Everyone loves when something new opens up on Fort Myers Beach after the beating the island took from Hurricane Ian. Over 300 people attended the ribbon-cutting open house ceremony for the brand new fire house at 2545 Estero Boulevard.
Fire Chief Scott Wirth hosted the event and he was like a proud pappa. Wirth thanked the Fire District Commissioners, elected officials, residents, visitors, his staff, and, of course, his team of firefighters and paramedics that arrive to a call on Fort Myers Beach in 6 minutes or less. Wirth took us on a tour of the new building which you can watch HERE.
The Fire District broke ground on the new 13,000 square foot, $11 million facility in October of 2024. They purchased the former Topps Supermarket property in early 2019 for $4 million hoping to build a new state-of-the-art facility and headquarters on that property by 2024. Hurricane Ian changed everything.
The back half of the Topps lot was used as a construction site while the new station was being built. That piece of property in the back will now be put up for sale. Back in 2024 it was appraised at $5.7 million.
You can watch the ribbon cutting ceremony HERE.
The Fire District also purchased a 1.75 acre piece of property just off the island on Shrimp Boat Lane (next to the Key West Express) for $3.4 million. That location will eventually be used as the district’s administration building and training tower. The construction of that building will be paid for by the eventual sale of the back half of the Topps property.