Columbia County

Lake City firefighter with COVID-19 for 2 months now on ECMO machine

LAKE CITY, Fla. — COVID-19 has hit the Lake City Fire Department hard. The fire chief, Randy Burnham, passed away Sept. 5 after a long bout of the virus, and another team member, Lt. Jeff McNeil, is still in the hospital.

McNeil has had COVID-19 for two months and is now on an ECMO (machine to oxygenate the blood) to try to heal his lungs.

If his lungs don’t get better with the ECMO machine, McNeil will be put on a lung transplant list.

The fire department has shared a GoFundMe for McNeil and his family. You can find the GoFundMe here.


Bailey Husker

Bailey Husker, Action News Jax

Bailey Husker is a digital content producer and assignment editor for Action News Jax.