Firefighters with local ties endure struggle at Ian's ground zero

Oct. 3—Hurricane Ian spared the Golden Isles when it passed here Thursday night, but acting Glynn County Fire Chief Vincent "Vinnie" DiCristofalo's struggles with the devastating storm have only just begun.

While he busied himself Wednesday safeguarding Glynn Countians in advance of Ian's local arrival, his wife and daughter were enduring the category 4 hurricane's unbridled wrath on Florida's Southwestern Coast. The storm left an inch of rain inside the first floor of the family's home in Lee County. Floodwaters destroyed both vehicles in the home's garage.

After crossing all the I's and dotting all the T's in the county fire-rescue department's Hurricane Ian preparation and disaster response plan, DiCristofalo left before noon Thursday to be with wife Pamela and daughter Natalie, a freshman at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Fla.

Despite having no power, no vehicles and flood damage to the first floor of their home, DiCristofalo considered himself lucky. He does have a generator, a flock of friendly neighbors and the comfort of knowing Pamela and Natalie are safe and sound.

"We're lucky," DiCristofalo told The News, speaking via spotty cell phone service in the Fort Myers, Fla., area. "Everything we lost can be replaced. There are a lot of people here going through a lot worse."

DiCristofalo is not the only local firefighter who escaped serious consequences. Randy "R.K." Jordan, DiCristofalo's firefighting mentor in Glynn County as well as in southwest Florida, was at home in Fort Myers with his wife when Ian struck Wednesday. Jordan, who retired in July after serving as Glynn County's fire chief for six years, said his only concern now is clearing downed trees from the yard and having power restored.

"We happen to be in Fort Myers now, at our home here," Jordan told The News. "We were extremely lucky. We built on high ground. It was built to hurricane codes and I shuttered up in advance. It's going to impact our lives, most definitely. But at this time, it is just an inconvenience."

Both men are lamenting the fate of nearby Fort Myers Beach, one of several barrier island communities that were all but obliterated when Ian made landfall. Jordan served for 15 years at the Fort Myers Beach Fire Control District before spending as many years as assistant fire chief in Fort Myers. Jordan left Fort Myers to take the role of Glynn County's fire chief in 2016.

He hired DiCristofalo as his assistant fire chief earlier this summer. DiCristofalo was named acting fire chief after Jordan's sudden retirement in late July.

DiCristofalo also served under Jordan at Fort Myers Beach's fire department and at the Fort Myers Fire Department.

DiCristofalo had been acting Fort Myers fire chief before coming to Glynn County.

Both men are in transition between here and there. Pamela DiCristofalo was still living at their Lee County home and working as a pharmacist in Fort Myers while her husband sought a permanent residence here in Glynn County. Jordan and his wife Donna close on the sale of their Glynn County home next month.

But both were at their home in Fort Myers when Ian came ashore with deadly force Wednesday. His son, Chris Jordan, daughter-in-law, Amanda, and grandson Sylas, 6, also rode out Ian in the Fort Myers area.

The several hurricanes and tropical storms Jordan has endured over the years could not prepare him for the ferocity of Ian.

"We stayed in place, we felt confident with the home," Jordan said. "This is the third hurricane our home's been through, including Charlie and Wilma. But I will say, it was a scary scary feeling."

Fort Myers Beach is 90 percent destroyed, by some news accounts. Coast Guard and local fire-rescue outfits continue rescue operations on Fort Myers Beach and the other barrier islands, where an untold number of folks remain stranded after a large section of the causeway washed out during Ian.

"That community has been decimated," DiCristofalo said. "You've seen the news reports."

"It's like having your own home torn up," Jordan said of the damage to Fort Myers Beach. "I spent so many years there. And, essentially, it's not even there anymore."

Ian dumped 3 feet of water in DiCristofalo's Lee County home, engulfing the two vehicles and flooding the home's first floor. But the water receded quickly, and the family has made do with upstairs accommodations. On Friday, DiCristofalo took a razor to soggy carpet in the first-floor bedroom. The bare floor dried quickly, eliminating the potential for harmful mold and bacteria.

Meanwhile, the coffee maker running on their generator has attracted a lot of neighbors, he said. Area grocery stores are slowly reopening, offering badly needed food and basic necessities. Everyone is lending a hand, offering what little they have.

"We're all just going house to house, seeing if other people need help," DiCristofalo said. "We started a morning coffee group in our driveway. We're helping each other and getting to know each other better."

Jordan hopes his friends on St. Simons Island and other coastal areas in the Golden Isles will take heed when and if Glynn County officials ever have to call for a mandatory evacuation.

"The people who are die-hard about wanting the stay on St. Simons Island and places like that, they need to learn a lesson from what happened on Sanibel (Island) and Fort Myers Beach and Captiva (Island)," he said. "Officials do not issue evacuations lightly."

After ensuring that the county fire-rescue department was prepared for Ian's impact, DiCristofalo departed with county manager Bill Fallon's blessing to be at his wife and daughter's side in Florida. The support from folks up here in Glynn County is making the ordeal down there easier to bear, he said.

"Mr. Fallon and the county have been nothing but supportive," he said. "There's a real sense of family working with Glynn County. And I'm proud to be a member of that family."