Pattenden said he was advised that Vaughan Fire — which had been at the scene and provided CPR following the initial incident but had since left — wouldn’t return to avoid exposing its firefighters to the traumatic scene.

According to a source who used to work for York Region police, Vaughan Fire refused to attend the scene when called at 4:35 p.m. for a “washdown” — a first-responder term for removing blood, vehicle fluids and other remnants from the roadway.

Const. Andy Pattenden said the highway was closed an extra hour because of the denial of service. It left police scrambling to find a solution. Eventually, Miller Paving was called in at 5:29 p.m. to carry out the cleanup.

nope that's dumb. part of the job. that's like me saying that i don't want to see blood/pee/shit/vomit in the ER.

Maybe if you changed your underwear more often it wouldn't be an issue....

... he’s never heard of a fire department refusing washdowns, especially in circumstances where motorists are trapped on a highway.

“I have been to accidents where I had to pick up someone’s arm,”

“I would tell my guys, suck it up, I know it’s ugly, but that’s what we’re paid to do. You can’t expect a third party to come in and do it. The only time I’d entertain a third party is hazardous materials, because we’re not very well trained for that.”

Despite his feelings, he admitted he’s “old school” in his thinking and conceded how “sensitive” the issue of PTSD has become today.

“PTSD has become really prevalent in the last few years,” he added. “My only problem is we get paid good money and we all knew what it was before we got into (firefighting). Now people are saying after the fact that, ‘Oh, now I’m not OK with it.’ There aren’t fires like there used to be, so we have to play a big role to justify what they get paid and all that equipment.”

He said, at the end of the day, he feels for the Miller Paving employees who had to do the cleanup.

“They’re not trained emergency responders, they are truck drivers,” he said. “I can’t image what they were saying about the firefighters.”