UPDATED | How Valley fire departments are coping with COVID-19 outbreaks

YOUNGSTOWN — When the pandemic first struck in March, frontline workers struggled to acquire enough equipment to protect themselves when interacting with COVID-19 patients.

Now, with rampant and unprecedented community spread, PPE stockpiles are filled, but rosters are dwindling as frontline workers contract the virus, leaving essential services understaffed.

Firefighters are especially vulnerable because they often live at fire stations while on duty. These types of congregate settings have been ground zero for coronavirus spread.

Fire station life has led to issues in other states, too. In Sanford, N.C., six firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19. There are four confirmed cases at a Colorado Springs, Colo., fire station.

As the state sets new coronavirus case records in November — reporting nearly 7,000 new confirmed cases Thursday — the Mahoning Valley has not been spared. In the past two weeks, the Ohio Department of Health reported 812 new cases in Mahoning County and 692 new cases in Trumbull.

And now those cases are beginning to take their toll on Valley fire departments.

Outbreaks on staff

The latest surge has hit Boardman hard. There are now 12 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Boardman Fire Department, and 13 additional people — including fire Chief Mark Pitzer — are quarantined. With about 35 on the roster, the team is down to about 10 working firefighters, Township Administrator Jason Loree said Wednesday.

Down the road in Canfield, Cardinal Joint Fire District Chief Don Hutchison has remained hospitalized for COVID-19, and deputy Chief Matt Rarick is also off duty in quarantine, Rarick confirmed Friday.

Rarick said he hasn't been exhibiting symptoms. Hutchison is also feeling better, but was "pretty sick" for a while.

Hutchison is expected to be released from the hospital soon. Rarick expects to be medically cleared to return to duty next week, he said.

The department has also had two part-timers and one full-timer test positive for COVID-19. Others have also been put on leave after being exposed to the virus. The department finished testing its entire staff this week, Rarick said.

Rarick said he suspects he contracted coronavirus from Hutchison during a meeting just days before Hutchison came down with symptoms. The department suspects the part-timers contracted the virus elsewhere, he said.

So far, infections and leave haven't impacted the fire district's response, he said.

"I've been able to work from home. Our captains have done a phenomenal job. They've been taking turns covering for fires. ... We're able to staff all the stations, obviously using overtime," Rarick said. "All our stations are all opened; they're all manned. We're here 24 hours a day."

Cardinal's station No. 3 is also ready to assist Boardman's fire department with its own engines, but they haven't had to yet, he said.

The Youngstown Fire Department has also dealt with cases among firefighters and has had to rely on overtime to fill those spots, said Youngstown Fire Department Chief Battalion Fred Beehler.

The department has long struggled to stay within its limited overtime budget, but Mayor Jamael Tito Brown has allowed the department to use overtime to keep all the firetrucks available.

"So far, Boardman hasn't closed down any fire stations because of it," Beehler said. "Hopefully, none of us get to the point where we have to do that."

But as of Wednesday, the Boardman Fire Department temporarily stopped responding to medical calls because of staffing issues. Lane LifeTrans, the private ambulance company that serves Boardman, will be largely on its own, while also still responsible for responding to medical calls in Austintown.

In a county strapped for emergency medical resources pre-pandemic, speedy medical treatment could be at risk, officials said.

"The pandemic's placing a burden on our EMS resources, which are already limited," said Western Reserve Joint Fire District Chief Chip Comstock. "That may have a direct impact on patient care."

Mutual aid assistance?

When asked how the Boardman Fire Department would run its calls during the outbreak, Loree cited a reliance on mutual aid.

For the past 20 years, Mahoning County fire departments — with the exception of Struthers — have operated under a mutual aid network, where departments rely on each other for help in responding to large emergencies, like a house fire.

But each department does it a little differently.

For example, Boardman has an automatic mutual aid agreement with Cardinal Joint Fire District. So, if the Boardman Fire Department gets a call about a house fire, Cardinal is automatically called. Western Reserve Joint Fire District in Poland, which runs a volunteer operation, calls neighboring departments for help based on the location of the call.

"We want to make sure we have enough people coming right from the beginning," said Comstock. "Other departments will say, 'Hey, you know, let's see what we have and then we'll call.' My position is that's too late. You're already five or 10 minutes behind."

As the chief of a volunteer fire department, Comstock expects his firefighters to have a slower start. He compensates by casting a wide net when calling for help.

Departments operating with a reduced staff, like Boardman and Canfield, will have to more heavily rely on mutual aid during an outbreak. Mahoning County chiefs talk regularly — they have contingency plans for COVID-19 leave, said Austintown's fire Chief Andy Frost.

"If they need help, they're going to call us. So far, they've been able to handle everything on their own," he said.

Beehler has also offered assistance to Boardman during its COVID-19 outbreak.

