SYRACUSE, NY (NCC NEWS) – District Chief Rick Kisselstein has been with the Syracuse Fire Department for 18 years. Kisselstein was promoted to Health & Safety Officer in March this year. The pandemic helped Kisselstein implement new policies and procedures that can help keep firefighters safe while on the job.
Deputy Chief of Administration Barry Lasky said “Rick was promoted to this position and I’m smiling under this mask because he’s taken on a huge workload and I think he’s been doing an excellent job”.
Deputy Chief Kisselstein was promoted in March just before the pandemic and is the department’s only Health & Safety officer. The job oversees 350 firefighters and Kisselstein is responsible for injuries, training, and safe operations.
“It has made things a lot busier for my position, on top of the standard things we have to worry about with firefighters responding to a medical emergency, structured fires, and vehicle accidents we have to add the new twist of the exposures that would come from interacting with public that may or may not have COVID- 19,” said Kisselstein.
At the beginning of February 2020, first responders were experiencing a shortage of PPE and resources to keep firefighters safe.
“Earlier in the spring the PPE was one of the big issues we had to overcome,” said Kisselstein.
The fire department teamed up with the EMS division to create a stockpile that could be available to firefighters who need it. To prolong the stockpile the Fire Department decontaminated the PPE with the UV decon and used N95 masks. Until more resources become available, the fire department will continue this process.
“Our biggest concern was that if too many firefighters were affected by this, we wouldn’t be able to staff our firehouses, therefore we wouldn’t be able to respond the same way we do right now”
When firefighters come into contact with COVID-19 patients, they take them out of work and get them tested as soon as they can.. The Fire Department has had 15 positive cases but only two contracted through the job. Contact tracing is also done by Chief Kisselstein.
The job isn’t easy and Onondaga County has been negatively impacted by the pandemic. Chief Kisselstein said, “I want everybody to try to wear masks, it’s been clear that it helps, we’ve done everything we can to keep our firefighters safe so they can operate”.
