Hosted by Kevin Young and J'aime Rothbard. Produced by J'aime Rothbard

More than 15 years spent running into burning buildings taught him that the hardest fires to face are the ones that follow you home. In the first of our five-part First Responders Series, Kevin and J'aime sit down with Brandon, a retired Canadian Firefighter, to explore what it really costs to be the one who shows up for others on the worst days of their lives.

Brandon explains: - Why 'mental fitness' is a more useful frame than 'mental health' for firefighters - What his international research (104 fire chiefs across five continents) revealed about the gap between how firefighters train for fire and how they train for their own mental health - How the firehouse storytelling tradition could become the fire service's most powerful teaching tool - The five pillars of Fire to Light, and what 'operationalizing wellness' actually looks like

Brandon shares a raw and unflinching perspective on what it costs to be the one who runs toward the fire, and why "We're not broken, we just need to train differently" might be the most important reframe first responders need to hear. Join us to hear what can change when a firefighter stops surviving their career and starts training for it.

About Brandon Evans Executive Director, Fire to Light Foundation, Founder & CEO, Fire to Light

Brandon Evans is a retired firefighter and the Founder of Fire to Light, an organisation dedicated to advancing preventative Mental Fitness training inside the fire service. Drawing on lived experience and independent global research involving over 104 fire chiefs and leaders across 13 countries and 5 continents, Brandon developed the Fire to Light Mental Fitness Training System, a practical operationalised approach to training Mental Fitness the same way fire departments train every other critical skill.

Through the Fire to Light Foundation, a registered Canadian charity of which Brandon serves as Executive Director, the goal is to make Mental Fitness training accessible to every fire department, removing barriers so that Mental Fitness is systemised and embedded into fire service operations worldwide. not treated as a clinical afterthought, but trained, reinforced, and owned at every level of the organisation.

Brandon's mission is to help reduce rates of suicide and psychological injury in the fire service through an upstream approach of Mental Fitness Training, Fitness before Therapy.

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Resources:

Websites:

Fire to Light Foundation

Fire to Light Website

Support Fire to Light — Zeffy

Fire to Light Research Study

Crackyl Magazine Website

Articles: Defining Resilience for Firefighters

Firefighters and Mental Health: The Fear of Raising Your Hand

The Current State of Mental Health in the Fire Service

But There Is Nothing Wrong With Me

Trauma: Who, What, Where, When and Why