Fort Worth fire captain dies after month-long battle with COVID-19

FORT WORTH, Texas - A Fort Worth fire captain and 39-year veteran became the first member of the department to die from COVID-19.

He contracted the virus a month ago and died at a hospital after a battle in the ICU.

Captain Randy Robinson died on Thursday after a month-long fight with COVID-19. He spent 39 years with the Fort Worth Fire Department and spent 20 of them at Station 35 as the air crash captain.

Fire Chief Jim Davis says the 64-year-old captain last worked on Nov. 15.

Robinson started feeling sick on Nov. 17. By Nov. 30, he ended up hospitalized and eventually in the ICU at Texas Health Harris Methodist HEB in Bedford.

Working on the air crash team meant Captain Robinson had less interaction with the public than the average firefighter.

Still, Davis says the department has conducted extensive contact tracing to locate anyone who would have come in contract with Robinson prior to his illness.

"As the fire chief here in Fort Worth, I take this stuff very personally," Davis said. "My job is to provide an environment that gives every firefighter every emergency medical technician to go home safely at the end of their shift."

So far, Davis says 180 Fort Worth firefighters have tested positive for the virus after a 90-day period with no cases early in the pandemic.

"The virus has caught up to us just like it’s caught up to the public," Davis said.

Captain Robinson leaves behind two adult children.

Davis says Robinson’s death should remind the public that the health and safety of others needs to be taken more seriously.

"We’re better than this. We’re better than this as a community," he said. "We’re better than this as a country and we have the ability to reduce this risk to our community."