North Fort Myers Fire & Rescue District sees call numbers spike
The year started during the waning days of COVID and ended following one of the worst storms to hit the area in decades. This on top of all the other things they had to go through every day and the fact that people are moving into the area in droves.
The result was one of the busiest years on record for the North Fort Myers Fire & Rescue District.
The district responded to 12,255 calls for service in 2022, a more than 1,000 call increase over 2021, which had just over 11,000.
This falls in line with the increased calls the district has received over the last several years, driven mainly by population growth, according to John Manson, assistant fire chief.
“Over the last four years, we’ve been increasing every year by about a thousand. That has to do with the population growth in our district,” Manson said. “This year’s increase also had to do with the hurricane.”
The call numbers were fairly consistent throughout the year, except for September and October, when the numbers spiked sharply from the 900 to 1,000 range to 1,262 in September and 1,302 in October before settling back to normal the last two months of the year.
HAZMAT calls also spiked after the storm, up from the teens to 22 in September and 45 in October. False alarms also rose sharply after Ian hit.
The consistency of the numbers shows that those who are now moving to North Fort Myers are here year-round, not just seasonal residents or visitors.
“With the addition of Del Webb and Eagle’s Landing, the mixed use at Merchants Crossing up and running, Magnolia Landing expansion and eventually Paradise Isles, there will be a lot of growth coming,” Manson said.
“This is going on throughout the state. People are building along I-75 and finally the growth of Lee County that was happening in the south has finally reached us,” Manson said.
The vast majority of calls in 2022, about 69 percent, were for rescue and EMS service, with only 206 for actual fire.
The North Fort Myers Fire District goes to the railroad tracks on Bayshore Road to the east, the Cape Coral city line to the west, the Caloosahatchee to the south and the Charlotte County line to the north.
For more information about the North Fort Myers Fire & Rescue District, visit www.northfortmyersfire.com.
To reach CHUCK BALLARO, please email news@breezenewspapers.com