Kerrville fire chief says his department ready to handle crisis

KERRVILLE, Texas — Kerrville Fire Department Chief Dannie Smith has seen a lot in his more than 30 years of firefighting and disasters across Texas and Arkansas, and he feels that the Hill Country is prepared for the latest disaster facing the nation — the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve done a tremendous amount of planning and preparation,” Smith said.

This is far from Smith’s first rodeo when it comes to crisis situations. He’s weathered Tropical Storms Allison and Alicia, Hurricane Ike, and numerous other emergency situations.

“I can’t count the number of floods in the Houston area while I was there,” Smith said.

The adage that being a first responder means you’ll see things that you wish you hadn’t has held true for him, he said.

“In my 30-plus years of fire service, I can’t think of much I haven’t seen at this point,” Smith said.

In the wake of warnings from Kerrville Mayor Bill Blackburn and Peterson Health President and CEO Cory Edmondson about an anticipated peak in local coronavirus cases in the next two to three weeks, the city’s fire chief says he has enough ambulances to handle a surge of medical emergencies.

“A surge is something that we’ve been watching and planning and preparing for,” Smith said in an April 16 interview with The Kerrville Daily Times.

Smith, whose department oversees the city’s office of emergency management, said KFD has two ambulances on duty 24 hours a day, in addition to two more deployed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. There are three additional ambulances that can be fielded when the need arises, Smith said. The city also can allocate resources from firefighting to EMS services, he added.

“We have a plan in place where if in fact we experience a surge, we can put up to seven 24-hour ambulances in place if we have to,” Smith said. “That’s quite a few units for an area the size of our community.”

Smith said his department has enough personal protective equipment for staff and doesn’t anticipate a shortage. His staff have a variety of masks, including the N95 model, surgical masks and cloth masks.

“I feel pretty good about where we’re at in terms of supply,” Smith said.

As to how the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic will affect funding for emergency services, Smith wasn’t sure.

“We haven’t had a problem getting resources for fire and EMS in my tenure here,” Smith said. “Nobody knows just how much this pandemic is going to affect the city coffers. I think we know it’s going to be a shortfall, but it’s too early to say how it’s going to impact us.”

The city must have a budget prepared for approval by the city council by Oct. 1, which is when the next fiscal year begins. Last week, city staff announced they’re preparing for a potential $2.2 million budget shortfall, mostly the result of an estimated 23% reduction in sales tax revenues due to businesses closed by order of the governor, and due to people staying home more to avoid the potential for infection.

As to one of the biggest questions people are talking about — whether to use face masks in public — Smith said they’re advised in situations where people can’t keep enough distance between one another.

“Both the president and the CDC said it’s not mandatory,” Smith said. “Our people have face masks and are practicing social distancing and using their masks when they need them. It’s encouraged that if you’re in an area where you can’t maintain social distancing, then a mask is certainly the right choice.”

The CDC, on its website, “recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.”

Kerrville’s office of emergency management, headed by division chief Jerremy Hughes, and the multi-jurisdiction city/county/hospital team dealing with the pandemic, have followed the progress of the coronavirus for months. Their meetings became more frequent once there was evidence the virus had arrived Texas.

But Kerrville’s relatively low number of confirmed coronavirus cases — four so far — is a testament to the vigilance of its residents, Smith said.

“It appears that our citizens have heeded the advice of the CDC and the request of the city to follow good hygiene, the social distancing and if you don’t have an essential function to be out doing, to try to stay home,” Smith said. “There’s always an opportunity to improve it, but I think that’s one reason.”

Kerrville’s situation also is due to the area’s relatively low population compared to the more hard-hit areas of the state, as well as the city’s advance planning and efforts to get information about the virus to the public, he said.

Echoing recent urgings by the mayor for people to “hang on a while longer,” Smith said he wants to remind people to continue practicing the social distancing advised by the governor and the CDC, and to maintain good hygiene.