Editor's note: Find Firehouse.com's complete coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic here.
An FDNY battalion chief based in Brooklyn has shared with a major online publication a riveting journal he wrote during a 24-hour period responding to the COVID-19 outbreak currently ravaging New York City's emergency services.
Battalion Chief Simon Ressner's shift journal was published this week by ProPublica under the title "Dead on Arrival: A N.Y. Fire Chief’s COVID Journal" and it is well worth the read to catch a glimpse of the situation unfolding on the ground in the Big Apple.
“'10-37 Code 1.' It’s fire department shorthand for 'dead on arrival.' Word of such tough calls crackles over the citywide radio in bursts," reads the first line penned by Ressner, who heads Battalion 57 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of New York's famed borough.
The Chief is candid about everything from the nature and volume of the calls his crews are facing to the anxiety faced by all who are confronting the outbreak head-on. He has had to reshuffle personnel on the fly and been responsible for not only his people but requests from nearby nursing homes and hospitals, as well.
The diary also includes an array of photos that help tell Ressner's story of just one hectic day in a fire and EMS leadership role during a national health emergency.
