Fire Control District begins initiative with homeowners
The Captiva Island Fire Control District has begun a new initiative that addresses driveway access, which prevents their trucks from accessing property.
Fire Chief Jeff Pawul said a lot of people on the south end of the island have either gates at the front of their driveways or vegetation. He said they are working with property owners on a purely voluntary basis, as it may be possible that someone does not know the fire trucks cannot fit and get through the gate.
The Captiva Island Fire Control District plans on going property by property to reach out to the property owners and share what options they may have.
“There is a lot of turnover on properties, rentals. Owners may not be aware,” he told the Captiva Community Panel members Tuesday morning.
President Jay Brown asked if they have access to gate codes, which Pawul said they used to maintain a list.
“The security of us trying to maintain a list is too impractical,” Pawul said, due to the property turnover.
With that said there are measures property owners can take, such as putting a module on their gate, which is a master key allowing the fire district to enter.
“A module on an electronic gate is similar to a garage door opener. We have access to your property,” Pawul said.
He shared with the panel that once they identify more issues, more options will be shared, which the panel can forward to their members just in case they do not have good contact information.
Another topic during his update addressed the panel’s question regarding the new helicopter landing area. The movement has been very slow as they are working with all the relative state and county agencies that deals with mangroves.
Pawul said the actual helicopter is run by the county, so they are working with Lee County to formalize a solution.
Currently there is a temporary landing area on Captiva Drive in a vacant residential lot. When the helicopter landed, Pawul said it kicked up quite a bit of dust and they had to block it off with their trucks as they had to treat it as a dust storm.
“It’s not ideal.” he said.
Pawul said they do not have anything permanent, as almost every option disturbs mangroves.
The update also included information about the Captiva Island Fire Control District partnering with the Pink Heals organization, a national charitable foundation that started out with focusing on cancer and has since evolved to other issues.
“People just need support to bring communities together,” he said.
During the month of October the Captiva Island Fire Control District will be selling T-shirts for $20, with 100 percent of the proceeds going towards charity. The T-shirts will have the Captiva Island Fire Control District logo on the front and Pink Heals on the back and can be purchased at the station.
During the month of October, Pawul said his guys will either be wearing a dark gray shirt with pink lettering, or pink shirt with gray lettering.
“We are excited to help them and do our part,” he said.