In this podcast, FIRE CHIEF Editor Glenn Bischoff speaks with Frederick LaMontagne, chief of the Portland (Maine) Fire Department about post-traumatic stress disorder in the fire service. LaMontagne talks about the critical need for departments nationwide to focus on the mental health of firefighters as much as they focus on their physical health.

He also discusses Portland's peer-driven employee-assistance programs, which are designed to help firefighters cope with the wide variety of stressors — not just PTSD — that they encounter in their professional and personal lives.