Five Longboat firefighters get their badges

They each walked into the room in dark slacks, crisp white shirts and perfectly done neckties.

They each left with one additional accessory pinned to their uniforms: a badge.

Oh, and one more thing: A wide smile derived from a year of successful hard work and training.

Four men and one woman who until very recently had been probationary trainees for the Longboat Key Fire Department were honored on Thursday, March 23 at Town Hall and added to the department’s roster of 33 professionals.

Each of them had a loved one pin their badge to their uniform shirts, swore an oath – and then ate cake.

Well, four of them, anyway.  One of them was on an emergency call down Gulf of Mexico Drive and couldn’t attend the ceremony in the Commission Chambers. He'll get his badge in an informal setting.

“I ask you to wear this badge with pride and honor,’’ Fire Chief Paul Dezzi told the group.

But to say the learning process is over for Messina Cutting, Josh Falcon, Ronald Franklin, William Lewis and Richard Roome is to underestimate what it takes to be a firefighter/paramedic.

It’s a profession that involves constant learning and advancement, Dezzi said.

Franklin is no newcomer to the profession. He served various roles in the central Florida town of Lake Placid for years before coming to the west coast. He said he was looking for a department that matched his preferences.

“It fit my small-department mentality,’’ he said, adding he has found the community very welcoming.

Following their initial acceptance, based on an application and interview process, their first year involved classroom work, 12 weeks of medical training, more weeks of fire-rescue training and a lot of on-the-job experience to understand how the Longboat Key department works.

Dezzi called it “the Longboat way of doing things.’’

Even though firefighters receive a basic level of training as part of their pre-application certification process, every department is different and there is a lot to learn, said Falcon.

“We’re very much a customer-service fire department,’’ he said. “We really try to take our time with patients. Help them out.’’

Longboat Key’s demographics dictate the kind of typical emergency calls the department receives.

In 2016, the Longboat department responded to 1,604 total calls for help, an increase of nearly 12% from 2015. The top call was for falls and lift assists, while calls for boating incidents, gas leaks and public assistance also rose. Fires were also up, but at a Town Commission meeting earlier this year, Dezzi said that wasn’t indicative of a fire-prevention problem.

Cutting said she was attracted to the profession by call to serve people. She said she enjoys helping people “on what could be the worst day of their life.

“Everyone is so nice and so appreciative,’’ she said. “This is nothing like anywhere I’ve been.’’

CPR classes

The Longboat Key Firefighter Association, in conjunction with the Fire Department, provides free classes to anyone who wants them. The class is a 45-minute “hands-only” course that focuses on CPR (not mouth-to-mouth) and the use of automatic external defibrillators.  Those interested having their group take the class, call Tina at the Fire Department at 316-1944.