Rockford trio builds new lifestyle brand with a mission to support firefighters’ mental health
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — A new lifestyle brand founded by three Rockford men celebrates the fire service while focusing its mission on supporting firefighters’ mental health needs.
Original Firefighter is centered around apparel and accessories such as T-shirts, phone cases, hoodies and mugs fitting for firefighters on their off days or anyone who supports the fire service nationwide.
But the heart of the brand is revealed in the group’s podcast, where Original Firefighter can delve into issues of mental health, peer support, struggles to recruit, climbing the ranks and other issues affecting fire departments across the country.
The brand was co-founded by Will Pederson, who spent 33 years in the fire service including 28 in Rockford, and Aaron Biby and Rob Labak, who also run the branding and web development company Lightwave Creative.
Through a program it dubs Five Alarm, it donates 5% of each sale toward mental health support for firefighters. That money goes both locally and nationally, supporting the Rockford Fire Department’s peer support team and the mental health initiatives of the International Association of Firefighters and the National Firefighter Association.
In doing so, Original Firefighter provides support for firefighters mental health both through its podcast conversations and its cash.
“There are those cases where there are firefighters out there who are simply struggling and they don’t know which way to turn,” Pederson said. “Some of them don’t know how to take the first step to even walk toward it. All we can really do is have a very, very loud conversation about it so that they hear it.”
The concept for the company started in December, and the trio launched its first podcast at the start of this month. A new episode is released each Wednesday.
It’s estimated that 30% of first responders grapple with mental health issues such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a 2018 study by the National Institutes of Health and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. That’s compared to 20% for the general population.
Between 2014 and 2020, more firefighters died by suicide than in the line of duty, according to the Firefighter Behavioral Health Alliance.
“There’s an effort to change the mindset that you can’t forget about the first responder and what they have to go home with,” Pederson said. “There is a change in culture right now that’s happening, and I just know that Original Firefighter is a part of that change.”
Pederson, 51, retired on July 1 as a district chief with the Rockford Fire Department. He has 33 years combined in the fire service, including working as the first full-time firefighter for the city of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, in 1994. He joined Rockford’s department in 1996.
In Rockford, he saw the type of traumatic events that can weigh on firefighters mental health.
He was the incident commander on March 27, when a mass stabbing and attack killed four people and injured seven others in southeast Rockford. He was also the incident commander Dec. 26, 2020, when three people were killed and three others were wounded at Don Carter Lanes.
“That’s the kind of mental health trauma that’s being realized across the country,” he said. “The first responder responds to all the emergencies, but no one responds to their emergency.”
The company is run from Rockford, with its podcast headquarters at City Stage Studios on First Avenue, but it’s intended to have a nationwide reach.
So far, feedback on the early episodes has shown that the issues talked about resonate beyond the Rockford region, Biby said.
“The things that we see resonating with listeners and viewers, when they’re commenting, it’s often: Here’s the context of how that issue is playing out locally in my firehouse,” Biby said. “It’s really interesting to see that their are trends that show — this is everywhere, this is not just something that we’re experiencing locally.”
It’s also intended to reach more than firefighters.
“Two thirds of the cofounders of the company are not actually firefighters but they’re people who really care about the fire service,” Biby said.
Labak, who has learned about fire service through 20 years of friendship with Pederson, said giving people a glimpse of what firefighters handle on a daily basis should make you proud of the service we have. That perspective, he said, is needed so people understand and appreciate the sacrifices firefighters make.
“We need people like this in the world,” Labak said. “They’re the foundation of our society. People who can handle the worst of what happens in our society.”
The podcast started out with a focus on conversations about firefighters off days, “because a lot of the recovery and restoration that happens to work toward a healthy and whole person as a firefighter happens in the off day,” Biby said.
It has expanded since then, as the group has recorded multiple episodes for future release, as has the brand itself. The group is already charting its course for 2026, when it plans to release a bourbon created in conjunction with Barnstormer Distillery. Original Firefighter is keeping the details on that quiet for now, but said it will tie into its mission.
“Everything has meaning,” Labak said. “If we’re going to do bourbon, it has to be an Original Firefighter bourbon.”
The brand’s logo is an abstract eagle that incorporates two Fs for firefighter. The eagle was inspired by the brass eagle on top of firefighter helmets that hold the shield in place.
“One of our markers was, is it cool enough to tattoo,” Biby said of the logo. “We want everybody to have something they feel like they can wear and own and be a part of the community.”
The three said their skillsets complement each other, and their blend of experience inside and outside of the fire service is fitting for the audience they want to reach.
“We wanted to build a brand for the American Fire Service,” Pederson said. “One that firefighters themselves could be proud of, one that their loved ones could be proud of and everyday people who want to say they stand with firefighters.”
About | Original Firefighter
Online: originalfirefighter.com
Podcast: Go HERE
Instagram: @original_firefighter
Facebook: HERE
Tik Tok: @originalfirefighter
Contact: info@originalfirefighter.com
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
