OH Chief: No Side Jobs for FFs During COVID-19 Outbreak

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An Ohio fire chief is telling personnel in his department not to work other jobs in order to limit their exposure to the coronavirus.

The mandate was issued by Mansfield Fire Chief Steve Strickling to firefighters, parameidcs, EMTs and other department employees last week, the Mansfield News Journal reports. Other jobs considered off limits included working at township fire departments and area hospitals.

"The idea behind it is we want you to limit your exposure here and outside of here, so if you're putting yourself in that position in other departments which aren't your primary job then that's what we want to try and eliminate," Strickling told the News Journal, adding that department personnel aren't prohibited from volunteering at other departments.

The new policy has created problems for other agencies that rely on Mansfield personnel in some capacity. For instance, Washington Township's fire chief also is a Mansfield firefighter. 

"It has had an adverse effect on some of the surrounding townships basically, our communities, because they have been so reliant on our personnel because of the low amounts of people who are paramedics and firefighters in the workforce," . "They've been relying on our personnel to provide services in their jurisdictions. 

Scott Miller, the president of the International Association of Firefighters, Local 266, also has voiced his organiation's concerns with the directive, while acknowledging the unusual circumstances facing first responders locally and around the globe.

"We just feel like at a time like this during a pandemic, labor laws and union contracts still need to be abided by," Miller told the News Journal.