‘It’s real, and it’s serious,’ NC mayor says of town’s 17 firefighters with COVID-19

Clayton’s full-time firefighters are working longer shifts and wearing N95 masks inside the station now that 17 of the town’s firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19, officials said.

The firefighters who are working are being tested for the coronavirus, said Chief Lee Barbee in a sometimes emotional news conference Monday with Clayton Mayor Jody McLeod.

He said he wants to get the message out about testing because a few people have been “stand-offish” with firefighters’ presence when they respond to calls.

“All our firefighters that are working shifts have chosen — they’ve not been required — but they’ve chosen to continually be tested to make sure they’re negative,” he said.

Fourteen of the town’s 41 full-time firefighters and three part-time firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19, the town reported. The last positive test for a Clayton firefighter was Aug. 19, Barbee said.

Five people were hospitalized as of Sunday night, including a firefighter’s spouse, The News & Observer reported. But by Monday morning, Barbee said one of the firefighters had been released from the hospital. He could not provide details on the conditions of those who remain hospitalized.

Barbee said the outbreak started Aug. 7. The department had been taking safety measures, Barbee said, though at times people were lax and had to be reminded.

Firefighters no longer eat together, and they clean and sanitize several times a day, including at shift changes, Barbee said. The Johnston County Health Department has been in contact with members of the public who have encountered firefighters with COVID-19 responding to calls, he said.

The public has responded with an outpouring of donations for Clayton firefighters as news about the COVID-19 outbreak spread.

The Clayton Firefighters Association is setting up an account with First Citizens Bank for people who want to donate money, said association President Cory Beard. The link is posted at facebook.com/ClaytonFirefightersAssociation. Clayton High School has agreed to start accepting donated items on Tuesday, Beard said.

“I thought we were doing a good job before,” he said. “It come in and got us, and we’re just having to fight.”

Clayton Mayor Jody McLeod said some people wondered in the beginning of the pandemic whether COVID-19 was real.

“At first we often wondered, is this thing for real, is this thing not for real?” McLeod said. “As a mayor of a small town here in North Carolina, I’m here to tell you that this COVID is real and it’s serious and it’s having an impact all over our country, and it’s having an impact in my hometown.”

The Raleigh Fire Department has had 15 employees, including civilians, test positive for the coronavirus since June 1, city spokeswoman Julia Milstead said in an email. Ten others self-quarantined after coming into contact with someone infected. They all tested negative, Milstead wrote. The department has 608 employees.

The department has instituted twice-a-day temperature checks, has firefighters sleep in private, partitioned areas, requires masks during shift changes and social distancing in the stations, Milstead wrote.

Staff writer Anna Johnson contributed.

This story was originally published August 24, 2020 at 2:03 PM.