'It's never easy': Dauphin's fire chief offers support to bus crash first responders

Dauphin's fire chief says his heart goes out to the first responders on the scene of Thursday's deadly crash between a semi-truck and bus full of seniors that took 15 lives and injured 10 others.

"It's never an easy process, responding to these," said Chief Cameron Abrey. "Especially the smaller departments. Nobody signed up for an incident such as this."

No units from the Dauphin Fire Department ended up responding to the crash. Abrey said the local emergency crews were not made up of career responders.

"I personally know many of those that were on scene, and my thoughts are with them right now," he said. "Along with the families of those that grieve and the families (whose) loved ones are still in hospital."

Abrey said fire and emergency services personnel train extensively for situations like this, but there was no way to prepare for the scale of Thursday's crash. "You fall back on your training and you do everything that you can to calm the situation, and do what you have to do," he said. 

He added that there are resources out there to help first responders in their healing process. The Dauphin Fire Department has set up peer support for its members. The Manitoba Office of the Fire Commissioner is conducting debriefings for the first responders at the crash scene and offering supports.

Abrey said they've had numerous communications coming in from across Canada, other fire departments from Newfoundland to B.C. sending their condolences and support.

"Emergency services are a small family when it comes to the healing process," Abrey said.

Organizations like First Responders First exist to help those dealing with PTSD from traumatic first response experiences. More information can be found online.