Deadly crash near Carberry highlights 'crucial' role of volunteer firefighters, Manitoba fire chiefs say

When 15 people died in a fatal crash on a highway in southwestern Manitoba this week, volunteer firefighters were the first emergency responders on the scene. 

The crash, which happened near the town of Carberry, also injured 10 people.

The 25 people were on a small bus that collided with a semi, RCMP said. They were mostly seniors from around Dauphin, which is about 150 kilometres north of Carberry and 320 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

While volunteers make up the majority of fire departments in Canada, fire officials said their numbers have been dwindling since 2016 — despite their key role in responding to emergencies across the country.

Dauphin Fire Chief Cameron Abrey said volunteer firefighters and even bystanders were among the first responders to the collision.

"I don't think there's anything that can prepare you for the scale of an incident such as this," Abrey told reporters in Dauphin on Friday. 

Although no firefighters from Dauphin were deployed to the scene, Abrey said responding to situations like Thursday's crash is never easy, especially for smaller fire departments. 

"Nobody signed up for an incident such as this. The fire departments that responded to the incident are not career," he said.

"You can do all the training that you want … but to actually arrive at a scene such as this — you fall back on your training and you do everything that you can."

Manitoba's office of the fire commissioner has set up support systems for emergency responders who were at the crash near Carberry, and Dauphin has been hearing from emergency crews coast to coast, he said.

"Emergency services really are a small family."

Manitoba RCMP Supt. Rob Lasson said there were dozens, maybe hundreds of people who initially responded to the crash, including bystanders who stopped their vehicles on the roadside to help.

"I don't know exactly how many volunteers that were stopped there, but I know that there [were] copious amounts of people," he said at a Friday news conference.

The people on board the bus — 19 women and six men — were between 58 and 88 years old, according to Lasson.