International Firefighters’ Day is observed each year on May 4. Born out of a tragic loss of five firefighters in a wildfire in Victoria, Australia, this day was created to honor their lives, as well as firefighters around the world.

This International Firefighters’ Day, we recognize and honor the sacrifices firefighters make across the globe, and especially those here at home in Minnesota, to ensure their communities are safe. Thank you for all you do!

We also want to honor the firefighters who have been lost in the line of duty or passed on before us – many due to the occupational hazards of cardiovascular disease, suicide and cancer.

We value the work and contributions our volunteer and career firefighters dedicate to our communities every day. As we reflect on that, we know investing in their health and well-being is a moral imperative!

In Minnesota, we can show our support and appreciation to firefighters at home by making sure they have all of the physical and mental health resources they need to prioritize and protect their health, and prevent and/or tackle cardiovascular disease, emotional trauma and cancer.

Thankfully, the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program is now here to provide free resources for all of Minnesota’s active firefighters – volunteer, paid-on-call, part-time and full-time. These vital resources include:

• The MnFIRE Assistance Program, offering expanded emotional trauma resources for firefighters and their families, including five counseling visits a year and peer support.
• An up-to-$20,000 Critical Illness insurance policy which covers diagnoses of cancer, cardiac and other critical illnesses.
• Ongoing health and wellness training on the different health risks facing firefighters.

We invite you to honor and support your local firefighters today by making sure they’re aware of these important – and completely free – health resources.

Wayne Kewitsch brings 25 years of experience in Minnesota’s fire service — and harrowing, first-hand understanding of the dangers firefighters face — to his new role helping firefighters across the state as MnFIRE’s first executive director. On Sunday, KSTP’s Eric Chaloux spoke with Kewitsch about his 20 years with the Richfield Fire Department, including the past nine as chief, and his goals for MnFIRE moving forward.

Kewitsch brings a dramatically unique perspective to the organization, after three recent life-threatening cardiac episodes. Cardiovascular disease is the top killer of firefighters nationwide and is by far the leading cause of line-of-duty deaths in the fire service. Kewitsch is working to prevent health scares like his own from happening to any other firefighters.

Consequently, Kewitsch is leading MnFIRE’s efforts to provide all of Minnesota’s 20,000 firefighters with free health and wellness training to become “MnFIRE Aware” of their own occupational risks, thanks to a $400,000 grant from the Fire Service Advisory Committee. The training, taught by firefighters and other health experts, teaches firefighters how to protect themselves from the three most common problems experienced by firefighters: cardiac, emotional trauma and cancer, so they can continue to do their jobs and protect others.

“We want to make sure we take care of our firefighters while they take care of the community,” says Kewitsch.

Thanks to Eric Chaloux for highlighting this critical work. Watch the full interview here.