By Bill Carey
19 July 2025
This is an example in a series of articles explaining how imagery and promotion cultivate fear in the fire service. It is recommended to read the previous articles to understand the concepts.
How Did We Become Scared of the Roof? The Visual
The Picture Superiority Effect, Fear and Firefighters’ Perception of Risk
Emotional Anchoring Through Images: How Visuals Shape Perception and Risk in Firefighting
How Emotional Anchoring Shapes Online Risk Perception and Fireground Decisions
When Images Anchor Memory: The Hindenburg, the Akron and the Power of Visual Emotion
This summer marks the 50th anniversary of Jaws, the film that taught generations to fear going into the water. But the real legacy of Jaws isn’t just about sharks. It’s about how fear, once anchored by powerful images, spreads quickly, distorts reality and leaves a lasting impact. And in today’s world of social media, this dynamic doesn’t just affect beachgoers; it affects firefighters.
Fear Outswam Facts
When Jaws hit theaters in June 1975, it didn’t just break box office records; it triggered a global phobia. Shark populations plummeted due to panic-driven hunting, and ocean tourism suffered a significant impact. Why? Because people weren’t responding to data. They were reacting to imagery: blood in the water, a fin slicing through waves, a scream lost to the sea.
This is emotional anchoring in action; the concept that a strong image tied to a strong emotion becomes lodged in memory, influencing how we perceive similar risks in the future.
Emotional Anchoring in the Fire Service
The fire service has its own “Jaws effect,” and it’s accelerating in the age of Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
A viral video of firefighters on a roof. A dramatic photo of a mayday rescue. A helmet cam of chaotic fireground operations. These images, often shared without context, can reinforce fear far more powerfully than a line-of-duty death statistic ever could. And like the shark in Jaws, what’s hidden from view, the unknown details, only heightens the emotional response.
As explained in this article on emotional anchoring, images that evoke fear or admiration anchor memory more deeply than numbers or narratives.
When Social Media Shapes Fear More Than Training
We are now training firefighters who grew up watching fear-based reels before ever setting foot in a firehouse. A recruit may see 100 maydays on social media before they ever stretch a line.
The result?
- An overestimation of risk in some scenarios (e.g., “We don’t go on the roof anymore—look at this video!”).
- A distorted view of what “normal” operations look like.
- Fear-driven decisions are replacing evidence-based tactics.
Just as Jaws convinced people that every shark was a killer, TikTok can convince a young firefighter that every roof will collapse, every structure is a trap, and every fireground decision is life or death.
Demand Context and Facts
The solution isn’t to stop sharing photos or videos. It’s to understand and teach the power they hold. We must pair visuals with context, training, and critical thinking. Emotional anchoring isn’t inherently negative. It can be used to teach, inspire and remember. But when it’s left unchecked, when fear becomes the loudest voice in the room, it shapes culture more than facts do.
What Firefighters Can Learn from Jaws
The legacy of Jaws is clear: a fictional story, told with masterful visuals, shaped global behavior for decades. Firefighters today should ask:
- What are the images anchoring my fear?
- Are my decisions shaped more by viral content than vetted training?
- How can I balance emotion with education?
As we mark 50 years since Jaws turned a shark into a symbol of terror, let’s recognize that fear doesn’t need facts to thrive. It just needs a powerful image—and a platform.
Firefighters deserve better. We need to lead with knowledge, not just visuals. What we fear affects how we fight, and what we post affects how others will fight after us.
Image courtesy of Narragansett Beer.
Data Not Drama 