I hope everyone is staying safe and secure during our rainy season. COVID-19 remains in the foreground of everyone’s thoughts and daily routines. I hope you are all safe and doing well.

I thought I would take a minute to bring everyone up to date on what has been going on around the district this summer.

Our fleet continues to improve both in ability and service. The DOF (Department of Forestry) 5 ton was shipped to Ft. Myers for warranty work for the water tank. We look to have it returned to us in good order by early fall.

Brush 191 has been refitted to fight brush fires as well as provide water supply in lieu of the previous trailer mounted pump. This was funded through a 50/50 grant through DOF and was completed under the budget granted by the BOC (Board of Commissioners).

Marine 191 has been refitted with improved firefighting capability and emergency lighting. This has been put to practical test with boat fires this summer.

We continue to bring new and qualified staff aboard to address our staffing changes. We currently staff 45 personnel, with the addition of a district chaplain, Mr. David Bolme (volunteer).

Chaplain Bolme has been instrumental in support for the staff, and families of patients and victims here in the community. His services have been top notch and invaluable to allow the shift staff to address the incident, without neglecting the family needs.

We were able to tune our weather response plans to better survive and provide rescue and recovery services to our community. The addition of improved action plans and equipment protection, as well as county EOC (Emergency Operations Center) communication during and post event ensure that we can assess our community issues and facilitate requests for recovering sustainability assets in a timely manner to our community.

We are also preparing to transition to receive our “seasonal” residents and we hope that you are all able to travel safely to us and enjoy all that this island has to offer!

We remain on watch and are here night and day to serve. I can say that, on behalf of the men and women on staff, we thank you for your support for us in delivering our best level of service.

Sincerely,

Jason M Martin,

Fire Chief