Nine Attleboro firefighters and two emergency dispatchers have contracted coronavirus, including the department’s deputy chief, who is hospitalized because of the illness.
“We’ve gone through six months with something like this not happening,” Mayor Paul Heroux told WBZ-TV. “But it was almost inevitable that it was going to happen.”
A firefighter at the department’s Union Street headquarters became ill last Thursday, alerted the chief, and ultimately tested positive, the news station reports. Further testing in the department confirmed another eight cases, all but one of them among members who shared the same equipment, kitchen, and sleeping quarters as the first firefighter to test positive.
“All the evidence seems to point that it was spread while they were at the firehouse,” Heroux said.
Attleboro Mayor Paul Heroux says that 11 people with Attleboro Fire Department have tested positive with COVID-19. 2 dispatchers and 9 firefighters, including the deputy fire chief who is in serious condition at Rhode Island Hospital. @wpri12 pic.twitter.com/OObXLKeJ7N
— Rob Nesbitt (@RobNesbittNews) September 30, 2020
But two additional cases were recorded among dispatchers who work out of the department’s south Attleboro station. Heroux said it’s unclear how the virus penetrated the department’s rank and file.
“The people they responded to [on service calls] were contacted as part of the contact tracing,” he also told the news outlet. “None of those have come up positive.”
Most of the those who have the virus are experiencing minor symptoms, although the deputy chief is in serious condition, according to WBZ-TV.
Attleboro on Wednesday became one of the communities in the “red zone” — the state’s high-risk category as determined by the Department of Public Health.
In total, 10 percent of the fire department has the virus, and the city is still testing the rest of its 90 firefighters.
Heroux said staffing shortages aren’t a problem as healthy firefighters are covering all shifts and working overtime, if needed.
The fire station and equipment have been disinfected and officials are procuring air purifiers and UV lights, he said.
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