FORT MYERS, Fla. — To keep up with the growing population, Fort Myers Fire is looking to build another fire station.
On Monday night, City Council will hear from community members during public comment before a vote. The vote will either approve or deny the purchase of the land in southeast Fort Myers.
"We’re preparing for that growth and we expect to be able to see it," said Fort Myers Fire Chief Tracy McMillion.
The station would sit on a piece of two acres on Treeline Avenue near Daniels Parkway. In that area, there are several large developments and other housing coming to the market, which means more people could potentially need help from first responders.
"One of the things that we know is there’s many layers to when we try to facilitate and mitigate a fire emergency responses," McMillion said.
Layers, such as how fast a firefighter can get to you. It's an issue they're looking to solve with station 18
"Our numbers are we want to have 18 people available in a high-risk fire. 18 people within 13 minutes," McMillion said.
At the center of the city, McMillion says they can meet that threshold about 80-90% of the time. In the area of the proposed station, with only one serving the large area — station 15 — that number is significantly lower.
"We’re only looking at roughly about 20 to 25 to 30% of the time, which is a daunting number that is not as good," McMillion said.
Station 15, he says, was purchased by Pelican Preserve to serve their area. With the new communities, it has a big load to carry.
"We need to look at the growth and we actually need to time our growth with our ability to provide emergency response," McMillion said.
If City Council approves the $1 million purchase of the land, it could also see a community park and an art hub, McMillion told Fox 4.
The money to buy the land will not come from taxpayers.
"We’re actually utilizing fire impact fees and overage that we actually had through fire permits through construction," McMillion explained.
If the land sale goes through, you could eventually see at least a $2.5 million station to help serve the area. It's still in the early stages and will take some time to get to that point.
"By having our station strategically placed, we’re able to actually increase our level of response, which makes our city safer, which makes you safer as well as potentially lowering your insurance costs," McMillion said.
