Today Fort Myers
Beach on Estero Island is known as the
world's safest beach and a celebrated
vacation paradise. The enjoyment of
swimming, and shelling on the 7 mile silver
sand beach, or fishing and boating in the
beautiful Gulf of Mexico, is purely all many
people experience. Behind the lines of this
natural beauty there is a cluster of people,
sometimes unknown, but always ready to
assist the community in periods of
unexpected emergencies. To the public they
are simply referred to as the Fort Myers
Beach Firefighters, but to an ill or injured
persons, they are life savers. A house fire,
a heart attack, or broken water main are
within the range of routine business for
this proud organization.
Every day, the Fort Myers Beach Fire
apparatus thunder out of their homes on
Estero and San Carlos Boulevard, sirens
roaring, horns bellowing, in response to a
summons for help, consistently more often,
approximately a half dozen times a day, the
rescue squad and ambulance answer a call for
assistance. Arriving within 3 to 6 life
saving minutes anywhere along Estero, Black,
or San Carlos Islands, and continuing up San
Carlos Boulevard to just south of Pine Ridge
Road, this act of mercy occurred about 2100
times last year. The entire fire and rescue
apparatus is staffed by professional
technicians. All the firefighting/rescue
personnel work 24 hours a day then have 48
hours off-duty, which translates into a 56
hour work week.
Throughout the 1940s an established
fire department was nonexistent on the
island, and the
closest fire
apparatus was essentially the City of Fort
Myers, approximately 20 miles away.
Consequently on Wednesday, June 22, 1949 at
7:30 p.m. at "Jenk's Bar" located on San
Carlos Island, the Beach Volunteer Fire
Department was bom under the auspices of the
Beach Improvement Association, Incorporated.
Twenty-two (22) men were present at this
banquet conference, and Col. T. J. O'Brian,
Ret. was appointed Chairman by T. Bergan Van
Brunt. The fraternity also elected Earl
Howie the first Fire Chief and J. Travis
Cowart, Fire Captain. A voluntary
contributions fund raiser was launched, in
order to acquire miscellaneous fire fighting
equipment. The first equipment purchased was
a small two wheel tree spray pump, tank and
trailer, which was pulled by a borrowed
jeep. These outmoded appliances were housed
at Red Coconut Trailer Park and mustered by
dialing "2541" on the telephone, a prelude
to "911." In April of 1950, an old
international war surplus, fire/crush rescue
truck was purchased from Miami. This truck
with 550 gallons of water storage tank,
hi-pressure pump and ladder was the first
genuine fire apparatus retained by the
Department. The Department maintained this
vehicle until May of 1964, when it was sold
to the Lehigh Acres Volunteer Fire
Department.
