Minnesota lawmakers are hearing from firefighters across the state who say they need more help to stay alive on and off the job.
Emily Vollmer still vividly remembers the night she found her husband, dead.
"I found Jeff in our own home in the hallway in the middle of the night and then I had to summon not only the fire department, but his fire department." she said.
Vollmer was Captain of the Mayer Fire department. He died 3 years ago at his home from an apparent heart attack after returning home from a training exercise.
He was 40 years old.
"We are doing okay," she said.
After his death she said they learned he had a cardiac issue, which had not been detected during the basic health screening for the job.
She wants to make sure that other families don't have to go through what they did and is supporting the Hometown Hero’s Assistance bill being introduced at the Minnesota legislature.
The bill includes a measure that would help to better train and educate health care providers about the unique rigors associated with fire service.
"When the bell goes off, or the pager goes off, people get a little burst of cortisol," said George Esbensen, the president of Minnesota Firefighter Initiative. "It's a hormone which is that fight or flight response that all of us get when we get into tense situations. For regular citizens, they might get it two or three times a year, but for firefighters, they might get that multiple times a week."
And that, he said takes a toll on the human heart.
"Over time that has shown to contribute to the hardening of arteries at much earlier ages,” he said.
Again, part of the solution is better screening.
"If we had great providers, medical and mental health providers that understood those things and how firefighters are impacted," said Esbensen."Then we could have different screenings and catch these things early rather than have tragedies."
Minnesota is one of the worst states in the country, when it comes to supporting those in the fire service.
"In 2020, there were 2 active firefighters that died of cardiac arrests and multiple cancer cases, and a lot of PTSD. So these are the big three that are killing firefighters state wide."
DFL state representative Cheryl Youakim and Republican state senator Jeff Howe are introducing the bill, which has a price tag of 7 point two million dollars a year
It would provide critical care insurance for someone who gets a cancer or cardiac diagnosis and provide employee assistance programs to all firefighters regardless of their full time or part time status.
Esbensen said there is also a scholarship program for people that need more than just EAP, and more education for mental health and medial health providers so that they understand the unique challenges that are faced by the firefighters.
There's curriculum that all firefighters will take to help change the culture of fire service which he said, is in part responsible for the trouble.
"There's a culture of buck up, this is what you signed up for,” he said. “But the truth is people weren't born with special DNA to be firefighters they have all the same issues that others have."
He said often times firefighters are going to homes of friends, or others in the community that they know.
"It's a very taxing and difficult assignment," he said. "and when we leave our local heroes with no resources, that's kind of a poor reflection on us as a society, we need to take care of those that take care of us."