'Talk to somebody': Hartland fire chief advocates for mental health as first responders deal with trauma
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"You knew they (first responders) saw something that nobody should ever have to see in their life," said Hartland Fire Chief Dave Jambretz.
Jambretz reflected on an apartment fire that happened Friday, Oct 21.
Six victims were found inside an apartment building with single gunshot wounds, according to Hartland Police Chief Torin Misko Monday evening.
Misko said Connor McKisick's gunshot wound was self-inflicted.
In addition to the gunshot wounds, Misko also said evidence of an ignitable liquid was found in an area where it normally would not be located.
Although the flames and smoke have cleared, memories of that deadly evening still ever-present with first responders who answered the call for help.
"Every one of my full-timers touched a patient from this fire, so how can I make them come back when they probably aren’t ready?" said Jambretz.
Jambretz has been fighting fires for more than three decades, and along with fighting fire he is advocating for the mental health of his squad.
"They may not want to talk to this guy, they might want to talk to this person. I don’t care who you talk to, talk to somebody," said the fire chief.
Jambretz said training and reality are not one in the same.
"We train on pulling mannequins out of buildings, practice buildings, practice burns, it's different when pulling a person out," said Jambretz.
After the flames have settled, outside help is often called in for the men and women on the front lines of the fire. This is done using the critical incident stress debriefing program for first responders.
"They go through what you're going to be feeling over the next two months, you know, three months, five years, it's always going to be there. It's just a matter of getting it from here back to here."
Jambretz said he hopes his team can get to a place of healing after any traumatic call.
"Now I'm just hoping my guys, at some point, are going to be able to process it, put it to the side, and move on."
The fire chief said this is just the first step in moving the needle of mental health for first responders forward.
"What it was, to what it is now, it's improved, but it's got a lot more room for improvements," said Jambretz.
Year to date Hartland has had zero deadly fires.
The cause of death for the six deceased is still under investigation.