Officials said they require all firefighters to wear medical personal protection equipment, or PPE while on medical calls to avoid catching the virus.
Are making sure their one step ahead just in case they run out of supplies as coroavirus spreads& kezi 9 news reporter evita garza shows us how they're preparing for a worst case scenario.
Douglas fire district chief robert bullock says his team has one main priority.?wee trying to protect our employees, the patients, our employee families?
But he knows there will be a shortage of personal protective equiptment, or p-p-e soon& now that the entire nation is sturggling to salvage medical supplies during the coronavirus outbreak.
That why theye planning ahead.?i don want to say wee taking shortcuts, but wee trying to find the least amount that we can use to still provide protection?
Bullock says theyl reduce the number of firefighters who go on calls.
That way they can reduce the amount of p-p-e they use every day.
When they run out, theyl use their own equiptment& as make-shift p-p-e.
Evita: if a firefighter shows up at a scene wearing a gas mask instead of a medical mask, bullock hopes people won be alarmed.
He says that the fire district's way of being resourceful to prevent running out of protective gear?
Roseburg fire chief gary garrisi says using their own equiptment is a great idea&?the longer this goes on, the more the supply is going to run out.
The ability to resupply the more and more difficult it becomes?
Bullock says douglas fire district is stocked right now with personal protection equipment... and, he says it will be a while until theyre out.?right now, wee wearing a simple face mask and goggles, we haven made it to the extreme stuff yet?
But even though bullock feels like there nothing to worry about right now&.?wee got to be there, wee on the front lines.
Wee going to do the best with what we have?
He encourages everyone to donate medical supplies to their local first responders.
Reporting in roseburg, evita garza kezi
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