IAFF Gains Growing New Florida Affiliate

December 3 • 2020

Apopka, FL Local 5293 is one of the IAFF’s newest affiliates, but it is already growing in membership. Local 5293 joined with 74 members less than two months ago and now has 85. The local was organized through the IAFF Southern Strategic Initiative designed to increase the number of members in southern states.

Located 16 miles northwest of Orlando, Apopka has a steady population of citizens who call on Local 5293 members for medical calls. With so many ALS calls, Local 5293 members must often respond to fires and other emergencies with only two on a fire engine.

“Working toward improving our staffing levels will be one of our first priorities, along with improving retention,” says Local 5293 President Matthew Gurgone. “We are losing some of our best to other departments, so we want to work on improving wages and benefits to entice more of our members to stay.”

Joining Gurgone on the Local 5293 Executive Board are Secretary Alex Klepper and Treasurer Tyler Bennett.