(By Marie Schleiffer) On Wednesday the Fort Myers Beach Fire Department conducted an “After The Fire” neighborhood canvas as part of its risk reduction program. The department does the canvases after a preventable structure fire has been identified. Thanks to Assistant Fire Chief Ron Martin we were able to tag along and get an up close look at all the great things your Fire Department does to keep you safe.
This week the team was canvassing homes in the Sunnydale Mobile Home park just before the bridge. The assessment occurred due to a recent fire in the neighborhood where there was no smoke detector in the home.
Department members go door to door to educate the community on protecting themselves and their homes. They also did a smoke alarm canvas. Normally people do not know that the fire department reps are coming out but are very appreciative and open to education.
Martin tells Beach Talk Radio News that during the fire investigation they discovered that this particular home had no working smoke alarms. “To compound the issue, this family had small children, so if the fire had occurred late at night, while people were sleeping, we could have experienced a horrific tragedy.”
Martin says nobody in the Fort Myers Beach community should be without a working smoke alarm. “The Fort Myers Beach Fire Department will not only provide smoke alarms, if people need help installing them, we can do that too. We got into this line of work to save lives. That doesn’t always mean fighting fires, it means preventing fires as well. The team provides education on fire prevention, extension cord safety and CPR lessons. These risk assessments engage citizens to be partners with us to assure their safety.”
The program does not end there. If you have a smoke alarm that needs batteries or if you need assistance changing the batteries, anyone in the community can call the Life Safety Divison at (239) 590-4211 or e-mail prevention@fmbfire.org, and they’ll assist you with anything you need.
The Fort Myers Beach Fire Department engages in a variety of risk reduction efforts such as:
- Community CPR
- Automated External Defibrillation Training
- First Aid training
- Fire Extinguisher Training
- Residential Safety Inspections
- Smoke Alarm Initiative
- Child care seat inspection and installation
We’d like to thank everyone from the Fire Department crew that allowed us to tag along this week and for showing us that the Fire Department does a lot more than put out fires. Our thanks to:
- Battalion Chief Tom Grow
- Deputy Fire Marshal Jennifer Campbell
- Captain Mike Brown
- Driver/Engineer Paul Russell
- Firefighter Paul Montenegro
- Firefighter Nicholas Lorenzo
- Life Safety Specialist Ben Noelle
- Firefighter Ryan Fischer
- Executive Assistant Fire Chief Ron Martin