Bonita fire commissioner abandons proposal to arm firefighters

BONITA SPRINGS, Fla.- A plan to arm firefighters with weapons got shot down before even being proposed.

Bonita Springs Fire cCommissioner Fred Forbes had a plan for military weapons to be inside fire trucks but now he says he’s shifted his focus acquiring more ambulances.

“At some point down the future, they may want to look at it. At this point, we got to put our priorities on doing these things,” said Forbes. “Really what changed my mind primarily was through a budget hearing. We looked at all the things that the fire district is doing, reviewed the fact in mind that for the past year since I’ve been on the fire commission, I’ve been engaged in trying to get our fire district ambulance service as well as trying to get more ambulances,” said Forbes.

When Forbes originally brought up the idea for firefighters to have weapons, he cited recent violence toward first responders. Now he says he’s not sure it’s an issue.

“Realistically in Bonita Springs, it’s not a problem here. And if we ever look at that, it would only be to develop plans, but right now we’ve gotta do these other things. That’s what our priority is,” said Forbes.

Right now, Bonita has two full-time ambulances and one part-time ambulance. Forbes is pushing for at least two more full-time ambulances.