Hondo Fire Department volunteers will be firing up the grill for Saturday's annual Fourth of July picnic. They'll be filling a canvas water tank used in fighting fires at rural locations for "swimming." And they'll be running relay races for the kids.

One thing they won't be doing this year is demonstrating how they cut up wrecked cars.

The memory of that is way too painful and fresh.

About 13 of Hondo's volunteers were among the emergency crews who responded to the fatal crash Sunday night on Old Las Vegas Highway in which four local teenagers died and one was seriously injured.

Just two years ago they were at the scene of another horrific wrong-way drunken driving crash nearby on Interstate 25, in which five members of a Las Vegas, N.M., family were killed.

Hondo's district includes 17 miles of interstate highway and a portion of Old Las Vegas Highway, so the department gets more than its share of fatal accident scenes.

But it doesn't get any easier.

As Hondo's chief, Tom Chilton, said this week, "In this business, big boys cry."

At the scene of an accident, they're professionals, trained to quickly figure out what they can do to save lives.

But later, in a critical incident debriefing, they can be human, relating what they saw, how they felt, how they are feeling now — in a supportive environment and among their peers.

Reactions vary, Chilton acknowledged. "Some people get withdrawn. Some people might get angry, or have difficulty sleeping, or lose their appetite."

These responses to extreme stress are natural and subside over time, he said.

But, Chilton said, "If you felt nothing, you probably shouldn't be doing this. We need compassion to do the work."

Emergency work is meticulous. It requires a lot of different skills. And it must be accomplished in what Chilton pointed out is often a "bizarre environment."

"We have a limited repertoire of options," he explained. "But it takes a lot of training to know what to do, to do it efficiently and to do it in the middle of the night and in the middle of the highway with the big flood lights cranked up and with everything smelling of diesel."

Saturday, the morning before the crash on Old Las Vegas Highway, about 20 to 25 firefighters conducted a multi-district training on extrications at Hondo Fire Station Number 2. There were six wrecked cars on hand. The crews practiced removing doors and roofs. Less than twelve hours later and within a couple of miles of the station, they were doing this for real.

Upon arriving at the accident scene, as they would at any crash, they quickly determined where they could make a difference. In this case, the only survivors were the drivers.

The owner of the Jeep, suspected of driving drunk and the wrong way down Old Las Vegas Highway before crashing into a red Subaru with five teenagers inside, did not appear to have significant injuries.

The rescue efforts quickly focused on Avree Koffman, 16, the driver of the Subaru, who was seriously hurt.

According to Chilton, it took only minutes to extricate her from the car because the door was not damaged and rescuers were able to open it.

They carefully transferred her to a gurney and then to an ambulance that took her to a helicopter landing area near Hondo Station Number 2.

The medics piloting the helicopter that would transport her to University Hospital in Albuquerque determined that because of her critical condition they needed to stabilize her on the ground before risking the 20-minute flight. She received an intensive amount of medical care before the helicopter took off about an hour or so after the accident. According to Chilton, this probably saved her life.

Back at the scene, rescue workers used powerful hydraulic tools — cutters and spreaders — to remove the bodies of the deceased teens.

"You can't imagine what a sacred moment it is to see someone in that condition," Chilton said earlier this week. "We handle a person like that (injured or dead) as though they are asleep and we're trying not to wake them up. It's a hallowed moment."

Two members of the Hondo team talked with the six other teenagers who were riding in the cars following the red Subaru, en route to Eldorado.

"They've seen something (nobody could be) prepared for. They're in a state of shock. Some are crying; some are silent, with a 1,000-yard stare. Some are trying to provide comfort to their friends, calling parents and others," Chilton said. The reactions include "everything you might imagine a young person might feel when something happens on this scale."

Two days later a couple dozen firefighters and EMTs gathered at the Hondo station for a debriefing for those who worked the scene as well as other volunteers, some of whom knew some of the victims.

A former Hondo volunteer and a person experienced in helping the helpers, led a two-hour discussion. Providing an appropriate time, place and setting for people to talk about what they saw and felt is part of the healing process, Chilton said. "Each time you tell the story it has a little less power over your emotions," he explained.

"We don't want machines out there. We want loving people who know how to operate machines," Chilton said.

Since the crash he's talked to the thankful father of Koffman, whose daughter is improving in the hospital. "We were hopeful. I'm not sure we knew there was a lot to base our hope on (Sunday morning), but now we know there is," Chilton said.

He added, "It is gratifying to know when you make a difference. With (her) we could and did and are so grateful."

Contact Anne Constable at 986-3022 or aconstable@sfnewmexican.com.

IF YOU GO

What: Fourth of July picnic

When: Noon to 3 p.m. Saturday

Where: Hondo Fire Station Number 1, Seton Village/Sunlit Hills exit off Old Las Vegas Highway

Who: Hondo Fire Department

Cost: Free

Activities: Sparky the Fire Dog, balloon tosses, relay races, food