On 9-23-09, the council, city manager, and mayor of the city of Ft Myers approved a budget that took the fire department's staffing back 18 years!
According to The US Census Bureau, the city of Ft Myers had an estimated population of 45,206 in the year 1990. In 2008, the population was estimated at 65,394. That is an 18 year increase of 44.657%! In 1991, the minimum staffing on the fire dept was 23. Today, it is 21. That is an 18 year increase of NEGATIVE 8.659%! 20,000 more citizens being "protected" with 2 less firefighters?! Due to all the eliminated positions in the fire dept, the city's ISO rating is expecting to change from a 3 to at BEST a 4, with some areas receiving a 10. An ISO rating is a number that reflects a community's ability to suppress fire. Class 1 is excellent and class 10 is bad. Communities with the worst ratings have fire losses two or more times as high as communities with the best ratings. In other words, now we will be spending more money on insurance premiums and we will lose even more if there is a fire. I don't feel safe knowing that our 6 station fire department has a lower minimum staffing now than when it only had 3 stations 18 years ago! Our safety is not to be gambled with! We need to rehire the fire now!
For more info on how to help the fire dept, please go to www.facebook.com/rehirethefire
Scary situation you might encounter soon
by rehirethefire (Subscribe)
Posted on: Oct 8, 2009 at 3:50 PM EDT
Channel: Local News
Location: City of Ft Myers, Fl
Confused needs to watch the video again. This time pay attention!
There are less firefighters now. The question asked is what would you do if help was unavailable. The leading cause of death in a fire is smoke inhalation. If the smoke gets to you before the FD because of a lack of personnel, help wasn't available!
The fire last night was called in by a witness. If your home catches fire @3:30 AM, it's not likely to be witnessed until it is quite large. When the 1st fire truck arrived last night, they had to wait for a 2nd from a further station due to manpower
The fire last night was called in by a witness. If your home catches fire @3:30 AM, it's not likely to be witnessed until it is quite large. When the 1st fire truck arrived last night, they had to wait for a 2nd from a further station due to manpower
In the past FMFD had 4 man engines so on arrival they could go in and save someone Now with 3 man engines, because of the 2 in 2 out rule, the firemen cannot go in due to lack of resources. Instead they wait 4 another engine to show up.
If life hazard exist or is believed to exist firefighters may enter the structure. The 2 in 2 out is a "guideline" that is followed to insure firefighter safey when a building is unoccupied. Looks like "Confused" was right about the misconstrued info
So are FF's not right for trying to insure their safety? Looks like anonymous=heartless!
U must understand that these FFs risk their safety no matter how many of them enter a building. They are risking their lives for total strangers. Many of whom can care less for a FF's safety. Its sad until its u in a postion that needs help.
Just because a FF may abandon the 2in2out STATE LAW when there is a life threat it doesn't mean that he should. The save could be impossible without help, or even lead to a FF death. Not all situations are the same. More FF = better chance to survive
A firefighter will gladly rush in to save you, thats their nature. But what does that FF's family say when they spend thr rest of their life with out a mother or father because the FF went in to save a stranger without any back up...
you ever tried to drag someone that is 400lbs? I have, and you need more than two people!
If you were trapped in a burning building, would you want 1 FF trying to save you within 6 minutes, or 2 FF trying to save you in 9? If we rehire the fire, it will be 2 FF trying to save you in 6 minutes. And another thought: imagine its your kid.
Rehire the firefighters now. The City Council needs to take a pay cut to make sure that the city is protected. How about all the money they plan to spend on the new stadium?? and the Construction being done on Monroe downtown? REHIRE NOW!!!
Confused says ...
On Thursday, Oct 8 at 4:51 PM
So according to this video, there are no firefighters in Fort Myers??? There is a video of last night where they saved a building. I do not understand this misconstrued message. An honest approach is always the BEST approach.
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