After a month into Gov. Mike DeWine’s stay-at-home order, the Concord Township Fire Department has been operating while following new protocols and procedures in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Receiving daily communications from Lake County General Health District, the Ohio Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the department also remains busy communicating with the Lake County Emergency Management Agency, in addition to surrounding fire departments and area hospitals.
“We are implementing several operational procedures to protect to the best of our ability our community, our firefighters and their families as we work through this pandemic, and provide the highest level of public safety during this large-scale event,” said Chief Matt Sabo.
According to the township, the department, in the midst of designing new facilities, has faced many challenges due to the new precautionary protocols. For instance, social distancing within the fire station has been challenging due to space limitations of the facility.
Sabo noted that while some space modifications have been developed to improve social distancing in the firehouses, firefighters are still within the six foot distancing requirement.
“While we have ramped up disinfecting, there is no sufficient space for social distancing within the station,” he said. “If one person in our department were to become infected, it could cause a ripple effect that could cripple our entire fire department.”
Echoing Sabo, Trustee Morgan McIntosh added that overall department operations amid the COVID-19 emergency have been a learning experience regarding the need of new facilities.
“This (situation) has allowed us to review designs and make recommendations for improvements to ensure continuity of care within our emergency services,” McIntosh said. “The most important change to the design is the decontamination area. Nearly half of the increase in footprint, compared to existing facilities, in the initial proposal for the proposed facilities addresses the lack of these critical decontamination spaces.”
The intent of a decontamination zone is to keep contaminants, not limited to carcinogens, contained to specific areas, including removal of contaminants from a firefighter’s body, and keeping contaminants from reaching the living quarters of the station or even the firefighters’ homes.
Concord officials said they have also consulted with architects for the new project in designating control zone areas with a focus on reducing exposure to hazardous materials.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, definitions for control zones include:
* Cold zone — the control zone of an incident that contains the command post and such other support functions as are deemed necessary to control the incident
* Warm zone — the control zone outside the hot zone where personnel and equipment decontamination and hot zone support takes place
* Hot zone — the control zone immediately surrounding a hazardous area, which extends far enough to prevent adverse effects to personnel outside the zone
Currently, Concord has only one zone – a “hot zone” – with no decontamination, storage or cleaning area for personal protective equipment.
Modern departments are designed to have three zones to allow for safe decontamination and control of hazardous materials which allow for removal from personnel after any exposure, according to the township.
In addition, Concord officials said the pandemic has presented the need for examining the station’s mechanical systems, which also play a critical role in preventing the spread of airborne hazards, adding systems in the current stations do not provide for adequate air circulation.
During the pandemic, the township has limited fire inspections and restricted visitors to the firehouses, while postponing all community safety and education events.
The department confirmed all firefighters are checked and monitored daily for COVID-19 symptoms, while ensuring all equipment and vehicles are disinfected after each run to safeguard the next patient.
“It is important for the community to know that while every effort is made to transport patients to the hospital or system of their choice, this may not be possible if we see a significant surge in emergency department use,” Sabo said.
“Despite all of these changes, our priority remains keeping our firefighters safe and healthy in an effort to continue to provide essential services to our community.”