He's one of a number of emergency service workers calling for more occupational mental health support, and greater recognition that what they do everyday does affect their wellbeing.

"It's not a normal day when you try to rescue a victim from a fire and their skin falls off in your hands," Mr Jones said.

"It's not a normal day when you search for and remove the victim of a fire and see the horrific effects that fire has on a human body. This is our workplace."

Throughout his career, he played a role in the 2003 Canberra fires, rescuing trapped people during the 1997 Thredbo landslide, as well as managing the deployment of firefighters during Black Saturday. He said there is no such thing as normal day on the job.

Despite the complexities of the work, Mr Jones said when it comes to receiving support, many hold the view that support for emergency workers should be the same as those working nine-to-five desk job.

"It's been articulated to me in the past that there will not be a specific employment assistance program for first responders as 'we are just public servants like everyone else'," he said.

"I feel that there is a national lack of specialised occupational mental health support and treatment services for first responders, and a lack of recognition for what we do day to day."

The veteran firefighter is not alone in his view of more needing to be done to support frontline emergency workers.

Mr Jones was among dozens of people to make submissions to a senate inquiry looking at the high rates of mental health conditions experienced by first responders.

He said a specialised employee service is needed for those working in the emergency sector, due to the high rates of trauma experienced by those in the industry.

"It is frustrating that across the country there is a continued push to try and overlay 'normal' public service support mechanisms and ideologies onto a workplace that is significantly different to a nine-to-five office job," he said.

"I would recommend that more effort should be put by the state and territory governments to recognise, respect and value the workplace culture of first responders, and cease the ongoing efforts to make us just like every other public servant, because we are not."

In a submission to the inquiry, Safe Work Australia said more than 700 workers compensation claims were accepted per year due to mental health conditions experienced by emergency workers between 2011 and 2016.

"This equates to around 10 per cent of all serious mental disorder claims over the period," the submission said.

Police officers filed 76 per cent of these claims, with ambulance officers filing 17 per cent and firefighters on 7 per cent.

While mental health claims for emergency workers only make up a small number of claims, they often result in more time off work, taking 26 weeks away from work compared to 15 for other work-related mental health claims.

In its submission to the inquiry, the Australian Counselling Association said first responders are considered to be more at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder than other occupations, due to their regular confrontation with traumatic incidents.

The association said subsidised counselling sessions would go a long way in helping treat emergency workers, noting a one-size-fits-all approach does not work in delivering support.

"Removing the financial barrier will alleviate great stress and offer professional therapeutic supports to those in need...especially [emergency workers] in the early intervention and treatment stage," the submission said.

Submissions for the inquiry closed in June, with a report due to parliament in December.