Local fire departments adjust to COVID-19

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Firefighters are adjusting the way they respond to calls during the coronavirus pandemic.

With case numbers rising, the Columbia Fire Department and Boone County Fire Protection District are planning for a worst-case scenario.

Both departments say they have not had any employees contract the virus while responding to calls.

"We have had a few cases of COVID-19 and we've had some people that were quarantined because of contacts, but none of those have been traced back to any of the calls that we have run as an organization," said Gale Blomenkamp with the Boone County Fire Protection District.

Blomenkamp said several people who had deployed with Missouri Task Force 1 tested positive and then had to isolate.

"On the last deployment that we went on we had the health department came in here, DMAT from the state came in with a rapid test and we tested every person going out the door," Blomenkamp said.

He said it still was not a perfect method because several people tested positive a few days later.

"We have had some of our personnel that have tested COVID positive, but it's not because of emergency calls they're running. It's them catching it outside of work," said Brad Fraizer with the Columbia Fire Department.

Both departments also respond to each call as if there will be COVID positive patients there.

Crews with the Boone County Fire Protection District wear N-95 masks, goggles, long sleeve shirts and gloves on every call. Crews with the Columbia Fire Department wear a shield, a disposable gown, gloves, an N-95 mask, or sometimes the air tank they wear to fight fires.

The city has changed the way it responds to medical calls as well. If a full team is not required, one firefighter will go inside the home, another will stand outside of the home with most of their gear on ready to go in to help, and the third will wait in the truck.

"The level of care we provide doesn't change but we stagger out our personnel in case there's a COVID positive patient, they're not all exposed," Fraizer said.

The fire department reviews each call where a firefighter may have come into contact with a COVID positive patient to make sure they do not need to quarantine because of a PPE malfunction or any other reason.

Fraizer said the city's fire department has seen an increase in COVID-19 related calls as the case number has climbed.

The county's biggest concern is that a community will have an outbreak of the virus, limiting the number of volunteer firefighters available.

"Worst-case scenario is that you have an outbreak so to speak in a certain community, like Sturgeon or Harrisburg or Rocheport, where you have fewer volunteers, you have fewer numbers to drag on, to have all of those volunteers out of service that would cause some issues for concern," Blomenkamp said. "We would have to readjust and move people to those areas to cover that quarantine time of 10 or 14 days."

Crews with the city have been working overtime to fill in positions when people are in isolation or quarantining.

A big concern for the Columbia Fire Department is an entire station or shift being exposed to the virus, but it has taken administrative steps to allow more people to move around and fill positions.

The department typically tries to fill positions with people who work in the same position, but now others can move into a spot.

"What we're looking at, for example, is allowing a person that drives a fire truck to work as a firefighter if there's a vacancy and we just don't have any additional firefighters to come in," Fraizer said.

It does not compromise anyone's safety because people who move into other positions have already worked or been trained in those positions.

Both departments say while they are adjusting and continuing to plan, they are still capable of providing the same response they were before the pandemic.