The Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue Department, is a full-service emergency response agency serving the City of Pembroke Pines, Florida—a diverse, rapidly growing suburb in southern Broward County with a population of approximately 170,000 residents. Headquartered at 9500 Pines Boulevard, Building B, the department is dedicated to preserving life, property, and the environment through a comprehensive range of fire, rescue, and medical services. It operates under the city’s municipal government and emphasizes community education, rapid response, and proactive safety measures in a region prone to hurricanes, flooding, and urban hazards.
Great department with a great staff led by a lousy Chief. He is a menace. Vindictive and emotionally reactive. His own administrative staff disproves of him but won’t speak out due to fear of retaliation. He is indecisive and irrational. A micromanager that doesn’t trust people to do their jobs. He claims he’s cares about the greater good of the department but really only cares about the way he is perceived. He is the type of person that should never have been given a position of power. He bulldozes conversations in which he believes to be right, feels the need to raise his voice to get his point across. Such a shame.
I’ve been waiting a long time to say this, so here it is.
Do not come here expecting a family atmosphere. Administration rules with an iron fist, and compliance is the currency. Promotions, assignments, and career survival all depend on playing ball. Any attempt to band together or push back gets shut down quickly—and they get away with it because “snitching” is openly rewarded. It’s a near-perfect system when you and your so-called competition are all on the same promotional list. Watch your back.
Don’t expect the union to have your back either. They’re chasing promotions too, and no one wants to make waves. I’ll quote one of the chiefs—won’t name who: “If you’re not writing people up, you are not doing your job.” Any chance of real brotherhood gets snuffed out by greed or fear. Everyone has a family to take care of—I get it—and this department has exploited that reality to its fullest extent.
I still have the COVID-era department advisories that made it crystal clear: get vaccinated or else. People don’t like to talk about it now, and many have conveniently forgotten, but a lot of guys were coerced into taking the jab out of fear of retaliation from much of the same administration still in charge today.
If you have aspirations of promoting, understand this upfront: be a good boy and play ball. If you don’t, expect to be skipped over for someone who will.
There was a time when this department was considered one of South Florida’s premier destination agencies, a place known throughout the county for elite personnel, strong leadership, and a culture that people actually wanted to be part of. Those days have long since come and gone.
What exists now is not a high-performing organization, but a hollowed-out shell of its former self.
The current reality is a department where capable, proactive administrative staff are routinely bullied, marginalized, and micromanaged by an egotistical, narcissistic, authoritarian “leader” who appears deeply threatened by anyone he perceives as more intelligent, more competent, or simply unwilling to stroke his ego. Leadership is no longer about vision, accountability, or service; it’s about control, fear, and personal insecurity.
The atmosphere within the department is one of fear and intimidation. Members are constantly walking on eggshells, not knowing when they might become the next target of the Chief’s vindictive behavior. Discipline is not applied fairly or consistently; instead, it appears to be doled out disproportionately based on personal feelings, perceived slights, or whether someone is involved with the union.
Several individuals have reportedly been directly threatened with demotion simply for expressing their opinions or for not being considered “company guys.” In other words, independent thought is discouraged, dissent is punished, and loyalty is measured not by professionalism or performance, but by submission.
The results are predictable and devastating:
High turnover
Low morale
A hostile work environment
A growing culture of silence and compliance
Experienced, motivated personnel are leaving. Those who remain are either burned out, disengaged, or afraid to speak. Institutional knowledge is hemorrhaging out the door, replaced by instability and dysfunction.
And yet, in the midst of all this while the department crumbles from the inside leadership can point to one shining achievement: the guys can play pickleball and basketball on duty.
So that makes everything fan freaking tastic.
Because nothing says “healthy organizational culture” quite like recreational sports masking systemic bullying, retaliatory discipline, and an administration driven more by ego than ethics.
This department didn’t just lose its way.
It was driven there deliberately by leadership that confuses authority with dominance, respect with fear, and accountability with personal vendettas.
Once a destination department.
Now a cautionary tale.
