An old Los Angeles fire station has been transformed into a health center for firefighters that will include mental health specialists as part of a suicide prevention effort.
Los Angeles' firefighters union turned a station in the city's Arleta neighborhood into the United Firefighters of Los Angeles Center for Health and Wellness, which will provide space for counseling and classroom training, KABC-TV reports. It's the first facility of its kind in California dedicated to helping firefighters and their families, according to the union.
The center makes mental health specialists available 24 hours for firefighters. An added 100 peer counselors also will be deployed in the field.
"Our firefighters experience terrible things," Los Angeles City Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas told KABC. Terrible things that they can't share with their families because it is just going to depress their families, quite honestly."
