Did 2 Calls in 7 Days to Shootings Make Firefighter’s PTSD Compensable?

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To recover for a mental injury, it must be caused by work-related stress that is truly unusual for the job in question. Because firefighters respond to a lot of difficult situations, an issue that often arises is: what does it take for a firefighter’s stress to be unusual?

A case involving a long-time firefighter in Arizona addresses the issue of whether responding to the aftermath of shootings can meet that standard. The claimant in that case had seen a lot in his career. He had responded to child drownings, suicides, and car accidents where the victims had suffered “horrific injuries.” He had responded to about thirty shooting scenes, some involving multiple victims, and had watched people die.

But according to him, two incidents in April 2022 caused him to be diagnosed with PTSD, and he sought workers’ compensation for that mental injury.  In the space of one week, he said, he went out on two calls to the scenes of shooting incidents. There were armed police on the scene each time. In each case, the shooter was still at large–a fact which caused the claimant great anxiety. At the second call, a person had been shot in his vehicle and bled out. When the claimant and his colleague opened the door, he said, blood poured out onto them.

The other firefighter had a different take on the two calls. He said he did not feel in danger, that the police were there to protect them, and that the calls were "completely mundane.” In both instances, the police had declared the scenes secure before the firefighters arrived. 

A mental injury "arises out of and in the course of employment," and thus is compensable, if the claimant shows that:

1. Work-related stress was a substantial contributing cause of the injury; and
2. The work-related stress was unexpected, unusual or extraordinary.

An ALJ found the claim not compensable because it was a normal part of the claimant’s job. The claimant appealed.

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Was the stress during the shooting scenes unexpected, unusual, or extraordinary?

A. Yes. Even though his colleague might have felt differently, the claimant experienced great stress due to perceiving the situation during each call to be dangerous, and due to the amount of blood during the second call.

B. No. Objectively speaking, it appeared that the firefighters were not in much danger. Further, the claimant was used to seeing the aftermath of violence.

If you selected B, you agreed with the court in Lawless v. Industrial Commission of Arizona, No. 1 CA-IC 24-0009 (Ariz. Ct. App. 04/05/25, unpublished), which held that the firefighter did not sustain a compensable mental injury.

The court noted that the issue was whether the events imposed stress on the employee that was unexpected, unusual or extraordinary. Stress that is inherent in a claimant's work does not meet that standard. 

Further, the question is not whether the claimant subjectively feels the events are unusual, but whether they are, objectively speaking, unusual. The claimant failed to meet that standard. For one thing, his colleague viewed the calls as routine. Moreover, the claimant admitted he had responded to scenes of violence on numerous occasions. 

Although the claimant may have subjectively experienced fear while on the scene, the court remarked, the test for compensability is an objective one focusing on the stress imposed on the worker rather than how the worker experienced it. Finally, dispatch told the firefighters that the scenes were secure before they arrived.

“Although the evidence supports [the claimant’s] testimony about the presence of a significant amount of blood from the deceased gunshot victim at the April 7 shooting, firefighters and paramedics are hardly unfamiliar with the sight of blood,” the court wrote.

The court agreed with the ALJ’s finding that any stress the claimant experienced during the incidents was not unexpected, unusual, or extraordinary. It affirmed the denial of the claim.

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