Suicide in the Ranks...

By Mark W. Lamplugh Jr. - Solid Landings Behavioral Health

“Mike was one of my best firefighters – a veteran of more than 20 years – one of those guys a chief can count on to get the job done. Rarely was there a structure fire, a rescue, or an auto extrication at which Mike wasn’t elbow-deep in the job at hand.”

Those are the words of Longmeadow Massachusetts fire chief, Eric H. Madison, about a fireman who had seen some of the most horrific duty calls in the business. Chief Madison also walked by Mike’s side through a PTSD diagnosis, a year of therapy, and a battle to secure disability payments. Four months after the disability came through, Mike succumbed to depression and took his own life.

The fact is, this outcome is all too familiar. In 2012, there were 61 validated firefighter suicides and in 2013 there were 62, according to Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance. Canada had 27 reported first-responder suicides in the last half of 2014 alone, according to Team Conter Memorial Trust, a group that works with responders suffering from PTSD.

“The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder varies anywhere between 20 and 30 per cent over a lifetime career.” – Dr. Wayne Corneil

In the case of Mike, Chief Madison took all the appropriate steps to get help and continued to follow through himself. But what about the Mikes who don’t have proactive chiefs? Or the Mikes who never come forward because of the stigma associated with PTSD?

Their numbers may be higher than anyone knows. Over the course of a first responder’s career – confronting death, near-death, tragedy, crisis, and immense personal risk – experiencing PTSD at some point, experts say, is approaching close to the norm.



“The prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder varies anywhere between 20 and 30 per cent over a lifetime career,” reported University of Ottawa professor Dr. Wayne Corneil. Corneil, who specializes in traumatic stress and occupational health at UO’s Institute of Population Health, was responding to a recent news story in which Canadian firefighter Brandon Hogan came out about his PTSD.

“You definitely need a forum or someone to talk to,” Hogan advised fellow firefighters.

And that points to a part of the problem. Firefighters’ experiences with PTSD, and suicide in particular, are difficult topics to find in forums, much less are they buzz topics in the firefighting community.

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