Where were you when it happened? Even 23 years later, this question is commonplace as the events of 9/11 continue to haunt the collective consciousness of North Americans.
Captain Jonathan Baumgart of Morden Fire & Rescue was a recent high school graduate on September 11th, 2001.
“I was getting ready to go to work for the morning and I found out about the event turning on the TV, trying to find sports highlights,” he says. "Instead of sports, there was news, and I couldn't wrap my head around what was going on.”
The next year, Captain Baumgart was joining Morden Fire & Rescue.
“I had kind of made my decision that that's what I wanted to do even in high school already. I wanted to be part of the emergency services, and I kept leaning towards the fire side,” he says. “[9/11] kind of added fuel to the fire. I was looking at that and [thinking], ‘I'm still okay with the idea of . . . serving the community,’ and so, it didn’t really . . . steer me toward it or away from it, it just kept me on that path going forward.”
Although what happened on 9/11 was a shock to many different communities, first responders around the world tend to feel a certain kinship with those who arrived on scene that day to help save lives. When others were fleeing from disaster, they ran toward it. In this way, first responders are unique — their job often requires denying natural instincts.
“When I started taking training to join the fire service, the first time I was in a structure that had fire inside of it, . . . I found it relaxing, I guess, to a point. The training that we are given as firefighters . . . prepares you for all of that, and you can kind of turn off that fight or flight [response],” says Captain Baumgart. “Again, we still have instincts, too, where we know that it's beyond our means and that we need to leave, but it's our training and our equipment that kind of gives us the ability to fight that fight or flight and actually go in and do our job, which is to make sure that individuals are being rescued.”
Of course, although the training (paired with immense discipline and strength) of first responders enables them to help their community, it does not prevent the situations they face from taking a toll over time.
“I'm a member of our local critical incident stress management team. There are three members in our department in Morden that have specialized training to deal with critical incident stress,” says Captain Baumgart. “We're by no means medical individuals or psychiatrists, . . . but we're there to kind of get the ball rolling and see the signs and symptoms not only in ourselves, but in our coworkers, [and] our partners in the department.”
Captain Baumgart says that although this team has not been deployed in Morden, he has assisted at other fire departments in the province as a part of it. He calls himself a “big advocate” for mental health resources.
“It's important to realize that as first responders, we're seeing things that we're not meant to see. It's one thing if it's once in 10 years, but it can be compounded, and the human brain is not made to see traumatic events continuously,” he says. “At the end of the day, when we are done this fire service career, . . . we have to go back and live a normal life, and these resources are helping us prepare for that. I would hate to have somebody leave the fire service and not be able to carry on a normal life due to the events and images that they've seen.”
For Captain Baumgart, the conversation surrounding the mental health of first responders has grown in recent years.
“I hope we continue moving forward with that,” he says.
Since 2017, Ottawa has hosted National Memorial Day to honour firefighters. The event takes place on the second Sunday of September. Captain Baumgart says that the Manitoba Fire Chiefs Association sends four members from the province to the ceremony each year. Manitoba’s ceremony for fallen firefighters is upcoming; it happens September 23rd at 2 p.m. at Memorial Park in Winnipeg.
For those in the area who are considering a rewarding, but challenging career as a firefighter, Captain Baumgart has some advice.
“Getting into the fire service on the paid side can be difficult — there's a lot of people applying for a very small [number] of jobs. If you're local to this area, . . . I would suggest stopping at your local fire hall and speaking to somebody there. They may actually be looking for individuals,” he says. “Maybe it's an opportunity for you to join the department [and] get some training that you don't have to pay for to get your feet wet, so to speak, and see if it's something that you really want to do.”
Captain Baumgart adds that from this step, there are advancement opportunities in the province anywhere from Morden to Brandon or Winnipeg. Currently, Morden Fire & Rescue has approximately 40 members who are on call 24/7.
As for how the community can support firefighters, Captain Baumgart has a few tips.
“None of us in this area are paid firefighters who live at the hall or stay at the hall, so our members are responding from home, from work, from hockey games, et cetera. So, as we're coming to the hall, you'll see a lot of normal looking vehicles that have red lights in the dash — Be cognizant of that,” he says. “They are responding to an emergency, so time is of the essence.”
Captain Baumgart also asks the community to pull aside on roadways when firetrucks are approaching.
Often for firefighters, other first responders, and community members, conversations about 9/11 cast a pall on its remembrance. For Captain Baumgart, however, his recollection of the tragedy always comes with a silver lining.
“If you look back at that day, what I like to tell younger people is to . . . focus on the good,” he says. “[There were] a lot of people helping other people, and I think that’s huge. [9/11 is] something that not everybody is exposed to every day, especially on a scale of that magnitude, but look at the helpers.”
To keep up with Morden Fire & Rescue, see its page here.
~With files from Jayme Giesbrecht and Ty Hildebrand~