BERWICK, Pa. — On Monday, members of the Berwick Fire Department hosed off the debris left behind after Saturday's violent incident outside the Intoxicology Department restaurant and bar.
But Chief Gene Boone says the pain and the damage that was caused won't be as easy to wash away.
"It's going to take a while for a lot of people," said Chief Boone. "The community as well; the community is hurting. They were already hurting. Its benefit was to support the victims from the fire and then having this happen. You know, it's just hard to put into words how to try to heal from one thing and then something back to back."
Crews responded just after 6 p.m. when Adrian Sura Reyes, 24, drove through the event on Saturday, killing one person and injuring more than a dozen others, according to state police.
"When that pager went off and the call went out for mass casualty, it's something that we have never dealt with. And until we got here, we had no idea what we were looking at," the chief recalled. "Certainly, when you get those calls, you always figure the worst and hope for the best, and in this case, upon arrival, I mean everybody just jumped into action immediately. We had a lot of bystanders that were nurses, paramedics that just jumped in."
One of those bystanders was Janelle Surkin, a former EMT who works at the Berwick YMCA.
"In the parking lot, there were victims in just about every region of this parking lot. They weren't concentrated in one area. They were in varying states," Surkin said. "Some were critical."
Surkin says she's having a hard time processing it all.
"I'm a part-time preacher and I preached at a little church yesterday, and it was hard for me to actually preach with any joy or anything like that because I'm kind of filled with a lot of bitterness towards this individual, and I want to try to understand why he did it."
The chief says there are resources available for first responders feeling the same way.
"We have some counseling, stress counseling set up for those who want to take advantage of it."
If you are a first responder who was there on Saturday and you are interested in learning more about those counseling opportunities, contact the Berwick Fire Department at 570-520-4535.
See news happening? Text our Newstip Hotline.