Do you have a questions for us? Email AskFD@Bonitafire.org

1. Why does a fire truck and an ambulance both show up on the same scene? Isn’t this a duplication of services?

Answer: Lee County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is a completely different entity from the fire departments in Lee County. In Bonita Springs, there are five stations placed in different areas of Bonita to assure that we can cover our entire district. Housed in three of those five stations, are one ambulance unit and two EMS personnel, usually a trained paramedic and emergency medical technician (EMT).

This meaning, if there was a medical call in Station One’s zone, off of Old 41, the ambulance would have to respond from our closest station, which would be Station Two off of Mango Drive and Bonita Beach. Therefore, the fire engine or rescue vehicle would arrive before the ambulance and would begin life support as to not waste valuable minutes to save the patient’s life. Once the ambulance arrives, all medical services are taken over by the paramedic and EMT from Lee County EMS and if necessary, the patient is transported to a hospital.

The men and women on your fire engines can perform the same services with the same medications and equipment as your ambulance, but only the ambulance can transport the patient. 

In addition, many times an incident, such as a cardiac arrest, will require more than just two paramedics or EMT’s to assist the patient. In that case, additional help is required to affectively mitigate the situation. Lifting help, moving about stairs, and

4. How can local fire department ratings affect my homeowner’s insurance cost?

Answer: There are quite a few regulations that govern the fire service. An explanation of these may help explain how BSFD is saving you money.

The National Fire Protection Association- the NFPA was formed in 1896 by a group of insurance firm representatives with the stated purpose of standardizing the new and burgeoning market of fire sprinkler systems. Today, headquartered in Massachusetts, the NFPA oversees the development and maintenance of more than 300 codes and standards. The codes are accepted as a professional standard by which fire departments are measured; as well the standards are recognized by courts as such. Bonita Springs Fire-Rescue attempts to comply with as much as possible based upon the scope, complexity and financial considerations of these industry standards and uses them as a guide in every aspect of our operation.

The Insurance Service Office- the ISO grades each community’s fire service on its ability to fight fires, using the NFPA professional standards and others, and assigns a rating. A rating of one is the highest grade with 10 being the lowest, which represents less than the minimum recognized protection. The grading is based on a Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS), which was developed by ISO years ago and now is widely recognized throughout the country. The FSRS is essentially a survey that assesses the available public firefighting facilities. The basic components of the survey are communications, water supply, and equipment, including type of engines and ladder companies, training, fire station location, and manpower at the fire department. The FSRS covers features that determine a community’s ability to control fire damage.

assisting the patient onto the stretcher are also reasons that additional trained professionals will be needed.

2. Why is Bonita Springs ladder truck stationed at Station One instead of Station Two like is has been in the past? Shouldn’t it be at Station Five in Bonita Bay? How many times does BSFD use the ladder truck and when will you buy the new truck?

Answer: Our ladder truck is currently stationed at our Station One on Old 41 in Bonita, as this is the most centrally located fire station in our district at this time. We have several high-rise buildings in Bonita Springs located from Pelican Landing through Bonita Bay and out to Hickory Blvd. along the coast. We try to keep the ladder truck in the center of this area which will ensure the quickest response possible.

In addition to this effort, we have automatic mutual-aid agreements with North Naples Fire Department, Fort Myers Beach Fire Department and Estero Fire Department and can utilize their apparatus when needed.

Our plan for the future of BSFD Station Five is to build a permanent station at West Terry and US-41. After construction is complete, we will then move the ladder truck to this station.  Ladder 21 is used for all structure fires and alarm activations, and is also used as a back up Advanced Life Support engine for medical calls, as well as a back up on vehicle accidents. Our ladder truck is useful not only for rescue capabilities at high-rise structure fires, but as an elevated water stream at all structure fires. In 2007, Ladder 21 responded to over 735 calls.

Our current ladder truck was purchased in 1989, has over 118,000 miles on it and is due for replacement in 2009.

The Bonita Springs Fire Control and Rescue District- our services are ranked at Class Three, in the urban areas and Class Nine in the very few areas not serviced with fire hydrants. The Class Three puts Bonita Springs FD among the top 10 percent of the over 33,000 communities in the United States in terms of ISO ratings, saving the average homeowner between 10 to 20% on their insurance rates. By classifying a fire department’s ability to suppress fires, ISO helps the community evaluate its public fire protection services and helps to secure lower fire insurance premiums for homeowners and businesses.

