Fires

Ten outside fires of a suspicious origin in the northern section of the Lehigh Acres Fire Control and Rescue District led to an investigation and a request for residents to watch for possible related activities.

The South Florida Water Management District plans to conduct a 200-acre prescribed burn in the Corkscrew Regional Ecosystem Watershed (CREW) Management Area in Lee County today, Wednesday, May 1.

FEMA opened applications for its Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response (SAFER) grant program last week.The SAFER grant helps fire departments pay their firefighters in order to maintain industry standard staffing 24 hours a day. It offers $360 million directly to fire departments across the nation, and can be used only to pay personnel.Grants are awarded based on an organization’s financial need. Bayshore Fire Rescue, which mostly serves Northeast Lee County, has been a long-time recipient.

Local Red Cross volunteers and staff visited 31 homes in the Harlem Heights community recently and successfully educated 103 residents on the importance of fire safety and the steps they should take in case they experience a home fire.

A long running effort to permanently boost pay for thousands of federal wildland firefighters is finally gaining traction in Congress but fire managers warn it could be too little too late.

President Joe Biden on Monday told survivors of Hawaii’s wildfires that the nation “grieves with you” and promised that the federal government will help “for as long as it takes” Maui to recover from damage caused by the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.

A dangerous mix of conditions appear to have worsened the raging wildfires engulfing the island of Maui, where at least six people were killed and a historic tourist town was devastated.

Temporary trail closures are in effect to promote visitor safety during prescribed fire activity currently being conducted and continuing through June 18, 2023. During the closure all recreational use including off-road vehicles, hiking, camping, hunting and commercial activities are prohibited in the designated areas.

A fire that caused damage to an unoccupied condominium building along Estero Boulevard in Fort Myers Beach Saturday remains under investigation.

The blaze at the unoccupied building happened shortly after 12:30 p.m. Saturday.