By Michael Duran
Editor's Note: Michael Duran is the CEO of the 2650 Foundation and often speaks at Apopka City Council meetings calling for safety improvements for the Apopka Fire Department. His son Austin, a Firefighter/EMT for the AFD, died in a workplace accident on July 15th, 2022.
The 2650 Foundation's mission is to build upon Austin’s enduring legacy by providing and promoting training, education, and mentorship opportunities for first responders, breathing life into his aspirations.
Duran wrote this OP/ED after reading an article in the Orlando Sentinel about Apopka Fire Chief Sean Wylam's retirement and wanting to offer a differing opinion to Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson's assessment.
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When I think about Apopka and my last two years of involvement, the novel "A Tale of Two Cities" comes to mind.
Although the time period is different and a different justice or revolution is being fought for, I assert my belief as Charles Dickens did. He believed in the possibility of resurrection and transformation, both on a personal level and on a societal level.
Two years ago, I lost my son, Apopka Firefighter Austin Duran. The city lost a dedicated employee. His department lost a loyal brother. The world lost an asset.
Austin lost so much more.
It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. The first sentence in the book begins this all.
At a young and innocent age, Austin dreamed of becoming a firefighter. Somehow
he had the drive, pride, and loyalty to become an Apopka firefighter. He wanted the best. He wanted to be the best. Austin's dream was realized after his dedication and hard work paid off in July 2020 when he was hired by the city of Apopka. Station 1.
He made it. It was the best of times.
Almost to the date of his hire, just two short years later, it became the worst of times. Austin died due to a line-of-duty injury that was born out of a broken fire department. Things are not always as they seem. What was once thought to be a 1st in its class department failed after the death of its young firefighter. It failed again after the Florida State Fire Marshal cited the department for failures of safety code violations. It failed yet again when the Mayor hired a 3rd party consultant, and the infamous “Gannon Report” cited the department as dysfunctional.
One might imagine that it can’t get any worse, right? Wrong.
In the Tale of Two Cities, the guillotine symbolizes how the revolutionary chaos gets institutionalized. With the guillotine, killing becomes emotionless and automatic, and human life becomes cheap.
In most cases, the fish rots from the head. A cancer will spread unless it's treated or simply cut out. Our rotting fish is the Apopka Mayor, Bryan Nelson, and our cancer is Apopka Fire Chief, Sean Wylam.
One of the morals in A Tale of Two Cities is that things are not always as they seem to be. Somebody who appears to be no good and disreputable could become the most righteous person in the world. Individuals who appear to seek justice may be bloodthirsty in the end and, in the case of this city, vice versa.
Some have tried to appear good and righteous and have tried to protect what they believe to be a good reputation. It was once said, “Facts are a funny thing.” In my two years of involvement with the city of Apopka and the Apopka Fire Department, I’ve found very little “funny.” In fact, I have found much of what goes on in city hall disgusting and disturbing, to say the least.
Let's begin with these “funny facts.”
Not ever has the mayor reached out to the Duran family personally to extend any sympathy or condolences. The very first time I saw the mayor was when he went to the hospital. I was briefly down in the lobby speaking with a firefighter when this person came in, sat to my left, and asked the firefighter how “Todd” was doing. The firefighter had a slight roll in his eyes to express disbelief and simply said, “he’s hanging in there.” After this person left, I asked the firefighter, “Who was that?” He replied in repugnance, “That’s our mayor”. I asked, who is Todd? Shaking his head, he said, “He doesn’t even know his name. He means ‘how is Ty (Jones) doing?” Ty Jones is the only other firefighter working with Austin. I was in disbelief. This mayor drove to the hospital and didn’t even question Austin’s condition.
My family never lost hope for Austin. He was young. He was strong. He was a firefighter. He will survive this.
After we laid our son, our brother, and our friend to rest, I searched for answers—something I thought everyone was doing. And I was correct. Many firefighters, commissioners, union leaders, and residents alike were on the same quest for answers. But not everyone shared the idea for answers. I viewed this as a controlled burn—burn the underbrush out in order to foster new growth.
