Excerpts from Fox47.com:

On Friday, Platteville (WI) Fire Chief Ryan Simmons got a phone call he wasn’t expecting. Volunteer Firefighter Tim Ebert died by suicide last week. Ebert had been volunteering with the Platteville Fire Department since fall 2017. Simmons said Ebert was from Saint Germain and would volunteer with the fire department there as well.

“He was a student at UW-Platteville. So, between being a student, working part time, and being a volunteer on the fire department, he was a pretty busy guy,” Simmons said. “People that are dealing with so much depression like that sometimes hide it very well,” he said. “From what everyone knows of Tim and our experiences of him, we definitely would not have suspected anything from him. He didn’t seem depressed or anything. He usually had a smile on his face. He was a happy-go-lucky guy and wanted to help others.”

Simmons said he doesn’t know what may have led Ebert to take his own life, but said that it doesn’t really matter, but what does matter is that it happened. He wants to focus on his memory and how to prevent this from happening in the future.

“Do we talk about it enough? We probably don’t. We just all think we are rough, tough firefighters and everything just bounces off our skin, but it doesn’t.”

If you or someone you know needs help or someone to talk to, the National Suicide Prevention Hotline is just a phone call away. The number is 1-800-273-8255

Tags: mental health in the fire service, Platteville (WI) Fire Chief Ryan Simmons, Platteville Fire Department, volunteer firefighter takes his own life, Volunteer Firefighter Tim Ebert