Orange County Fire Rescue honors Pulse first responders
June 09--Just days before the anniversary of the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub, members of Orange County Fire Rescue gathered Thursday night to honor their colleagues who responded to the scene.
Fire Rescue Chief Otto Drozd III said 41 dispatchers, EMTs, paramedics and firefighters from his department assisted in the response on June 12, 2016. The Orlando Fire Department took the lead role because Pulse falls under its jurisdiction.
Drozd praised his team's efforts.
"Lives were saved because of the actions that you took," Drozd said. "That which was made to destroy us has made us stronger. From terror, we have triumph."
A teary-eyed Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs spoke to the crowd of heroes and their families, expressing gratitude for their work.
"You just instinctively do something that most don't do. You run into things that most of us run away from," Jacobs said. "Today, our firefighters have to be prepared to be like medics on the battlefield."
The honorees received awards for meritorious service. The highest honor -- for distinguished service -- went to firefighters Maria Diaconu and Ryan Stanley, who rushed several victims in critical condition to hospitals before and after a SWAT team stormed the nightclub.
Assistant Chief of Operations Michael Howe, who was the incident commander for Fire Rescue the morning of the shooting, said the image of victims "bumped, bruised and bleeding" will forever be engraved in his mind.
"In the weeks following, I did a ton of second thoughts. What could we have done different?" Howe said. "How I've reconciled that is: I could not be prouder of the actions of Orange County Fire Rescue that evening."
Howe said that although the loss of 49 people is hard to accept, his colleagues should feel good about the work they did.
"While the outcome of this call is appalling, it had nothing to do with the actions of each of you," Howe said.
"You did our brand proud that evening, as you do on a daily basis. So we are and always will be Orlando strong."
cdoornbos@orlandosentinel.com, 407-650-6931 or @CaitlinDoornbos
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