Where to begin. The top seems to be a good start. The Chief is only out from himself. Doesn’t have the backbone to stand up for his staff. Leaders should be narcissistic or vindictive. He is both. Some of his staff are good leaders but are handcuffed. Punishment is not equal. If your part of the “click” your good. If not get ready for suppression or even demotion. Covid era policies were borderline coercion. “Get the shot, your job and possible promotion depends on it. “Not getting the shot is career suicide”. Morale is at an all time low. 3-4 different pensions. Everyone wants what the other has. City did that on purpose to divide and conquer. Union tries to fight but can only do so much. Administration is always on the city’s side. There is more but why spoil it. Take the job if they hire you but start looking for another department.
Let’s be real — leadership in this department is a complete joke. The Fire Chief is a ****ing dick who doesn’t give a **** about anyone but himself. He doesn’t know the people on the floor, doesn’t show up for them, and doesn’t support the crews who are actually out there running calls and putting in the work. The stations are great and the firefighters are solid, but administration stays quiet and refuses to stand up for their own people. There’s zero backing from the top, zero accountability, and zero respect. The men and women on the floor deserve leadership that actually gives a damn — not someone who only looks out for himself.
The Fire Department is aware of the claims and personal attacks directed at the department and the Fire Chief on social media. It is our standard practice not to respond to posts or comments
that are intended solely to undermine leadership or cast doubt on our professionalism, especially when they originate from anonymous sources lacking direct knowledge or the facts.
Personal attacks and insults of this nature are counterproductive and serve only to distract from the hard work, dedication, and accomplishments of our firefighters and administrative staff. We remain focused on our mission and will allow the quality of our service and the professionalism of our firefighters and staff to speak for themselves.
Anyone with concerns, questions, or willing to contribute in a constructive manner is encouraged to follow the appropriate channels so they can be resolved professionally
Has so much potential but it’s completely stiffened by bad leadership according to everyone I talk too. It’s a shame because of the fire men and women I know that work for the dept they are all very hard working but despite their efforts the department is falling apart. It’s sad to see so many people quit their career over bad leadership but I hear of it all the time with this department. Very unfortunate situation
If confusion, ego, and poor decision making were an Olympic sports, this Fire Chief would have a trophy case. It’s honestly heartbreaking to watch what’s happened here. This department is filled with dedicated, hardworking firefighters who care deeply about their community and each other. The talent is there. The experience is there.
What isn’t there? Leadership.
Since the current fire chief took over, morale has plummeted to an all time low. Good people, experienced people are leaving left and right. Not because of the job. Not because of the workload. Because of how they’re treated. Decisions are made with zero transparency, communication feels one directional at best and any attempt at feedback is met with dismissal or defensiveness.
Instead of building trust, the environment feels tense and transactional. Instead of supporting the crews, leadership seems disconnected from the day to day realities of the job. It’s hard to stay motivated when you feel unheard and undervalued.
The firefighters deserve better. The community deserves stability. And this department deserves leadership that lifts people up instead of driving them away.
Right now, the only thing spreading faster than a fire is the turnover at this place. Good people are forced to leave because of no change. Some describe it as a revolving door but it’s more like an open flood gate. The people here are drowning and the person holding everyone underwater is the guy at the very top.
Chiefs are politicians here that don’t take time to mingle with crews and when they do everyone has to walk on eggshells. If you’re actually a good captain and are thorough with your job inside and outside the station, you’re exiled and laughed at by your colleagues. A lot of cliques among shift personnel. I feel bad for the handful of good firefighters that excel at the job and not being a pos of a person because for the most part it’s buddies getting hired together and doing the bare minimum. Probies aren’t trained for the job just trained how to be the station do-bitch. And if you don’t kiss ass, even if you excel at all aspects of the job as a probie, you can basically kiss your job goodbye. Not to mention pines as a whole is just a glorified EMS agency. They don’t do much outside of running nursing home calls day in and day out. At least they have decent equipment. Pines is not the holy grail fire department it once was 20-30 years ago where people lined up around the block for a chance to interview
The training division of this fire department is being run by a group of retired, 50 plus year olds who are close personal friends to the fire chief, and it shows. These individuals already receive their golden pension and come back to double dip. Instead of allowing the next generation to take on the future of this department, They continue to teach outdated methods that no longer reflect current best practices in the fire service. Meanwhile, the motivated firefighters who are actively attending new classes, pursuing advanced certifications, and bringing back updated knowledge are routinely shut down. When those responsible for shaping the next generation aren’t actively growing themselves, the entire organization falls behind. All because the fire chief wants to take care of “his friends”. All to protect and provide for the chief’s inner circle rather than prioritizing the growth and readiness of the department.
