Volunteer fire fighters duties change due to COVID-19

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The Lowndes County volunteer fire department is changing the way it responds to emergencies.

Because of COVID-19 they’ll now only allow a limited number of volunteers on the scene of any emergency.

The plan also limits the firefighter’s response to only rescue type situations instead of going to every medical call in the county.

Lowndes County fire coordinator Neal Austin says it’s a measure designed to cut down possible exposure to the virus.

“We do not want to have 15 or 16 volunteers that have normal everyday job exposed and possibly contaminate their workplace, that kind of thing,” said Austin.  “10 people/responders and for a normal chest pain call we don’t want that many people going into somebody’s house that may have a covid issue. So we would limit that down to one or two to assist the ambulance service doing what they do.”

Austin says with 145 volunteers spread through the five districts of Lowndes County.. The plan creates more manpower to dispatch to multiple emergencies 24/7.