A new practice triggered by the coronavirus has helped bring Topeka firefighters some peace of mind.
About a week ago, the Topeka Fire Department began requiring the firefighters at its 12 stations to regularly answer a screening question and get their temperature taken as they start their 24-hour shift at 7 a.m. each day, says Richard Sigle, the department’s emergency medical services chief.
That happened Monday at Fire Station No. 8, 2700 S.W. Fairlawn Road, where an infrared scanner was used to take the temperature of the temporal artery in the foreheads of Capt. Richard Morgan, apparatus operator Kevin Ghere and firefighter Jason Osborn.
That scanner showed their temperatures were 97.1 degrees for Ghere, 97.6 for Morgan and 97.8 for Osborn.
The department’s new arrangement calls for firefighters to go home if they have a temperature of 100.4 degrees or more, Sigle said.