Is the public aware that this department’s platform/ladder truck is almost always operated without a captain? What does that mean? It means a probationary firefighter with less than a year of experience is effectively placed in charge of one of the most critical and technically demanding apparatuses in the fire service. This truck is being run without seasoned leadership or adequate staffing all in the name of saving the city the cost of properly assigning a captain to it. And this is all signed off and approved by no other than the guy upstairs.
When asked about it, his response was that the platform is accompanied by other units on these high stress calls. But what happens on the day those additional units are delayed, committed elsewhere, or simply unavailable? What happens when a probationary firefighter and a newly promoted driver are left to manage a complex, high risk situation on their own? That’s not just a staffing issue it’s a serious public safety concern.
Being a young firefighter in this department has been demoralizing to say the least. In just the last few years, I’ve watched damn near 30 of my friends and coworkers walk away from this department, not because they didn’t love the job, but because one guy has made it impossible to stay.
When you watch motivated, talented firefighters leave year after year for neighboring departments that actually support their people, it says everything you need to know. Most weren’t people who ever planned on leaving they were pushed to the point where staying no longer made sense.
In this department, even promotions feel meaningless. Firefighters spend months studying for promotional exams, sacrificing time away from their families and putting in countless hours to earn the opportunity to move up. Yet even when you score higher and do everything right, you can still be skipped for no clear reason and no explanation, Simply because the fire chief decides so. This sends a great message that effort doesn’t matter here, and it destroys morale for the firefighters who have sacrificed so much trying to earn what should have been theirs
The saddest part is the potential this department has. With the right leader upstairs, it could easily be one of the best places to work. I’m glad the truth is finally coming out. Until leadership changes though, the cycle will continue. Unfortunately the people paying the price will be the firefighters who stay and the citizens who depend on them.
Allow me to set the scene. This horror story begins in the kitchen at Station 99: a captain, a driver, and a bowl of cereal. One workplace-violence complaint later, “Cap’n Crunch” was born. Fast-forward a few years, and Cap’n Crunch is somehow elevated into administrative leadership. Over time, that disconnect only became more consequential. He was placed in positions overseeing battalion chiefs despite never having served in that role himself, leaving him responsible for supervising responsibilities he had never personally carried. Rather than narrowing that gap, the department elevated it. Today, that same individual sits as Fire Chief. The problem is not personality. The problem is judgment, priorities, and the effect those decisions have had on the organization.
Under his leadership, inexperienced personnel have been advanced into positions of authority while promotional eligibility standards have been reduced with increasing frequency, weakening the rank structure and diminishing the value of experience. Retirees who have been removed from fire operations for more than a decade have been retained in influential capacities, while internal personnel with current operational credibility, interest in development, and a vested interest in the future of the department are overlooked. That is not succession planning. That is institutional decay.
Members have also been given the familiar line that if there is equipment available that would make their jobs easier and the department does not have it, it is simply because leadership is unaware of it. But equipment, branding, and polished appearances do not resolve the issues most affecting this department. Chronic staffing shortages remain. Apparatus continue to run under conditions many view as insufficiently supervised. Alternative scheduling discussions such as 24/72 are brushed aside rather than seriously evaluated. Concerns about morale and mental health are acknowledged rhetorically, but not meaningfully addressed in practice.
Most telling of all, when the opportunity existed before the City Commission to pursue additional funding for personnel needed to properly staff apparatus, he declined to do so. That decision cuts through every slogan, every presentation, and every polished message. Leadership is measured by whether it protects standards, advocates for staffing, develops its people, and positions the department for long-term success. On those points, the record is becoming harder and harder to defend.
