Beacon Hose Issues Update on COVID-19 Protocols

As the COVID-19 pandemic gets a bit more serious entering the holiday season, we at Beacon Hose wanted to pass along a few updates and reassurances about what’s going on here and what our community can expect.

CALLING 911: If you experience an emergency and need to call 911, dispatchers will ask you extra questions to determine whether there is a possibility of COVID-19 exposure to responding crews. Please be honest in answering questions to protect our crews.

EMS RESPONSES: For any calls that dispatchers determine to have a possible COVID-19 exposure (or a cardiac arrest call), our responding crews will don all protective equipment, including N95 masks, gowns, eye protection, and gloves. For other calls, responders will have KN95 masks and gloves. Our crews will ask all patients and bystanders at the scene to wear masks (we can provide them) or practice social distancing.

FIRE RESPONSES: Firefighters will now wear N95 calls on all responses unless needing to use SCBA. Only essential crew members will enter homes. Again, our crews will ask all bystanders at the scene to wear masks or practice social distancing.

PPE AND DECON: We are very well stocked with personal protective equipment and disinfecting supplies for the foreseeable future. All of our emergency equipment and vehicles are disinfected after each use.

OUR CREWS: Beacon Hose has a sizable crew of fire and EMS responders that remain available 24/7. In the event that any responders are deemed to have been at risk of COVID-19 exposure, they must quarantine and are only allowed to resume responding once satisfying the CDC’s guidelines for essential healthcare workers. We continue to encourage our members to err on the side of caution and to seek testing whenever necessary. Our members are quick to cover for each other’s shifts if a quarantine issue arises.

MUTUAL AID: In the unlikely event that our department, or those in any of our surrounding communities, experiences a substantial outbreak of COVID-19 that threatens the ability of crews to respond, we have established a mutual-aid agreement with our surrounding agencies to ensure continuous coverage in each of our communities. We hope that our current protocols will minimize the chances that this will need to be enacted.

FIREHOUSE CLOSURE: Beacon Hose is currently closed to the public and closed to our members for nonessential business. Call the firehouse at 203-729-1470 between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays if you have questions.

CHRISTMAS TREE SALE: We will still hold our annual Christmas tree sale beginning Black Friday and continuing each weekend leading up to Christmas (while supplies last). All tree shoppers MUST wear face masks and practice social distancing. We will continue our tradition of delivering trees to homes in town, but in the interest of safety, we will not be able to set up trees inside anyone’s home this year. More information is available here.

We implore our neighbors and all those here in Beacon Falls to continue to do the right thing by wearing face masks, practicing social distancing, and limiting gatherings whenever possible. We hope that there are only a few more months of these necessary regulations, but in the meantime, please help keep us and your neighbors safe.

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