Sanibel fire changes date for final hearing
Sanibel Fire & Rescue has moved its final budget hearing for Fiscal Year 2022 from today to Thursday, Sept. 23, at 5:01 p.m. at the fire station on Pine Ridge Road.
“We realized we weren’t going to have a quorum, so we moved the date,” Fire Chief William Briscoe said.
The Fire Commissioners also approved a resolution to adopt and incorporate Chapter 34 of the city’s code of ordinances into district regulations governing open burning such as campfires, commercial food preparation, training fires, prescribed burning of conservation lands and vegetative burning related to land clearing.
Permits will not be needed for cooking or recreational fires. If the fire is not on the property of the person conducting the burning, permission must be obtained and demonstrated.
No outdoor fires are allowed in hazardous fire areas, except by permit. Barbecues, outdoor fireplaces or grills cannot be used to dispose of rubbish, and recreational fires cannot be within 25 feet of a structure or combustible material.
All permitted fires must be supervised, with a garden hose connected to the water supply or a fire extinguisher, and the fire must be put out if a hazardous condition occurs.
Beach campfires are excluded from the ordinance. The motion passed 2-0, with Jerrold Muench absent.
In other business, calls have increased significantly over the past year. In August 2020 there were 120 calls for service, this past August, there were 145, though the number seemed to decrease toward the end of the month as summer tends to be slower.
As far as its internet presence, the number of visits to the website dropped from 20.876 in 2020 to 17.718 in 2021. On Facebook, there fire district received 2,155 likes and 2,381 followers.
The Sanibel Fire & Rescue also had to cover for another district when the entire crew was quarantined. Sanibel was on for two 24-hour shifts when another district was wiped out by COVID. Sanibel, and other fire districts teamed up to fill in.
Also, the three fire stations in Sanibel had their refrigerators replaced after one in one station broke down. The items were budgeted.
The pump truck is getting repaired and should be back in service, while all people in the department have been trained to use the fire boat.