Firefighter paramedics: They're often the first ones seen in an emergency, constantly responding to traumatic and life-or-death situations.Aside from daily, on-the-job challenges, first responders often cope with the toll that responding to disasters and emergencies can take on their mental health.Turns out, the ones first to assist when we need help, sometimes need help themselves."It's something that we're seeing both at the national and state level. About 20% of firefighters have PTSD. Some of those are suffering silently," explained Brett Geyer, a fire captain with Yuba City Fire Department. "These new statistics about what's really happening in our field... it's impossible to just pretend like it's not there."Geyer also pointed to a 2017 Ruderman Foundation study that discovered firefighters are more likely to die by suicide than in line of duty.The fire captain heads up a newly formed mental health task force for the Yuba City Fire Department. The model for the program is peer support.Fire service members don't push one another for information. Their goal is simply to open lines of communication about particularly rough calls they've experienced and engage in an informal, but personal way."It's new in the fire service. There's not a lot of training. There's not a lot of data. Not a lot of information," Geyer said. "We're on the precipice of this and it's our job to help each other through it."This approach -- acknowledging and addressing mental health challenges that go hand-in-hand with this line of work -- is something the current generation of fire service members realizes is desperately needed."This is definitely a generational thing. I started in the fire service 15 years ago. And I've been in emergency services since I was 16," Geyer said. "This is something we never talked about back in those days."Things are different now.Geyer wants even the newest team members to be aware: mental health is a priority in the Yuba City Fire Department."Our culture is that you can talk and you have places to go if you're having trouble," he said.When it comes to processing traumatic calls, timing is important, Geyer explained."Processing it immediately after the call, not such a good idea. Never processing it, not such a good idea," he said. "After the call, it's still kinda fresh in their minds, but they've calmed down and they've settled down a little bit. (That's) a really good time to engage with them about those difficult situations."It's something Geyer said needs to happen so first responders can continue doing what they do best -- helping the community. One call at a time."Reach out," Geyer said. "Your bros and sisters in the fire department want to be there for you and they don't want you going it alone."Mental health resources for firefighters can be found here: healingourown.org*** If you or someone you know needs help, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 or you can chat online here. ***