alan wong is live at the ambulance company where he worked. alan? >> reporter: yeah, eric, every day the emts at royal ambulance come back here and debrief just so they can unload the trauma that they have experienced each day. well, yesterday they had a serious debriefing session after they found out they had one of their partners was killed in one of those many accidents they respond to. let me show you some cell phone video of that fiery crash involving 29-year-old reed whitaker, an emt here for the past two years. whitaker was off duty, sitting in backed-up traffic on 580 near livermore when a drunk driver slammed into the back of his vehicle. both cars burst into flames. whitaker was trapped inside and killed. he was also an emt trainer and worked at highland hospital as an e.r. tech. one of the things he and other emts do to protect themselves is compartmentalize their emotions but it hasn't been easy here. >> i think obviously when somebody close to you is killed, whether you're an ems or any other industry, it really hits home and you're una