Monroe County Fire Rescue Fire Chief RL Colina joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the county.
There was a fire at Boondocks, a very popular destination in the Lower Keys, recently.
Chief Colina said, “They had identified that they had some smoky conditions coming in the restaurant area. The crews responded. We had multiple stations respond to that fire, and they were able to identify they had a fire within the wall. So, at this time, the fire marshal’s office has been working with the state on the investigation of it. It definitely appears to be electrical and accidental in nature, and they are trying their best to try to get them up and running again. After any type of fire in a commercial structure, it does take some time to get everything back up to par, get all the inspections completed, and then at the same time make sure that there’s no other safety hazards that might reveal themselves, so they’re still currently, to the best of my knowledge, they’re not been able to reopen as of today, but we are looking forward to getting that staple here down in the Florida Keys and the Lower Keys back up and running.”
Hurricane preparedness is critical in the Keys.
Chief Colina said, “It’s one of those things we know we prepare all year and all of a sudden we get closer and closer to that June 1 date and it’s upon us. June 1 is upon us. So now all the all the preparing, all the practice now we start putting things into place, so even though there’s no hurricane, or if we don’t have something coming, we still are in the mode that at any moment, any day, they could announce something, and we don’t want to be playing catch up. So that’s why we work hard all year to make sure we work with emergency management very closely to ensure that all their unmet needs are obtained, and we meet this head on, and just be a little bit more proactive than reactive when it comes to these situations.”
July 4 is also right around the corner.
Chief Colina said, “We’re about four days away from our first beat to heat. We do these all the way throughout June. Our first one, May 30, will be in Tavernier at Harry Harris Park, followed by June 6. We’ll be heading down the Keys, and stopping in Layton, June 13. We’ll be at Big Pine Community Park. June 20, we’ll be at Sugarloaf School, and followed by June 27 in Stock Island at Bernstein Park. So, just a great time for the firefighters and the residents out there to bring their children and just kind of enjoy some of getting in the heat, but get wet a little bit as well. Any opportunity we have out there with all of our outreaches, we’re always looking for those future firefighters, the girls and boys that have any type of interest in the fire service, we look forward to them, we try to encourage them, and it’s shown that there’s different opportunities out there. A lot of times, exposure is the main key. The people don’t know what they want to do, or kids don’t know what they want to be when they grow up, and it’s a good opportunity to do a one on one with a professional firefighter in the community. So, we look forward to that, and I will tell you, the proof is in our training academies. Right now, we’re in the middle of 29 students that we have in minimum standards, our second class of the year that we’ve run, first time in Monroe County. So, we have 29 students in that right now that are going through the academy, and majority of them are locals, which is outstanding to see.”
The Murph Challenge was part of the Memorial Day weekend.
Chief Colina said, “It turned out extremely well. We had the crews from Station 13. They went out and participated in what is a quite strenuous workout regimen. Now, they have different levels of it, so they definitely challenge themselves. We had our battalion chief, Ryan Johnson, out there and although he is extremely physically fit, he still will push the limits. I will tell you, it’s a difficult challenge, but they were met by residents and visitors in the community that participated during this event.”
If someone is interested in a career in Monroe County Fire Rescue, what could they do?
Chief Colina said, “At any point in time, people can go to the website and you can go ahead and look at any job opportunities that we have within Fire Rescue, the same thing, you can always contact headquarters. You can contact us at any time to see what opportunities or availability we have. We feel the pain, like a lot of people do across the country with staffing and those type of situations. We do have opportunities that arise from time to time, and if it’s something, whether you’re somebody that’s transplanting from a different location or you’ve never been in the service at all, and just need information on how to become a firefighter, how to become an EMT, how to serve your community, these are different steps you can take, and I will tell you when people ask me, what’s the hardest part of being a firefighter, I would tell them, starting. People always say that, man, I should have been a firefighter, I should have done this, and it is that first step of just saying, listen, this is what I’m going to do, I’m going to go ahead and start it, we’re here to help, we’re here to guide, we’re here to provide that information that’s needed if you have any questions or any doubt about what you want to do, or if we can help you.”
Emergency Medical Services Week just wrapped up last week.
Chief Colina said, “Living in paradise, we do face so many different challenges, and it’s nice to know that we have such a large amount of resources and availability of just professionals out there, between our nurses, our EMTs, our paramedics, between the hospitals, Lower Keys Medical, Fisherman’s Hospital, Mariners Hospital, the doctors, the nurses, the staff, we have our ambulance services that run up and down the Keys, everybody sees them, this is all part of a large team, a large team of providing health and security to the residents and visitors of Monroe County. So, we’re very proud to say that everybody works very hard, very diligent to make sure that these needs are always met.”
Outdoor burning rules are still in effect.
Chief Colina said, “They’re saying that we’re about to hit a period here where we’ll be getting some rain, but remember that rain is playing a significant catch up to the amount of dryness that we’ve experienced. So, overall, in the state of Florida, we’re still below where we need to be for rainfall capture for the year, so even when they do raise the flag or they lower the flag, just always be very cognizant, if you’re doing any type of outside grill, any type of burn, make sure that you’re a good distance away from the house, that there’s nothing else, no other debris that can catch, that it’s in a self-contained device within itself, like a burn pit or something of that nature, and just be very, very vigilant. It doesn’t take much, it just takes a nice little Keys breeze, and it will take some of those embers to your neighbor’s house down the road, or what have you. So as it is right now, just because we get a little bit of rain, people are like, well, I can go burn this, burn that. There still is no open burning. There’s still a lot of different rules that you have to follow before you can do anything of that nature. But for those that are the weekend burners, and I say those with the little fire pits, just be very vigilant of what you use. Make sure you use the devices that come with it, the safety devices like the catch cage that goes over top of it, that keeps the embers and stuff when you do get a gust of wind, keeps the embers inside the cage, and it keeps it from spreading to other locations. We’re here 24 hours a day, seven days a week, protecting the residents and visitors of Florida Keys. I’m extremely proud to be in the position I’m at with the men and women that serve this community. They do an outstanding job each and every day to make sure that their skills are on par and that they’re in a ready state to respond to any type of emergency that arises. Be safe out there, be safe.”
For more information on Monroe County Fire Rescue, click here: https://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/firerescue