Our Primary Search
Saving Those Who Save Others
A primary search on the fireground is a major function in the fire service. Firefighters are assigned to go into a dangerous atmosphere to search for survivors during an emergency event.
 
This book is based on a primary search that started back in 2009. It is not the kind of search you would think of on the fireground. It is a search to understand why firefighters, emergency medical services, and dispatchers struggle with addiction, depression, PTSD, relationships, moral injury and, all too often, die by their own hands. It is this primary search that became the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance (FBHA). This became an exploration for data that included tracking and validating over 2,200 suicides of our brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, this number continues to grow weekly.
 
This book will give you a journey of how FBHA came to be. The beliefs in what we educate. The messages from our workshops don’t come from internet searches, but by getting personal with those who struggle, those in recovery, and with family survivors. In this book, you will also hear the stories from five families who opened up their hearts and lives to share about their loved one(s).  And with the hope that in the sharing of their stories, that their departed beloved family members will always be honored and remembered.