Thanks for the kind words guys, I really appreciate it. Ive responded to many fatal fires and accidents but nothing like this.
This is a tough one to get over. Normally the only thing that bothers me is anything involving young children, but since this was "close to home", its affecting me different. I wasnt one of the first ones on the scene. I arrived afterwards. One of the first guys on the scene was the best friend of the driver. He was the one that had to extinguish the fire. Needless to say the poor kid's a basket case. We had to remove him from the scene.
Another kid is wracked with guilt because it was his first call as a fireman and he was so excited about it. He's also a buddy of a victim. We had the Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team out last night to talk to everyone. It's gonna be a rough road for all of the younger guys. ( also for some of the veterans).
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070111/VIDEO/301110002