How do firefighters in Miami-Dade respond to coronavirus calls? With caution, and gloves.
In Miami-Dade County, firefighters aren’t only responding to fires these days.
As more testing begets more discovered cases of the coronavirus, fire departments across the county have switched gears — focusing resources on responding to suspected coronavirus calls and, in some cases, forming specialized units to limit the exposure of their forces to possibly sick people who need help.
In Miami Beach, the city’s fire department has set up a specialized unit to respond exclusively to suspected cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the new coronavirus.
The rotating team of three firefighter-paramedics is stationed at the city’s backup emergency operations center, isolated from the rest of the department, and the unit only responds to cases where callers experience symptoms related to COVID-19.
“They are not responding to fire calls unless a COVID patient is involved,” said Chief Virgil Fernandez. “Our goal was to make sure that, Number 1, our firefighters were safe, that they would not bring something to the station that would contaminate the entire station.”
The coronavirus unit, which was highlighted by Fox News during a live broadcast, appears to be the first of its kind in Miami-Dade County.
The unit went into service on March 18 and has transported at least 10 possible coronavirus patients to Mount Sinai Medical Center. The unit members dress in hazmat suits, wear n100 masks and exclusively use an emergency truck that is not used by any other units. After every call, the vehicle is disinfected with a fogging machine and the firefighters throw out their gear.
The department is looking to expand the unit, as more cases are discovered. As of Wednesday, there have been 400 cases reported in Miami-Dade County, 355 in Broward County and 1,682 in Florida.
“I’m not sure that we’re at the top of that peak,” he said. “We’re preparing like we are going to get more calls.”
A county-wide effort
Like everyone else, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue workers stress about the effect the novel coronavirus will have on themselves, their families and their friends. But unlike others, employees at one of the largest fire rescue operations in the southeastern U.S. still have to get up every day and go to work, rain or shine, or quickly spreading deadly virus.
“Life is the same when it comes to running the calls in the county. We continue to run on the everyday fires, car accidents and grandma not feeling well,” said Miami-Dade Fire Capt. Maria Chin. “Of course, we have seen an uptake of calls from people who are experiencing flu-like symptoms and are obviously concerned about the situation and want to get checked out.”
Yet it’s not every day that firefighters screen calls to determine how to approach specific situations and adorn themselves with gloves and sleeves and masks and glasses that they hope will keep the virus at bay and that make them look a bit like Star Wars Storm Troopers.
When done with a service call, the gloves and masks go to the waste bin. Everything else, fire rescue trucks and gurneys are meticulously disinfected. At the stations, which for now are sticking with normal shifts of 24 hours on and 48 hours off, firefighters try to abide by Centers for Disease Control standards, keeping space between themselves and continually washing their hands and countertops and trying their best not to touch their faces.
The department also uses foggers — large instruments that look like leaf blowers but are filled with disinfectant — to clean large surface areas and the inside of trucks.
“The department constantly revises our policies and procedures in order to keep our community and our personnel safe. We are taking all precautions (utilizing more PPE) when responding to someone suspected of having the virus, as we do not want to spread the virus to our crew or families,” Chin said.
Before each shift firefighters are screened for any type of fever, cough or sore throat. Many meetings that were previously held inside stations, are now done outside as a precaution.
Firefighter tests positive for coronavirus
This past weekend, the virus struck home. A firefighter was informed Sunday that he or she had tested positive for COVID-19, the sometimes deadly disease caused by the coronavirus. That person was sent home and is being monitored, as was every firefighter who worked at the same station as the infected employee.
The firefighter hasn’t been named and the department hasn’t said where the person worked.
“We take every precaution possible to ensure the safety of the people we serve as well as our personnel,” said Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky. “We understand there are risks associated with our profession, however, we are also facing an unprecedented situation that requires measures never seen before.”
Chin said despite the positive test, there have been no changes in the number of responders for service calls and no calls are being turned down. What the public will notice, she said, is firefighters wearing additional protective equipment.
And, Chin said, just like the public, firefighters get anxious. And when they do, there are still services to help them deal with one of the more stressful environments many of us have ever encountered. She said the department is in constant contact with employees and has psychologists and doctors to help firefighters if warranted.
“No amount of PPE [personal protective equipment] and policy and procedures can override human nature. Aside from what we do every day, these men and women who serve our communities, at the end of the day, they have families too and there is a real concern for them,” said Chin.
“I think we all feel concerned, but we try to manage the situation in the best way possible. This is like nothing we’ve seen before and despite the fears and all the uncertainties, we know that we are having to learn lessons that there are no books for. It is truly an unprecedented situation.”
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