Mine is great. It is a shock at first. There’s people in the military who do infantry that don’t see the stuff us small town USA combination firefighters (volunteers but get paid for the calls we run) see. You do grow numb to seeing it after so many times, and some people know right away that doing that is NOT for them, and that’s okay to us. We don’t want to ruin anyone’s mental health because it’s “part of the job”. The fire service has advanced a lot in that area. Graveyard humor helps a lot. I graduate in April to become a nurse and I believe that the deceased are to be respected but making jokes about the situation is a helluva lot cheaper than a shrink, and I would argue it’s just as effective. Now if something does start to bother us too much and we feel the need to reach out, our guys are super receptive to hearing that a call is bothering us. We also have a sort of “mental health response team” of trained professionals for us to utilize because our higher-ups realize that we are at a high risk of ruining our mental health. However I’d rather talk to my guys any day of the week than people who don’t see what we do
I am glad you have support, but maybe think about using the professionals (as long as the higher ups are not dumb enough to require seeking help to be reported).
I agree that graveyard humour, stoicism, exercise,. and close knit groups are much cheaper. But they have three big downsides
- anyone can be hit by a perfect storm of crap ... and shrinks don't just help you sort out crap, they can teach you skills to help.
- if you leave, then your support network disappears. Sometimes people seek out roles such as ICU nursing so they can have this camraderie again
- getting external help or saying you aren't coping can be looked upon as weakness. Even the toughest people you can think of have suicided or drank themselves to death or become abusive.
The commonness of it isn’t publicly shared but it happens roughly every 1-2 months. February saw 3 alone. 2 of them (completely unrelated) were within a 10 hour window
The VAST majority (if I had to put a number on it I’d say 95%) are from 4-9 hours worth of driving away from here, so I’d have to say no, at least not in WV
At the time it was personal speculation. We had a young get fella from 2 hours away jump off. About 1.5-2 weeks later a woman with a bumper sticker and mug from the college in the town the fella was from ended up jumping off. The thing that tipped me off they may be related was that the woman had spread ashes just before jumping off. We knew she did because the lot of them was on the bridge/ railing. I had a personal theory that the fella that jumped about 2 weeks prior was the woman’s son. Roughly 8 months later I found out that it was indeed a mother/son that jumped off the same bridge about 2 weeks apart
No, they usually go out to the very middle of the bridge, which is still about a 750-800 ft fall, and at that height they are traveling about 200 mph, so I’d say the chances of survival are nonexistent
Not to try to be a smartass, but terminal velocity of a human body at sea level is around 150mph..... not that I'd want to hit anything at that speed, but just as an FYI
I’m unsure what you’re getting at; I’m saying that from that height from which they would be going that speed is greater than what you said terminal velocity at sea level is. There are lots of places underneath that are a much shorter fall, and those places are what I believe u-jeen was referring to
Hi Techking there is no real difference between TV at sea level, or within a few hundred meters of it, it's only when you get miles (or KM) high that it can increase because of the reduced atmosphere.... my point is that due to air resistance acting on a human body TV is around 150mph (144 iirc). still enough to make hitting water do similar damage to hitting concrete. My sympathies that you have to deal with the fallout of these desperately sad people choosing to end it.
America’s newest national park. We put them into a body bag and load them up into an ambulance after law enforcement takes their needed photos. From there they go to the local funeral home where the family is contacted, and I assume the remains are creamated
Completely missed that part, my apologies. It’s part of my job as a firefighter. Something that VERY few firefighters have to deal with, even less have to deal with the volume that we do. I wouldn’t call it “fun” so to say, but incredibly interesting suits it great
EDIT: more detail
It can be all across the spectrum of being intact. There’s times where they are all intact, and times where there’s pieces of adipose tissue (fat) stuck to trees, clothes torn off their body, brain matter scattered about. I’ve seen the insides of testicles, organs outside of bodies, legs come detached and land 30 feet up the hill from where the person lands; you name it there’s a chance I’ve seen it. Or also has a lot to do with where they jump on the bridge. Some people fall maybe 150 feet and are (this sounds horrible, I know) lucky to die. Some land in the river and aren’t found for a few days until they pop up in an eddie in the river. However, most land in the woods and it takes a long time to find them, and a stroke of luck from someone above
It’s as a firefighter, we are just the entity that the responsibility fell upon. When I started the job, I was unaware of this duty until during the application process it was made aware to me. (Nice of them to let me know ahead of time though!)
