But COVID-19 has changed a lot for everyone, and that includes how his firefighter make sure they keep all gear and vehicles clean between calls. “We set a few objectives, early on, and our primary objective was to maintain mission capability,” said Chief Smith. “We knew we had to keep our firefighters healthy, we had to keep our stations operating, and keep our apparatus operating.”
One of his maintenance firefighters came across a design online for a cleaning device that uses outdated respirators and a paint gun spigot to turn peroxide-based solvents into an aerosol spray.
“This allowed us to do an entire apparatus within a minute or so, or a few minutes, and get everywhere surface–not just the hard surfaces but the cloth surfaces,” said Smith.
Smith said the devices are kept at the SBM stations in Spring Lake Park and Blaine. He was pleased but not surprised that his firefighters were able to come up with solutions to thoroughly clean.
“If you give (firefighters) a problem, they’ll solve it,” he said. “They’ll come up with some fantastic ways you never even thought of.”
