Orange County Fire Rescue takes on the #LipSyncChallenge

Orange County Fire Rescue’s social media was ablaze over the weekend because of its #LipSyncChallenge video.

Since it was posted Friday, the video has more than 1 million views and 32,000 shares on the Orange County Government’s Facebook page. OCFR’s Twitter account racked up an additional 9,000 views.

The popularity of the video was not contained to Florida, as the video was shared as far as Hawaii, said Carrie Proudfit, an OCFR spokesperson.

The video features members of the agency dancing and mouthing the words to Imagine Dragons’ song “Whatever It Takes.” Brandon Royal is the lead firefighter featured in the video. He was on several rounds of NBC’s The Voice in 2017, where he performed Stevie Wonder’s “Master Blaster.”

“These folks do whatever it takes; persevering and coming though, that’s how we feel about our firefighters,” Proudfit said. “We are very proud of them. The greatest thing about it is that it showcased the talents of our firefighters beyond the heroics they display to the community every day. It is good to see them in a different light.”

The #LipSyncChallenge has been spreading like wildfire this summer with police and fire departments across the country, including the Ocala Police Department, which produced video in July.

The trend has gained popularity alongside the Keke challenge, featuring the artist Drake’s song “In My Feelings,” which involves participants getting out of their cars and dancing in a roadway. Fortunately, the Lip Sync Challenge does not appear to cause traffic congestion.

OCFR’s video does, however, involve Royal mouthing song lyrics on a raised cherry picker and several shots of a “flame tamer” spinning fire. its own

The tamer is Micah Naruo, a native Hawaiian who’s toured with Cirque du Soleil, according to OCFR.

The video concluded with OCFR challenging four different fire departments to make videos of their own: the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department; the Houston Fire Department; Brevard County Fire Rescue; and the Orlando Fire Department.

“We are planning something,” said Ashley Papagni, an OFD spokesperson.

“Without saying too much, we’re trying to involve community partners and we are getting them in the planning process,” she added. “This might not be an overnight thing — after all, we do have to keep an eye on the community. … Although we do look forward to answering the challenge and challenging others.”