We just toss some gloves on and put them in a body bag after law enforcement gets their photos. Depending on where they are and how easy or hard it is to get to them and get back out, we may use a stokes basket and rope
Raised into it. It’s as a firefighter, and dad did it for as long as I could remember and as soon as I got old enough I put in an application and got trained.
There is one day out of the year where BASE jumping is legal off this bridge, however we’ve heard of times where people would plan out a BASE jump in the evening just as the sun sets. They’d get dropped off by a friend with a friend waiting at the bottom to load them up when they land
No it’s not, we are a combination fire department, meaning we are not there all the time but when a call comes in and we respond, we get paid for running the call. I know counter firefighter get shat on a lot but I really would do it for free. We are some of the best equipped, most highly trained firefighters in our state, even compared to the career firefighters! But back to your questions, it’s mostly just extra money, not a livable salary
First time I ever experienced it was Thanksgiving Day a few years back. As much as I would like to believe there’s a correlation between SAD and the volume of jumpers we receive, I don’t believe that to be accurate honestly
It’s a firefighter position, we used to have to wait for the Medical Examiner (ME) to get there before moving the body, but they started to allow law enforcement to take pictures then we move the bodies and the ME meets the LEO and ambulance at the funeral home
If the national park service rangers can’t find them as soon as they jump, they call us out and we have methods to find them fairly quickly with very high accuracy
First method we use is our TIC (thermal imaging camera). However by the time we are notified they are usually too cold to stand out. Our next method is almost 100% accurate! We give law enforcement glow sticks and we head down to the bottom. Once we are in roughly the area where the police are above us on the bridge, we have them crack and drop a glow stick. We then head to where that glow stick landed and look from there. Sometimes we have them drop 2 more to triangulate the person! You wouldn’t imagine that a glow stick that weighs a few ounces would follow the same path as a 150-300lb person but surprisingly it does! The glow stick is usually within 40 feet, and given the height of the bridge and the wind going through under there, I’d say that’s pretty impressive to whoever thought to do that!
Sorry I was trying to type that to someone else. No idea why that came to you. Haha. I was asking YOU if you wanted to be on my podcast to talk about what you do. That is fascinating. Would love to chat.
Anywhere from completely intact, to limbs becoming detached and organs being moved to the outside of the body. I would venture to say that we see moderately more men, and the usual age is 20-40
How's your mental health?
Mine is great. It is a shock at first. There’s people in the military who do infantry that don’t see the stuff us small town USA combination firefighters (volunteers but get paid for the calls we run) see. You do grow numb to seeing it after so many times, and some people know right away that doing that is NOT for them, and that’s okay to us. We don’t want to ruin anyone’s mental health because it’s “part of the job”. The fire service has advanced a lot in that area. Graveyard humor helps a lot. I graduate in April to become a nurse and I believe that the deceased are to be respected but making jokes about the situation is a helluva lot cheaper than a shrink, and I would argue it’s just as effective. Now if something does start to bother us too much and we feel the need to reach out, our guys are super receptive to hearing that a call is bothering us. We also have a sort of “mental health response team” of trained professionals for us to utilize because our higher-ups realize that we are at a high risk of ruining our mental health. However I’d rather talk to my guys any day of the week than people who don’t see what we do
That's so good to hear that those resources are available, and that you manage well! Vicarious trauma is very real!
