The fire chiefs in Athol, Barre, Erving, Gardner, New Salem, Orange, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Templeton, and Wendell have entered into an agreement that allows them to exchange personnel in the event of staffing shortfalls during the COVID-19 state of emergency, according to a press release submitted by Athol Fire Chief Joseph Guarnera.
First Responders working on the front lines of the COVID-19 response are regularly exposed to contagious patients. While they are typically well protected, exposures can and do occur.
Guidance from the Center of Disease Control (CDC) requires that persons suspected of possibly contracting COVID-19 be quarantined for 14 days, the maximum incubation period for COVID-19. If the exposed individual does not develop symptoms, they can return to work after 14 days. This loss of time can place extreme stress on Fire Departments if many firefighters are in quarantine simultaneously. If too many firefighters are absent due to quarantine, the delivery of emergency services in the community can quickly begin to suffer.
This unprecedented agreement among area fire departments allows firefighters to work across municipal boarders and fill shortages that would severely impact individual communities. Provisions of this agreement would only be activated if an individual community was unable to meet its operational requirements with their own personnel. This agreement may be revisited in the case of similar events in the future.