipstickand a little bit of oil-free moisturizer.Today's hairstyle isbrought to you by Pinterest.I just don't have time todo my hair in the morningwhen I'm on shift, butit has to be tied back.Flyaways.Almost out the door, headed to work.Today's outfit is brought to you by HFD,it's definitely not glamorous or sexy,but it is practical.I'm about to add some MarioBadescu... Facial spray.And this is the outfit pretty much.Here's my shirt,my pants are brought toyou by 511 and my boots.My hours I work are... 24 hours onand... 72 hours off.I work two 24-hour tours a week.I works for the city of Hobokenwhich is a very small town,it's probably about one square mile,but the population is over 50,000.Very charming but also very busy.We average about 3,000 calls a year.On an everyday basis, werespond to 10 to 15 calls,the calls vary from gas leaksto motor vehicle accidents,people get stuck in elevators,[siren wailing]emergency medical calls,lost pets,lockouts, injured parties,construction siteswhere someone's gotten injured,breaching calls, breaking and breaching.we've responded to mental illness calls,we've responded to suicide calls,suspicious packages, a lotof suspicious packages.[horn honking]and obviously, we respondto any working fires.It takes a lot of courage,and I risk my life every single daythat I go into the firehouse.And... There it is!Between 7:00 and 7:45,all the guys start showingup to the firehouse.- Good morning, good morning.- [Maria] And that is Firefighter Perez.- Morning.- They start getting debriefedfrom the group before.- Good morning Peggy, how are you?- And about 8:00 AM iswhen the tones go off,the tones is kind of thebeginning of our shift,after the tones go off, wecheck all of our equipment,so that means checking our SCOTT-Paks.This is what provides oxygenwhen we're like in a fire.This is one of the reasons whywe don't put any type of oilsor a lot of lotion on ourface because this has a sealthat has to be able to kindof suction to your face.[air whooshing]Okay, it's working.Making sure the tools are in the rigs,[saw revs]making sure that our batteries are chargedfor all of the equipment that we have.For a gas meter, this isa regulate Sensit meter,and this is my TIC camerawhich the officer carries toknow when something is hot,it turns white.And then after breakfast is housework,our firehouse, theyhave to be cleaned out,they have to be sanitized.This is part of our quarters,we're about to clean up.And then it's usually back totraining from one to 3:00 PM.At about 4:00 PM, Iusually get a workout in,I love working out in a firehouse.I love working out with my coworkersbecause they really do push me,they make sure that Idon't underestimate myself.We have this comradery I think,because we have to trust each other.This is a job where ourlife depends on each other.What is the number onekiller of firefighter, guys?- Heart attack.- Heart attack is the numberone killer of firefighters,only because this job isvery physically demandingand you go from likezero to 60 really faston any given call.Another thing is a high rate of cancer,we are usually in an environmentwhere there's a lot of toxic fumesand our firetrucks, theyget diesel fuel, so,the firetrucks are prettymuch in our living space.The fumes are kind of all over the place,although the department in citytried to... Keep it undercontrol with some exhaust,it's still lingering in the air.One of the questions thatI get asked often is,"What is it like working with men?"It definitely is a little different,there is a lot of firehousehumor, some dark humor,obviously because of some of the thingsthat we see on the job.There's a lot of pranks going around--going on in a firehouse,plenty of sports talk,but for the most part, weare kind of like a family,I spend more time with the firefightersthan I do with my family sometimes.After my workout, it's dinner time.So we just finished shoppingfor lunch and dinner.So all of it is pretty great,and then, boom!