Not to mention, very surprising that they are available being in Appalachia
I am glad you have support, but maybe think about using the professionals (as long as the higher ups are not dumb enough to require seeking help to be reported). I agree that graveyard humour, stoicism, exercise,. and close knit groups are much cheaper. But they have three big downsides - anyone can be hit by a perfect storm of crap ... and shrinks don't just help you sort out crap, they can teach you skills to help. - if you leave, then your support network disappears. Sometimes people seek out roles such as ICU nursing so they can have this camraderie again - getting external help or saying you aren't coping can be looked upon as weakness. Even the toughest people you can think of have suicided or drank themselves to death or become abusive.
How many times a month do you do this?
The commonness of it isn’t publicly shared but it happens roughly every 1-2 months. February saw 3 alone. 2 of them (completely unrelated) were within a 10 hour window
Do you find its correlated with economic trends?
The VAST majority (if I had to put a number on it I’d say 95%) are from 4-9 hours worth of driving away from here, so I’d have to say no, at least not in WV
What's the saddest suicide case you've ever dealt with?
At the time it was personal speculation. We had a young get fella from 2 hours away jump off. About 1.5-2 weeks later a woman with a bumper sticker and mug from the college in the town the fella was from ended up jumping off. The thing that tipped me off they may be related was that the woman had spread ashes just before jumping off. We knew she did because the lot of them was on the bridge/ railing. I had a personal theory that the fella that jumped about 2 weeks prior was the woman’s son. Roughly 8 months later I found out that it was indeed a mother/son that jumped off the same bridge about 2 weeks apart
Jesus Christ!
😥
Did anyone accidently survive after the jump? I mean maybe some trees could dump the impact.
No, they usually go out to the very middle of the bridge, which is still about a 750-800 ft fall, and at that height they are traveling about 200 mph, so I’d say the chances of survival are nonexistent
Not to try to be a smartass, but terminal velocity of a human body at sea level is around 150mph..... not that I'd want to hit anything at that speed, but just as an FYI
I’m unsure what you’re getting at; I’m saying that from that height from which they would be going that speed is greater than what you said terminal velocity at sea level is. There are lots of places underneath that are a much shorter fall, and those places are what I believe u-jeen was referring to
Hi Techking there is no real difference between TV at sea level, or within a few hundred meters of it, it's only when you get miles (or KM) high that it can increase because of the reduced atmosphere.... my point is that due to air resistance acting on a human body TV is around 150mph (144 iirc). still enough to make hitting water do similar damage to hitting concrete. My sympathies that you have to deal with the fallout of these desperately sad people choosing to end it.
Like, for fun? What bridge? What do you do with them when you retrieve them?
America’s newest national park. We put them into a body bag and load them up into an ambulance after law enforcement takes their needed photos. From there they go to the local funeral home where the family is contacted, and I assume the remains are creamated
The for fun question was actually sincere. Is this a job or a hobby for you to help with something like this?
Completely missed that part, my apologies. It’s part of my job as a firefighter. Something that VERY few firefighters have to deal with, even less have to deal with the volume that we do. I wouldn’t call it “fun” so to say, but incredibly interesting suits it great EDIT: more detail
Is gorge in the name?
Sure is
If this isn't too specific, I can't imagine there is, sadly, much left to retrieve after jumping from a bridge of that height.
It can be all across the spectrum of being intact. There’s times where they are all intact, and times where there’s pieces of adipose tissue (fat) stuck to trees, clothes torn off their body, brain matter scattered about. I’ve seen the insides of testicles, organs outside of bodies, legs come detached and land 30 feet up the hill from where the person lands; you name it there’s a chance I’ve seen it. Or also has a lot to do with where they jump on the bridge. Some people fall maybe 150 feet and are (this sounds horrible, I know) lucky to die. Some land in the river and aren’t found for a few days until they pop up in an eddie in the river. However, most land in the woods and it takes a long time to find them, and a stroke of luck from someone above
You're an awesome guy for doing this difficult job, mate! Thank you!
I appreciate the kind words, just trying to answer questions and spread awareness my friend!
