Firefighter’s death should inspire, not divide
Watching the Apopka City Council in session last week, one thing was immediately clear: The memory of firefighter Austin Duran —who died July 15 from injuries sustained in a tragic, preventable accident — won’t fade for a long time, if ever. Grief over the loss of a 25-year-old who many regarded as exceptional was etched on the faces of many of those in the chambers, as well as City Council members.
That grief should fuel efforts that would make all Apopka employees feel safer, and inspire other cities to improve training and dispose of (or repair) any equipment that appears faulty to the point of being dangerous. Instead, sorrow has been subsumed by anger and distrust. Critical missteps by city leaders — including some that, under normal circumstances, would be quickly be forgotten or barely noticed at all — have eclipsed the significant steps city officials have already taken to ensure that Apopka’s firefighters are safer in the future. And they’re leaving Apopka officials vulnerable to the kind of manipulation that could leave the city with a diminished capacity to meet all its obligations in years to come.
That leaves the city’s elected officials in a tough position: They can stick to their guns and face ongoing accusations that they are trying to cover up or minimize the horrific equipment failure that left Duran crushed under a trailerload of sand. Or they can eat some crow, reverse particularly irksome decisions and work to settle any pending litigation quickly and fairly — and get back to the urgent business of identifying theats before someone else is hurt.
Rebuild bridges
We urge them to consider the second option. That would involve a few things: First, the City Council and Fire Chief Sean Wylam should authorize the city’s safety committee — which bears Duran’s name — to conduct an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death. Then they should apologize for a fairly disastrous press conference
in late December, when Mayor Bryan Nelson read a testy, defensive statement that mischaracterized the reasons offered by two firefighters who resigned their positions on the committee.
It’s not hard to understand why city officials are leery of having the internal committee look at the circumstances of Duran’s death. The city properly triggered three independent reviews of the incident, which involved a trailer that many in the fire department knew was dangerously unstable. A fourth review — particularly one that included members of the fire department with varied and sometimes conflicting investment in the narrative surrounding Duran’s death — could muddy the waters considerably.
But that ship has already sailed. Asking the committee to follow through with the
investigation — and making it clear that its inquiry should be candid and fully compliant with state open-records and open-meetings laws — could help bring needed closure and restore trust.
At the same time, however, critics of city leaders should listen to the very real concerns city officials are hesitantly voicing. The city has already agreed to add 18 new firefighting positions plus a safety and training officer, enabling fire crews to staff its trucks with three firefighters instead of two. But the new positions are being funded through $1 million from the city’s reserves — not a sustainable backing for jobs meant to last beyond a single budget year. The strain could eventually force a tax increase, particularly if it’s coupled with another big storm or a consensus on annexing long-excluded land in South Apopka.
There’s one more step city and county officials across Central Florida can initiate in memory of Austin Duran, and it’s one that could prove therapeutic and beneficial. Every office, every storage barn, every dusty closet should be scoured to produce equipment that seems faulty, antiquated or hazardous. Donate items that have historic value, repair what can be fixed, and get rid of the rest.
Any Central Florida leader who doubts the value of such an exercise should listen to the heartfelt plea one audience member offered to City Council members just after the 50-minute mark of the January 4 meeting:: “Good afternoon. My name is Sydney Guerard and I’m Austin Duran’s girlfriend,” she said. “I have come here today … to implore you take the necessary appropriate steps to ensure that an event such as the one that occurred on June 30 —which cost the life of the person I was supposed to spend forever with —never occurs again.
“While I realized being a firefighter is a dangerous job, Austin did not lose his life due to a heroic act, such as running into a burning building to save the life of a little girl or boy. He lost his life due to a piece of equipment that had slipped through the cracks.
“I stand here today and beg that the necessary changes be made so another wife, girlfriend, mother, father, sister, brother or child never have to face the reality we have all been faced with: sacrificing a much loved member of our community to a painful, unnecessary and preventable death.”
The rest of her testimony is well worth listening to — and heeding. It’s the best path to healing we can envision, and a fitting tribute to a young man who sought to dedicate his career to serving others and was brutally robbed of that dream.