Fort Myers, FL, Fire Board Votes to Eliminate Battalion Chief Positions
In a 4-1 vote, the Fort Myers Beach Fire District will move forward with the removal of the on-duty battalion chief position. The vote has firefighters concerned about the safety of the citizens and responding fire crews.
Earlier this month, the board proposed the removal of three battalion chief positions - one for each shift - as the board restructures the department.
"Looking at positions and changing positions there's only one reason, to streamline the organization, make it more effective, make it better, it's not personal, it's business. Period," Fort Myers Beach Fire Control Chair John Bennett said during this week's fire boarding meeting, Fox4Now.com reported.
"I really hate that the fire service is looking at this like a business, like a little bit money here and there. You're forgetting about the primary reason that I think you all become commissioners," Battalion Chief Terry Brunson said during the meeting.
Brunson and Tom Grow will become captains after the Aug. 1 change.
Both are concerned about the safety of firefighters who will not have an outside incident commander. Citizen safety will also be impacted, Brunson said, noting that a command presence is needed for organized incident mitigation.
"You bump me down whatever, I'm the captain, but we get a fire, I'm going in the fire with my two guys, I don't know what's going on outside, I'm not watching the structure, but I don't want someone calling my freaking family telling them that the damn thing fell in on me because nobody was outside watching," Brunson said.
Earlier this month, board members said they would ask battalion chiefs from other communties to command incidents for Fort Myers Beach.
Scott Wirth, the fire chief of Fort Myers Beach, said the two chiefs would get a raise with this change but Brunson shot down that statement.
Wirth said the money the district saves with this change will be used to hire three new firefighters.
"If the (Fort Myers Beach fire) union truly believed that this response model was unsafe, they would be at the board meetings of all eight Fire districts who do not have Battalion Chiefs arguing their case and that simply isn’t happening," Wirth said
More than 70 percent of the operations members of the department signed a proclamation of no confidence again Wirth.
Peter Matthews | Editor-in-Chief/Conference Director
Peter Matthews is the conference director and editor-in-chief of Firehouse. He has worked at Firehouse since 1999, serving in various roles on both Firehouse Magazine and Firehouse.com staffs. He completed an internship with the Rochester, NY, Fire Department and served with fire departments in Rush, NY, and Laurel, MD, and was a lieutenant with the Glenwood Fire Company in Glenwood, NY. Matthews served as photographer for the St. Paul, MN, Fire Department and currently is a photographer for the Fort Worth, TX, Fire Department.
