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The 2022 Apopka Hero Award

Duran's persistence makes the AFD a safer fire department

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In Apopka, there is no shortage of courage on display.

The purpose of The Apopka Voice is to inform, engage, and inspire our readers, and to start the new year, we're launching the First Annual Apopka Hero Award. We hope these honorees will be an inspiration to Apopka.

We know the first one is.

Michael Duran is a 55-year-old Clermont resident. He is the fleet manager at City Beverages - the folks that brought Apopka the Budweiser Clydesdales. But that's not how Apopka got to know him.

According to Duran, his involvement with the Apopka Fire Department started when his son Austin joined the Apopka Explorers program. He followed him through the entire program and then when he attended Seminole State College for training.

Once Austin was hired in July 2020, Duran continued to follow him and even visited him at the various stations when he was on shift. Austin floated between stations for a good part of his first year. Once COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed, and he found his “home” at Station 1, Duran was able to visit him and his crew on shift... often donating water and energy drinks.

Michael and Austin Duran.
Michael and Austin Duran.

Then, an unthinkable tragedy struck.

On June 30th, Austin was critically injured in an accident at AFD Fire Station 1. Several days later, he died from those injuries. 

"When Austin was injured, I was able to see the men and women of the stations come out in force to support him," Duran said. "I saw the lobby packed with station personnel when I entered or exited the hospital—always having questions about how and why this happened."

Those questions did not stop.

"Austin was a nut when it came to procedures," Duran said. "He was very methodical. It wasn’t until after he passed that some of my questions were answered. It was quickly revealed that there was no training on that apparatus. Not just Austin, no one. How could that be? Was no one trained?"

Michael Duran speaks at the Apopka City Council meeting.
Michael Duran speaks at the Apopka City Council meeting.

It would be easy for a father who lost a son to withdraw into his grief, especially from the familiar surroundings of the AFD where it took place, but that type of withdrawal is not in Duran's DNA. 

"It led me to only more questions," he said. "Through my efforts and through all my questions, it was revealed that there were more issues than just a lack of training. After meeting with the fire chief, lieutenants, district chiefs, and fire personnel, I learned quickly that a cultural issue is occurring within the department."

Duran took on those issues with vigor.

"Over the last several months, I have been able to gain the trust and confidence of the men and women within the fire station. Through conversations with the station personnel, I was armed with evidence of failures and fractures within the department. That led me to speak with the fire chief. My goal was to find answers to my questions. How was this possible? Something so preventable if only steps, policies, and procedures were in place. The deeper I dig my heels into this situation, the more I find out. At this point, my goal is multi-layered. First and foremost, that they have policies and procedures in place to prevent this from ever happening again to another firefighter in any of the stations."

And changes have been made because of Duran's persistence.

"In the course of this time, firefighters have been very comfortable to come and talk to me but very reluctant to talk to the fire administration," Duran said. "That tells me that a cultural issue is happening inside the department. Firefighters are afraid to stand up and speak out for fear of retaliation. I will speak for them."

During the runup to the final budget hearing, Duran was a force to be reckoned with both on social media and in person at the City Council meeting.

"This [Austin's death] is the result of NOT properly funding the AFD," Duran said on Facebook. "I encourage the residents of Apopka to remind your city leaders how important life is for our AFD and to all they serve. We do not and can not afford under-trained, understaffed personnel to be ill-equipped to serve our city. My son lost his life in direct connection to a lack of training, safety, and supervision. Who is next? Who will be the next firefighter, or will it be a resident? When will City leadership step up and rebuild a department that can be a model department that refuses the idea of losing the lives of their personnel? I have asked. And Austin says NOW."

Duran also spoke during public comments at the September 7th Apopka City Council meeting, pleading with Council to increase the AFD budget.

"To those that may not know, my name is Mike Duran. I am the father of Austin Duran.  

Austin grew his passion for firefighting when he joined the explorer's program in 10th grade. He didn't want to be ANY firefighter, he wanted to be an APOPKA firefighter -specifically at fire station 1.

Once Austin achieved his dream, he gave it his all.  

If you ask anyone, Austin was such a kind, gentle person. He had such an optimistic view of the world… always had a smile on his face, and positive ideas to share.

Little did he know… all the corrections that needed to be made within the department would be the reason his life was taken. 

As you are all aware, Austin's life was taken by hooking up a piece of equipment neither he nor his partner was trained on,… no safety protocols and supervision.

We can all agree that the fractures of a department employed to protect property and lives ….exist within our foundation. If we cannot protect our own, how can the citizens feel confident that we are equipped to protect them?

How many lives need to be lost for us to realize that we need to properly train and staff our departments? When do we ensure that young firefighters are being sent to calls with more experienced personnel? How can we be confident all the personnel who fight this fight return home at the end of their shift?

Due to a lack of culture in the fire department, firefighters are coming to me for support, and in this short time I have been involved, I can already see what the Apopka Fire Department needs:

  • 3 people on each truck
  • We need to fill the EMS assistant position
  • We need Health and Safety Chief (I don’t know how we function without one)
  • We need a training Chief (this position has been vacant for 3 years)
  • We need a quality assurance specialist (February 12th Mayor Nelson said that the city was in the process of hiring for that position) Who holds this position? Where are they?
  • And Apopka Fire Department needs a mentorship program that assists with rookies and new hires"

At the conclusion of the final budget hearing, the City Council approved nearly everything on Duran's list - particularly the additional 18 firefighters left off of the original budget. Despite the loss of his son, Duran continued to move forward with his mission to make the AFD a safer place for its firefighters and the Apopka community.

Because of his perseverance at a time of unthinkable tragedy, The Apopka Voice names Michael Duran as our inaugural Apopka Hero Award honoree.

This article was updated on February 15, 2024 removing the use of the phrase "Profiles in Courage" upon learning that it is a trademarked phrase. We replaced the name of the award to the "Apopka Hero Award", and removed the paragraph describing the JFK award. 

Apopka Hero Award, Apopka Fire Department, Heroes of Apopka

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