El Jobean fishing pier closes due to fire; Charlotte has drought burn ban
The El Jobean Fishing Pier located at Garden Road at River Beach Drive in Port Charlotte is closed due to a suspicious fire. A fire was called in at about 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday evening by fishermen who saw smoke coming from under the pier.
Station 3 is near the trestle, and when firefighters arrived, they found fire burning the railings on the left side of the pier.
Just before 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Charlotte County imposed a burn ban on all outdoor burning and the use of fireworks and sparklers.
Fire Chief Jason Fair of Charlotte County Fire-EMS recommended that the county implement a burn ban due to continued drought-like conditions and windy forecasts. The outdoor burn ban includes recreational fires, the burning of yard waste and pile burning for land clearing.
The pier is one of the remaining pieces of the old CSX and Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad, which provided railroad service to Gasparilla Island.
Charlotte County has multiple fishing piers across the old railroad’s right of way, including on Gasparilla Island, in Placida by the bridge and in Coral Creek and at El Jobean, on the Myakka River.
