Kern County Fire Chief David Witt talks about dealing with the danger of COVID-19

KERN COUNTY, Calif. — On a daily basis, our first responders are putting their lives on the line to serve the community. Now they have other worries thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. 23ABC spoke to Kern County Fire Chief David Witt about how his crews are dealing with this newly added danger.

"They're going in and out of houses that people have COVID. There's a lot of people that are working on it. Not just firefighters. But a lot of people," said Chief Witt. "All of our medical people, ambulances, doctors, nurses. It adds to the situation, but we are moving through it and we're moving forward. We're going to move in a positive direction."

Chief Witt also said morale within the department is currently low considering the ongoing contract negotiations and the added strain of dealing with COVID-19 but his crews have been working through it.