Firefighters risk potential exposure to the coronavirus when responding to calls, but their equipment doesn’t always provide full protection.
Thanks to a $1,200 grant from the SSM Health St. Clare Foundation, the Baraboo Fire Department will be able to equip its first responders with new “adaptive filters” that snap onto their air masks, blocking more particles than an N95 mask and providing full-face protection, representatives said.
“The nice thing about this is we can use it for multiple things. It’s not just COVID,” said Nathan Thompson, recalling a house fire in June where he worked in the attic while wearing safety glasses and an N95 mask, which together don’t cover the whole face. “It will be very beneficial to us.” A Baraboo Fire Department employee for three years, Thompson said he applied for a Healthy Community Partnership Grant after researching filters for the department’s newly upgraded SCBAs, self-contained breathing apparatuses.