The Okotoks Fire Department is expressing their support for those affected by the Humboldt Broncos tragedy.

Ken Thevenot, Okotoks Fire Chief, says they often lean on their colleagues for emotional support.

"We do have training and we do have that awareness but we have to process these calls just like anyone else," he explains. "To put that into a grieving period or processing period we're no different than anyone else. We do reach out to each other a lot of times as first responders to try to get through times like that."

Thevenot says it's always difficult to deal with these types of calls no matter the size of incident.

"Every call we go to there is a process and it's all how you handle that process. It doesn't matter if it's a small call or big call like that. The smallest of calls can impact a first responder, it just really depends on the time of day, what's going on in that responders life. At the end of the day we're human just like anyone else."

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