We know the weather can change in a second. It can go from a blue sky to a storm with lightning and strong winds.
Now, a new WeatherSTEM station at the firehouse lets firefighters know if it's safe for them to respond to your calls for help.
The North Fort Myers fire station just installed a brand-new WeatherSTEM station. It delivers powerful, lifesaving information about storms and shifting weather patterns in your neighborhood.
"Understanding that these dangers that come along with some of our weather is, is serious, and hopefully they can have that real-time data to help them respond to those, you know, emergencies or those disasters a little bit more efficiently," said Christi Fulton with the North Fort Myers Fire District.
The new station was a grant that Lee County Emergency Services received.
These stations also feature live camera views and sensors that track wind speed and direction. These are key details firefighters keep a close eye on during emergencies. Like many departments, North Fort Myers Fire takes its trucks off the road when sustained winds hit 45 mph to avoid damage and keep crews safe.
"If we're observing real-time data on this side of the county, we might have an extra 30 minutes on the road that we can respond to those emergency calls, which, you know, 30 minutes is a lot of time. That's a lot of emergency calls that we could be responding to and helping our community. So the longer we keep trucks on the road, the more efficiency we can give our community, and that's what we're after," said Fulton.
The public trusts that this new system will help keep first responders safe. A critical tool when every second counts.
"Anything that makes their job safer and easier. I'm all for it. We need to see more investment in those areas," said North Fort Myers resident Matt Lieber.
"Knowledge is power, and the more information we can have, the better we can serve," said Fulton.
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