OKEECHOBEE — Okeechobee County Fire Rescue held a Change of Command ceremony on Friday, April 28, 2023. According to Retiring Chief Ralph Franklin, this is the first time in Okeechobee history this ceremony has been held as in the past, the former chief was already gone when the new chief came in.

Franklin was hired by Okeechobee County in 2014 and served the department for 8 ½ years. He began his career with fire as a volunteer but then went fulltime in Pasco County in 1985. In 2007, he retired from that department and went to work for Citrus County in the logistics section for about 7 years and then came to Okeechobee as chief.

Though he is retiring from full-time work, Franklin plans to keep his hand in the fire by teaching some classes occasionally at the Florida State Fire College in Ocala. “I’ll do that a few times a year just to stay busy and stay engaged,” he said.

Before that though, he plans to take a dream vacation to Alaska. He has never been before but always wanted to go. He will be taking a train from Florida to Seattle/Vancouver area and then will join a northbound cruise and go into Denali Park. On the way back, he will do a southbound cruise and then hop another train back to Tampa, where he will be living.

Franklin plans to travel alone, but strangely enough, found out friends had unknowingly booked the same southbound cruise.

As a firefighter, Franklin has seen everything. He began on a truck and worked his way into administration. “I have had an excellent career. I would recommend it to anyone.”

“As chief, I had the opportunity to make decisions and bring ideas to life,” he said.

Over his years in Okeechobee, he has increased training and staffing, has replaced vehicles and revamped the firehouses. Soon, they will be getting a fire training tower next door to the Emergency Operations Center and last week received a new truck. The crews are now going through training on how to use it. Franklin is also proud of the department’s presence on Facebook. This helps the community to see what is going on in the department. When firefighters achieve any type of goal, rank, etc., the department recognizes them publicly, so they know they and their hard work is appreciated.

During his career as chief, Franklin has had two very unusual challenges. The first was the pandemic. This was something no one had any experience with prior to 2020. “It was very trying,” said Franklin. “A lot of employees caught covid, family members got it and they had to take off to take care of them. We worked with DOH and emergency management. We assisted with vaccinations. We had some paramedics go out to the homes of the homebound and give them vaccinations.”

He said it was challenging because they were constantly exposed. When people had covid, they called 911. There were times we had whole stations out sick. “Even with all our protective equipment, we were still exposed.”

There were many times the command staff had to man trucks to have enough in service. “It was no one’s fault. It was just a pandemic.”

The second big thing was the city turning over fire services to the county. Franklin said they did not go seeking it but did their best to do what was asked of them. “Our average response time is still about the same as what it was when the city was operating. Prior to the fire services contract, we were already responding to all medical calls and were also responding for mutual aid when there were fires in the city.”

Earl Wooten was appointed public safety director/fire chief. Wooten became the deputy chief in 2018.

Franklin said he has no doubt Wooten will do an excellent job as chief.