New Fort Myers Beach fire station built to last
The look of the formidable new Fort Myers Beach firehouse is zooming into focus eight months into its construction.
Fort Myers Beach Fire Chief Scott Wirth expects that when the work is done in March on building the department’s new station on Estero Boulevard, the 35-feet high structure will not only be able to withstand a major hurricane but will be able to protect firefighters staying there in a minor one.
“This station is a little higher than our other stations. If we know we have a Category 1 or 2 hurricane, then we have the ability (to keep some staff on site),” Wirth said. “We have more opportunity to keep this station in service, at least we shelter here until the storm goes by and then we would be able to get in service quicker versus if we evacuated.”
The garage floor is eight feet above sea level, three feet higher than Estero Boulevard and four feet higher than the Tropical Shores Way entrance. “This gives us a little more opportunity to stay in district for those smaller category storms,” Wirth said.
A swamp buggy is on the way, which Wirth hopes will help the department on rescue missions through flooded roads in a
smaller category hurricane, like when Estero Boulevard and San Carlos Boulevard turned into rivers during Hurricane Milton. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office was able to use a swamp buggy effectively last year during hurricanes.
Wirth expects the swamp buggy to be ready before the next hurricane season to be used in high-water situations. The
swamp buggy is expected to be able to handle up to four feet of water in the roads. “It depends on the winds,” Wirth said. “It definitely gives us more capabilities than we have now by about a foot and a half more water,” he said.
The department also has a small inflatable boat trailer which it purchased and conducted training on last month. The inflatable rapid response boat is lightweight and can be used to evacuate civilians during floods, and on search and rescue missions.
In Hurricane Helene, the water was too deep for the department’s firefighters to get to an electrical bike fire that
started from the battery. Luckily the fire went out once the bike fell into the flooded waters inside the garage. With the swamp buggy, the department would have been able to respond, Wirth said.
During Hurricane Milton, the department evacuated off site from their stations at Lenell Road and San Carlos Boulevard. San Carlos Boulevard turned into a river during the storm. During a recent tour of the new station, Wirth touted elevated electrical outlets that have been installed to protect against water damage on floodproofed walls. Vent openings in the station are meant to allow water to exit in the event of a hurricane and flooding. A generator was placed 18-feet high to withstand a major hurricane. All of the doors in the garage will have flood panels.
“We are basically floodproofing to 14 feet above sea level,” Wirth said. Wirth has ensured that all of the department’s
valuable equipment and the electrical room is being placed high up to avoid damage from flooding.
The new fire station, which is costing approximately $11 million to construct (after $435,000 in architecture fees and $148,000 for engineering), will be able to house the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District’s ladder truck and primary ambulance. The station will also be home to firefighters working 24-hour shifts.
At least six firefighters will be rotating 24-hour shifts at a time at the station, which means the station will have enough room for their housing quarters.
The department’s other station on the island at Lenell Road, next to Santini Marina Plaza, will house the department’s fire engine and its other ambulance. The department also has a fire engine at its station off island on San Carlos Boulevard, where it shares space with Lee County EMS and their ambulance.
Along with the living spaces for firefighters working overnight shifts, there will be a workout room with equipment for both indoor and outdoor exercises.
Wirth said his background managing a construction company has helped him in helping to oversee the construction of the fire station, which is being led by the Wright Construction Group of Fort Myers. GMA Architects & Planners led the designing.
“At this point, we are under budget,” Wirth said. “I’m hoping to come in closer to $11 million than the guaranteed maximum price (of the contract) of almost $12 million.”
Wirth was the operations chief with the City of Fort Myers Fire Department when they built a new fire station in downtown Fort Myers in 2015. With joined the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District in 2017 after retiring from the City of Fort Myers fire department.
There is floodproofing throughout the new fire station, including foam insulation on the ceiling. Countertops inside the kitchen and dining room are stainless steal, for durability and safety.
“More expensive to purchase initially but they will last 20 to 30 years instead of a laminate that could wear out,” Wirth said. Everything installed is “made for durability, its built to last. It’s built for safety.”
Fire suppression systems are installed with the oven in the kitchen. Contractors are putting multiple coats of waterproofed layers of paint while using high grade shiners, Wirth said.
The building is being constructed to withstand winds of 200 miles per hour with the highest level of impact protection. They are a limited number of windows throughout the building in order to reduce the risk of water leaking in.
The plans for the newest station go back nearly five years to when the district acquired the property on the former Topps lot at 2545 and 2555 Estero Boulevard for $3.99 million in January of 2020, next to the former Town Hall.
The district still plans to sell a little less than an acre of property in the rear of their Estero Boulevard property. The district’s next project will be to construct a new administration building and training facility off Main Street on San Carlos Island. Once that is built, the district will sell its administration building on Voorhis St. The district sold its fire station off Donora Boulevard last year, which had been considered totaled by Hurricane Ian. The new administration building will also have a room for fire commissioner meetings. The seawall and docks at the property
need to be rebuilt, Wirth said.
The Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District currently employs 36 full-time firefighters and paramedics, as well as 16
administration staff. The department is looking to hire firefighters to bring their total firefighting unit to 48 firefighters and paramedics, for a total staff of 64.
Meanwhile, the department is conducting a merger study with the Iona-McGregor Fire District. Such a merger could have to go in front of voters. The planning for the new fire station to be able to withstand a major hurricane was done in the light of the town’s experience of having gone through Hurricane Ian, which killed 16 people on the island. Last year, the town also went through three other hurricanes.
“It’s three years since Hurricane Ian. While we work and live here every day and we see the impacts still, we realize that it’s something that affected us, it’s part of our history, but it’s not part of our identity now. We are consciously moving away from the after-effects from Ian,” Wirth said.
One of the major initiatives Wirth has overseen since Hurricane Ian is a new program for town property owners to notify the fire department if they will be staying or leaving during a hurricane.
That was used effectively during Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton and will allow firefighters in the event of a
major search and rescue operation after a hurricane to know which homes were not occupied, and which ones they need to
check on. After Hurricane Ian, firefighters had to break down doors and windows during search and rescue attempts, not
knowing which homes may have had people inside them. Now folks can sign up on the department’s website to let them know
if they will be home or not for a hurricane.
Wirth said the difficult parts of Hurricane Ian included rebuilding from all of the destruction. He said he learned a lot from the State of Louisiana’s incident management team during the search and rescue mission, which included more than 1,000 responders. “They were huge,” Wirth said. Wirth said the department also learned from firefighters from the Fire Department of New York, who relieved the Louisiana responders two weeks later. “We were making incident management plans every day,” Wirth said. “It’s humbling to have to be the ones being helped.”
Wirth said one of the lessons he learned most from the response to Hurricane Ian was the importance of having state
and federal agencies coordinate with the infrastructure to provide assistance during a major hurricane.
“People talk a lot about government, FEMA and everything else, the State of Florida does a tremendous job responding to large-scale emergencies,” Wirth said. “They had us help before we knew we needed it,” Wirth said.
Next time there is a hurricane, Wirth said the department will be even better prepared with its experiences. “If we’re in shelter and we see webcams with buildings floating down the boulevard, we’ll have those resources ordered right out of the gate. They will be here quicker than they did during Ian, knowing what we know now,” he said.
Fort Myers Beach Observer Editor Nathan Mayberg can be reached at Nmayberg@breezenewspapers.com