Hi I am Josh Simpson. I have been a member of the Spokane Fire Dept. since 2012. I was born and raised in New England and moved to Spokane from Houston Tx. I worked as a firefighter there for about a year before getting hired with the SFD. Since 2012 I have worked with many of you and am now the D shift Lt. on T13. I joined the PEER support team for a very simple reason… brotherhood/sisterhood. One of the big reasons I joined the fire department to begin with was the bond that I saw in friends that were already affiliated with fire department. I wanted to be a part of something bigger than myself and to have that camaraderie with my peers that goes beyond what most people get in a workplace. With that in mind I think there is nothing better that we can do for each other is take care of each other. Nobody knows better what we go through on a day to day basis than others working in the same field. I believe this unique
perspective gives us the ability to protect each other and make sure that we all live long, healthy, and happy lives. Mental health has always been a sort of taboo subject and now in this era it is becoming more and more up front and mainstream and I felt compelled to do my part in helping my peers. The nature of our job puts us in unique situations that most will never experience good and bad. I want to be there to help make sure that our members have every resource available to help through those times that maybe they feel no one could understand.
The brotherhood of this job is what drew me in and it is that same thing that I want to promote and protect. We are all here to help the community, but we can’t do that efficiently and to the best of our ability if we ourselves are not alright. I wanted to do my part for our department members to make sure we are all ok and don’t feel like there is no where to turn when things get hard. I look forward to working with you all for a long time and to continue protecting our community as well as ourselves.