In the early stages of lockdown, the NFCC, Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and the national employer confirmed that additional activities to assist other key services during the pandemic had been agreed for FRS staff, including mask face fitting, delivering personal protective equipment (PPE), administering tests, and driving as well as training on driving ambulances.
In April, a further agreement saw 300 London Fire Brigade (LFB) firefighters drive ambulances and assist paramedics in London’s pandemic response, after news that firefighters would aim to protect the vulnerable in society by avoiding hospitals and care homes, as part of an agreed ‘critical risk-based service’.
Prior to this, FRS staff had been confirmed to be undertaking COVID-19 antigen testing, driving non blue light ambulance transport and non COVID patients, and training others to drive ambulances for the same services. Other activities ‘requested by partner organisations’ were ‘still under discussion’. Also in April, it was revealed that over 4,000 FRS staff had volunteered to assist the other key services, while a further 10,000 staff were ‘on standby to assist as and when required’.
In May, the three bodies agreed firefighters could build protective face shields for frontline NHS staff and care staff, and transfer patients from and to Nightingale hospitals, alongside packaging and repackaging food supplies. That month, the NFCC confirmed FRSs would ‘work with local partners to support care homes’ and stop the spread of COVID-19, and then confirmed that the FRS agreements have been ‘extended’ following ‘extensive negotiations’ that lasted ‘a number of days’.
FRSs ‘remain at the heart of the response’, and continue to undertake the agreed activities ‘until at least’ 26 July, with the potential to ‘extend further’ to 26 August ‘if joint work on reviewing assessments is agreed and concluded’. Most recently last month, it pointed out that with the COVID-19 pandemic potentially continuing ‘for the next few months, even years’, there will be changes for FRSs.
It has now discussed the experiences of staff undertaking the additional activities during lockdown, specifically Ian Thurtle from Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS), and Nichola Rodgers from South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. Mr Thurtle volunteered to drive ambulances, and shared recollections from his shifts, including on his first with Southwest Ambulance Service after CFRS asked for volunteers.
He was asked if he was ‘prepared to transport bodies’, and was paired up with a medic on ‘routine tasks, like transporting patients’, but ‘it doesn’t always work like that’, and there was ‘a degree of trepidation’, though he ‘wanted to help in any way I could’, and ‘nobody has done anything like this before’. His second shift saw a category one call, where a patient had suffered a heart attack, and he supported the patient’s partner, who suspected that her partner had COVID-19.
After telling his colleagues, they sadly were unable to resuscitate, with a ‘diffusing’ process undertaken to ‘help us come to terms with what happened’ and post shift he washed all clothes and showered, ensuring he only returned to his family ‘once I’m sure I’m clean’. He was still able to ‘turn out’ for CFRS, noting that PPE was worn on every job ‘because we don’t know what we are going to walk into’.
Many calls were for old people who’d fallen at home, though Mr Thurtle said they didn’t know ‘whether that is COVID-related’, with one person stuck in a bathroom necessitating removal of a toilet and cistern. He also discussed patient transport to hospital and infection controls at emergency departments, which ‘are very strict’ and ‘there are red lines you are not allowed to cross’.
He also discussed PPE shortages, noting that ‘thankfully we have enough’, and detailing the need to remove it in ‘a particular fashion, putting each piece in a specified clinical waste bin’ before sanitising hands and ‘meticulously’ cleaning the ambulance’s interior. While ‘everyone is strained’, they ‘haven’t lost their sense of humour’, with Mr Thurtle’s FRS uniform prompting medical staff to ‘jokingly ask if I’m lost’.
Another shift saw him attend a lady suffering chest pains who had ‘carried on stoically for several hours before calling 999’, with many people ‘reluctant to go to hospital because they think they will catch COVID-19 there’. Despite her being able to leave her own home, she had suffered a ‘pretty massive heart attack’, with Mr Thurtle quickly getting her to hospital in what he called a ‘big win’, thanks to the ‘tie-up’ between FRSs and the ambulance services and him driving the ambulance.
A ‘quiet’ night shift saw another elderly person suffering a fall, who suffered from poor hearing and ‘tended to understand what people said by reading their lips, but she couldn’t see ours’ due to the PPE, which ‘puts a huge barrier between us and the people we are trying to help’. While that was ‘the point’, it ‘makes the job quite impersonal and so much harder’.
He concluded by noting he had ‘several weeks’ of shifts left, and expected ‘things will get busier as lockdown eases’, with the extra ambulances part of the preparation for this. There were fewer FRS emergencies during lockdown, due to quieter roads and fewer accidents and house fires, and Mr Thurtle said that ‘whatever happens, we will continue doing what we always do. We will try to help people’.
Ms Rodgers meanwhile begins firefighter training this summer, but was delivering food parcels and prescriptions to those unable to leave their homes as part of SYFRS’ community safety team. She stated: ‘We have been delivering several hundred food parcels every week, as well as fire alarms and blankets. I try to visit the same people each week, to build a bit of a rapport.
‘One elderly gent said I was the first person he had seen in ages. When I got back to the vehicle, I took my mask down and gave him a smile and a wave. He was so pleased to see a friendly face. We have also been calling people to make sure they have everything they need. They are isolated and really appreciate someone taking the time to sit and have a chat with them. I feel sad for them, because I live alone, so I can imagine how lonely they must get.
‘We’ve had a fantastic response, people have stood in their doorways clapping for us. It hits home how much it means to them. I just feel lucky to be in a position to help.’