LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Firefighters in Louisville are getting tools to help them have better ways to cope with the difficult calls they respond to.
This week on Monday and Tuesday, firefighters with Louisville Fire and civilian employees participated in an International Association of Fire Fighters training focused on peer support.
"Firefighters love their jobs, but they affect them every day," said Danny Adams, a master peer support trainer. "They see things everybody else would not see."
Louisville Fire is taking part in a training that focuses on peer support for mental health to cope with difficult situations in the profession. (WDRB image)
Adams said this training is highly sought after nationally.
Louisville Fire had the training booked well in advance of Dec. 4, not knowing that day would include a deadly house fire in Louisville's Chickasaw neighborhood that left a 7-year-old boy and 65-year-old man dead.
It's those types of calls and situations the training is working to address, by teaching firefighters how to form a peer support group to help one another cope.
"We want the community to be aware we're doing this. It's their first responders. They need to be healthy both physically and mentally. And in order for us to do our job, we have to be both," said Jeff Taylor, president of the Louisville Professional Fire Fighters Local 54.
Capt. Sam Pierce has been with Louisville Fire for 15 years. He took part in the peer support training this week and was also one of the firefighters on scene during the fatal fire Monday morning.
He said this type of training has not been offered at Louisville Fire before, and it's important to be there for fellow firefighters.
"We've always been there for each other. This gives us a better, detailed option on what we can do with the information," said Pierce. "Before, we knew, 'Oh man, a brother or sister is hurting.' Now we have resources to point them toward. We have a better way of handling that information, as it comes in and how to navigate it."
Pictured: this image grab is taken from video that shows Louisville Fire taking part in a training focused on peer support for mental health to deal with traumatic events in the profession. (WDRB image)
Taylor said both senior members and younger members of Louisville Fire volunteered to be part of the peer support training.
"Yes, we're expected to be tough. The industry, back when I started, was taught to suck it up and deal with it. We've evolved past that," Taylor said.
He said the training will help firefighters deal with "the traumatic things -- I can't explain enough when you've seen one child die, but what it does to us when you've seen 10, or a family you weren't successful in cutting out of a car accident."
The training also included representatives from Lexington. Adams said this training is done throughout the country and in Canada, and can be for other first responders as well, including police.
"This program helps them identify that they can sit down and talk to someone," Adams said. "And it's OK."
Taylor said the Kentucky Fire Commission will hold peer support trainings for firefighters across the state in two separate classes in 2024. He expects more members of Louisville Fire to participate.
"To have resources that are within our own organization, that's huge," Pierce said. "It goes a long way."
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