The report called hesitancy to get the vaccine one of the culprits, citing data that showed only half of the police and firefighters in Milwaukee were inoculated as of last fall. | Unsplash/Mufid Majnun
The report called hesitancy to get the vaccine one of the culprits, citing data that showed only half of the police and firefighters in Milwaukee were inoculated as of last fall. | Unsplash/Mufid Majnun
Putting out fires has always carried a risk to personal safety, but since 2020 firefighters have faced a new, sometimes fatal, foe: COVID-19.
Six Wisconsin firefighters died in the line of duty in 2021, and all of the deaths were associated with the coronavirus, Fox47 reported. Since the onset of the pandemic, 11 firefighters have succumbed to the virus. That number includes two deaths already this year.
“Every firefighter in the world wants to be part of the solution, and not part of the problem,” Chris Klahn, a Montello Fire Department employee who is on the board of directors for the Wisconsin State Firefighter Association, said in the news report. “This pandemic has just been a struggle to try to keep ourselves healthy, our families healthy and still respond to those calls for service.”
Firefighters are not the only segment of society at apparently higher risk of contracting COVID-19. The coronavirus has become the leading cause of death for all first responders, Fox47 said.
One reason firefighters are more susceptible to contracting the virus than police officers is that many have EMS training, which brings them into contact with sick people.
The report called hesitancy to get the vaccine one of the culprits, citing data that showed only half of the police and firefighters in Milwaukee were inoculated as of last fall.
“There is some reluctance, and I’m sure firefighters have made a personal choice if they choose not to be immunized,” Klahn said in response to that assertion in the news report.
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