Fire department confirms 7 cases, more tests pending
CHICO » The Chico Fire Department confirmed a seventh positive COVID-19 case within its staff on Friday, Fire Chief Steve Standridge said in an interview with this newspaper.
Hours earlier, six positive cases were made public in several local media reports and later confirmed by Chico City Manager Mark Orme.
Standridge said there are a total of 21 firefighters determined to be close contacts to fellow staffers who tested positive. All of those close contacts are either awaiting test results, or will soon be getting tested if they haven’t already. In the meantime, Standridge said “they are effectively quarantined, but available to work.”
“Public Health has given us the latitude that if they are asymptomatic, but have been exposed … we require them to get tested, but in the absence of a positive test, they can come back and we essentially quarantine them at the station,” Standridge said. “So they’re still available as part of our response staffing level, to maintain our staffing level and it allows us that flexibility. Otherwise, we would be critically low if we had to take home 21 of the potential exposures off duty. We just couldn’t run a department that way.”
The now seven confirmed positive cases remain in isolation. Based on the exposure date, as determined by Butte County Public Health, Standridge said five of them will clear the 14- day quarantine period and return to work on Nov. 24, and another on Nov. 25.
Asked how the virus was transmitted among staff, Standridge said the outbreak started with one firefighter, who may have contracted the virus from a family member, though the Chico Fire Department and Butte County Public Health haven’t definitively confirmed that, he said. They have not identified an “obvious” exposure while the individual was out in the field responding to an emergency call, Standridge said.
That firefighter was asymptomatic and returned to work his normal shift in addition to several more overtime shifts. He was part of a crew that had recently moved with an engine from Fire Station 3 located at the Chico Municipal Airport, back to Fire Station 2 at 182 East Fifth Ave. near The Esplanade. They moved back to the station in the more central location in the city as Butte County moved to the state’s “orange” Tier 3, as case numbers stayed relatively flat in October.
“We call it a ‘dual house.’ There were two engines responding, so they’ll flip-flop calls. Well, it’s a small station, and when the outbreak came … that crew got hit very hard.
“Unfortunately, the nature of firefighting is, we live in our stations 24/7, and so you’re in close contact,” Standridge said. “We have several stations that are very small spaces. It’s like living in your home. But we take extra precautions.”
All firefighters are required to wear masks, unless they are in their own rooms, or during instances when fire captains are working in their offices. Standridge also said they consult with city, county and state case trends each week and make health and personnel decisions based on that. The current measures in place were initiated on Nov. 13, which Standridge noted was days before Butte County moved back to the “purple” Tier 1 under a widespread order that Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Monday, Nov. 16.
The outbreak comes at a time when the department is already facing a staffing shortage. Three people retired within the last month and a half, and another four personnel are on long-term leaves of absence due to injury.
A certain level of concern remains within the department if there are enough firefighters to manage a fire, extrication or other larger-scale emergency incidents.
“We are down seven already, and our firefighters work a tremendous amount of hours to maintain our staffing,” Standridge said. “We certainly believe that is our charge and our responsibility to our citizens. They’re working extraordinary hours to maintain that level of readiness.”
As a result of the shortage, now exacerbated by the current outbreak, the remaining staff have had to work overtime in order to maintain adequate staffing levels. Standridge said an average schedule calls for working 2,912 hours per year, significantly higher than a standard 40-hour work week that equates to 2,080 hours per year.
“I really do want to make a public proclamation of how amazing and how proud I am of this group of firefighters,” Standridge said. “In essence, we have an entire shift that’s out, for all intents and purposes, or close to an entire shift. That means the other two platoons are covering those shifts, which means they’re working multiple shifts, above and beyond what they would normally work.”