13 of 20 Prince Rupert Firefighters off the job owing to COVID-19

Update: on Thursday Morning, the City of Prince Rupert provided for a statement on the staffing situation at the Prince Rupert Fire hall.

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A report from CBC News on Wednesday afternoon, has outlined how the current surge of COVID in the province has resulted in a skeleton crew situation facing the Prince Rupert Fire/Rescue department this week.  

Late this afternoon,  Betsy Trumpener posted a story to the CBC British Columbia news page noting that 13 of 20 of the city's Fire/Rescue personnel are currently on the sick list, in isolation either from positive test results for COVID-19, or waiting for those results.

The story which you can review here, outlines how a skeleton crew of seven firefighters are responding to calls at the moment; with City Manager Rob Buchan noting of plans in place to call on assistance from Port Edward's Volunteer department if required, or to bring in those firefighters off at the moment who are showing diminishing symptoms of COVID-19.

On Tuesday, the City of Prince Rupert announced plans to return to an appointment process for access to City Hall as part of their evolving COVID measures.

So far the City has not released any official communique for the community related to the staffing situation at the city's fire hall.

City of Prince Rupert Facebook page

City of Prince Rupert website

More notes on the work of Emergency Responders across the Northwest can be explored here.