Richard Congdon is a Herkimer County Sheriff's Deputy and a volunteer firefighter for the Salisbury Fire Department. He came up with the idea to re-purpose self-contained breathing apparatuses, or SCBAs, to make masks that can protect against the coronavirus. Congdon says firefighters change their SCBAs every year, so he thought it was a good idea to re-use them to help front line workers.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WKTV NBC/CBS/CW+ 2 Utica

The $2.2 trillion CARES Act is doing far too little to help the men and women of the fire and EMS service fighting on the front lines during this global pandemic. IAFC President Chief Gary Ludwig continues to receive myriad reports of little or no PPE in fire departments because of depleted inventories and decimated budgets because of overtime to cover those out sick and quarantined.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: IAFC.org

Social distancing numbers compiled at the University of Maryland indicate D.C. residents are doing better at it than almost any state in the country, and Maryland is not far behind. The numbers were compiled by the Maryland Transportation Institute, which is based at the university. Using privacy-protected data from cell phones along with information from the government and healthcare industry, researchers are giving a “social distancing index” score to every state and county in the U.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: WJLA-TV ABC 7 Washington, D.C.

Phoenix Fire Chief Kara Kalkbrenner says emergency protective gear such as gowns and N95 masks ordered by the Phoenix Fire Department are getting “hijacked” before they ever arrive in Arizona. Kalkbrenner’s comments came Tuesday after 12 News asked her about a photo posted on Facebook showing two Phoenix firefighters responding to a recent emergency wearing rain ponchos instead of protective gowns.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: KPNX-TV ABC 12 Phoenix

Using automation developed by a staff member, the Garland, Texas, Fire Department can better inventory its thousands of assets and comply with regulations. “We track everything from large equipment like our apparatus -- our fire trucks, our engines, our ambulances, our staff vehicles -- all the way down to the Band-Aids,” said Debbie Watson, senior business process analyst and citizen developer at the department.
- PUB DATE: 4/16/2020 12:00:00 AM - SOURCE: GCN