MnFIRE expands support for Minnesota firefighters with free resources
Fergus Falls Fire Chief Ryan Muchow is helping push MnFIRE's free support tools to 28 Otter Tail County fire and rescue departments.
Fergus Falls Fire Chief Ryan Muchow is helping push MnFIRE’s free support tools to 28 Otter Tail County fire and rescue departments. The effort comes as the Minnesota Firefighter Initiative says it has spent the past decade building a statewide safety net for crews that face heart disease, emotional trauma and cancer on the job.
MnFIRE’s Hometown Heroes Assistance Program is free to all active Minnesota firefighters, including volunteer, paid-on-call, part-time and full-time responders. The program includes a confidential 24-hour hotline at 888-784-6634, no-cost counseling visits, peer support, critical illness insurance worth up to $20,000 and ongoing health and wellness training.
The organization says the program has continued to expand in use. By February 2026, MnFIRE reported that 84% of Minnesota fire departments had been trained through the program, up from 83% in November 2025 and 76% in March 2024. As of February, the initiative said it had logged 1,587 trainings, 1,042 support calls, 4,245 mental health provider visits and 564 critical illness claims paid, totaling $5,891,010.
That growth lands against sobering mental-health data cited by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, which said MnFIRE reports firefighters face much higher rates of mental illness than the general population. The department pointed to survey data showing 47% of firefighters had considered suicide at some point, 19% had made a suicide plan and 16% had attempted suicide. Minnesota lawmakers also approved $8 million in grants over two years for the Hometown Heroes Assistance Program.
In Otter Tail County, the need is easy to measure on the map. Otter Tail County Dispatch says it handles 28 fire and rescue departments, while the Fergus Falls Fire Department serves a 144-square-mile area that includes the city and surrounding townships. County directories list about 22 fire-department locations across Otter Tail County, a spread that leaves many departments dependent on volunteers and paid-on-call staff to keep rigs moving.
For departments that already struggle to recruit and retain enough firefighters, the stakes are straightforward: if burnout, trauma or illness drives more people out, the burden falls harder on the crews left behind. MnFIRE’s expansion gives local departments a no-cost way to keep firefighters connected to counseling, peer support and medical benefits before the next emergency call comes in.
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