LOS ANGELES _ On a cold Sunday night in March, Long Beach firefighter and paramedic James Dolas began to feel the first tingle of illness.
The next day, as the 34-year-old came down with a fever, sore throat and muscle pain, his supervisor delivered the bad news: He feared that Dolas and other firefighters at Station 11 had been exposed to the novel coronavirus.
One day later, Dolas and eight other firefighters were confirmed as positive for COVID-19. Soon, that number doubled to 16.
Dolas self-isolated in a guestroom at home. He barricaded the door, which didn't lock, with a chair to keep his 3-year-old daughter at bay. But he wondered whether he had already passed the virus on to her, as well as his 1-year-old daughter and his wife.
For the Long Beach Fire Department, the outbreak spurred a race to contain the spread of the virus _ and led to changes likely to remain mainstays of how their first responders handle emergency calls related to the coronavirus.
Fire departments across the country are experiencing similar outbreaks. In L.A., 26 firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19. L.A. County Fire has 84 firefighters who have tested positive for the disease.
So far, Long Beach, the second-most-populated city in the county with more than 460,000 people, has recorded nearly 800 residents testing positive for COVID-19. At least 38 people have died.
Of the firefighters, Long Beach Fire Chief Xavier Espino said the sheer number of them testing positive in such a short amount of time came as a shock. But he said it also provided a valuable learning experience.
"It was a great moment," he said, "in how we bounced back and responded."
