Zoom meetings, remote work and other tactics businesses and organizations use to stay operational when employees get sick with COVID-19 aren’t an option in public safety.
When COVID-19 blazes through a fire department, shutting down isn’t an option.
The Bargersville Community Fire Department and several other local departments have had their COVID-19 response plans tested, with multiple firefighters out of service due to exposure to the virus.
Dealing with an outbreak
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During the course of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, 15 have been diagnosed with COVID-19 at Bargersville’s fire department, most of those within the last three weeks, said Mike Pruitt, deputy fire chief.
“It doesn’t take much. Once it gets its claws in inside the firehouse it takes a while to get it under control,” Pruitt said. “Knock on wood, we’ve got it under control now, and we can keep it out.”
Conditions at the department have improved, with most firefighters back from sick leave and no new cases in the last few days, Pruitt said. This is likely due to new measures the department added in the midst of the outbreak to better protect each other, he said.
As emergency medical professionals, department employees took proper precautions off duty and on scene but still managed to be hit hard, likely because they relaxed precautions at the station.
Initially, firefighters weren’t required to wear their masks or socially distance while at the station. Now, all are masked up and do their best to stay six feet apart when working or relaxing between runs, Pruitt said.
The level of community spread and interactions outside of work meant it was almost inevitable an outbreak would occur, Pruitt said. Firefighters wear personal protective equipment on runs, so the outbreak isn’t likely to have come from patients, but from off-duty grocery store trips, a gathering or from family and friends, he said.
The department’s success in containing the virus demonstrates precautions can pay off and should be taken by all to slow the spread, Pruitt said.
“There have been so many different stories on how to deal with COVID, I can see why it would be hard to buy into any one thing,” Pruitt said. “But in our profession, when we went 100% mask in the firehouse and 100% social distancing — taking every step we can to reduce exposures in the firehouse — we are seeing a change.”
With so many firefighters out, the reality of how difficult it is to keep up operations when short-staffed set in, Pruitt said. Department leaders were worried they would have to shut down one of the town’s stations, he said.
In the event of a staffing gap, the plan was to rent a crew from another local department. It would cost more than $1,900 to rent an engine for a day, plus the hourly rate of each firefighter who stepped in to help, Pruitt said.
Luckily, it did not come to that. With overtime, they managed, Pruitt said.
Operations did pause for four hours on two separate days; that being the amount of time it took to send exposed employees home, call in a new crew and have the station professionally cleaned, Pruitt said.
Battling the virus
Pruitt himself returned to work Wednesday after a battle with COVID-19.
In hindsight, the first symptom, a scratchy throat, appeared on Nov. 6, Pruitt said. The next day, he realized he must have caught COVID-19 after developing body aches and numbness in his feet, he said.
Later, he lost his sense of smell, but not taste, which are two common symptoms. However, he never developed other hallmarks of the disease such as a fever or severe respiratory complications.
Pruitt battled the disease at home with immune support from vitamins, aspirin and lots of water, and considers himself lucky to have had a mild case when so many others developed severe symptoms, he said.
Though his case was not severe, the after-effects linger as Pruitt reorients to work and everyday life.
“I’ve been much more ill with the flu, but I’ve never been tired or achy for this long of a period of time,” Pruitt said. “Even after your time has passed, you still feel exhausted. After being at work for three or four hours, I’m worn out.”
Fatigue is a remnant of the disease that many have reported early in their recovery, and something each firefighter has had to contend with when they return to work, Pruitt said.
Todd Bridges, another firefighter who had the virus, said he wasn’t at 100% for about a month.
Bridges’s case was also mild, and his symptoms were minor at the onset. He didn’t realize it was COVID-19 until he got positive test results, he said.
“The symptoms were so subtle that I didn’t know until I got tested. I could see where people might think that it was some type of allergy,” Bridges said.
Bridges had a constant headache, body aches, a light cough and his sense of smell came and went like a wire that was short-circuiting, he said.
He, too, battled the disease at home, and his wife also became ill, but his kids never did, Bridges said. They took a regimen of vitamins and aspirin while making sure to move around to keep their blood flowing even when fatigue made that unappealing, he said.
Though their cases were mild, the virus put them out of work for two weeks and caused significant disruption to their personal lives.
Though masks are uncomfortable and are not guaranteed to prevent COVID-19 transmission, Pruitt said the protection they provide should not be discounted.
“Masks aren’t 100% (effective), but even if it is 75%, that’s something. We need to do anything we can,” he said.
The best way to avoid transmission is to be vigilant and take precautions, Pruitt said.
“Whether it is at home or out in public, people have to pay attention to what is going on around them,” he said. “Wear your mask properly. Use the hand sanitizer. It works.”
Even after contracting COVID-19, firefighters are urged to take precautions, as it may be possible to spread it to others after symptoms stop, Pruitt said.
“It doesn’t mean you’re invincible when you come back, you’ve still got to take the precautions,” he said.
Above all, they said, precautions are about protecting each other.
Right now, taking those precautions and being nice to people who don’t necessarily share the same opinion about them are both critical, Bridges said.
“We are all in this together,” he said. “We are still Americans so we need to be good to our fellow Americans.”
