… and firefighters nationwide must respond

Firefighters across the nation are facing a mental health crisis. We respond when someone is having the worst day of their life and show up to scenes that shatter lives. We witness sickness, trauma, death, and unimaginable loss. And we carry the toll this takes with us — often in silence.

In Colorado, we built something rare: a statewide behavioral health trust fund designed to ensure every firefighter had access to mental health support. But as of July 1, 2025, that support has been nearly wiped out.

In 2022, Colorado passed Senate Bill 22-002, creating a Firefighter Behavioral Health Trust that reimbursed treatment costs for therapy, PTSD counseling, and family support. Each firefighter was covered for up to $10,000 per year in behavioral health benefits. Participation was automatic for all departments, and coverage extended to spouses and children — because trauma often follows us home.

A Promising Model, Now Dismantled

But amid a $1.2 billion state budget shortfall, all funding was pulled for fiscal year 2025-26. The governor’s office removed the line item, and the legislature did not reinstate it. With no appropriations, the Firefighter Behavioral Health Trust Board had no choice but to revise the plan: reducing the benefit to a $1,000 lifetime cap per firefighter family, applied retroactively to all claims.

As a result, 485 Colorado firefighters have already hit that $1,000 cap, cutting off further access to therapy and family counseling they were promised. With only $733,500 left in the Behavioral Health Trust to last through June 30, 2026, the program can only afford roughly 733 more capped claims in a state with more than 12,000 firefighters.

According to Fire Chief John Willson of the Louisville Fire Protection District, who chairs the Board of Trustees for the Colorado Firefighter Benefits Trust, “Projected expenses for the 2025 calendar year are already over the $1 million annual funding initially provided by the legislature, making the program financially unsustainable. Although the 2024 claims and administrative expenses were $714,000, the 2025 to-date figure is projected to stand at $1,414,000 in expenses.”

The Numbers Don’t Lie

The trust’s own numbers tell a sobering story: demand for mental-health care among firefighters has surged, while state support has remained frozen in place. That imbalance isn’t a bureaucratic hiccup — it’s a public safety emergency, with firefighter wellness hanging in the balance.

One Colorado firefighter I know had been attending family counseling for six months. It was saving their marriage, improving their children’s well-being — and, truthfully, saving their life. Then, in June, they received a letter: they had exceeded their $1,000 lifetime allowance and no longer qualified for any further support.

When programs like this collapse, the message firefighters hear is painfully clear: “You’re on your own.”

When Support Vanishes, So Does Trust

This is why national resources like the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, IAFF’s Share the Load and Center of Excellence programs, and Safe Call Now are so critical — but they can’t replace sustained state-level infrastructure and support we receive for firefighter behavioral health. In addition, we need to ensure firefighters know what help exists and how to access it. Let us generate a culture in which we prioritize empowering one another with these tools in the same way we train our physical strength or our fireground tactics.

The need for mental-health support isn’t just a Colorado problem. It’s a PASS alarm sounding — faint at first but growing louder every day — and it demands a national response.

“We fight fires as a team … we need to fight for mental health the same way,” said Nicholas Houston, president of IAFF Local 5194. “The cuts to Colorado’s behavioral health benefits don’t just hurt firefighters, they send a message that our mental health isn’t worth protecting. That’s unacceptable.”

This Crisis Knows No State Lines

While Colorado’s program was once a national model, the reality is sobering: many states offer no behavioral health coverage for firefighters at all. Career firefighters may pay out-of-pocket or rely on limited Employee Assistance Programs. Volunteer firefighters — who make up nearly 70% of the nation’s 1.2 million fire personnel — often have no access to union or state mental health programs. The support gap is wide and growing.

Years of research confirm firefighters are at significantly higher risk for suicidal ideation and behavioral health issues compared to the general public — compounded by chronic trauma exposure, disrupted sleep, hormonal stress responses, and constant life-or-death decisions in a culture that too often stigmatizes seeking help or lacks sufficient support systems.

According to the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance, at least 1,378 first responders have died by suicide since 2015. In 2024 alone, 112 firefighters took their lives — and 20% were retirees.

The PASS Alarm Is Getting Louder

Can you still hear the PASS alarm? It’s growing louder, echoing through stations across the country.

Let us put this in perspective: in just over 10 years, 1,378 first responders have died by suicide. That is one death, on average, every two to three days. Also, the FBHA estimates only 60% of suicides are formally reported, meaning the true numbers are likely far higher.

Please let that sink in.

Behind each suicide is a grieving crew, a shattered family, and a department that may never fully recover.

The PASS is now in full alarm. The mental health crisis can feel like sensory overload, especially if you’re currently the one struggling — so much pain, so many stories, that tuning out starts to feel safer. But we can’t afford that luxury. When the alarm sounds, we respond — together.

If you are in a state without behavioral health support, know this:
Your department needs it.
Your union should fight for it.
Your leadership must demand it.

And if your state offers support now — don’t take it for granted. Fight to protect it.

As a fire service united under one flag, we must shift from reactive crisis response to proactive prevention. We cannot afford to treat mental health as optional or secondary — not when firefighter suicides have doubled in the last 14 years. And we absolutely cannot afford to cut behavioral health funding at the state level.

That decision will cost lives.

The same pattern of defunding or neglect can — and likely will — happen elsewhere unless fire service leaders speak out now.

Colorado firefighters are calling on Gov. Jared Polis and the state legislature to restore funding and honor the intent of Senate Bill 22-002. But this fight transcends one state’s border. The PASS alarm for firefighter mental health is sounding across the nation. Will we respond?

Because when a firefighter finally reaches out for help, the worst answer we can give is:
“We can’t afford to care.”

If You or Someone You Know Is Struggling

Linda Crane is a career firefighter and EMT with the Louisville Fire Protection District in Colorado, a National Fallen Firefighter Fellow, and a passionate advocate for firefighter mental health.