VANDY MAJOR

Hurricane Ian brought unimagined destruction to Fort Myers Beach, killing 16 people, leaving hundreds of buildings destroyed and testing the resilience of residents and business owners. 

Those who have survived the disaster and are staying to rebuild know there will be another hurricane. Florida has been hit with a major hurricane on average at least every other year for the past two decades and Fort Myers Beach has seen three of those. 

Fort Myers Beach Fire Chief Scott Wirth, town officials and residents gave their thoughts on what was learned from Hurricane Ian, some advice they have for fellow neighbors for the next hurricane, and other ideas for preparing for the next storm. 

For the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District, it is their job to prepare for the worst possible outcomes. The department recently updated is hurricane preparedness guide available on its website at https://www.fmbfirefl.gov/files/e5d1e86a7/FMBFD-Hurricane-Preparedness-Guide+-+2023.pdf. The department lost Station 31 at 3043 Estero Boulevard due to damage from Hurricane Ian. Its other stations at Voorhis St and Lenell Road survived.  

“We are working through repairs and restoration on all three of these facilities,” Fort Myers Beach Fire Chief Scott Wirth said. “Like everybody else in the community, we are experiencing delays with long-lead times for materials and the availability of qualified and properly licensed contractors.”

The department has also been working on longstanding plans to replace Station 31 with a new station at the former Topps Supermarket lot adjacent to town hall.  

“For our folks at Fort Myers Beach Fire, I am proud of every one of my members, their resiliency and fortitude in delivering service to the community has been inspiring,” Wirth said. 

“A key point I would like to highlight is the order in which the island will reopen should we have another storm like Hurricane Ian,” Wirth said. “Tensions were high in the days after the storm when residents wanted to access and secure their properties. Their concerns were valid and emergency services did everything possible to get citizens back to their properties as timely as possible. However, we must assure that the search and rescue of victims, plus the recovery of human remains, is completed before allowing the public to drive over and through debris to get to their properties. We must also assure that hazards, such as live power lines and leaking propane/natural gas lines are secured as well.” 

Cindy and Steve Johnson, who stuck it out on Fort Myers Beach and through Hurricane Ian and the war-like aftermath, provided the following three pieces of advice for residents for the next hurricane: 

1. Remove your most valued possessions from your home. 

2. Do not compromise on your hurricane preparation plan. 

3. Remove your vehicles and boat from harm’s way. 

For the Town of Fort Myers Beach, the Johnsons said the town should: 

1. Implement the Hurricane Pass program as intended immediately.   

2. Provide increased security for the Town’s property and business owners.   

3. Provide support for property and business owners to rebuild. 

“We’ve all learned lessons from Hurricane Ian and will be ready for the next Hurricane,” the Johnsons stated in an email. 

Town of Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt said he would like to see new communications equipment and a more innovative re-entry plan to deal with the next hurricane. 

“I would like to see advanced communications equipment installed in the new elevated Town Hall building which would be coupled with a generator that is also secured,” Atterholt said. “This needs to be paired with a communications plan that seeks to quickly get information out to the public on re-entry policy as well as search and rescue efforts.” 

Fort Myers Beach resident Jennifer Rusk suggested the town consider an emergency air raid siren to warn residents of evacuation orders for a hurricane. Rusk saw the sirens at work in the Midwest ahead of tornado warnings, and suggested the town could consider a similar system with the sirens going off perhaps every hour to remind residents and visitors of the hurricane. 

“I wonder if we had had emergency air raid sirens going off as soon as the mandatory evacuation was put into place how many people would’ve stayed? I’ve asked people who stayed and they said they would’ve been so annoyed they probably would’ve left,” Rusk said. Rusk said sirens have been suggested before for the town during discussions about putting them in place at Bay Oaks Recreational Campus.

“The topic came up a few years ago for sirens during lightning,” she said. 

Rusk said sirens would remind residents to check the news for hurricane warnings.   

“I think people became too complacent before Ian,” Rusk said. “People were drinking at the bars the night before.” Fort Myers Beach Councilman Bill Veach said one thing residents of Fort Myers Beach residents can consider doing to prepare for a future hurricane is lifting their home through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. The program can provide residents up to $150,000 for the costs, Veach said. 

Hurricane Ian has “shown us the risk of remaining on the island,” Veach said. “Most of us have things that we wished we had taken, or preparations that we wished we would have taken for Ian. Now is the time to plan for the upcoming season. Make a list of what you want to take, get organized. Many of our houses are vulnerable to storms, even relatively minor storms can make short work on tarps and plastic sheets.” 

Hurricane pass and re-entry 

For years on Fort Myers Beach, hurricane passes were used by residents and businesses to get back on the island after a hurricane. After serious hurricanes, when passage over the Matanzas Pass Bridge was closed off, hurricane passes allowed residents to get back to their homes and business  owners to get back to their properties to assess the damage and start the recovery process. 

Last year was a bit different. While residents and business owners were initially allowed back on the island a couple days after the storm, access was closed off for several days as recovery operations continued to find those missing. 

A week after the storm, access for residents returned on a limited basis with controls over how residents could re-enter before the public was ultimately allowed back on the island though with a limited curfew. Responsibility for who was in charge of the differing responses and closing and opening of the island was not clear. The town pointed to the county, which pointed to the town, which pointed to the fire department and Sheriff’s Office, which pointed back to the town and county. 

As it stands at the writing of this article in April, a clearer picture does not exist about how re-entry would work in another hurricane this year. The town hasn’t updated its hurricane passes in two years. 

“Currently, we do not have any comment on the hurricane passes for this upcoming year,” Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District Fire Official Jennifer Campbell said. “We will continue to work with the Town and coordinate efforts for response on what the best needs are, based on the event.” 

Fort Myers Beach Mayor Dan Allers said “We are scheduling meetings with the Fire Department to discuss action plans going forward. It will be a round table type discussion about what we have learned and best practices going forward.” 


Allers said the dates for those meetings have not yet been set. 

“We just discussed it the other day,” he stated. 

In an email, Cindy and Steve Johnson wrote “In the first several days post-Ian, people were saved because residents, familiar with their own neighborhoods were present.  These same residents were being pressured to leave the island. The Hurricane Pass program was not utilized or enforced and many people made it onto the island to take advantage of the situation.” 

“We must implement an innovative re-entry plan that allows residents and businesses to quickly return to the island to secure their property and at the same time does not interfere with the search and rescue efforts, Fort Myers Beach Vice Mayor Jim Atterholt said. “This will need to be 24-7 collaboration between the town, county, state and federal public safety and law enforcement entities. This must be accompanied by an aggressive and proactive communications strategy with the public. Implementing a bold re-entry and communications plan will go along way in improving our response to the next hurricane.”