Changes are coming to the Fort Myers Beach Fire Department. Will those changes impact the service provided to Fort Myers Beach? We’ll find out Saturday at 11AM when Fire Chief Scott Wirth joins the program at Lah De Dah.
The Fire Chief Joins BTR Saturday
The decision to eliminate all three Battalion Chief positions at Fort Myers Beach Fire was recklessly passed on a 4‑1 vote, despite overwhelming opposition from firefighters who will now face risk every shift.
Commissioner Ron Fleming, serving as Secretary/Treasurer and the only board member with real fire service experience as a former full-time firefighter, cast the only dissenting vote against this horrible decision. He understands that a proper Incident Command Structure (ICS) is essential for safety on emergency scenes—and his leadership and willingness to speak out should be commended.
The four commissioners who voted in favor of eliminating the positions were John Bennett, Jim Knickle, Jacki Liszak, and Keran Farrell.
What’s more, this unsafe plan assumes neighboring departments—Iona‑McGregor and Bonita Springs Fire Rescue—will fill the leadership gap on nights and weekends without any formal agreement. That’s not mutual aid—it’s exploitation, putting their districts at risk because we eliminated ours.
This isn’t hypothetical. Over 70% of Fort Myers Beach operational personnel signed a vote of no confidence in Chief Wirth, citing this exact flaw amongst others and the board ignored them. Morale is crushed. The command structure is broken. And firefighter and public safety are compromised.
Fort Myers Beach deserves professional command officers on every shift not outsourced leadership and backroom cuts. Stand with Commissioner Fleming. Protect our firefighters. Demand the immediate reinstatement of the Battalion Chiefs positions before tragedy forces the District to admit this was a mistake.