A Tale of Two Cities was set during the French Revolution. I view a revolution as a transformation, a time for change. And yes, it requires a battle to be fought.
Welcome to the modern-day Apopka Revolution.
Battling for the betterment of a safer department did not come without a fight. It did not come without betrayal. Promises were broken. Lies were told. Agendas took a stronghold. Reputations were being protected. These all became more important than a life that was lost. It became more important than preventing further loss of life. The city’s leadership made it feel cheap and automatic to try and forget a history-changing calamity.
During the city’s budget workshop in September 2022, one of the most important budget workshops in this fire chief's entire vocation, just months after losing a firefighter in a line of duty death, he decided what was more important to him was to go on vacation. Vacation… while a family, a city, and every single member of his department were still reeling from this tragic loss of a firefighter, this “wonderful guy,” according to the Apopka Mayor, was up north in a cabin with his buddies.
Disgusting. Duplicity. Yet, it is revealing to the character of this failed fire chief.
I once again met with this fire chief, and members of his staff were in attendance. I scolded him in repugnance and vowed to scream from every rooftop for his resignation. Who would listen? I didn’t know. But I am deep in this revolution and will not lay down my arms.
As #AustinsArmy grew, 85% of Apopka’s Professional Firefighters also voted ‘no confidence’ in their fire chief. Austin’s Army grew stronger with a commissioner's 3-1 vote of no confidence in the fire chief, and it was requested to the mayor to remove him.
Reputations and prior poor decisions must be protected at any cost. In the face of overwhelming evidence and outcry from residents, the Duran family, firefighters, and even other city leaders, the mayor took a stronghold and called it all ‘ceremonial’ and refused to do what he did so easily in 2019 by removing the previous fire chief without cause.
After two years of this fire chief just punching a clock, dragging his firefighters through the mud of this battlefield, and only waiting out his time to receive his full pension package, a celebration is in order and will take place soon after his last day of October 31.
It is shameful that he is able to leave his department with zero accountability. It is shameful and unhonorable that the mayor presented this known and failed fire chief with the long traditional ‘golden axe.’ Only competent and successful fire chiefs are bestowed this honor. By accepting this golden axe, Sean Wylam devalues it to other deserving fire chiefs.
Tandemly, this mayor and fire chief have slapped the face of an honorable profession. All to what end? Self-serving, no doubt. A failed attempt to protect a reputation? Austin's name is forever engraved in granite at the IAFF memorial and the NFFF memorial. His name is etched with dignity and honor. His legacy there is guarded under the watchful eyes of every professional, honorable firefighter.
A life was lost. It was not cheap. It was not automatic. It was a shockwave that was felt far beyond the incompetence of the middle chair on the dais. An empty chair of empathy, compassion, and knowledge of doing the right thing. Mayor Nelson, at every turn, only praises this failed fire chief, rewards him with perfect job performance evaluations, and affords maximin pay raises yet ignores official documents citing failures of Wylam administration, ignoring most all of the city’s firefighters, his own commissioners and of course, the Duran family.
When will this mayor do right? When will he see what so many others see? In my short experience with his failed leadership, not much of anything will change in his office. It would appear to me that this modern-day revolution will continue onward into March 2026. Battles will continue to be fought. Many will take up arms to win a war. And the "arms" in this war will be at the ballot box.
Mayor Nelson said of Sean Wylam, “He’s such a wonderful guy” In this writer's opinion, that statement could not be further from any truth.
Carton is guillotined in place of Darnay in the novel. His last words are, “It is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done. It is a far, far better rest that I go to that I have ever known”. Austin’s sacrifice is not in vain. Even though he is not here in the physical sense, his legacy is more present than I could ever be.
To my only son: You will not be forgotten. Your sacrifice will mean something. It will bring change to the department that you dedicated your young life to. I am forever grateful for your service to this profession, and I will always be honored to call you my son and share my name with you.
