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Retired East TN fire department chief offering PTSD support for firefighters

Around 95% of firefighters said they experienced "critical stress" on the job, according to a study by the International Association of Firefighters.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A bill that would expand treatment for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder to more firefighters across Tennessee is awaiting Governor Bill Lee's signature, after passing through the legislature.

Around 95% of firefighters experienced "critical stress" on the job, according to a study done by the International Association of Firefighters. They surveyed more than 7,000 firefighters to collect that data.

"They've come out and said, 'I know what's wrong with me now,'" said Darryl Kerly, a retired fire chief who used to serve at the Seymour Volunteer Fire Department.

After spending 46 years at the station, he is now rescuing teammates. He teaches volunteer and full-time firefighters how to recognize PTSD symptoms within themselves, and others. He has taught his four-hour class for around three years, and he said it has helped firefighters find early treatment.

He said that since firefighters, and most first-responder workers, are called to terrible situations — they may develop PTSD that can be triggered by a variety of different situations. Certain kinds of smells, tastes, textures, sights or sounds may result in panic attacks or worse.

"For a long time, when we would grill out and I would smell a steak, I could see the first body that I recovered, that was burned. That smell would flashback into my head of the gentleman sitting there in the chair," said Kerly.

Lynn Weir started fighting fires and serving in the fire department at 15 years old. Since then, he said he developed PTSD.

"It took my wife to finally sit down with me and we figured it out, and I pretty much broke down crying when I realized it," Weir said.

Kerly's class is approved by the Tennessee Commission on Firefighters Standards and Education. Anyone who wants to learn how to participate in a class can email him at Dkerleyf1@gmail.com.

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