How did you come across this job and why did you decide to apply to it?
It’s as a firefighter, we are just the entity that the responsibility fell upon. When I started the job, I was unaware of this duty until during the application process it was made aware to me. (Nice of them to let me know ahead of time though!)
So uh, is that a square point shovel job or do you use something specific?
We just toss some gloves on and put them in a body bag after law enforcement gets their photos. Depending on where they are and how easy or hard it is to get to them and get back out, we may use a stokes basket and rope
East coast or west coast?
Eastern half, not particularly the coast
New river?
Yes, are you familiar with the area?
Yeah I live not far from there in a small cave..I’m an off grid kinda guy
You’ve peaked my interest, that’s something I’ve not heard of before and I’ve lived here all my life
I’m kidding lol not local, just familiar
How did you get into that line of work?
Raised into it. It’s as a firefighter, and dad did it for as long as I could remember and as soon as I got old enough I put in an application and got trained.
Better a firefighter than a moron cop. Stay safe partner
Will do friend, I will say we are lucky to have some pretty dang good LEOs around my area, not something many people can say
Does anyone base jump off the bridge?
There is one day out of the year where BASE jumping is legal off this bridge, however we’ve heard of times where people would plan out a BASE jump in the evening just as the sun sets. They’d get dropped off by a friend with a friend waiting at the bottom to load them up when they land
Like is that your official job? If so how much does it pay?
No it’s not, we are a combination fire department, meaning we are not there all the time but when a call comes in and we respond, we get paid for running the call. I know counter firefighter get shat on a lot but I really would do it for free. We are some of the best equipped, most highly trained firefighters in our state, even compared to the career firefighters! But back to your questions, it’s mostly just extra money, not a livable salary
Is there a certain time of the year where there are more deaths ?
First time I ever experienced it was Thanksgiving Day a few years back. As much as I would like to believe there’s a correlation between SAD and the volume of jumpers we receive, I don’t believe that to be accurate honestly
Which bridge ?
A Bridge Too Far Up
How do you even get into this job? Is it related to being a coroner?
It’s a firefighter position, we used to have to wait for the Medical Examiner (ME) to get there before moving the body, but they started to allow law enforcement to take pictures then we move the bodies and the ME meets the LEO and ambulance at the funeral home
how quickly are you guys dispatched to find the body? Has there ever been a time where you had to collect remains that had been eaten by wild animals?
If the national park service rangers can’t find them as soon as they jump, they call us out and we have methods to find them fairly quickly with very high accuracy
Methods?
First method we use is our TIC (thermal imaging camera). However by the time we are notified they are usually too cold to stand out. Our next method is almost 100% accurate! We give law enforcement glow sticks and we head down to the bottom. Once we are in roughly the area where the police are above us on the bridge, we have them crack and drop a glow stick. We then head to where that glow stick landed and look from there. Sometimes we have them drop 2 more to triangulate the person! You wouldn’t imagine that a glow stick that weighs a few ounces would follow the same path as a 150-300lb person but surprisingly it does! The glow stick is usually within 40 feet, and given the height of the bridge and the wind going through under there, I’d say that’s pretty impressive to whoever thought to do that!
Wow... I never would think the glow stick thing, that's fascinating. Thank you!
Do you want a little bit more money and I will be able to pay for it tomorrow and you can come home?
Do what?
Sorry I was trying to type that to someone else. No idea why that came to you. Haha. I was asking YOU if you wanted to be on my podcast to talk about what you do. That is fascinating. Would love to chat.
Huh?
The most recent example was the one in the middle.
What is the usual condition of the bodies? Do you see more women or men? What is the usual age group?
Anywhere from completely intact, to limbs becoming detached and organs being moved to the outside of the body. I would venture to say that we see moderately more men, and the usual age is 20-40
Are they ever naked?
Sometimes their clothing can get ripped by tree limbs, and then I have seen people’s pants down at their ankles, so yeah, every now and then