At a Fire District Board meeting this week, fire department union representatives spoke at public comment to protest the possibility of two job consolidations Fire Chief Scott Wirth is proposing during contract negotiations.
In response to those public comments and an online campaign against the move, Chief Wirth has issued the following statement explaining the specifics of what he’s proposing and why:
“The Fort Myers Beach Fire District takes seriously its duty to constantly evaluate its
service to the community while also remaining fiscally responsible to the taxpayers.
Occasionally, this type of self-evaluation can lead to the difficult realization that
restructuring is necessary. We currently find ourselves in that position.
“The Company Officer is the first-level supervisor in charge of managing a fire station,
in addition to the trucks and personnel assigned. The company officer holds the title of
Lieutenant or Captain. The Battalion Chief is traditionally the second-level supervisor
who typically oversees multiple company officers in larger organizations. After a
review of our district’s operations, including a comparison to multiple similar fire
districts in the county, it became clear that the role of Battalion Chief in our
organization stood out as being critically underutilized.
“For approximately three years, the Battalion Chief role has been a discretionary
position for the district, meaning that it would remain vacant if the Battalion Chief was
on leave and there was no qualified member on duty to backfill the role. The Battalion
Chief position has been vacant approximately 33% of the time over this three-year
period. During these periods of vacancy, the district’s operations have not been
impacted.
“Today, the Union and the District met on this issue. The Union and the two Battalion
Chiefs were provided with the details of why the district is choosing to eliminate the
Battalion Chief position effective 7/31/25, at the expiration of our existing contract.
Following that explanation, the employees were provided with two options:
• Continue employment with the district and be reassigned to a Captain position
effective 7/31/25 with no negative impact to pay & benefits, or;
• Retire with a lump sum payout of their pay and benefits
At the end of the meeting, I made it clear that the District and I welcome their
experience in the Captain position. I also reminded the Union and our Battalion Chiefs
that I had stepped down from Operations Chief to Assistant Chief of Support Services
to manage upcoming facility construction projects because that’s what the organization
needed at the time.
It is unfortunate that the Union persists in claiming these employees are being threatened with termination. We have provided the best options available to ensure our team members have successful transitions to whatever path they may choose.”
Scott Wirth
Fire Chief
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