"Youngstown is willing to help any surrounding community that needs it and every surrounding community that's willing to help us," Beehler said.

When neighboring fire stations were short-staffed in the past, Austintown Fire Department sent its own personnel to temporarily fill those stations, said Trustee Jim Davis. That's not happening in the COVID era, but Austintown's manned trucks still stand ready to assist on-scene, he added.

Comstock is confident the mutual aid network can fill in the gaps when it comes to helping each other out during the pandemic.

"My least worry, to be honest with you, is house fires. They happen with less frequency, and it's typically easier to get help for those," said Comstock.

He's more concerned about ambulance service.

Medical calls

Emergency medical service calls, on the other hand, make up between 60 and 80 percent of a fire department's runs, said Comstock.

"I think our struggles are going to be in our day-to-day medical emergencies, making sure that we have enough ambulances and enough personnel to just keep up with the demand," he said.

The Mahoning Valley's largest communities — Youngstown, Boardman and Austintown — rely on private ambulance providers to run medical calls.

When private providers are overrun, local fire departments often step in to triage a situation. Without the assistance of local firefighters, there will be fewer professionals on call in a crisis.

So far, that has not been an issue, said Lane LifeTrans CEO Joe Lane. He said calls haven't bounced back to pre-pandemic rates yet.

"People just aren't out as much," he said. "There's not as much traffic. They're not shopping as much. All the different pieces and parts of our lives have been throttled back considerably."

So far this fall, Lane LifeTrans is averaging response times 5 minutes and 30 seconds for the 702 calls it ran in Austintown and the 662 calls it ran in Boardman. The company's call burden was eased when Lane stopped conducting ambulance transports for Mercy Health at the beginning of 2020.

"That's actually taken some of the stress off of us, as far as initial response times," said Lane.

The company is also streamlining its dispatch system to better predict the level of response each call requires.

So far, only two Lane LifeTrans employees have contracted the coronavirus. Of course, "that could change tomorrow," Lane said.

Regarding Boardman Fire Department's policy to temporarily stop responding to medical calls, Lane is confident his team can handle the community's medical calls while the department's staff is short.

"Certainly, if we have an issue, they're going to come and help us," he said.

But the situation could turn "a little bit dangerous," said Lane.

Cardinal Joint Fire District has for the last few years operated its own ambulances, one of which is now dedicated to calls that could carry risk of coronavirus exposure, Rarick said.

Dispatchers first try to determine whether the call poses such a risk to responders, he said.

"If anything raises a red flag then that ambulance is dispatched," he said, with responders fully kitted in N95 masks, gloves and gowns. "We don't cross contaminate."

Cardinal firefighters also wear masks "all the time" while in their stations, Rarick said.

Any outbreak among EMTs or at other departments can be very problematic, Comstock said.

"To the extent your EMS providers are taken out by the pandemic, you're going to have fewer resources available to respond," said Comstock. "You're going to have a greater risk to patients, because you don't have the providers to take care of them."

Averting future crises

With a crisis looming, departments are doing what they can to increase safety measures at their stations. Boardman recently installed a new air purification system. Youngstown Fire Department is in the process of sanitizing its stations.

"Early on, because of the lack of PPE, we were worried about patients giving it to us," Austintown's Frost said. "Our focus has changed from patient-based infection to basically firefighters giving it to firefighters.

"That's changed our protocols of how we do things at the station — distancing, limiting the number of people in the station."

To date, two Austintown firefighters have contracted coronavirus, one of whom is readying to return to work after being medically cleared. The department will then be back to full strength, Frost said.

"I worry about our guys," Austintown Trustee Jim Davis said. "I'm just thinking this could go south real quick."

The township has spread its responders out to separate stations, rather than keep them centralized at one station.

"God forbid we have a quarantine," Frost said. "During normal times, we may have as many as nine people at [the main] station."

The department's ambulance has been moved to its Wickliffe Circle station, Frost said. Lane's ambulances are stationed at the department's Wedgewood Plaza station and the Lane Austintown Chapel funeral home.

Part-timers are now stationed at the Austintown Senior Center, which trustees ordered closed while Mahoning County remains at "red" alert status under the Ohio Public Health Advisory map. The department's also fielding two-person crews instead of having three for every truck, Davis said.

"We've done that just because we can't run the risk of going down to a situation where we only have 10 firefighters, like Boardman," Davis said. "With Boardman being as thin as they are, we're their next line of defense.

"Our No. 1 priority is to protect Austintown, but Boardman would do it for us in a heartbeat," he continued. "People don't understand the brotherhood with law enforcement and fire — it's like 'next man up.'"

— Reporters Justin Dennis and Ellen Wagner contributed to this story.

This story was originally published November 13, 2020 at 4:39 PM with the headline "UPDATED | How Valley fire departments are coping with COVID-19 outbreaks."