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 pe