City Fire Stations Disinfected as "Added Layer of Protection"

Effingham Fire Station 1 and Fire Station 2 have received disinfection of the facilities and apparatus as an added layer of protection to protect the safety and health of the City’s Firefighters.

Mayor Mike Schutzbach and Fire Chief Bob Tutko worked with E-Environmental Solutions, which is a hazardous material remediation company with offices in Terre Haute Indiana and Effingham to provide the service.

E-Environmental technicians utilized an EPA-approved hospital grade disinfectant to disinfect the living quarters, administrative offices, training room and apparatus of both city fire stations.

Fire Chief Bob Tutko said, "While crews have not encountered a patient with COVID-19 symptoms, Mayor Schutzbach and I felt that having this service performed would add another layer of protection to the firefighters. In addition to the facility and apparatus disinfection, the department has altered their usual response protocols and administrative functions in response to the COVID-19 health emergency in an effort to protect the firefighters and the general public. We were also able to work proactively and creatively to find appropriate PPE for our personnel in a timely fashion, and we continue to revise operations, and guidelines to insure the delivery of service to the community safely and effectively."

Lee Edington, co-owner of E-Environmental Solutions, said their company is a private company providing hazardous materials mitigation services to municipalities and the disinfection service allows them to "continue to serve the community during this unprecedented pandemic". Many of the technicians who work for E-Environmental are local paid-on-call and off-duty firefighters. Eddington said the company utilizes a product called Vital Oxide, which is an EPA registered product that is effective on the COVID-19, SARS and Ebola viruses.