Fire season looms amid new challenges

 

Last updated 4/5/2020 at 9:50am

Roger Harnack

A state Department of Natural Resources wildland fireman walks along the edge of a brush fire last August off state Highway 231, north of Reardan near Ford.

Brandon Hansen

Chewelah Independent

CHEWELAH - With fire season quickly approaching, firefighters now must address a new challenge: how to deal with wildfires during a pandemic.

The issue for firefighters is that they'll be squeezed from two fronts: Close living and working conditions in fire camps would allow the virus to spread, and if firefighters are quarantined, they

wouldn't be able to respond to emergency calls.

"Firefighter camps are notorious for 'camp crud,' a generic term for general illnesses of a wide variety," Stevens County Fire District No. 1Fire Chief Mike Bucy said. "Firefighters come back very dirty, tired - which suppresses the immune system- and exposed to 300+ other people

in less than ideal situations."

State Department of Natural Resources state forester George Geissler told the New York Times there is a risk of a reduction in force: "There's a risk of a reduction in force even as we go into fire season in the West right now."


Another complicating factor is fire response involves many agencies at many levels working together - which means many people from different parts of the country. The issue too is that these agencies tasked with wildfire response are also being asked to respond to the coronavirus emergency.

Bucy said emergency medical technicians and firefighters are at great risk, being on the front lines and responding to the unknown.

Spokane's Fire Department, for example, had 30 of their firefighters quarantined for exposure to the virus and were not able to be responders.

"If many are quarantined or their communities can't afford to let them leave, that will dramatically have long-term firefighting issues," Bucy said. "Also, we won't be able to turn to other states, as this is

a country-wide problem."

Natural Resources canceled the first of its three firefighting academies as it usually brings hundreds of people together. The Northwest Interagency Coordinating Center also canceled its meeting, which usually brings 300 people together.

Bucy said that local fire districts need to be enhanced so they can better respond to fires when they start, providing a robust initial attack. He added there was no real plan for fire agencies in how to

deal with this from the state or federal levels.

That is one reason Bucy said he has been advocating for a single fire agency for the state that can handle situations like this.

Internally, Fire District 1 has talked about how they can stay isolated from the first of fire camps if mobilized. Stevens County Dispatch and Tri County Health have also worked together in developing

screening processes for 911 callers.

"Our protocols also had to involve walk-up patients and identifying an isolation room within our fire stations - Suncrest and Loon Lake," Bucy said. "We also closed our stations early on to the public and

became involved in various conference calls, email threads, and meetings - until they were all turned in conference calls)."

Fire Disitrict 1 has also eliminated the internal footprint including larger group trainings - shifting to just on-duty staff training together.

Bucy added that due to situations possibly causing exposure such as a driver in an accident with the virus, the fire district is wearing protective gear and has post call procedures to handle these unknowns.

"The bottom line is we expect to be in harm's way, we just try to minimize it the best we can," Bucy said. "We can't stop doing our jobs - we just have to be more aware of how we do them."

 

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