Rising up to the challenge

The Huron Fire Department currently has 37 members comprised of 15 full-time and 22 part-time members. We provide fire, EMS and rescue services to both the city and Huron Township, operating out of two stations. In 2020, we responded to 1,810 calls for service, the majority being EMS-related. Through our continuing education program, we had learned of COVID-19 and the known effects on people in late 2019 and early 2020. At the time, the virus was only being reported overseas, and we were informed that the chances of it spreading to the United States were low. Discussions within the firehouse continued well into March as the reality of the pandemic hitting home began to set in. While we had been informed of the virus and how to treat patients, we were not prepared for taking care of our personnel, equipment, and stations. Once the lockdown began, we closed our stations to the public, suspended routine fire inspections as well as CPR/first aid training for the public. We worked with several other county agencies to secure the proper PPE, cleaning equipment and solutions needed to keep our personnel safe. Through several virtual training sessions and modifications to our protocols, we adopted ways to properly treat COVID-19 patients while keeping our personnel safe. These changes, while necessary, have significantly increased the amount of time we spend on each run. The PPE that each member wears takes additional time to put on prior to leaving in addition to the rigorous cleaning procedure we perform after each run. Our hope is that this process will keep our patients and personnel safe. As we move forward with 2021, our commitment to provide outstanding service continues through our training and education. We have found different ways to conduct hands-on training for our members and have moved to a virtual education platform. Both our stations are back open to the public, masks required, and we have begun performing fire inspections again. Our CPR/first aid training for the public is still suspended since the course curriculum requires the participant to be maskless. We are hopeful to return this program later this year, and we look forward to being a part of so many community events that have been canceled in the past year.