Islands fire districts, partners respond to house fire
An island home has been deemed a total loss and uninhabitable as a result of a fire last week.
On June 22 at about 3:30 p.m., the Sanibel Fire and Rescue District received a call for a smoke investigation at the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge with no further details provided.
Fire Chief Kevin Barbot reported that Station 172 on Sanibel-Captiva Road responded.
“Our crews pulled out and immediately saw black smoke coming from a neighborhood a couple of blocks away,” he said, explaining that they pinpointed the correct fire location on Brainard Bayou Road and immediately notified their team and partner agencies that it was a working structure fire instead.
“We upgraded our response to have the appropriate assets,” Barbot added.
He explained that fewer assets respond to a smoke investigation versus if it is a structure fire.
The location was a two-story single-family residence.
“We had heavy fire in the attic, which makes it difficult to attack from the interior because we have to keep our guys’ safety at the forefront,” Barbot said, explaining that they have to knock down the fire before they can enter the structure in these situations.
“Any time fire spreads into the attic and specifically from side to side in the home, so across the entire attic, it makes it just that more difficult for us to attack the fire and get it knocked down,” he added.
The Captiva Island Fire Control District responded to the scene to assist, as well as the Iona-McGregor Fire District, South Trail Fire & Rescue District, Sanibel Police Department and Lee County EMS.
Captiva Fire Chief Jeff Pawul reported that when his crew arrived, one was assigned to search and rescue to ensure that there were no victims and the other established a water supply to a hydrant.
“The initial search crew had to exit once the ceiling collapsed because the trusses were compromised at that point,” he said, adding that the homeowner confirmed about the same time that no one was inside.
Firefighters transitioned to exterior control of the fire.
“It took about an hour to comfortably say the fire was under control,” Barbot said.
They called it completely extinguished another hour and a half later.
There were no reported injuries nor hospital transports.
“It was a very hot day,” he said, explaining that the crews had to rotate and stay hydrated because of the conditions. “We needed to make sure that we swapped out the crews every 10 or 15 minutes.”
“It was definitely hot, it was humid. It’s hard dirty work,” Pawul said. “Structure fires in Southwest Florida are definitely tough and challenging in this heat.”
“But that’s something that our guys train for on a daily basis to acclimate themselves to,” he added. “Everybody there, I think, did a good job of that — it was quite the effort and undertaking.”
The fire investigation found the cause of the fire as underdetermined.
“We could not find the ignition source,” Barbot said.
He reported that the home will be a total loss and deemed unsafe.
The American Red Cross was contacted to assist the homeowner.
“It’s an unfortunate situation for the family,” Pawul said.
Barbot noted that the crews were able to keep the roof intact and prevent it from collapsing, so the homeowners will be able to recover personal belongings that could get wet, which may be a lot.
“I think our crews did a phenomenal job in making sure the home didn’t come down,” he said.