Fire departments across the region have implemented new procedures to ensure the safety of first responders and a partnership elevated the options for some departments. "We've got to be prepared to be able to quarantine or isolate any of our people in case they run into a potential exposure." South Beloit Fire Chief Michael Davenport said. South Beloit, and Beloit Fire Departments are implementing new policies to keep first responders safe, that's why they reached out to Finnegans RV. President Mark Finnegan was happy to help, by offering temporary homes to the departments. "It's kind of a no brainer on our part just to help out in a small way with our first responders," Finnegan said. Motor homes could turn into temporary homes for some first responders, both departments have one on site in case a firefighter needs to use it.  

It's a problem happening all over the country: First responders running out of desperately needed personal protective gear. Now, a number of suburban police and fire departments have found a hi-tech shortcut to get their hands on lifesaving equipment. Captain John Kucharski of the Midlothian Fire Department says his firefighter-paramedics were in desperate need of N-95 masks to protect themselves when going into homes of potential COVID-19 patients "We do have masks now," he said. "What are we going to do if we run out?" Then Kocharski saw a story on Facebook about first responders in Billings, Montana making their own surgical masks using a 3-D printer. They're called Montana Masks. However, where do you get a 3-D printer as soon as possible?  

When Brian Tribley of Pink Heals Sauk Valley Chapter received a call about a 16-year-old Naplate boy with leukemia, he said it cut his heart. Due to the governor's stay-at-home order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Pink Heals has been shut down temporarily. Pink Heals, identified by its pink ambulance and fire trucks, is a nonprofit organization that visits people in need, including those who are in hospice care. The Sauk Valley chapter based in Rock Falls stops across North Central Illinois, Iowa and even into Minnesota. Dozens of people fighting illnesses have signed their pink ambulance, including many from La Salle County communities. "I had to make a decision: do we actually want to do a visit?" Tribley said, noting the various measures put into place to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Tribley knew his answer.  

At least 5,000 firefighters across the U.S. are under quarantine because of the coronavirus, an official with the International Association of Fire Fighters union told Hill.TV on Monday. Jim Brinkley, the union's assistant to general president of technical assistance, said on Hill.TV's "Rising" that the number is likely higher due to "severe underreporting." Brinkley said only 500 of the 3,400 fire departments in the union are reporting coronavirus numbers to the union. Among those 500 departments, 5,000 firefighters are in quarantine, 3,000 are in isolation and 700 have tested positive for the coronavirus, Brinkley said. "This is not something that's just isolated to one area. I think the news has been really focused on what's happening in New York and New Jersey and that's tragic ... but we're nearly 90 days into this," he said.  

The International Association of Fire Fighters has released a tracking tool that shows which fire departments have reported exposure to COVID-19 or have had employees test positive with the virus. Firefighters respond to patients who could be infected with coronavirus every day. "The same way we do going into a fire while people are running out of it, we are running into people's homes who may have contracted coronavirus," said Tom Malone, president of the Memphis Fire Fighters Association. Malone reports 12 Memphis firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19 so far. Nearly 200 others have had to be quarantined or isolated after being exposed to family, friends or other firefighters who had the virus. Malone said no firefighters tested positive after patient contact. According to Malone, the Department is still fully staffed.  

An innovative way of spray sanitizing is being put to good use by local emergency departments and Lawrence County Housing Authority apartment units during the coronavirus epidemic. They have the Shenango Area Fire District and the New Castle Fire Department to thank for the extra layers of protection, using the devices they built that are being used to disinfect surroundings. The idea came to assistant Shenango chief Brandon Rishel, who saw on the television news that another fire department in the Pittsburgh area had retrofitted paint sprayers into disinfectant sprayers. "Another fire department was using one, and I copied their idea," Rishel said. The two departments bought some paint sprayers, got the air chucks out of their used and expired department air packs and assembled them. To date, they have made about 20 of the sprayers. Rishel made at least eight of them.  

City governments are facing a difficult reality right now as the coronavirus pandemic has led to a revenue shortfall. In Tukwila, wage cuts are being considered. According to Rachel Bianchi, Tukwila's Deputy City Administrator, no decisions about wage reductions have been made yet. However, the firefighters union said they have already seen reduced staffing levels and they call it unacceptable. Lois Keller knows about the stresses that have been piling up because her husband, Levi, is a Tukwila firefighter. "They've been doing this job for years with a certain amount of staffing and now they got to figure out how to do their job in a pandemic with more asked of them, with less people," said Keller. "My husband still goes to work so we're still on that same schedule. I'm still at home with the kids," she added. What is different is spelled out in a five-page memo.  

A coalition of unions representing healthcare workers and first responders is calling on the D.C. government to take a more aggressive approach on coronavirus testing. The organizations fear doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other healthcare workers will be unable to treat patients if too many of them get sick. The organizations, which include the D.C. Nurses Association (DCNA), D.C. Firefighters Association, D.C. Police Union and more, want the city to change two main areas in its testing guidelines. First, representatives want healthcare professionals who encounter patients who test positive for COVID-19 tested right away regardless of if any symptoms are showing. Next, the unions are calling for a 14-day period of paid precautionary leave or quarantine for all healthcare professionals who have been exposed to the coronavirus.