Monroe County Fire Rescue is focused on protecting and serving the community

Deputy Chief RL Colina from Monroe County Fire and Rescue joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.

Since the audits of Monroe County Fire Rescue, the organization has been in tip top shape.

Colina said, “Some of these audits and investigations, they take years. I was honored to be able to represent Fire Rescue and update the county commissioners and the general public at large, that what we’re doing and what we’ve done and where we came from, just like a lot of organizations, you kind of don’t know the inner workings of what’s going on, but consistently, since ‘22 a lot of controls have been put in place to ensure that a lot more accountability is watched, and especially when we’re dealing with those items that pertain for the public. When we talk about trust, it’s such a critical value for us in the fire service and first responders, I just thought it was a good time to reassure the public and the commissioners at large that we are here. You have 24 hours a day around the clock, you have Monroe County Fire Rescue and other first responders within Monroe County prepared to respond to anything and everything that is put forth.”

There are four new firefighters joining the ranks of Monroe County Fire Rescue.

Colina said, “It’s great when we’ve got those new individuals that want to come and commit their services here to Monroe County, and add to our department and learn everything and our outreach program between prevention and the fire marshal’s office has been extraordinary. We’re almost doubling our numbers of outreach each year since the inception of really getting out there and tackling the schools and formalizing the processes that we’ve got now in place. This just goes hand in hand with one of the most important things we can do for the community is assist them and educate them, because they’re the ones that need to react first when something happens, whether they’re going to call 911, whether they’re going to use an extinguisher, whether they need to actually perform CPR, and those are all the things that we’re here as Monroe County Fire Rescue in our outreach to assist our community to make sure those things are completed.”

MCFR will participate in trunk or treat on Thursday at Big Pine Academy.

Colina said, “It’s just always a great time for the crews and the members of the public and the children to get out there and participate in these trunk or treats. That one is this Thursday from 5:30 to 7 at Big Pine Academy, and then next Tuesday, on the 29th we’ll be back at Sugarloaf School’s trunk or treat, and that’ll happen between six and eight, and then the famous Eden Pines on Halloween. Station 13 will be set up on the 31st and we’ll also be there to hand out candy and have the kids come by and family and whoever else wants to come by. That’ll be on the on Halloween between 6 and 8pm.”

The Tunnels to Towers 5K will be held on November 2 at Big Pine Community Park.

Colina said, “The Tunnels to Towers, this was something that was started after 9/11 with the Twin Towers and the death of the firefighters and the first responders. It was commemorating the efforts that they put forth. Since then, this organization has grown and grown, and I will tell you our department in particular, we were honored and very impacted by their efforts when they helped our brother, Herve, after his passing on duty. Tunnels for Towers, contacted us and contacted his family, and was quite pinnacle in ensuring that everything they needed to do, and what could they do and they did so much. So for them to come down and host a 5K down here, we are really looking forward to it, and that’s going to be on Saturday, November 2, the 5K starting at 8:30. That’s a walk, a jog, just come on out and support them, support us, support each other is really what we’re looking at. Just an amazing foundation that is established, and not just for first responders, but they also help with the veterans in our country as well.”

Monroe County Fire Rescue is always at the ready during hurricane season.

Colina said, “It definitely was a busy couple weeks for us with within Monroe County Fire Rescue. Once again, just very pleased to have already been in the new emergency operations center, which is our Fire Administration Center, linked in with emergency management and 911, sheriff’s office dispatch communications. So amazing that we had this facility to work out of. A lot of lot of well trained, highly skilled individuals were able to get everything organized, and having the one place that everyone can go to was quite different than people kind of being scattered. So we’re very fortunate in the county to have this facility. It’s up and running and between our partners, between emergency management and the sheriff’s office, Public Works, everybody was on the same page. It’s always getting better every day. Every day is an honor to be down here. Every day is an honor to serve this community. So we look forward to just increasing that we do each day, and making sure that everyone is safe. Anything we have to do, we keep pushing forward. We’re honored to serve this community and the visitors that come here.”

Michael Stapleford of KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM said, “The honor comes from us as well. We’re very honored to have people like you serving us and dedicating your lives and careers to keeping us safe. So thank you very much for that Deputy Chief.”