By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Normally, Sea Isle City’s volunteer fire department is responding to alarms. But this time it sent out an alarm of its own.
Reaching out through its Facebook page, the department appealed to the public this week for Lysol spray or Clorox wipes to help protect its members from the coronavirus outbreak.
“Any type of Lysol aerosol disinfectant spray, or Clorox/Lysol type wipes that you can spare,” the Facebook post said.
Sea Isle City and members of the public sensed the urgency of the message. Within an hour of it appearing on Facebook, donations of Lysol and Clorox came in from the city and local residents, Fire Chief John Mazurie Jr. said.
“It was great. It makes me proud to be in a town where so many people appreciate us,” Mazurie said in an interview Saturday.
One resident, whose name Mazurie did not know, left a bag containing disinfectant wipes hanging from a doorknob at the fire station. Mazurie said the donation was particularly touching because it also included a thank you note to the fire department for its service.
The city, which helps to fund the volunteer fire department in the municipal budget, also pitched in by making its own donation of disinfectant spray and wipes.
“The city came through and the people came through,” Mazurie said.
As firefighters, police officers and emergency medical technicians – along with other first responders and medical professionals – continue to work on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, the need for disinfectant, hand sanitizer, masks, latex gloves and other protective equipment has become critical.
Mazurie explained that the firefighters, their gear and the fire trucks get sprayed or wiped down with disinfectant each time they return from responding to a call.
Fire Chief John Mazurie Jr., right, shown with Sea Isle resident Rocky Santarcangelo during a fire department event in 2019, thanks the city and the public for coming through with donations of disinfectant.
Firefighters are routinely wearing their air masks while out on calls now as another way to protect themselves from exposure to COVID-19.
Every time a firefighter’s outfit, gear, oxygen pack, air mask and helmet get washed, it takes a full eight hours to complete the thorough process, Mazurie noted.
Up to this point, none of the emergency calls handled by the Sea Isle fire department has involved anyone infected with the coronavirus, he said.
Not all of the calls are true emergencies. The fire department also has to respond when smoke alarms accidently go off in someone’s home or if there is a smell of natural gas or another odor.
“Smells and bells calls,” Mazurie said.
He pointed out that those types of calls are particularly common when the owners of Sea Isle vacation homes come down to the shore to check on their properties.
“Our biggest problem is that people are coming down and their smoke alarms go off,” Mazurie said of the demands on the fire department.
Gov. Phil Murphy, Sea Isle Mayor Leonard Desiderio and a host of other local, county and state officials have emphatically urged vacation homeowners not to visit the shore during the pandemic to help keep the virus from spreading in New Jersey.
In the meantime, Mazurie believes that Sea Isle’s fire department has enough disinfectant spray and wipes on hand now to help protect the volunteer firefighters – thanks to the donations from the city and members of the public.
“I think we’re going to be OK,” he said.
