Vision

The Fire Watch is working to end Veteran suicide by preventing Veteran suicide. We are built on three main premises – (1) that suicide is preventable, (2) that we must connect Veterans to resources they need before they slip into crisis, and (3) that the broader community can play a vital, non-clinical role in the effort. Our key initiative, the Watch Stander program, was inspired by CPR and is a free, early intervention, gatekeeper program that trains community members to identify the risk signs of a Veteran in crisis and to direct that Veteran to the resources he or she needs. In essence, we aspire to build supportive communities around vulnerable Veterans to quickly and effectively direct them to upstream and crisis services.

Goals

1. 1.Grow our Watch Stander network to 30,000 Floridians by the end of 2030. We recently surpassed 13,700 Watch Standers and are on target to achieve this metric. More Watch Standers in our communities mean more engagements with Veterans where they live, work, and play, and therefore more referrals of Veterans to upstream and crisis care resources. This metric is measured weekly.
2. 2.Achieve a 70% Engagement Rate and a 30% Referral Rate every quarter. Measured by a quarterly Watch Stander survey developed for us by the CDC Foundation, high Engagement Rates (% surveyed reporting engagement with a Veteran) mean we are training the right people. High Referral Rates (% surveyed reporting referral of a Veteran) mean Watch Standers are comfortable referring Veterans to help.
3. 3.Decrease Veteran suicides by 25% from baseline for 3 consecutive years in targeted regions. Using FL Department of Health data, we have achieved reductions in NE Florida Veteran suicides of 25% or more below our 2019 baseline for 5 of the last 6 years. Our latest data year 2025 was 26% below 2019, which compares favorably to NE Florida civilians (10% above) and statewide Veterans (5% below).