To Clarify, ISO, using the national standards set forth from NFPA, determines for the insurance industry the amount of insurance premiums to collect from businesses and homeowners in a specific community, based on the local fire department’s ability to mitigate fire loss for that particular insurance company. The better the fire department-the lower the insurance cost to the homeowner. Additionally, Bonita Springs Fire Rescue will have to begin looking at standards that will be published by the Center for Public Safety Excellence as they relate to the Fire Service.

As always, the Bonita Springs Fire Control and Rescue District is open for inspection to you, our citizens, at any time you wish to come by. 

  5. I have noticed a great amount of changes at the fire station. Can you explain how these are beneficial to me, a resident and tax-payer?

Answer: In recent years change has become prominent in all areas of government, from agencies in Tallahassee to small independent taxing districts, serving the citizens of Florida. The Bonita Springs Fire Control and Rescue District has also worked to streamline our operations in order to reduce the burden on tax payers. However, because we are a public

3. We have been told that our condo’s alarm panels require a yearly UL inspection in addition to all its other inspection requirements. What do you know about this requirement?

Answer: This type of residential building does have three separate built-in fire protection/detection systems. The three systems are fire sprinklers, a fire alarm system, and smoke alarms.

Fire Sprinklers- The sprinkler system in your building was designed in accordance with the National Fire Protection Association Standard for fire sprinklers, and installation was inspected by the fire department during construction. After the final acceptance test, the sprinkler system needs to be inspected and tested periodically. The frequency of inspections can be monthly, quarterly and annually in some cases. Under Florida Law only a licensed Fire Protection Contractor I or II is able to perform inspections on fire sprinkler systems.

Fire Alarm System- There is only two reasons why your building would have a fire alarm control panel (FACP). If a building is three or more stories in height, or has more than 11 dwelling units, a fire alarm system is required. This type of building would have a notification speaker(s) within each dwelling unit, and horn/strobes and manual pull stations on the exterior of the building. The second reason for a fire alarm control panel is that it is required by the Florida Building Code. The code requires fire sprinklers systems to be supervised electronically. This means monitoring the integrity of control valves in the ON position, and flow switches for water flow. In Lee County, all fire alarm control panels installed only for monitoring fire sprinkler systems are required to be “Central Station Service”. The National Fire Alarm Code requires a Central Station Service to be either placarded or certificated by a listed testing laboratory; i.e. Factory Mutual, UL. The fire code does require your fire alarm system to be inspected and tested annually.

Some of the recent changes that we have made had a profound affect on our organization, along with saving money. The following is a brief synopsis of some of these changes:

Early retirement was offered to senior members of the department including administrative staff, fire prevention personnel and firefighters. Of the 29 employees who were eligible, 13 accepted the option including a majority of the chief officers. It is estimated that the fire district will save a considerable amount annually as a result of this action. The vacant positions were filled through in-house promotions and no new employees were hired. In order to back-fill open positions, we streamlined our operations by combining job functions and creatively moving personnel as needed.

The district is now using smaller rescue trucks, with fewer personnel, instead of large fire trucks when responding to medical calls. This reduces the cost and wear and tear on the larger trucks. The rescue units are Ford pick-up truck chassis manned with two firefighter paramedics. This enabled us to provide even more efficient service to our residents.

The district recently purchased two new trucks, as our aging vehicles were beginning to become a financial burden and in purchasing the two new fire engines, we are able to sell three aging full-size fire trucks. This will equate to having one less truck in fleet while still providing the same level of service.

An in-house maintenance program was established for minor repairs. Instead of out-sourcing this work, specially trained firefighters are now able to address problems while they are on duty. Both time and money can be saved with this program.

Many small changes have taken place with Bonita Springs Fire Control and Rescue District in order to streamline our operations and

Smoke Alarms- These are the single-station smoke alarms found throughout your home. These smoke alarms are located in every sleeping room, and immediate vicinity of sleeping areas. The smoke Alarms are wired into the home’s electrical system, and include battery back-up in case of power outages. The smoke alarms are interconnected to each other within your home, and all work together when one detects smoke. The smoke alarms within your home are not connected to the building’s fire alarm system, so you need to dial 911 if there is a fire within your home. The testing and maintenance for these smoke alarms are you and your neighbors’ responsibility. Their batteries should be changed twice a year and vacuumed for small bugs that could interfere with their efficiency.

on the local fire department’s ability to mitigate fire loss for that particular insurance company. The better the fire department-the lower the insurance cost to the homeowner. Additionally, Bonita Springs Fire Rescue will have to begin looking at standards that will be published by the Center for Public Safety Excellence as they relate to the Fire Service.