COVID-19, overdoses and shootings causing uptick in Columbus Fire medic runs

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX/WTTE) — There have been 21 shootings in Columbus since Sunday, 7 of those happened early Thursday, including two homicides. According to the Columbus Fire Department, they responded to 111 shootings in July and 79 stabbings. That is about double from the previous year.

The violence is part of the stress on medics who are seeing an uptick in runs. Lt. George Wallace is an Emergency Medical Services supervisor at Station 17 on West Broad Street. Wallace said it’s probably tied to the pandemic.

“We are seeing more violence, more shootings, especially here in the last month. We are seeing kind of a domino effect. Because now we are seeing more runs for mental health issues, domestic violence is up," he said.

Wallace said safety is a priority in the pandemic. But dealing with the coronavirus causes uncertainty.

“If you are looking for that light at the end of the tunnel, you are looking for the finish line and it keeps moving. Then that is just another stressor for us,” said Wallace.

CFD is educating people about new protocols because of the pandemic. For instance, right now they are not allowing families to ride to the hospital in the vehicles, and many hospitals are still limiting visitors.

Wallace said men and women join the fire department to serve. They see the challenges as an opportunity.

“Hopefully we will have learned from this experience and It’s going to help us down the road.

Whether it is another viral infection, whether it is opiate overdoses or violent runs, hopefully, we will pick out the good things and will be able to improve,” said Wallace.

Wallace said CFD has a great peer support program for medics and firefighters as they continue to deal with the challenges on the job.

“The last two weeks we had two drownings of young people. Sometimes like that it really strikes home. You go home and give the family a little extra hug when you get home. Appreciate what we have got,” said Wallace.

In 2018, Columbus Fire took 125,092 EMS runs. 631 were shootings and stabbings. In 2019 CFD took 133,357 EMS runs, 654 were on shootings and stabbings.

2020 statistics are still being compiled. In July, CFD responded to 111 shootings and 79 stabbings.