COVID-19 Forces MN Fire Department to Suspend Operations

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A small Minnesota fire department has temporarily stopped responding to emergency calls in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Plato Fire Department made the decision to suspend operations because of "a recent increase in localized COVID-19 cases," the department stated in an online post Wednesday. Some of the department's 20 volunteer firefighters also had become infected with the virus, KARE-TV reports. Neighboring departments will now handle calls for the 320 households in Plato's service area.

"We didn't want to expose our citizens to someone that might have the virus that was coming there to help them," firefighter Jay Wood told the news outlet. "We didn't want to further expose our firefighters and their family members to the virus."

Although the pandemic is the impetus for the change, Wood said the protocol is similar to when departments help out following line-of-duty deaths. The timing, however, is not ideal.

"It's probably not the best time of year to have fire departments impacted by COVID," State Fire Marshal Jim Smith told KARE. "This is our busiest time of year. People cook more, large families--we've got the holidays coming up--we see more use of candles, space heaters and alternative heating. So historically we've seen a rise in residential fires during this time of year. We're comfortable with the knowledge that we have this plan in place. We just wish it probably wasn't around this time of year."