Fire Fighters and Covid

By Kendra Hill

As Covid is here to stay for a while how are volunteers firefighters able to stay safe, what precautions do they take, and what are they required to wear.

“Every time we respond to a call we all wear are Personal protection equipment (EEP),” Said Mark Evans a volunteer fire fighter at Emmetsburg Iowa. “What all of our PPE consist of is mask, gloves, goggles or face shields. Even when we are on a Fire call we still wear our PPE but these PPE are different. We wear our respirators, turnout gear, gloves, blankets and gas masks. This makes is so that we are safe from the fire along with keeping us safe from serious injuries or illnesses resulting from contact with fire, CBRNE hazards and more. ”

“We get a rescue call about three time a month sometimes more,” Said Mike Smith Chief of Round Lake Fire and rescue. “Everyone that is on the fire department are volunteers. We get more rescue calls than we do fire calls. Over the weekend we were paged out for a rescue. The vehicle was on its side and in the ditch.”

Last year the Round Lake Fire Department did a fuel burn at Cooperative Energy for a training.

Most of Northwest Iowa and Southwest Minnesota expericed a fire ban due to dry weather conditions.

Evans later on said, “We have had several burn bans put into place due to the fact that it has been so dry this year. Everyone at least in Emmetsburg respected the ban and we had no reports of an out of control fire. Every year when we don’t have a burn ban we go out and we help farmers by doing CRP burns as prescribed by the government to maintain those acres that are in set aside programs.”

Both fire departments ask that you stay safe and call 9-1-1 for emergency help.