Veteran suicide remains a heartbreaking crisis in Florida, where veterans are 58% more likely to die by suicide than the general population.
Since 2000, more than 140,000 veterans in the state have taken their own lives.
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With over 1.5 million veterans calling Florida home, the question looms large: What does it take to end veteran suicide?
“We all agree veteran suicide is bad. We don’t need a campaign to convince anybody of that. But what can we do differently?” said retired Brigadier Gen. Mike Fleming.
Answering that question is how The Fire Watch was born.
Created in 2019 by Rory Diamond and supported by leaders across five Northeast Florida counties, The Fire Watch is a collaborative effort focused on preventing veteran suicide through community involvement.
And now it’s reached a major milestone: 10,000 Floridians trained to identify veterans in crisis.
These trainees are called Watch Standers, and more than 70% have no military experience.
The Watch Stander Program trains community members—not just veterans—to recognize signs of crisis and connect veterans to the help they need.
“Every other veteran suicide prevention or veteran serving organization, most others are veterans helping veterans. We’re engaging the broader civilian community to help veterans,” said Nick Howland, executive director of The Fire Watch and a Jacksonville City Council member.
Fleming, one of the organization’s founders, explained how the program’s impact is measured.
“We do surveys of our Watch Standers, and then we ask them, Have you referred a veteran to service? … The progress we’ve made is phenomenal,” Fleming said.
According to Howland, each trained Watch Stander refers, on average, about 1.5 veterans to services annually. That means the network of 10,000 Watch Standers is expected to make 15,000 referrals in the coming year.
“The Watch Stander program is modeled after CPR. Across Florida, our neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family members are completing the training, standing vigilant to the concerns of veterans, and, when necessary, referring them to life-saving resources,” Howland said.
The results are promising. Since The Fire Watch was founded, veteran suicides have decreased by 1% nationwide, 5% across Florida, and an impressive 25% in Northeast Florida, where the program is most active.
According to a University of Kentucky study of Suicide Bereavement in Veterans and Military Families, 135 people are affected by every suicide. That means, when considering the reduction in veteran suicides from 2019 to 2023 in Northeast Florida alone, 16,000 fewer community members are mourning the loss of a veteran friend, colleague, or loved one since the program started.
The Fire Watch is expanding beyond Northeast Florida, with new Watch Stander networks growing in Tampa Bay, Southeast Florida, the Space Coast, and Escambia County.
Using data partnerships with the Florida Department of Health and local analytics firms, The Fire Watch targets areas with the highest risk to maximize its impact.
To learn more about The Fire Watch and how you can become a Watch Stander, visit thefirewatch.org.