Firehouse Editor-in-Chief Peter Matthews talks with Fire Chief Gary Ludwig, who serves as the president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) about COVID-19 and the U.S. fire service. 

Ludwig and IAFC staff have been working with the White House and others in Washington, D.C., to get relief funding for fire and EMS agencies, including CARES, FIRE Act and SAFER programs. The IAFC has worked with Amazon to create an exclusive membership to purchase urgently needed equipment.

The IAFC is tracking firefighters who have been quarantined or tested positive for COVID-19 patients and the financial and operations impact of the pandemic on fire service budgets.

Ludwig said the biggest commidity during the pandemic is information and the IAFC is compiling best practices to put together a guideline for the future.