Responding EMT finds her 4-year-old daughter among victims of house fire
By Baylee Martin
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LEBANON, Pennsylvania (WGAL) — A house fire on Sunday morning in Lebanon County resulted in the deaths of five people, including the 4-year-old daughter of an EMT who was among the first responders.
Gregg Smith, executive director of First Aid & Safety Patrol, described the incident as “horrible” and “our worst nightmare.” The First Aid & Safety Patrol were the first ambulance units called to the scene.
One of the EMTs, Azelyn Arenas, arrived to find her daughter, 4-year-old Veyda Pereyra, among the victims. Smith said, “I’ve never seen such a tragedy,” and added, “When you take an employee, a first responder, that has to respond to their own child, words can’t describe the nightmare scenario this truly is.” Veyda was being watched by another victim, 73-year-old Josefina Estevez, who was also killed in the fire.
Smith, a paramedic for 30 years, explained the emotional toll on first responders, saying, “You jump in the action and then it sinks in later. Right? We do our duty, and we do our job. And you kind of learn to detach from that. I got to be honest with you, as a parent, there is no detachment at any time, anywhere. That’s just too much to ask of anyone.”
First Aid & Safety Patrol shared a post on their Facebook page to raise awareness and included a link to a GoFundMe campaign, which has far exceeded its $10,000 goal. Smith expressed his hope for significant community support, saying, “They’re fiercely private and humble, and they don’t want charity. I want to see that blow up. I want to see hundreds of thousands of dollars for these families.”
A county-wide Crisis Intervention Stress Management team has been established to provide individual counseling and long-term tailored response for first responders. Smith emphasized, “These people are not robots. They’re parents. They’re relatives, people. And they hurt deeply from this.”
He urged the community to remember the ongoing impact on first responders, saying, “Remember that when the music stops two weeks from now and this is no longer in the news, people are still hurting. And don’t forget your first responders.”
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