And members see it. They see a chief who is consistently most comfortable when he is echoing City Hall talking points rather than confronting them. They see an administration too willing to absorb whatever line it is fed by HR and special-projects leadership, then hand it back to the membership as though it were vision. That may play well in meetings. It does not play well in the stations. At this point, the frustration is no longer isolated and it is no longer quiet. The sentiment is building toward the kind of no-confidence moment that feels less like a possibility and more like an inevitability waiting for the right spark. When that day comes, no one should pretend they were not warned.
If the department looks increasingly polished on the surface while becoming weaker underneath, members are entitled to ask whether leadership has confused optics with progress.
Truly sad how one man is managing to run this place into the ground. Maybe it’s Napoleon syndrome, or maybe it’s the fact that deep down he knows he is underqualified for the position. For someone who failed a battalion’s test, he’s really managed to bite off more than he can chew.
This is someone who lucked himself into a position that he clearly was not prepared for. Leadership isn’t something you can fake, and it’s not something a title can give you. You can check boxes and climb the ranks, but real leadership comes down to who you are, how you treat people, how you handle pressure, and whether others actually trust and respect you.
It shows in the way you stand up for your people, make decisions, and take responsibility when things go wrong. You either have it or you don’t. And unfortunately, in this case, it’s clear we’re being led by someone who doesn’t.
Thank you for providing us with a platform to share the truth. We can only hope that the same commissioners and city employees who ask for our support when needed will look into the issues that this department is facing due to this one individual.
It’s hard to put into words how heavy it feels to walk into shift and hear that yet another one of our best is leaving. It’s hard to keep showing up when morale is low, frustration is high, and trust in leadership feels broken. Our department is tired, angry, and disheartened.
A vote of no confidence made it clear: 94% of our members have said they do not trust the current chief. We sit and watch and watch as his own administrative staff seem displeased and tired, doing the best they can to try and keep things afloat while simultaneously being forced to do as he says.
Words of support from city officials like Commissioner Hernandez are appreciated, but they are not enough when the reality is daily burnout, and lost talent.
We test for promotion under reduced eligibility because we cannot keep up with the rate of turnover. People who haven’t sat in a position long enough to fully get comfortable in it, are testing to fill a position that they are under qualified for. What would the citizens of our city say about that?
Once promoted we leave little room for error unless you’re in good graces with the Chief in that case he’ll turn a blind eye. If not you can guarantee a simple mistake can be detrimental. So you work in constant fear. In an already high stress job this makes matters worse.
It’s hard not to feel that the man at the top doesn’t care. While he’ll claim that we are a “family,” it increasingly feels like the only person who matters is himself. Our respected officers are forced to leave and start over taking knowledge and experience with them, while the ones left are killing themselves trying to fix the low morale he single-handedly created.
The community may never know the truth—that the people who provide the “Class 1 Service” he so proudly brags about are hanging on by a thread behind the scenes.
It begs to ask the question of whether or not the department can survive another few years under the current leadership.
Quite frankly I do not believe we can.
I’m tired of sitting idle. We need change. We need leadership that listens, values the people who show up every day, and puts the department above his ego and politics. The best thing he can do is resign. We need action that restores trust, morale, and the integrity of a department that our community relies on.
This is a plea. We cannot keep losing good people. We cannot keep carrying this frustration alone. The time for change is now.
Leadership you have a narcissist as a fire chief that doesn’t have a spinal cord. He’s a puppet from the city manager. He’s not a people person. Every Fire chief from other departments cannot stand him due to his attitude of knowing all. He’s doesn’t have any education to be in that position. Who can trust a narcissist and scumbag, 94% of the department vote that he need to go. He’s vindictive incompetent ignorant Chief he deserves to be fired micro management is his way or the highway. The department became a stepping stone to go to other departments
Save yourself the embarrassment. Don’t work here. You will be the laughing stock of the county and your mediocre paychecks won’t help soften the blow. They love to tell you that this department was once a leader in the county and even in the state. Training was meaningful and high speed. Our firemen were leaders in the area, teaching at the academies and colleges. Leadership that had a vision and made it happen. That reality died many years ago. Now we have no culture, no standard, and morale is so low that leaving for other departments is open talk at the dinner table.
