VIDEO: It’s been almost a week since two 3-year-olds lost their lives in a house fire in Greensboro. As families and friends grieve, so are the firefighters who were on the scene.
Firefighters are typically the first to arrive at emergency scenes. That includes fires, car accidents and medical calls, so they’re really seeing it all. “What we're seeing is raw and unfiltered," said Captain Dave Coker, the shift safety officer for the Greensboro Fire Department.
Captain Coker said what firefighters see takes a toll on them.
“We are routinely exposed to pretty traumatic events. In addition to that, we work a 24-hour schedule, 24-hour shifts, so our sleep patterns are always disrupted and when you compound that over a series of years, it can have an impact on people," Coker said.
Coker was one of the ones who pushed for the peer support program to come to the department in 2016.