Record number of fire rescue recruits graduate
39 complete training in Orange County’s push to keep up with rising population
Orange County is getting bigger — and so is its firefighting force. Thirty-nine new Orange County Fire Rescue recruits graduated Friday evening in a Valencia College auditorium — the largest class the agency has ever had. That will soon be outdone on Jan. 14, when an additional 43 recruits graduate. A typical class is about 25 to 30 people.
The Friday ceremony drew about 480 family members and friends cheering on their loved ones in Class 85, who all worked hard developing fire rescue and EMS skills.
“The training it took to become a member of this department — it was not easy,” said Geandy Perez, one of the graduates. “Because of the length and detail of our orientation period, I feel confident that Class 85 will be able to benefit this department in the future.”
Fire Chief Otto Drozd III echoed Perez’s confidence in the graduates.
“I think it’s exciting that we have new folks in, but this is only a sign of things to come,” Drozd said. “When you look at the [OCFR] structure, we knew we needed to grow ... These folks will fill that demand.”
OCFR has about 1,300 men and women serving the county, making it one of the largest fire rescue agencies in the country, Drozd said. However, the agency faces the challenge of a rapidly growing population.
Orange County’s population was 1.14 million in 2010, according to U.S. Census data. In 2018, that number had jumped an estimated 200,000, and by 2020 it is projected to jump by another 80,000, according to the Bureau of Economic Business Research.
OCFR receives 330 calls a day, which the agency expects will increase as the population
does, Drozd said. The dispatch center answered 10,000 calls in November alone.
Orange County’s population growth is only part of the challenge OCFR faces, along with the millions of tourists who visit Central Florida every year. Orlando was the most-visited city in the country in 2017, welcoming 72 million people, according to Visit Orlando.
“If you break that number down over 365 days, most people are visiting at least two days, you get an extra 400,000 people that could potentially need help along with the people that already live here,” Drozd said. “To put that into perspective, tourism is adding what equates to the second-largest city [Miami] in the state to our county on a daily basis.”
OCFR foresaw growing pains long before Orange County’s population hit 1.3 million. As a result, the agency started plans to expand in order to accommodate the growth.
Earlier this year, OCFR opened its newest fire house, Station No. 67, on University Boulevard just two miles away from the University of Central Florida. The agency plans to break ground on two more stations in 2019, Drozd said.
“We took a look back at when was the last time we opened a new station, and it was before the economic recession in 2007,” he said. “Building stations became an important issue to us if we’re going to provide the service the community has come to know and expect.”
OCFR also is expanding its special operations programs in order to better serve the community. For example, the rescue dive team has added nearly 150 divers since it was established three years ago, Drozd said.
The dive team is strategically divided among nine different stations across the county to respond to most emergencies within 10 minutes, according to the agency. OCFR also plans to add four new diving stations and 60 new divers by the spring of 2019.
The new graduates will have the option to explore diving or any other special operations team the agency offers.
Before they do, the recruits will work with experienced firefighters throughout the county and become more acclimated to the demand of the job, said Michael Wajda, OCFR division chief.
“Typically we assign new recruits to our busier areas so they can gain experience,” he said. “But we have so many this year, that after the January graduation, every fire engine in the county will have at least one new recruit. It’s the most we’ve ever had and that’s challenging to accommodate, but that’s a good problem to have and we’ll make it work.”
Each recruit will spend two months at a station before rotating to another in order to experience areas with high emergency call rates.
“This class of 90, the challenge they face is going to be providing service in the face of expanding growth and an increased demand of service. Our call volume will only grow,” Drozd said.
“The people graduating with this class and next will go on to provide great service and with staying ahead of the growth. We’re not fully ahead of it yet. But there is more to come.”
“... after the January graduation, every fire engine in the county will have at least one new recruit.”