The fire chief is weak, small minded, and has never been good at any part of the job. When you have no identifiable skill set and have never been particularly good at the job, how can you lead? You can’t. So instead of being real chief, you get overbearing disciplinary action and a tiny iron fist. The little fella syndrome is out of control. The high heel boots tell you everything you need to know. He chooses to lead with the 3 I’s of leadership.
Inexperience
Incompetence
Insecurity
To make matters worse, he has insulated himself with an administrative staff flush with inexperienced “yes men” who are too afraid to disagree with him. They are too afraid to lose a job where they come in whenever they want and are out the door by 3. They spend so little time at work they can problem claim a home office on their taxes. Frequently his administrators make their way downstairs just to complain to us about how bad it is and how they want want the chief gone. Talk about morale, huh? Sprinkle in some nepotism, harassment, and fraud and you have a recipe for what they do upstairs.
The department has lost more talented individuals in the last 10 years than it may ever see again. The retention/ turnover rate is atrocious, somewhere around 50%. No one cares to stay, just simply buy their time until they can find their forever job.
So again, if you care to feel valued, if you want to feel like you’re apart of something bigger than one man, if you take the job seriously, if you are passionate and want to be respected by your peers? do you want to work for leadership that inspires trust and confidence ? Leadership that knows what they’re doing? Then Avoid this place like the plague.
After years of watching how this department operates, I am relieved that my time here is almost over.
During my time here, I have seen officers deliberately build paper trails against firefighters through frivolous write-ups—not because those firefighters performed their duties poorly, but because they were targeted over insignificant uniform issues and petty technicalities unrelated to serving the public.
I have seen people constantly searching for something to report because throwing someone else under the bus made them appear to be better officers. Instead of resolving minor issues through a conversation, everything became documentation, discipline, or an excuse to involve a chief.
I have seen lieutenants have nearly every decision questioned and picked apart. Some voluntarily stepped down because they could no longer tolerate the constant micromanagement. This is the only department where I have watched people work for a promotion and then willingly surrender it because the position had become so miserable.
I have seen battalion chiefs stripped of their bids as a demonstration of power—a reminder that regardless of rank or experience, management could still take away someone’s position whenever it wanted to make a point.
I have seen an officer face discipline for taking the crew across the street to grab a ****ing smoothie after a busy day. Crews are essentially confined to the station, apparently because it is “better for our public image”—the image this spineless fire chief cares so much about and, at this point, probably the only thing he has going for him.
I have seen harmless recreational activities hidden from the chiefs. Anything physical that could potentially result in an injury was treated as a liability and restricted or banned. Basketball and similar activities disappeared. The department bubble-wrapped its employees and then wondered why morale was nonexistent.
I have seen rules enforced simply because “that’s how we’ve always done it,” even when they made little operational sense. Questioning those practices was treated like insubordination rather than an opportunity to exercise professional judgment.
I have seen a firefighter written up for leaving a rescue during a medical call to assist at a nearby house fire, even though the patient remained stable and properly attended. A firefighter was disciplined for responding to a burning home because rigid policy mattered more than judgment, initiative, or responding to what the situation demanded.
I have seen an officer panic after a crew used common sense to assist a citizen with a minor situation. The citizen repeatedly expressed how grateful they were for the crew’s help, yet instead of feeling confident that they had done the right thing, the officer was terrified that their actions might have violated some policy. That is what this culture does to its officers: even when the person they helped is genuinely grateful, their first concern is whether a chief will punish them.
I have seen that same fear control EMS decisions. Everything was expected to become a transport because transports generated revenue. Crews could spend an excessive amount of time convincing people to go to the hospital even when those patients clearly did not want or need transportation.
Sometimes I wonder how many patients we have unnecessarily exposed to illness by transporting them to crowded hospitals for complaints as minor as toe pain—all in the name of “protecting and serving,” when in reality, that supposed concern for the patient often feels like little more than a disguise for generating profits through unnecessary transports.
I have seen crews perform every imaginable assessment on minor complaints—not because the patient’s condition required it, but because officers feared the consequences if they did not. Minor calls received complete cardiac workups and every available diagnostic test simply so nobody could later accuse the crew of missing something.
