HUMBOLDT — With spring coming to Humboldt, the Humboldt and District Fire Department firefighters will be getting back to fire practice in the coming weeks
Local firefighters need to get back to some sort of normalcy, said Mike Kwasnica, Humboldt’s fire chief.
“We've been basically sitting in limbo for the past almost two months. We have grass season coming up, we have some skills that we need to teach.”
Public health regulations have been taken into account with the department. Groups have been divided into three with every third locker being picked so the two-metre social distancing regulation is being upheld. Less members are going out into the trucks to allow social distancing as well, Kwasnica said.
“We're doing our best to keep our social distance even though we are exempt from that law. But we just want to show that we're willing to do that,” he said.
When the fire department is called to an emergency they cannot social distance, Kwasnica said, but during fire practice they are willing to take those public health measures into account.
Members will also be doing their best to eliminate the risk of COVID-19 spread with recommendations from the department that all its members will be taking into account.
Before coming to practice, all members will be trying to maintain social distance as much as possible, self-screening for COVID-19 symptoms whether they are at risk for the virus or not, as well as not coming to practice or fire calls if they have any of the symptoms associated with COVID-19, Kwasnica said.
Traveling outside of Canada and being in contact with anyone who tested positive with COVID-19 are grounds for 14-day self-isolation and these members will not be coming to practice or calls, Kwasnica said.
The Humboldt Fire Department has continued to answer calls during a global pandemic, he said, with call volumes being above the 10-year average for January and February, and the dropping below their 10-year average for March.
“Which is the way to want it, everybody’s being safe.”
