C.E.R.T. memorializes former team leader
Saturday marked the first anniversary of the death of former Fort Myers Beach Community Emergency Response Team leader Alan Vacks.
Current CERT members and Beach Fire personnel gathered at Beach Fire Station #33 to memorialize the man that was honored with the island fire district’s 2014 Civilian of the Year award in May.
The short service included the placing of bricks in his honor within the 9/11 monument display that is permanently constructed in front of Station #33, kind words from four speakers and the dropping of yellow roses from Big Carlos Pass Bridge into the Gulf.
Vacks served the volunteer response branch of the FMB Fire Control District for six years and took over as CERT leader in November 2010. He was instrumental in helping to train many community members as first responders in first aid, pet first aid, CPR, AED (automated external defibrillator), search and rescue as well as triage and fire extinguisher operations. He was extremely active in public education offerings by the District.
Prior to his move to Southwest Florida, Vacks retired from the Pittsburgh Fire Department with 20 years of service and an Engineer rank and had related experience since 1968 through the Air Force, Para-Rescue, EMS and other fire fighting operations.
“He was my friend and brother,” said Beach Fire Capt. Ron Martin, who was by Vacks’ side shortly before he passed. “He kept his personality until the end. He told me, ‘Just remember, I’m Jewish. I have a direct line to the man upstairs’.”
Current CERT leader Ed Milde called Vacks a “man of great conviction.”
“He served his life selflessly as our CERT leader,” he said.
Chapel by the Sea Pastor Steve Adkison and Beach resident and CERT member Ceel Spuhler, who read a poem about Vacks, were the other speakers.
After the bricks were laid into the designated area, the group, which also included Acting Fire Chief Tom May, drove out to the bridge to individually honor Vacks by dropping yellow roses in the channel.
Vacks left behind three sons, one stepdaughter and numerous friends, colleagues and co-workers within the District and abroad that still miss him.
“I felt that he was a master of having and teaching us the skills needed when an emergency situation came about. He gave us the confidence that we had those skills and knew how to use them,” said Spuhler last year at his passing. “I greatly admired him.”