I have seen officers burn out their crews because they were afraid of criticism from above. Rank came with responsibility but very little genuine authority. There was no room to apply common sense, make a reasonable decision, and stand behind it. The message was always the same: do exactly what management wants, never question it, and expect nobody to defend you if something goes wrong.
I have seen chiefs inspect apparatus while searching for missing equipment or deficiencies that could justify corrective action. Accountability is necessary in the fire service, but this did not feel like accountability. It felt like management was waiting for somebody to make a mistake.
I have seen ordinary firehouse joking and camaraderie met with genuine disgust. The harmless messing around that ordinarily makes a station feel like a family was largely absent.
I have seen hazing that did not come from camaraderie or an attempt to help rookies improve. It came across as genuine dislike and malice. New firefighters received little guidance and were treated like garbage instead of being taught how to succeed.
I have seen firefighters skipped over on promotional exams because they supposedly “weren’t the right fit at the time”—with no objective reasoning, mind you. Sometimes, all they had done was say the wrong thing, express an opinion, or rub the chief the wrong way. A policy that may have once been well-intentioned has now been weaponized against the firefighters, allowing management to hold them by the balls and control their careers.
The clearest indication of this department’s condition has always been how its members talk about leaving. I cannot remember hearing anyone say they were not ready to retire. The overwhelming feeling was relief: people could not wait to leave and finally get away from the place.
Over the years, I have watched officers burn out, crews become afraid to exercise judgment, and employees protect themselves by reporting one another. I have watched people stop fighting for change because management made it clear that their opinions did not matter.
This department became a place built around punishment instead of trust, liability instead of judgment, and obedience instead of leadership.
I have seen the writing on the wall for a long time. Now that the end is finally in sight, I am simply grateful that my time here is almost over.
Rating Breakdown
1.1/5
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2.8/5
1.9/5
18 Reviews on “Pembroke Pines”
Great department with a great staff led by a lousy Chief. He is a menace. Vindictive and emotionally reactive. His own administrative staff disproves of him but won’t speak out due to fear of retaliation. He is indecisive and irrational. A micromanager that doesn’t trust people to do their jobs. He claims he’s cares about the greater good of the department but really only cares about the way he is perceived. He is the type of person that should never have been given a position of power. He bulldozes conversations in which he believes to be right, feels the need to raise his voice to get his point across. Such a shame.
I’ve been waiting a long time to say this, so here it is.
Do not come here expecting a family atmosphere. Administration rules with an iron fist, and compliance is the currency. Promotions, assignments, and career survival all depend on playing ball. Any attempt to band together or push back gets shut down quickly—and they get away with it because “snitching” is openly rewarded. It’s a near-perfect system when you and your so-called competition are all on the same promotional list. Watch your back.
Don’t expect the union to have your back either. They’re chasing promotions too, and no one wants to make waves. I’ll quote one of the chiefs—won’t name who: “If you’re not writing people up, you are not doing your job.” Any chance of real brotherhood gets snuffed out by greed or fear. Everyone has a family to take care of—I get it—and this department has exploited that reality to its fullest extent.
I still have the COVID-era department advisories that made it crystal clear: get vaccinated or else. People don’t like to talk about it now, and many have conveniently forgotten, but a lot of guys were coerced into taking the jab out of fear of retaliation from much of the same administration still in charge today.
If you have aspirations of promoting, understand this upfront: be a good boy and play ball. If you don’t, expect to be skipped over for someone who will.
The Fall of a “Destination Department”
There was a time when this department was considered one of South Florida’s premier destination agencies, a place known throughout the county for elite personnel, strong leadership, and a culture that people actually wanted to be part of. Those days have long since come and gone.
What exists now is not a high-performing organization, but a hollowed-out shell of its former self.
The current reality is a department where capable, proactive administrative staff are routinely bullied, marginalized, and micromanaged by an egotistical, narcissistic, authoritarian “leader” who appears deeply threatened by anyone he perceives as more intelligent, more competent, or simply unwilling to stroke his ego. Leadership is no longer about vision, accountability, or service; it’s about control, fear, and personal insecurity.
