NH Fire Chiefs: COVID Adds 'High Level of Anxiety' to Job
By Jeff McMenemy
Source Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H.
Editor's note: Find Firehouse.com's complete coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic here.
One of the many challenges COVID-19 has caused fire departments throughout the region is its impact on staffing demands.
Dover Fire Chief Paul Haas said, "We're holding our own" in terms of staffing even when dealing with positive COVID-19 cases, and COVID-19 exposures and potential exposures.
"We've had some of our staff out due to either COVID-related illness or quarantines," Haas said in a recent interview. "We have not been unaffected."
About a half dozen city firefighters have tested positive for the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, Haas said, and others have lost work time because of worries they were exposed to the virus.
"Some days it's a challenge to fill all the positions," Haas said.
Firefighters understand that "there's always a level of risk when we're dealing with certain patients," Haas said.
"We can't space our work stations 6 feet apart," he added.
Firefighters have benefitted from strict protocols implemented at the start of the pandemic, which regulates how they interact with patients.
That has included wearing personal protective equipment when on a call, Haas said.
"Community spread is fairly prevalent now so we're overdressing in terms of PPE," he said.
That's particularly true when it comes to responding to a congregate care facility, where firefighters have been told to assume residents are positive for COVID-19.
"We are dressing out in a way that has that assumption," Haas said. He also stressed "patients should not receive any reduction in service based on our PPE."
Dover's firefighters, like others, have had to deal with a "high level of anxiety" as they respond to calls during the pandemic, amid "uncertainty about what we're going to be confronted with," Haas said.
"It's a level of anxiety day after day after day," he said. "We've been doing the best we can."
He's proud of the way his firefighters have responded to the challenge.
"Our firefighters, they're here for the community, they have never once indicated they are not able to do their jobs," Haas said.
Dover firefighters could receive their first vaccine in late December or early January, Haas said.
"We're waiting to hear more from the state," he added.
In the meantime, he continues to urge people to follow the protocols now and throughout the holiday season.
"People need to have a significant level of personal responsibility. There's not too many things we don't know about how to keep things limited," Haas said about community spread. "Pretending it isn't there just because they can't see it isn't going to help."
In addition to wearing masks, socially distancing, washing your hands and avoiding crowds, Haas urged people to keep their holiday celebrations small this year.
"We can't always do what we want to do," Haas said, and asked people not to celebrate the holidays this year "like they did last year."
"We don't want to have this thing blow up any further," he said.
In Durham, home of the University of New Hampshire and more than 12,000 students when they are on campus, town Police Chief Rene Kelley said the toughest thing his department has dealt with during the pandemic is "trying to get everybody to buy into protecting themselves and others by wearing face masks and following the recommended guidelines on social distancing."
"The university did an absolutely wonderful job putting together their programs for the fall, especially with the testing protocols they had in place, and follow-up when we did have violations," Kelley said.
He acknowledged there were times when police had to respond to UNH parties, where there were too many students attending or they weren't following COVID-19 protocols.
When that happened, police would "notify UNH and UNH would immediately address that situation by calling the students in," Kelley said.
On some occasions, that included sending students home to study remotely for the rest of the semester, he said.
"I will tell you there have been more than a few occasions' officers tried to deal with particularly intoxicated students later in the night to try to get them to wear a mask," Kelley said. "The end result is they did it, but the officers took a lot of gruff from the kids."
Since Durham's Town Council passed an ordinance requiring mask wearing in public places, officers have issued 582 warnings and handed out 100 masks, he said.
"We've not had to summons anybody," he added.
He credited his officers with being "phenomenal" during the pandemic and "going out of their way to make sure they're leading by example."
"When they get out of their cruiser for a call or traffic stop, they're putting on their masks," he said. "When they have to custody arrest someone, they're putting on their PPE and making sure they're as safe as they can be, but there's no question it's stressful for everyone."
The department has had one officer and one civilian employee test positive for COVID-19, Kelley said.
"Both missed a couple of weeks of work, but thankfully they didn't have any serious symptoms that go along with it," he said.
The fact there's only been two positive cases is "really remarkable with as many as contacts as officers have throughout the day," Kelley said.
Moving forward into 2021, Kelley hopes the vaccines will be available as soon as possible "to anybody who wants it."
Until that can happen, he urged residents to abide by the protocols.
"Just follow the rules, the rules are in place for everybody's safety, follow the rules and the guidelines," he said. "That's what it's going to take to get everyone through this."
Portsmouth Fire Chief Todd German acknowledged that being a firefighter during normal times is a stressful job. The pandemic has added another layer of anxiety, he said.
"You have the normal stresses of this job, the stress of seeing sick and injured people, people who have lost their property, lost loved ones," Germain said. "Now you have COVID on top of it."
In the past, firefighters would leave work and head home and have time to "deal with those stresses."
"Now you go home and have the stress of COVD like everybody else," Germain said.
He is hopeful his firefighters will begin the vaccine process "no later than the first of the year."
"As has been reported ... it's going to be a stressful and pretty dark winter," he said. "At least now we have something on the horizon we can look forward to."
Portsmouth has had three firefighters test positive for COVID, Germain said, and two "were roommates."
The fact there hasn't been more "is a testament to their willingness to really look after themselves" once they leave the stations, he said.
Like Haas, he also pointed to the difficulty of "maintaining an adequate amount of people to staff the positions we need to staff on a daily basis."
That includes "dealing with people who have symptoms who we don't want in the firehouse, along with people who have been exposed and have to be quarantined for 14 days," Germain said.
As positive test numbers continue to surge, he acknowledged "there's no reason to believe they won't be twice as bad a month from now."
"I tell my staff here assume that everyone you come in contact with has COVID," he said.
Like the other chiefs, he asked people to "be patient" and limit the size of their holiday celebrations this year.
"You hate to break protocol and have a loved one not be there for next year's celebration," he said.
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