New challenge 'part of the job'

CLOVIS - On a breezy mild Monday, members of the Clovis Fire Department were shooting baskets behind the station house, waiting for a call to go rescue citizens in distress.

Seemed like a normal day, with department members in calm-before-the-storm mode. But everyone knows these are anything but normal times, and though the atmosphere at Clovis FD was calm Monday, the storm has long since been upon us.

COVID-19 has altered life for everyone, everywhere. It has changed business hours and business practices. It has made isolation a good thing. It has even slammed school doors shut for safety reasons.

Firehouses, though, have to keep their doors open all the time. Day, night, weekday, weekend. Even pandemic.

So, the first responders are still on duty during these strange and dangerous times. That doesn't mean things are completely normal for them either.

"We're obviously wearing our N95s on every call," said Lt. Logan Hackbarth, a 6 1/2-year Clovis FD veteran.

Each firefighter also has protective eyewear, a gown and a self-contained breathing apparatus, which helps protect him or her from blown particles and eye particles. Firefighters are already used to being prepared; now they're even more prepared.

Kyle Schwartz and Brayden Castillon are fairly new to the department. Schwartz has only been with Clovis FD a year and a half, Castillon just three months. When they joined up, they never thought they would have to be taking precautionary steps against a rampant virus.

"Not this in particular," Schwartz said, "but natural disasters, epidemics, pandemics, are part of the job."

Still, this specific pandemic is a new challenge for everyone. Even during Monday's casual basketball shoot-around there was a sign of the very recent times, as Castillon had a mask hanging from a pair of scissors he was carrying in a pocket on his right pant leg.

The masks are obviously important, and since Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control, highly recommended. But the self-contained breathing apparatus, SCBA as Hackbarth referred to it, is also a crucial part of the firefighters' protection. When assembled, most would probably say it looks like a gas mask that police officers might wear to protect themselves from tear gas when breaking up riots. The firefighters' SCBA starts off looking like a face protector, then has two filters that snap on, and then perhaps the most important part, a t-block that clicks into the mask.

"They say it's supposed to give you 100 percent air filtration," Hackbarth said.

And pure air filtration seems crucial for a firefighter in these or any times.

With all that the Clovis FD has to do, with all the department's responsibilities, the firefighters know they are not the world's only first-responders facing new challenges and taking extra precautions. Every department, throughout the country and the globe, is having to deal with the coronavirus.

"With how big this is," Hackbarth said, "(fire departments) are learning from each other. They're seeing what the best practices are. Some departments are progressive, and other departments are learning from the progressive departments.

"The fire departments across the country I've seen are very safe when it comes to COVID-19."