Precious Lives

Stories about kids, guns and how to stop the violence. Precious Lives, created by 371 Productions, is a 2-year, 100-part weekly radio series about gun violence and young people in the Milwaukee area. The series applies a public health lens to each story to help listeners understand the full scope of the problem: who are the victims and the shooters; how are the weapons obtained; and what can we change about the environment that contributes to violence in Milwaukee?

#061 Precious Lives: Firefighter Copes with Trauma, Compartmentalization is Key

WUWM 89.7 FM

Published March 15, 2016 at 11:56 AM CDT

Lance Johnson of the Milwaukee Fire Department's dive team is pictured Friday at his station house on the corner of 1st and Virginia streets.

You might remember Nicole Sheldon from a previous Precious Lives episode. She was robbed at gunpoint in front of her home. Then had to leave her dream job as a Milwaukee County homicide prosecutor in order to heal.

Her husband Lance Johnson regularly encounters gun violence through his work as a Milwaukee firefighter. He been doing that for 14 years. And several times in their relationship, their work lives have collided.

Corresponding Content

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Firefighter copes with trauma as emergency calls stream in