Sacramento Metro Fire firefighter tests positive for coronavirus, agency announces

A Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District firefighter has tested positive for coronavirus, agency officials announced Tuesday.

The firefighter is the first known emergency responder in the Sacramento region to contract the virus that causes COVID-19.

“This employee was a member of a team that provided care to a patient who had called 911 and was transported to a local emergency department for further treatment,” the district said in a news release. “Metro Fire was notified a few days after the request for service that the patient tested positive for COVID-19.”

By the time Metro Fire was notified, the firefighter had already been placed off work after developing symptoms, according to the release.

The firefighter received a positive test result Tuesday, Metro Fire said.

All staff who worked with the firefighter have been notified and are being monitored for symptoms and following direction from Sacramento County Public Health officials.

“Currently, even with the recent positive COVID-19 test, we remain fully staffed and all essential services are uninterrupted,” Metro Fire said.

With firefighters often on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, Metro Fire said last week they had distributed masks, gowns and gloves to staff to better protect them while responding to calls.

And while the Metro firefighter is the first to test positive, local firefighters have responded to situations where they may have been exposed to the virus for over a month. Three Rocklin firefighters were quarantined earlier this month after they were exposed to a resident who had contracted the virus while on a cruise ship. The resident later died, but the firefighters were cleared for duty March 12 after not showing symptoms following 14 days of voluntary home isolation.

Officials are trying to determine other fire personnel who may have been exposed to the Metro Fire worker, who was not identified.

In the Bay Area, however, 13 San Jose firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19 and more than 10 percent of the department’s 750-person staff was exposed, the San Jose Mercury News reported.

Metro Fire, the seventh largest fire agency in the state, serves nearly 800,000 residents in parts of Sacramento County, Placer County and the city of Citrus Heights. It has roughly 700 employees.

This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 2:53 PM.