Code 3 Podcast: COVID-19 hits FDNY

Battalion Chief Danny Sheridan sheds light on the situation facing FDNY fire and EMS personnel

If you think your department has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, be glad you’re not in New York City.

New York was Ground Zero on 9/11; now it’s ground zero for COVID-19.

The FDNY is dealing with an enormous number of deaths among citizens, so many that they no longer transport patients in cardiac arrest unless they can get a pulse in the field.

The radio calls for 10-37s – dead bodies – are frequent. Constant. Twelve per hour, by some accounts.

Amid all this, approximately 1,700 FDNY personnel are infected.

Joining me to give us some perspective is FDNY Battalion Chief Danny Sheridan. He is a 34-year veteran of the FDNY, and a member of the FDNY incident management team as well as a well-known instructor nationally. He’s also a lead instructor with Mutual Aid Training Group, which works to train firefighters in Latin America.

About the author

Code 3 is hosted by award-winning journalist Scott Orr, who has covered the fire/EMS/police beat for most of his 30-plus year career in news. He's worked around the country in both TV and print. Orr was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease over a decade ago, but that doesn't stop him from interviewing fire service leaders on issues that concern firefighters around the nation.

Code 3 is available for download on iTunes, Google Podcasts and at the Code 3 website. Find it on Twitter and Facebook.