Garland (1080 KRLD) - Two firefighters from Garland have returned to North Texas after spending several days at the site of the building collapse near Miami, Florida. At least 95 people have been confirmed dead, and the mayor says the number may keep increasing as the recovery continues.
From the Garland Fire Department, Captain JD Schulgen and Lieutenant Matthew Brawner spent time in Florida as peer counselors.
"They're used to being the ones who are helping others. They're used to being the ones who are called for help. This time, we got to go help them," Brawner says.
Brawner and Shulgen say they offered support and advice. They say they also talked about counseling services that would be available.
"Different people have different ways of processing things and different needs," Brawner says. "Some people are very quiet, like to keep things to themselves. Some people like to talk."
"The main thing is to make a deployment to the Miami-Dade, Miami Beach Fire Departments to offer peer support, to give them resources they may need to overcome the tragedy they were witnessing and still working," Shulgen says.
Despite the ongoing work at the condominium complex, Shulgen says firefighters still had to continue responding to calls they normally get, including car crashes or people having medical emergencies.
"Surfside's a huge event, but they're still doing the other work we all do," he says.
Brawner says firefighters may not open up to a family member or a doctor, but they might talk to someone with a similar background who understands the issues they face daily.
"Once we started talking about Texas and what our fire department is like, they realized we're all the same, we're all basically a family," Brawner says. "That opened the door for a lot of talking, a lot of coffee, a lot of hugs, a lot of listening."
Brawner and Shulgen joined a firefighter from Grapevine. Departments from Arizona, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island have also sent manpower to Florida.
The Garland Fire Department has a team of 14 firefighters trained to respond to "high-stress events" and offer support to other departments. The Garland Peer Support Team has previously had teams in El Paso and Midland after shootings there. The team also helps firefighters in Garland who may need support and do not want to share stressful experiences with loved ones.
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