COVID vaccination mandate could leave these Whatcom fire stations under-staffed
St. Joseph Hospital is reporting a nearly 90% vaccination rate among its patient-care staff with less than two months remaining before the COVID-19 vaccine will be required for doctors, nurses, firefighters and others who provide medical treatment.
But some Whatcom County fire departments — including Bellingham — could face a shortage of qualified staff, several fire chiefs told The Bellingham Herald.
“Among our uniformed firefighter/EMT employees, 78% have attested to being vaccinated,” Bellingham Fire Chief Bill Hewett said in an email. “If those numbers do not change before Oct. 18, we could potentially lose, as a worst-case scenario, up to 35 uniformed personnel.”
That represents daily staffing for two fire engines and a paramedic ambulance, he said.
Many fire departments around Whatcom County could be in a similar situation, said Chief Jerry DeBruin of Whatcom County Fire District 14, a mostly volunteer agency serving Kendall, Sumas and Welcome.
“I’m hearing 15%, 20% roughly of the workforce, probably, across the county. Some places higher, some places lower,” DeBruin said in a voicemail.
Earlier this month, Gov. Jay Inslee issued a vaccination order for state employees and healthcare workers, saying they must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18.
You are fully immunized two weeks after your second shot and the two-shot vaccines are given one month apart, so it’s likely those mandated to have vaccines must start Moderna or Pfizer by Saturday, Sept. 4, or Oct. 4 for the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
“All of our uniformed firefighters are required to maintain EMT certifications and be able to work in ambulances,” Hewett said. “If they are not vaccinated, or have not been granted an exemption allowed in the governor’s order, then they will fail to meet the minimum qualifications for their position. Such failure will most likely end in termination of the employee.”
Union wants alternative
Bellingham/Whatcom County Firefighters Local 106 of the International Association of Fire Fighters opposes the governor’s order, said its president, Kenneth Cunningham.
“The Washington State Council of Firefighters has worked to persuade Gov. Inslee to find an alternative method of allowing our members to continue to work, serving and protecting the citizens and visitors of Whatcom County,” Cunningham told The Herald in an email. “They have done this since the first cases of COVID were diagnosed in early 2020, and have done so without complaint. The possibility that roughly 20% of the professional firefighters serving this community could be forced out will put an undue, and preventable, stress upon the remaining members and strain an already taxed system.”
Bellingham Fire staffs six stations in the city and two in Marietta and Lummi Nation under an agreement with Whatcom County Fire District 8.
It’s by far the largest fire-service agency in Whatcom County, with 141 firefighters in its 24-hour operations and 157 total unformed fire suppression positions, including training and chief-level officers.
It also provides countywide paramedic response through its Medic One service.
In general, each station is staffed by three firefighter-EMTs who work rotating 24-hour shifts, responding to 911 calls with either a fire engine or an ambulance.
Firefighters answered 20,008 alarms in 2020, Hewett said.
“Public health officials have been clear that vaccination is one of the most important things we can do to help fight this pandemic,” Hewett said. “Earlier this week the FDA gave full approval to one of the vaccines and I’m hopeful that with that approval we will see more members of our department and our community feel confident in getting vaccinated. I personally have been vaccinated since January and I would encourage everyone to get vaccinated (in consultation with your primary care physician).”
Hoping to work through mandate
Chief Larry Hoffman of Fire District 7, serving Ferndale and the surrounding area, said the vaccination rate among his staff was 65%.
Hoffman said he is vaccinated but doesn’t think anyone should lose their job because of a vaccine mandate.
“If that happens, we are going to be in a world of hurt,” said Hoffman, who supervises 51 career firefighters and 75 volunteers.
“I’m hoping that at the end of the day, we’ll work through this,” he said.
In contrast, North Whatcom Fire and Rescue, which serves the city of Blaine and unincorporated areas north of Bellingham, is seeing nearly all of its staff vaccinated.
“We are fortunate at North Whatcom to have a very good vaccination rate,” said Chief Jason Van der Veen. “It’s an individual choice that each person has to make. I believe that we are going to have 100% of our employees vaccinated by (Oct. 18).”
Van der Veen has a staff of 47 full-time firefighters and 21 volunteers and his department had 4,993 emergency calls in 2020, according to the department’s annual report.
Proactive education effort
South Whatcom Fire Authority is also seeing a nearly 100% vaccination rate, said Chief Rod Topel.
“Early on, we took a very proactive approach in educating our members and letting them know the importance of vaccination,” Topel told The Herald.
“I want to stress that we have personal protective equipment in place for those who choose not to be vaccinated,” he said.
South Whatcom has 13 career firefighters, two part-time firefighters and 40 volunteers serving Sudden Valley, Geneva, Yew Street Road, Lake Samish and Chuckanut Drive.
Vaccine mandate a concern
Chief Mel Blankers of Whatcom County Fire District 1 said the vaccine mandate was “a big ask” of his five full-time and 35 volunteer firefighters serving the Everson-Nooksack area.
“We could lose as much as 30% of our department and we’re already short-staffed,” he said.
Blankers said he would’ve liked to have seen the vaccine mandate go through the legislative process, rather than an executive order.
“We want to take care of our community and do what’s right,” Blankers said. “I’ve been vaccinated. But I can also appreciate people’s concerns who haven’t.”
No documented transmission
Melissa Morin, spokeswoman for the Whatcom County Health Department, told The Herald there have been no documented cases of firefighters passing COVID-19 to a patient or of transmission to a firefighter from a patient.
“There’s nothing in our investigations to indicate that transmission between emergency responders (firefighters, paramedics or EMTs), or between an emergency responder and a patient, has been a common or significant source of COVID-19 transmission. We can’t confirm it’s never happened — in part because it’s sometimes impossible to say conclusively where transmission occurred,” Morin said in an email.