That's whathappens in the firehouse.[Maria laughs]This is why people have a hardtime losing weight sometimes.- That's what I'm talking about.[firefighters chattering]- My career is very physical,and we do try to stayhealthy as much as we can,but the issue is that we have residentsand people from the townwho are always dropping offcookies and cupcakes,there's always all kinds oftemptations in a firehouse.After dinner time,then it's usually respondingto different calls.Throughout the entire day actually,from eight o'clock in the morning,we'll respond on calls.There are times where I'mresponding to a call as an officerand literally somebody will be standinglike right in front of me,and they'll kind of lookover my head to speakto one of the other firefighters,and it's pretty funnybecause my coworkers,the guys know, so they'll belike, no, she's... You know,she's the officer.But then I have momentsthat are wonderful,I have times when I'm in a firetruck,we're going on a call andthese little kids are lookingat me or little girls and they're like,their eyes just open up really wide,and they're like, oh my God,is that a girl on a firetruck?And that's a really great feeling,they can physically seethat you can do this job.The most rewarding part of my jobis being able to help the public,to be there for them when they're havingprobably one of their worst momentsor one of their... Scariest momentsand for us to be able to solve it for themand to see the relief on their facesis probably the mostrewarding part of my job.And then my nightly routineat a firehouse is basicallyjust maybe showering,we might sleep if we get achance, we call them safety naps,because we know that it'snot really restful sleepuntil we get a call inthe middle of the night.After working a 24 hour shift,I usually go home and it'stime to kind of decompressand get out of thatfight or flight feelingthat we have while we're in a firehouse.The day after the firehouse,I usually try not toschedule anything for myself.I will go home,I'll try to sleep atleast two or three hours,and then I will wake upand get my day started.So my routine in thefirehouse is very differentfrom my routine at home.Moisturizing in the morning,Trader Joe's oil-free facial moisturizer.So, I apply some rough,then I use Jergenslotion that keeps my skinfrom being ashy.My day usually is eitherhaving some coffee,I make sure that I'm going to go work out,I do have a second job whereI groom dogs, I love it!I have such a high stress jobthat when I'm grooming a dog,it calms me down andthey make me very happy.I am grooming today, Ihave two appointments.This is my setup for grooming,and some of my grooming supplies.There is Teddy, who I am about to groom!I'm hoping to maybe launchmy own business next year.It's super important forme to be able to take careof myself mentally and physically.I carry equipment that's very heavy,an extra 65 to 75 pounds of gear,and we have to go up the stairs,whether it's walk 5,6, 7 flights sometimes,with all of this heavy equipment,I try to make sure thatmy endurance is good.I've also ran a few 5k's,I love running because ittotally clears my mind.I had like this terrible knee painthat I just couldn't get rid of,a friend of mine suggested acupuncture,and it's probably one of thebest things that I've done it.So this is Nurturing Life Acupuncture,this is one of the thingsthat I do for self-care,I get weekly acupuncture.This is Bill and Lauren,my acupuncturists, they are really great,I love the sessions hereand I'm about to get some self-care.My knee pain after a few sessions,pretty much went away andit helps with my anxietyand anything else that isgoing on with me mentallyor physically.After that, it's usually making dinneror going out to dinner with my friendsor my 26 year old son,who is an amazing kid.I do have a career that is non-traditionaland it's dangerous at times,so there are moments where I worryand I just want to make surethat I get home safe for him.Because I'm in a firehousewith men all of the time,I try to make time tospend with my girlfriends,which I love!It's one of my favorite things,I get to talk about makeup,I get to talk about boys,I get to talk about all different things,for that... I reallylove getting dressed up,when I do get the opportunityto get dressed up,it feels amazing!If I am going to meetmy girlfriends that day,I will put on a little bitmore makeup than I usually do,I'm pretty simple when it comes to makeup,here's a Fenty primer,some concealer by Youngblood,I just try to cover that up,blend that inI have Neutrogena press powder,I go for some blush,you have Covergirl soft mink.Then I curl my lashes,I use the natural clearmascara by Covergirl,My favorite lip liner is NYX,I have a bunch of differentproducts from them,then I add my lipstick,L'Oreal cinnamon toast,one of my favorite colors,because it's pretty neutral,but it brightens up my face just a bit.I check that and that ispretty much my makeup routine.Since I'm a shift workerand I work 24 hours a day,two days a week,sometimes it's really difficultto kind of fall asleepbecause I'm always in thatkind of fight or flight,I was getting insomnia,for that I have learned to doquite a few things for myself,I've done meditation right before bed,I also turn... My TV off,I make sure I'm not on aphone before I go to bed,I'm very big on essential oils.These are some diffusers I used,This is Amico and it wasrecommended by my acupuncturist,It's lavender,there's cedar wood, I haveeucalyptus, just various,and some candles also.I try to go to bed at the sametime when I'm not on shift,which is about between 10 and 11:00 PM,and I just kind of try to keep a ritual.It is 10:30 PM and my day is winding down,a couple of things I dofor my nightly routineis wash my face, moisturize andthen SkinMedica is a productthat my esthetician recommended,it's called retinol complex,look it's .25 milligrams,so I add that to my faceand that is how I work it,and that is my routine for the evening,thank you for coming on thisjourney with me and peace out.