CBS Boston – Jeff Sirois’s flashbacks come on without warning.
They are vivid memories of the worst traumas the Methuen fire lieutenant experienced over his more than two-decade long career. During one of those traumas, Sirois tried to resuscitate a baby who was in a car that filled with engine exhaust.
“And I have the mother the whole time screaming, ‘save my baby, save my baby, that’s all I have to live for.’ And the baby didn’t make it,” Sirois recalled, “I was a mess because, at the time, I had a one-and-a-half-year-old.”
In the moment, Sirois did not realize that the symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder were seeping into his life.
“I would cry all the time. I’d have panic attacks. I would have flashbacks. I didn’t know what it was at the time until it was explained to me. My wife, I’ve known her since I’ve been four years old and she would say, I don’t even know who you are,” he said.
In 2020, Sirois said he went to a call that broke him. He claims he was in a smoke-filled basement when he started to lose oxygen from his mask.
“I’m lost in this room and now I’m panicking. I had a severe panic attack. Thought I was going to die,” he said.
Since then, Sirois says he has fought for his life and for a Methuen Retirement Board to recognize his disability and compensate him for it.
In Massachusetts, first responders who can prove they were injured on the job are eligible for 72% of their salary, tax free, for life with approval from a local retirement board. In Methuen, the board is made up five people, some of them elected, others appointed by the mayor …
