Stepping forward at a fearful time FDNY Engine Company 44 and EMS Station 10

“The whole key was education. People’s fears came from a lack of knowledge.”

By Kyle Pope

When Dr. Craig Spencer, New York’s first Ebola patient, was transported to Bellevue Hospital Center on Oct. 23, fear gripped the city.

Commmuters balked at taking the subway. The governors of New York and New Jersey moved to quarantine travelers from affected countries. No one knew how many more cases were coming.

After Spencer’s fever hit 100.3 -- he had recently returned to New York from Guinea, where he had been treated Ebola patients for Doctors Without Borders -- it fell to specialized Fire Department and EMS teams to transport him from his uptown apartment to Bellevue downtown. That entire journey was tracked by news helicopters, and carried live on TV.

Though the response to the Spencer case was part of a citywide effort that also included officials from the city Department of Health, the movement of the patient was led by EMS Station 10 in Yorkville, and assisted by FDNY Engine Company 44 on E. 75h Street.

According to Captain Paul Miano, commander of the city’s HazTac battalion, the EMS ambulance from Station 10 was the unit that carried Spencer to the hospital -- part of a small group throughout the city specially trained for such emergencies. After turning Spencer over to the hospital, firefighters from Engine Company 44 then decontaminated the ambulance, as well as the EMS technicians who handled Dr. Spencer’s body.

“The ambulance was sprayed down with a high concentration of bleach,” Cpt. Miano said. The people, too, were sprayed with a decontaminant. “ We were sure that every single inch of space was covered.”

Firefighters were not immune from the Ebola-related fears that were spreading throughout the city. To address those concerns, the FDNY convened a one-day Ebola training seminar immediately following news of the Spencer case, covering everything from equipment to cleaning protocols. “The whole key was education,” Cpt. Miano recalls. “People’s fears came from a lack of knowledge.”

He recalls giving out his cell phone number, and encouraging people to call him at any time with their concerns. “I was getting calls at 3 o’clock in the morning,” he said.

Clearly, the training sessions worked. Not a single firefighter or health-care worker in New York was infected by the disease, and Dr. Spencer was released after 19 days of treatment.

“I was cautiously optimistic” that Spencer’s case would be the last, Miano said. “I am confident in our monitoring program.”