SEATTLE (AP) — Firefighters and first responders in Washington state are seeking donations of protective gear, that’s not necessarily breaking news.
But some are also asking the public to be honest about their symptoms when they call for help so that responders can properly prepare.
It’s being reported in many districts that people are sometimes lying about their condition and failing to report a fever or cough when they call 911, fearing the medics won’t come.
But Fire District 2 Chief Jake Patterson, phoning in to the Todd Ortloff Show Tuesday, wants to put those fears to rest.
“Yeah, I believe that there’s a combination of factors. Part of it is, there’s a stress level and so people are nervous that if they tell us, you know, they’ve got a fever and stuff, it’s going to modify the way we respond. And in fact, it does. We are still going to come. I mean, that’s still, you called 9-1-1, so we’re still going to come, but our modification is, we’re going to take those extra precautions as responders. And so yeah, we’re getting reports that people are sometimes not being, not divulging all the information or not really providing a clear picture to the 911 dispatcher.”
The issues are magnified in a smaller community like ours because of the smaller number of responders per team. If one gets sick, it could wipe out the whole station for weeks. Patterson also points out that, during this pandemic, preserving their limited resources is crucial.
“Obviously being more of a rural community, we have a limited amount of responders and stuff. And so basically, you know, it’s been well documented in the news that there’s a shortage of PPE and so, what we’re finding is, to try to make that extend as far as possible, we wanted to kind of put a tiered response. ‘Okay, we’re going to wear this, this and this, unless it’s a known exposure or there’s a risk’, but if we’re not getting that proper information, we have to default to the highest level because we don’t know, which has the potential to burn through our PPE faster.”
Patterson says that if you’re not feeling ill when you call 911, but someone else in the house is, be sure and mention that, too.
(Distirict 2 photo of donated face masks.)