Collier firefighters experience delay due to map issues

Its been two days since Golden Gate Estates resident Ray Remacks had to call 911 for his wife who was experiencing a medical episode.

First responders with the North Collier Fire Rescue District received the call at 6:23 p.m. Wednesday and arrived at 6:40 p.m.

The drive was only supposed to take five minutes, but the firefighters hit a roadblock after realizing their maps were wrong.

“Even though our truck was blocked one of our firefighters got out, crossed the gate, and approached the house by foot while the trucks backed out and tried to reroute themselves,” Deputy Chief Jorge Aguilera said.

Remacks, a retired firefighter from the very station the help came from, was concerned as he believed crews should have had a backup map.

“They should’ve known the area, that’s why I’m disappointed,” Remacks said.

In this day and age, keeping up with the growth of Collier County and the rural landscape of Golden Gate Estates makes things difficult, the fire district said.

“We understand he’s upset and we can’t say it didn’t happen because it did, there was a delay we’ve identified why and we fixed it,” Aguilera said.

The fire district has already updated the maps and surveyed the area to look for other unique road blocks as well.

Fire officials said the best way to get the quickest response time is to give as much information as possible to dispatch.