When Kurt or “Buzz” Peterson, a captain and 17-year veteran with the Park City Fire District, took his own life in February, it forced Chief Paul Hewitt to reexamine the district’s efforts in addressing the mental health of its firefighters.

“With Kurt’s suicide, you can’t help but go through something like that and give this everything you got,” Hewitt said.

Before his death, Peterson had been campaigning for more mental health services and education for Park City’s emergency responders, especially those within the fire district. However, according to Peterson’s wife, Elaine, the stress became too much.

“As firefighters, we rely on each other for debriefing and this is something that none of us really understand well and still didn’t after Kurt’s death,” Hewitt said.

On Monday, Hewitt sat down with The Park Record to discuss the steps the district has taken to address its employees’ mental health since Peterson’s death.

“We have had our employee assistance programs, but they get a bad rap,” Hewitt said. “Even before Kurt’s death, we had a man come in and conduct a class about how to deal with your stress and mental health.”

In recent months, Hewitt said the district has hosted several stress management classes and will soon begin Question Persuade Refer (QPR) training. The district is also establishing a firefighter-specific, crisis-and-suicide hotline, along with a peer support team.

“We are also considering getting an embedded psychologist to make sure we are really understanding this,” Hewitt said. “I saw a lot of stuff as a firefighter working at Station 8 in Salt Lake City and I get it. We see horrendous accidents and have adults die in our care and we rely on each other to destress.”

All of the stations within Park City’s district have large posters advertising the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, in addition to local resources that are available. Hewitt said the district will also be conducting a survey to better understand the services firefighters want.

“I’m curious to know if they would call a designated peer support counselor or if they would use an embedded psychologist,” Hewitt said. “Most firefighters know there is help out there, it’s just a matter of them taking advantage of what is available to them.”

Jeff Dill, founder and CEO of the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance and retired fire captain based in Anthem, Arizona, blamed “cultural brainwashing” for the lack of discussion among firefighters about their mental health.

“When you start at fire academy you are taught to understand fires and accidents, and yet we never talk about behavioral health issues,” Dill said. “That is the brainwashing that we are not attacking.”

Dill, who was in the fire service for 26 years, became involved in understanding firefighter behavioral health as a battalion chief after Hurricane Katrina.

“Numerous guys came back to me and said they saw some horrific things, but when they went to their counselors, they just didn’t understand our language and our culture so they never went back,” Dill said. “I decided to go back and get my master’s degree and become a counselor. Since then, we have been doing workshops and training counselors and chaplains about anxiety and stress.”

Dill said he then began receiving phone calls from all over the world about firefighter suicide and realized no organization, including the National Fire Academy, kept data. Since then Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance has been tracking and verifying firefighter and emergency medical services.

The organization has verified 991 incidents nationwide, Dill said. Last year, 136 firefighters and emergency responders committed suicide.

“I have spent years talking to thousands and thousands of firefighters and traveling around the country and we are just now starting to understand how behavioral health is playing a role and every department needs to do the same,” Dill said. “I do this because I love my brothers and sisters and want to make sure we are taking care of them.”

For more information about the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance go to http://www.ffbha.org/. For more information about state resources that are available, go to http://www.pffu.org/.

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Elaine Peterson’s world came to a screeching halt on Feb. 6 when she learned her husband had committed suicide in Nevada, more than 400 miles away from the home they shared in Kamas with their 17-year-old daughter.

At around 11 p.m., Peterson was notified that her husband of 23 years, Kurt or “Buzz”, a captain and 17-year veteran with the Park City Fire District, had taken his life.

In an interview with The Park Record, Peterson, through tears, said his death “came out of the blue.” Peterson said she was completely unaware of the extent of his internal struggles, which she largely attributed to his career.

“He was so strong and took care of us and everyone around him, but never took the time to take care of himself,” Peterson said. “It just breaks my heart that he was in such a dark place and we weren’t able to pull him out of it.”

Since her husband’s death, Peterson has begun campaigning for more mental health services and education for Park City’s emergency responders, especially those within the fire district. It is a cause that, she said, Kurt became very passionate about within the final six months of his life.

“It was a cause he really believed in. His number one priority was his crew and I think he felt like they needed help,” Peterson said. “But I had no idea that he did, too. He was really trying to put something in place for Park City Fire.”

Jack Tidrow, president of the Professional Firefighters of Utah, said he had been working with Kurt, who also sat on the executive board, to establish a firefighter-specific, crisis-and-suicide hotline, along with a peer support team, within the Park City Fire District. The program has already been implemented in Salt Lake City and West Valley, among other districts.

“It is something he wanted to replicate and Buzz was at the forefront of that,” Tidrow said. “I think he was a little frustrated that they weren’t as responsive with how fast he wanted it to go, but no one wants to admit they have those issues on their department and forever no one wanted to talk about these things.

“We are tough guys and tough girls, but it is OK to talk about this now,” he said.

Tidrow, who spent 10 years in the U.S. Army and has been in the fire service for 23, said he recognized the need for a program more than five years ago. He said several states, including Utah, have taken the lead in providing more mental health services and resources for firefighters.

“Things like this are like turning the Titanic and I will not be quick to judge Chief (Paul) Hewitt for not implementing it yet,” he said. “It’s new to him and his team does do a good job of taking care of compensation and benefits for Park City Fire, but Buzz was wanting to make it even better and more structured. I believe Hewitt is going to make something happen with this, especially now.”

Park City Fire Chief Paul Hewitt, said he would “of course and absolutely” support a similar peer support program in Park City to go along the current counseling services that are available.

“But, we as fire chiefs have a lot to learn about this topic,” Hewitt said. “I think it is a very sensitive time now. I have been in the fire service for 29 years and the stresses that the job brings have always been there, but we have all seen, across the board not just in firefighters, that suicide rates are going up. It’s a growing concern.”

After Kurt’s death, a Go FundMe was set up to help fund and support firefighter mental health initiatives. As of Friday at around noon, nearly 100 people had donated $11,745. Peterson said she wants to use the funds to establish more programs and training for peer support within the Park City Fire District and other agencies.

“What he saw on those calls, it’s not protocol to talk about. I know that he just put it in the back of his head,” Peterson said. “At Park City Fire, there are a lot of horrific crashes on I-80, they have a lot of suicides and suicide attempts. Everything you see, it’s often in your head, but you go in to your dorm room and close your door.”

Peterson said she feels compelled to “continue this fight,” not just for her husband, but all the “men and women he worked with.” She said she “has to see this through for him.”

“I know Kurt loved us, but he was in such a dark place,” Peterson said. “That’s what breaks my heart. I think about all those people in those dark places and I don’t want them to be there. I don’t know how many emergency personnel are able to pull themselves out.”

To visit the family’s Go FundMe page, go to https://www.gofundme.com/6hwn2a-kurt-peterson-memorial-fund.

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