NC Department Temporarily Shuts Down over COVID Exposures

A North Carolina fire department is temporarily shutting down for a week because of a rash of COVID-19 exposures.

The Landis Fire Department suspended operations at 7 p.m. Wednesday after the department experienced "numerous" exposures to the vaccine, WBTV-TV reports. The closure is set to run through Aug. 26.

“It is my hope to resume normal operations on Friday, August 27, 2021, at 0645 hours, after an appropriate quarantining period has passed and enough employees are well enough to return to work,” Zach Lechette, the town's public safety director, said in a statement.

Firefighters—both career and volunteers—and employees will not be allowed inside the station or to respond to calls during the shut down. Crews from China Grove and Kannapolis will be handling calls during this time.

A training exercise planned for Monday also is canceled.

“This was not an easy decision and I ensure you it was not made lightly," Lechette stated. "A lot of thought went into this. However, I think everyone can agree that it is better to get ahead of this and make sure we are healthy than to allow it to become a ‘snow ball’ effect.”