Orange County Fire and Rescue Promotes Largest Officer Class in History
Orange County Fire Rescue made history by graduating its largest promotional class ever, including 40 new lieutenants in August. With a total of 63 promotions, the young department — which was formed in 1981 — continues to grow and offer career advancement opportunity to deserving firefighters.
“This promotional class is special not only for the history-making number of promotions, but also for the diversity in our officer classes,” said Fire Chief Otto Drozd III. “It demonstrates our commitment to ensuring our leadership team represents the department’s most qualified individuals and is reflective of the community we serve.”
The ceremony included the promotion of the department’s now highest-ranking African-American assistant chief as well as its sixth active female battalion chief. Women now comprise 28 percent of the department’s battalion chiefs.
“We are thrilled to offer our best and brightest these opportunities and begin to craft a new generation of leaders for Orange County Fire Rescue,” said Chief Drozd.
Nearly 500 attendees participated in the event, which was held at Full Sail University.
Orange County Fire Rescue is the largest fire and rescue department in Central Florida. It serves more than 924,000 citizens and visitors and responds to nearly 100,000 calls for service annually.
The mission of the Orange County Fire and Rescue Department is to provide fire suppression, emergency medical and community risk reduction services to ensure our community can enjoy a high quality life and property protection delivered with compassion and integrity.