• How a Central Valley firefighter is trying to stop the wildfire of suicides in the ranks
• Firefighter suicides surpass on-duty death
Total Recorded Time is 14:49
And if that sounds new, it’s not. It’s a trend that dates back nearly a decade now.
But a Kern County firefighter is helping slow that trend. This podcast helps tell his story.
The Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance says 119 firefighters and 20 EMTs and paramedics died by suicide in 2019, the latest year for which data are available. That compares to 63 firefighters who died on duty the same year, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
But there is a shift in how the problem is being addressed, led in part by Derek Robinson, who joins us for this Bizgnus Podcast….
Please click here to watch: https://youtu.be/fMh5ur_3KXo
A study funded by the Ruderman Family Foundation of Boston found that rates of depression and post-traumatic stress disorders among firefighters are as much as five-times higher than that of the general population.
For more information:
For the book:
Other resources
• Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance: https://www.ffbha.org/
• Stamp Out the Stigma
https://www.stampoutstigma.com/
• National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/
or call
1-800-273-8355