The chief fire officer of the South Taranaki town of Waverley, where a head-on crash yesterday claimed seven lives, says emergency personnel were left shaken after attending the accident.
Six people died at the scene after two cars collided on State Highway 3 near the racecourse about 11.11am - another has since died in hospital.
Four elderly people were killed in one car, while a man, a newborn and an eight-year-old girl have died from the other car.
A woman remains in hospital in a critical condition.
Waverley chief fire officer Allan Hickford said the scene of the crash was shocking to many of the emergency services personnel who attended.
Police reporting this morning that the eight-year-old girl involved in the crash died in hospital.
"We don't often see things like that - to some it was new, to some of us guys that have been here a long time, we've seen it before," he said.
Mr Hickford said his team were at the scene until late last night and many had not yet had a chance to talk through and reflect on the experience.
"The scene itself .... so many helicopters - three helicopters sitting there," he said.
"Ambulance staff, all the police officers, there were firefighters from Patea, a fire crew from Whanganui all there ... so it makes it so much bigger and worse.
"The crew get asked lots of questions ... and that is really, really difficult for them.
"Some people don't have any problems with talking, others do - but so much of it is sensitive material that they can't really tell people what they've been to, and what they've seen."
Mr Hickford said people in small towns generally all know each other, and that some in the community knew those involved.
"Sitting here talking with the guys last night - most of them are aware of the ones that were involved - it's a small community, things get around real quick," he said.
"Most of the calls for motor vehicle accidents we go to in this area, because it's a small community, probably 80 per cent of them we know the people involved, which makes it more difficult," he said.
"When they're strangers it's probably a wee bit easier to deal with."
Fire and Emergency New Zealand does offer a counselling service to personnel, Mr Hickford said.
"If we're concerned about the crew, the fire service has a special team, and they're all firefighters or ex-firefighters that have been through all this before," he said.
"They are excellent at their job - at getting people to talk and getting it off their minds.
"It doesn't matter how many times you've seen it before, it's still difficult."
The Serious Crash Unit is investigating the cause of the crash.
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