Emergency workers in fire offered counseling

Naperville has enlisted the help of the Northern Illinois Critical Incident Stress Debriefing Team to assist public safety workers affected by the weekend house fire that killed a woman and her two young children.

Police Cmdr. Ken Parcel said workers will have a chance to meet with the team in the next few days to talk through some of their feelings in the wake of the tragedy.

Parcel said it's a voluntary meeting for any of the city's emergency workers who were affected by Saturday's fire.

"Some people take advantage of it and some people choose to deal with it privately," he said. "We don't keep attendance records; it's just another avenue to cope with the stuff we see."

The team is made up of social workers as well as specially trained fire and police officials from around the area. Naperville fire and police officials also serve on the team but won't have a role in this instance, Parcel said.

Almost immediately after fire personnel cleared the blaze at 1960 Nutmeg Lane on the city's far east side Saturday, firefighters and paramedics convened at one of the fire stations to discuss what had happened, Chief John Wu said.

"We wanted to talk about their reactions and let them know about opportunities they'll have for counseling," Wu said. "We asked our supervisors to keep an eye on things because we know that in many cases we'll see reactions that won't show up until much later on and show up in ways that are unexpected."

Wu said he is familiar with the long-term effects of these kinds of stresses.

"I remember the first time I had to give CPR to a patient and the thing that always came back to me was the cologne the person was wearing," Wu said. "Every time I have smelled it from then on, it reminded me of that scenario."

Because the fire involved the deaths of two young children, he believes it had a greater impact on his personnel than many other incidents the department has dealt with.

"There are very few firefighters who haven't seen death," Wu said. "But many of us have children ourselves and that's what's a little more difficult about the aspect of this."

Follow-up counseling will be available to employees beyond the original meeting with the stress team, Parcel said.