During Monday's lunch hour, about 40 teenagers congregated at the corner of Dewdney Trunk Road and Dunbar Street, the site of a crash that took two of their own this weekend.

Dawson Spencer, a Grade 11 student at Samuel Robertson Technical, and Crystal Weaver, an 18-year-old graduate of Garibaldi Secondary, both died early Sunday morning in a twovehicle accident.

Four others were injured, as well, when the green Dodge van Dawson was driving collided with a blue Honda Civic that Crystal and two other girls were in.

In the van with Dawson were two Samuel Richardson Technical Secondary classmates, James Churton and Ben Buttignol.

According to her friends at the site, Crystal went to university in Prince George and was in town to celebrate her birthday. She would have been 19 on Thursday.

"You know those people who go all the way through high school and never have a fight with anyone, that's her," said Rebecca Mainardi, who graduated with Crystal in 2011.

Another former classmate of Crystal's, Alexa Davies, said Crystal was loved by everyone at Garibaldi.

"She was the happiest person, she never had anything negative to say," Alexa related.

Nickee Jackson, a Grade 10 student at Westview Secondary was a friend of Dawson's.

"He was a family friend. I knew him when I was little, and then hung out with him again in high school. His smile could light up the darkest days," she said.

Kaylene Gonyer agreed. The Grade 12 Westview student said she had been friends with Dawson since Grade 9.

"His personality was best, he was the happiest kid always, he could always light up your day."

Grade 9 Westview student Kassie Le Mercher said she grew up with Dawson.

"We used to go camping and dirt biking. He loved dirt biking. Of all the people, I don't know why," she said.

Also paying respect at the scene of the accident was Dawson's classmate Jeremy Gourlay.

Jeremy said all three boys involved in the accident were in his class at SRT 2, which is a carpentry program at the Alouette River campus.

"He was a really nice guy. He always came into class with a smile," said Jeremy, who mentioned that Dawson's mom come to the school Monday morning to give the students an update on James and Ben.

SRT principal Mike Keenan said the visit from Dawson's mom was important for the grieving teens.

"It was very valuable for the kids that the mom could fill in some of the gaps as the kids had lots of questions," Keenan said.

"[Tragic accidents] have a very high emotional impact on kids and staff. It could be quite some time before this settles down," he explained.

Extensive grief counselling is going on at SRT 2, Keenan said. The vice-principal and the three SRT counsellors were at the Alouette River campus, along with a number of on-call teachers who were called in to assist.

Emergency crews often require counselling after responding to fatalities as well, said Maple Ridge's assistant fire chief Howard Exner, who was on duty the time of the crash.

Exner said that when he arrived at Dewdney Trunk Road and Dunbar Street at about 2: 30 a.m., two boys were climbing out of the van, which was on its side, and there were two girls trapped in the Honda, the driver and front-seat passenger.

"We had to use all of our hydraulic tools, more than just the Jaws of Life, to rescue the girls, the driver in particular," Exner explained.

"We were on scene until about 4 a.m. and then returned at 8 a.m. to assist the coroner to remove the final victim, who was the boy driving the van," he said.

"By virtue of size and magnitude of the accident, we went to three alarms, which means six pieces of apparatus were on scene, plus a duty chief," Exner said.

"We had 30 people on the scene by the time the third alarm was answered."

According to Exner, a critical-incident stress-management team was deployed after the accident to help the responders deal with anything that may arise in the coming days.

"It was a very difficult situation. It ranks right up there as a horrific accident," he said.

"To lose of two young local people is devastating," said Sgt. Dale Somerville of the Ridge Meadows RCMP traffic unit.

"Our sincere condolences go out to the two families," Somerville added.

"Our investigation into the crash is in its initial phase. Due to the ages of the people involved in this, Ridge Meadows RCMP's youth resource officers will be working with School District 42 to ensure appropriate counselling is in place," he said.

The investigation is continuing. Police are asking anyone who may have witnessed the crash, and who have not yet spoken to police, to come forward.

Anyone with information is asked to call the RCMP at 604-463-6251.

On Thursday, there will be a candlelight vigil held at the scene of the accident at 5: 30 p.m.

smclaren@mrtimes.com