While some have suggested taking on volunteers to help fight fires in Lehigh, Chief Don Adams says he doesn’t think it is the direction that Lehigh should be looking at.

“Volunteers at different departments across the nation are being let go. In many community, there just isn’t the manpower and the interest and those who may be interested in volunteering don’t have the time for required extensive training,” Adams said.

Since the topic of volunteers has been brought up, nobody has appeared at any of the fire board meetings, which are held monthly, to offer to volunteer.

Adams was forced to lay off 37 firefighters this past August because of the lack of tax income coming to the department. He was having to take large amounts of a million dollar surplus to keep the department running. One firefighter returned because he had been a veteran and that left 36 firefighters without jobs and several in the administrative department including clerks and a public information officer, who was not a firefighter.

The chief agreed to an interview over the holidays about the subject of volunteers.

Since the fire board in December voted 3 – 2 to not transfer the local ambulance service over to the county so those employees, all trained in firefighting, could be put on engines, he has no choice but to work with two men on a fire truck when fires erupt.

“I prayed over and over about my decision, but three on the board didn’t agree. I used to lay awake at night worrying. I offered the board my best advice, but the 3 to 2 vote ended it and it won’t come up again unless the board puts it on the agenda,” he said.

Thee decades ago, the people of the small community of Lehigh raised money to buy an ambulance to serve the people of Lehigh. Roads were narrow and Lehigh residents wanted a way to get people with emergencies to the hospital in Fort Myers in addition to the local hospital. Since then Colonial Blvd. has been constructed and has been widened. Martin Luther King Blvd., the old Anderson Rd. has been widened and county ambulances can serve the entire county. Also, by having ambulance service in Lehigh, it mean income to the department despite the large amounts of write-offs at the end of the year because bills can not be collected.

“It’s Florida law that the Lee County EMS service the whole of Lee County,” Adams said.

And taxpayers in Lehigh have paid a million dollars to maintain Lee County’s EMS Service through their taxes they pay the county.

At the last meeting in December, the County EMS Director, John Wilson, assured the board that it could serve Lehigh Acres like it does the rest of the county.

Wilson assured members that ambulances would strategically be placed in Lehigh as they are every day throughout the county.

“We change where we put ambulances daily and throughout the day so we can meet the requirements of the demand,” Wilson said. He told the board that county ambulance service had an 8-minute 59 second response time to calls. Lee County EMS would even pay for the space in fire stations in Lehigh.

But there may be a deeper reason why some of the members voted to retain ambulance service. Commissioner Ralph Hemingway brought up the topic of finances, citing the profits that the fire department in Lehigh makes on ambulance service, to the tune of around $700,000 a year.

Chief Adams said he believes the lives of his personnel and the lives of Lehigh residents are more important.

“The dry season is approaching. In fact, we have already had red flag warnings, meaning the increasing danger of wildfires.

“Without at least three men on a truck, it will be easier to contain fires than having less. And also having less personnel on the truck may cause one to be injured or even to lose their life.

“This has been a worry of mine and I have lost sleep over it,” Adams said. “But now, I think I can sleep because after several times of telling the board members how I feel, I can’t change their minds,” the chief said.

In the three to two vote, the three included Lehigh residents David Adams, Julie Barrett and Ralph Hemingway. The two who voted to transfer the ambulance service were Lehigh residents Joel Guzman and Jeff Berndt, both professional fire fighters in another fire district. They agreed with the chief’s assessment of the dangers of having less personnel on fire trucks in dangerous fires.

At the meeting, the chief said that due to less fire personnel in nearby communities, the danger is serious.

Also, Adams told The Citizen that a Lehigh resident had accepted an offer to act as the department’s volunteer public and education officer, a position that was lost when the layoff occurred.

“I asked this gentleman if he would like to give of his time to be our PIO … but with all the negativity from one person in the community, Charlie Robbins has asked that he not be considered,” the chief said. Robbins often shows up at fires to take photographs. The chief said that if he was given a radio to keep up with reports of locations and any other equipment, the person who objected to him, would just continue to object.

“We just don’t need the negativity,” the chief said.

Adams said that because of the small businesses in Lehigh, it was doubtful that there would be any to offer to become volunteers. At many places, the business would have to shut down if a volunteer had to be called out.

And Adams said today’s extensive training, which is required by law, is all together different than it was several years ago.

“They would have to spend time in the fire stations as part of the training. They would have to take additional extensive training in handling hazardous materials. And there are required firefighting courses.

“The training is stringent and time consuming,” Adams said.

“We need to reopen the fire station at Milwaukee and Bell boulevards. Those people, including a high school there are at risk without having that department open,” the chief said.

“If we had transferred the ambulance service to the county, we could have re-opened that station and manned it,” the chief said.

During the December meeting, Commissioner Joel Guzman over and over again tried to convince Hemingway that Station 105 could be reopened if the ambulance service had been transferred.

“And we are already paying the county to do the job, Mr. Hemingway,” Guzman said.

But in the end three civilian members said no and the two professional firefighters on the board voted to transfer.

“I just don’t understand why the three couldn’t see that it would make Lehigh safer to have more people on our fire equipment and that we could reopen Station 105.

“State law requires there be a central ambulance service to serve the county and John Wilson assured us that Lehigh could be covered well. I just hope we don’t have any tragedies because of this decision,” the chief said.

Adams said he has had several calls from people who said they agreed with his advice to the fire board. During the last meeting two of the three who voted no, never mentioned what people have said to them. However, Hemingway said people at the supermarket where he shops always walk up to him and say he should not let the ambulance service be transferred. He repeats those remarks at every meeting when the discussion of ambulance service comes up.