BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – Every day, firefighters and other emergency personnel come into work with the Birmingham Fire Department, and their entire shift is filled with everything from car accidents to fires and shootings. Many of these incidents are deadly, and Chief Cory Moon says it can take a toll on you.

A new study shows the stress first responders deal with has a substantial impact on their mental health — from depression and anxiety to suicidal thoughts. Chief Moon says they want to combat that through critical stress debriefing after traumatic events, or as needed.

“It’s OK not to be OK,” said Chief Moon. “People look at first responders as heroes, and we are, but we’re people too. What we’ve seen throughout our career is we see a lot of things that people shouldn’t see daily, and that stuff can and it does affect you.”

This is why they offer critical stress debriefing and peer-to-peer support to help first responders cope with the tragic situations they see daily. Also, when they dealt with their own tragedy last July when two firefighters were shot at Station 9.

“We made it mandatory on specific incidents. All fire fatalities, all deaths involving children, and we monitor all incidents and we provide critical stress debriefing on a case-by-case basis,” said Moon.

He wishes he had services like these 20 years ago when he was starting.

“Going out into the field and actually seeing those things over and over again and multiple times a day and multiple times throughout the day it can have a negative impact on you. It can manifest itself in different ways in your behavior and how you treat your family.”

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