Highway crash highlights emotional risks for first responders combing through wreckage
TORONTO — As first responders searched for bodies in the wreckage of more than a dozen vehicles involved in a deadly Ontario crash, experts warned that such traumatic experiences place them at an increased risk of suicide and other mental health crises.
Police openly expressed shock and dismay on Wednesday hours after a 14-vehicle collision on Highway 400 north of Toronto sent fireballs into the sky and rolling down the road.
The crash, which involved two fuel tankers, took place late Tuesday and killed three people, leaving charred, twisted debris strewn across the highway.
At least one officer on the scene said the carnage was shocking to dozens of first responders who descended on the area.