The Syracuse Fire Department has spent the past year trying to extinguish a different kind of flame – the spread of COVID-19.

“It’s definitely a little bit more stressful,” said firefighter Louie Geswaldo. “But we do the same job, as if there wasn’t any COVID.”

Geswaldo is one of 337 Syracuse firefighters responding to calls. But they’ve had more protocols and pressure because of the pandemic.

“It’s a little bit more extreme with certain types of calls we do with the squad company,” said Fire Lieutenant Casey Mack. “We have to be extra careful because we are getting someone’s blood on us and we are in close proximity to their face. Often times, they can’t have a mask on.”

Fire Chief Michael Monds said they’re prepared for any incident and ready to don PPE gear depending on the risk of exposure.

“They put on a N95 respirator, they put on goggles, they put on gloves and they put on a gown,” said Monds. “Every apparatus that we have we outfitted it with a PPE isolation kit.”

Monds said they go through about 50 kits and 900 blue surgical masks a week.

“The volume of PPE that we go through is pretty extensive,” said EMS Captain Brian Falise. “We’ve really had to look at austerity plans. If we can’t get our hands on the PPE we need, what comes next?”

To help extend their supply, Falise said they purchased a UV light machine to sterilize the N95 masks, and they can use them up to 5 times. They also use their own self-contained breathing apparatus when necessary.

They also have a Clorox 360 device to disinfect the firehouses and vehicles.

“We clean every firehouse every week,” Falise. “We take it through the apparatus, we spray every compartment just to try and keep the risk of communicating the virus to different members of the department.”

When they’re not rescuing city residents, they’re conducting COVID-19 tests for students and essential workers – putting in countless hours to protect the community and themselves.

“One out of three of our firefighters have been exposed to COVID, have had COVID [and] have been isolated,” said Monds. “I believe we have had 25 firefighters that have tested positive for COVID, at least five of them have been hospitalized.”

“We hope to keep the patient safe and do the best we can for them,” said Geswaldo. “We hope to keep ourselves safe and come back, so we can go home to our families also.”

They're hopeful the vaccine will help with that; about 250 firefighters have signed up to receive one so far.