ORLANDO, Fla. – The Orlando Fire Department believes it has figured out how to hire the best, most passionate and most committed firefighters who will work harder for the community they serve.
For almost a year, OFD has been recruiting future firefighters from Orlando-area high schools and at Orlando-area job fairs, even advertising in Orlando.
OFD then pays for the recruits’ fire and EMS training and provides a base salary to assist the recruits with living expenses. Once the recruits complete the training, they become certified OFD firefighters and hit the streets of Orlando.
Previously, the Orlando Fire Department only hired certified firefighters who had either completed the training on their own or through another agency which meant pulling from a much smaller pool of people.
Orlando Fire Department Chief Charlie Salazar called the new recruiting program “game-changing” compared to the difficulty of trying to find certified, qualified, passionate and local candidates.
“It did make it more challenging and I’ll give you an example,” Salazar said. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve had very few certified firefighters that are in essence female that have went through our application process.”
Leslie Diaz, who graduated from Colonial High School about seven years ago, never expected she’d become an Orlando firefighter mostly because of the cost to certify herself.
“Paying for school and also having to pay for your cost of living, and for them to be able to help take care of that, it completely eliminated that obstacle,” Diaz said.
How does being able to pick and choose recruits from the City of Orlando make the fire department better?
“They’re invested in the community that they grew up in,” Salazar said. “They could be responding to friends or family members that they grew up with.”
Xavier Miranda, a 19-year-old recruit who just graduated from high school on Orlando’s east side, said he felt like he hit the jackpot when he was selected as an OFD recruit.
“If I were to go on a call in the future, then I know it could be my family,” Miranda said. “I want to be to the best of my abilities and do the best that I can.”
Leslie Diaz said the Orlando community raised her.
“So I think that I’m going to help take better care of it because I care so much for this community,” Diaz said.