KOOTENAI COUNTY, Idaho – Firefighters are getting help as they deal with the loss of two colleagues killed Sunday’s deadly ambush in Coeur d’Alene.
The International Association of Fire Fighters sent a crisis team to support Kootenai County Fire and Rescue, Coeur d’Alene Fire, and Northern Lakes Fire. All three departments had members involved in the incident that killed Kootenai County Fire Chief Frank Harwood and Coeur d’Alene Battalion Chief John Morrison.
“These men are friends, they’re not just coworkers,” said Captain Seth Hohenstreet of Kootenai County Fire and Rescue.
The crisis team helps with communications, peer support, and mental health services. They are visiting fire stations across the area.
“They’re people that we trusted with our lives. They trusted us. We worked many years, decades, in some cases. And so, you know, to try to sum up how we’re doing and how we’re feeling. Context is the best I could do. Which is we’re holding together,” Hohenstreet said.
The team is also helping with funeral plans.
“As difficult as this has been, it’s nice to have not just our local brothers and sisters that work here with us, but to have people that have come in to say, hey, you know, I’m disconnected from the people and the incident, but I’m connected because we’re in the same firefighter family,” Hohenstreet said.
Six to eight firefighters came to Hohenstreet’s station after yesterday’s procession.
“To have people come in and say, hey, we got your back has taken such a stress off of us that thank you could never be sufficient,” Hohenstreet said.
Hohenstreet says having the support available makes all the difference for firefighters dealing with this tragedy.
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