GRANTS PASS, Ore. — Staying 6 feet apart and minimizing close contact is not proving easy for local firefighters as they enter the busiest season of the year.
Rural Metro’s Division Chief Austin Prince says the agency brought on 14 new firefighters before the governor’s restrictions went into effect.
He says the first year of training is always the most critical with a lot of contact and interaction time and they’ve had to make adjustments.
“We had to cancel a live training event that we were going to do on a donated building, so a lot of the things we wish we could do have been put on hold,” said Prince.
Prince says they have a lot of catch up to do but they’re just trying to keep groups small at this time, wear masks, and keep a good social distance.
The real concern, he says, will be dealing with a major fire event and pulling multiple agencies into one location like a fire camp.
Prince says how that dynamic will work out remains to be seen.
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