Published on March 15, 2020
Media Contact: Kellie Stickney Communications Manager kstickney@kirklandwa.gov The Kirkland City Council is pleased to announce that Fire Station 21 is officially back in service.
Fire Station 21 was put back into service after receiving an 8-hour professional deep cleaning earlier today, March 13. Though none of the firefighters that were quarantined at Station 21 received a positive result for the COVID-19 virus, every surface of the 8,000 square foot building was cleaned by specially trained crews. This cleaning was done out of an abundance of caution for the safety of our firefighters. The station is now fully staffed this evening with its typical three-person crew. “We are thrilled to be able to put the Forbes Creek fire station back into service. Reopening Fire Station 21 for fire and emergency medical calls is an important return to normalcy for our crews and our residents,” said the Council. “We want to share this key milestone with our community which has been so supportive of our first responders during these challenging times. We are so grateful for the selfless dedication of those firefighters who have been in quarantine and those who have continued to respond to calls without hesitation during this COVID-19 incident. We know that federal and state officials are saying that our response to this incident will last for weeks, even months. During this time, we are all being asked to make sacrifices. We thank everyone for their willingness to do what is needed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our community, and to protect our most vulnerable populations.” The City Council is also strongly advocating at the county, state and federal levels to make COVID-19 testing available for all first responders and all community members as soon as possible, as well as for more personal protection equipment (PPE) for Kirkland first responders from the national strategic stockpiles. The Council is working directly with the Senator Patty Murray, Senator Maria Cantwell, Representative Susan DelBene and Governor Inslee’s office to improve testing access, secure PPE, and help allocate federal and state COVID-19 response funding directly to cities. The Kirkland Fire and Police Departments remain fully staffed and responding to calls as normal. City first responders have CDC recommended personal protection equipment and are following recommended protocols. The City of Kirkland currently has twelve firefighters in home quarantine. Thirty firefighters have now been released after completing their recommended quarantine period. The City has a different facility in Kirkland available for quarantine if the situation changes in the future. All of our first responders that are currently symptomatic are in the process of being tested. We’ve had twenty-three tests come back negative, and one positive test for COVID-19. Firefighters that tested negative as well as firefighters that were exposed to COVID-19 but never demonstrated symptoms all remained in quarantine for the entire 14-day period recommended by Public Health Seattle-King County. We have received questions regarding criteria for testing our firefighters. Testing criteria is established by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). In King County, testing is managed by Public Health Seattle-King County. At this time the CDC is recommending that clinicians use their judgement to determine if a patient has signs and symptoms compatible with COVID-19 and whether the patient should be tested. More information on testing requirements is available on the CDC website. While the City appreciates the outpouring of support and concern from the community for our first responders, the City cannot accept donations at this time. The City will continue to update its website with information on the COVID-19 outbreak.
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