‘A year everybody will remember’: City officials talk COVID-19′s impact on DeKalb Fire Department

DeKALB – More than a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, the chief of the DeKalb Fire Department and other city officials outlined for the City Council this week how the pandemic affected operations during their annual report presentation.

DeKalb City Manager Bill Nicklas said during the Monday meeting the report covers Jan. 1, 2020 through Dec. 31, 2020.

“Our fire department and fire departments across the country, across the world had to deal with new challenges, not to mention medical orders and procedures as a result of guidance we were getting from the medical community – public health, hospitals and so forth,” Nicklas said. “We had to protect our personnel so they could protect the people they serve.”

Nicklas said the City also had to go in search of personal protective equipment, or PPE, earlier during the pandemic. He said a lot of local emergency planning went into pandemic response for high risk facilities, including nursing homes, and the City collaborated in that planning.

Nicklas said the department responded to 6,325 requests for emergency services – a decrease of 343 calls compared to 2019, which saw “a historic number of calls for EMS.” He said the number of calls in 2020 started in pace with 2019 but fire officials saw a significant decrease in requests for service during the first few months of the pandemic.

“And why? Well, more people were staying home,” Nicklas said. “They weren’t trusting hospitals yet and they weren’t trusting medical personnel. Then, as the trust level came up and there was an easing of constraints on businesses and so forth, the calls for service rose again and there were ups and downs through the year and we ended the year with about the same number of EMS calls, which is always a larger category of calls overall.”

DeKalb Fire Chief Jeff McMaster said on Monday overall calls were down by 5% in 2020 than in 2019. He said EMS calls were down by 2% and fire related calls increased by 55%. McMaster said false alarm calls decreased by 31%.

McMaster said the fire department’s call volume in 2021 is already outpacing the call volume in 2019, which was a record year for the department.

“And we fully anticipate to surpass that mark this year,” McMaster said.

McMaster said he also wanted to use the presentation platform on Monday to express his appreciation for city officials, area service organizations and local businesses providing support for first responders during an unforgettable year like 2020. He said that included meals, face coverings, words of encouragement and other necessary supplies and equipment.

“Twenty-twenty was a year that everybody will remember and, at times, want to forget,” McMaster said. “What was remarkable about 2020 was how our community rallied around each other from every angle.”

McMaster said in December ambulance calls have been rising sharply for the department, generally speaking. He said those calls have increased by almost 25% each year in the past three years – meaning the department’s ambulances are out on the road a lot more and, if they’re out on an ambulance call or they’re at a hospital and a fire call comes in, they’re not responding out of the station.

McMaster also said in December one of the biggest challenges for the fire department in the previous year was the expense of personal protective equipment, or PPE, and availability of that equipment. He said the department maintains ample stock, but an N95 mask that previously cost $25 for a pack of 20 now costs $7 per mask. That has deep impacts on the budget – with doubled spending for EMS staff – but hasn’t affected hiring, since those are two separate pots of money, McMaster had said.

Nicklas said in March the City’s EMS crews have wracked up about $681,000 over budget in overtime responding to increased called directly related to the pandemic from March 2020 through February 2021. He previously said the City plans for overtime every fiscal year for first responders – including fire, police and public works – and those funds generally come from the City’s general reserves. Though the amount of overtime pay, meaning time and a half, that is budgeted changes from year to year, Nicklas had said, the City initially budgeted about $450,000 in fire overtime for 2020.

Nicklas previously said overtime is paid out of the City’s general fund reserves and part of the CARES Act funding the City received – which was $1.8 million total – helped cover the more than $1 million worth of overtime this time around.

In closing, McMaster said during the fire annual report presentation on Monday he also wanted to thank the community for its support during the pandemic.

“These challenges could not have been met without the help of other orgs, the council, city staff and, most importantly, our community,” McMaster said. “This was a true display of Proudly DeKalb.”