Mayor says single violation involved in firefighter’s deadly accident
By Gail Paschall-Brown
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APOPKA, Florida (WESH) — Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson gave an update on the investigation into the death of firefighter Austin Duran Wednesday.
“Until we change the culture in this department, this will happen again,” Michael Duran, Austin Duran’s father, said.
It’s been an emotional and sometimes heated debate within the city of Apopka about safety improvements since the accident.
The mayor’s effort didn’t sit well with the deceased firefighter’s family.
“That’s what we’re all about. We’re all about safety improvements,” Nelson said.
The 25-year-old Apopka firefighter died in June, one month after a trailer filled with sand fell on him at the fire station.
“The tragic loss is something we can’t ever take back. I’d love to go back 20 years and say we shouldn’t have had that trailer in use. It was a handmade trailer. Should have never been in service,” Nelson said.
A safety committee called the Austin Duran Safety Initiative was formed to look into improvements.
One member resigned, claiming the group received pushback for just trying to do its job.
The mayor cited a list of improvements and says there was only one violation involved in the deadly accident – a lack of training in the fire department for that trailer.
“I feel like he minimizes what happened. This has destroyed our family. We will never recover from this. If he had training, absolutely Austin would be here today,” Michael Duran said about the mayor’s comments.
But Austin Duran’s father quickly added it wasn’t just the lack of training.
“What we have on our State Fire Marshal’s report shows there were three faults on it. It was training, safety and supervision,” said Michael Duran.
The mayor says they’re in the process of teaching the trainers which in turn will train the firefighters.
Plus, the city plans to hire 18 additional firefighters, allowing three firefighters to man each piece of equipment along with two firefighters in the squad truck.
The Duran family says it will keep fighting for firefighter safety.
“Until we change the culture in this department, this will happen again,” Michael Duran said.
After the news conference, Apopka city leaders reacted to the mayor’s remarks.
The investigation wasn’t on Wednesday night’s agenda, but came up as a topic of discussion at the city council meeting.
Some commissioners were upset with the city’s handling of the investigation and with the press conference.
“I’m tired of being embarrassed as a city from how we’re dealing with the issues we’re dealing with. The press conference today and the fact that we’re getting this after the press did is embarrassing,” commissioner Nick Nesta said.
The commission also discussed the potential legal fallout from the case.
The city has told WESH 2 News there is a pending lawsuit from the Duran family.
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