The atmosphere within the department is one of fear and intimidation. Members are constantly walking on eggshells, not knowing when they might become the next target of the Chief’s vindictive behavior. Discipline is not applied fairly or consistently; instead, it appears to be doled out disproportionately based on personal feelings, perceived slights, or whether someone is involved with the union.
Several individuals have reportedly been directly threatened with demotion simply for expressing their opinions or for not being considered “company guys.” In other words, independent thought is discouraged, dissent is punished, and loyalty is measured not by professionalism or performance, but by submission.
The results are predictable and devastating:
High turnover
Low morale
A hostile work environment
A growing culture of silence and compliance
Experienced, motivated personnel are leaving. Those who remain are either burned out, disengaged, or afraid to speak. Institutional knowledge is hemorrhaging out the door, replaced by instability and dysfunction.
And yet, in the midst of all this while the department crumbles from the inside leadership can point to one shining achievement: the guys can play pickleball and basketball on duty.
So that makes everything fan freaking tastic.
Because nothing says “healthy organizational culture” quite like recreational sports masking systemic bullying, retaliatory discipline, and an administration driven more by ego than ethics.
This department didn’t just lose its way.
It was driven there deliberately by leadership that confuses authority with dominance, respect with fear, and accountability with personal vendettas.
Once a destination department.
Now a cautionary tale.
Where to begin. The top seems to be a good start. The Chief is only out from himself. Doesn’t have the backbone to stand up for his staff. Leaders should be narcissistic or vindictive. He is both. Some of his staff are good leaders but are handcuffed. Punishment is not equal. If your part of the “click” your good. If not get ready for suppression or even demotion. Covid era policies were borderline coercion. “Get the shot, your job and possible promotion depends on it. “Not getting the shot is career suicide”. Morale is at an all time low. 3-4 different pensions. Everyone wants what the other has. City did that on purpose to divide and conquer. Union tries to fight but can only do so much. Administration is always on the city’s side. There is more but why spoil it. Take the job if they hire you but start looking for another department.
Let’s be real — leadership in this department is a complete joke. The Fire Chief is a ****ing dick who doesn’t give a **** about anyone but himself. He doesn’t know the people on the floor, doesn’t show up for them, and doesn’t support the crews who are actually out there running calls and putting in the work. The stations are great and the firefighters are solid, but administration stays quiet and refuses to stand up for their own people. There’s zero backing from the top, zero accountability, and zero respect. The men and women on the floor deserve leadership that actually gives a damn — not someone who only looks out for himself.
Response from Fire Chief Rodriguez
TO ALL PERSONNEL
SOCIAL MEDIA POST
The Fire Department is aware of the claims and personal attacks directed at the department and the Fire Chief on social media. It is our standard practice not to respond to posts or comments
that are intended solely to undermine leadership or cast doubt on our professionalism, especially when they originate from anonymous sources lacking direct knowledge or the facts.
Personal attacks and insults of this nature are counterproductive and serve only to distract from the hard work, dedication, and accomplishments of our firefighters and administrative staff. We remain focused on our mission and will allow the quality of our service and the professionalism of our firefighters and staff to speak for themselves.
Anyone with concerns, questions, or willing to contribute in a constructive manner is encouraged to follow the appropriate channels so they can be resolved professionally
Has so much potential but it’s completely stiffened by bad leadership according to everyone I talk too. It’s a shame because of the fire men and women I know that work for the dept they are all very hard working but despite their efforts the department is falling apart. It’s sad to see so many people quit their career over bad leadership but I hear of it all the time with this department. Very unfortunate situation
Where do we start:
If confusion, ego, and poor decision making were an Olympic sports, this Fire Chief would have a trophy case. It’s honestly heartbreaking to watch what’s happened here. This department is filled with dedicated, hardworking firefighters who care deeply about their community and each other. The talent is there. The experience is there.
What isn’t there? Leadership.
Since the current fire chief took over, morale has plummeted to an all time low. Good people, experienced people are leaving left and right. Not because of the job. Not because of the workload. Because of how they’re treated. Decisions are made with zero transparency, communication feels one directional at best and any attempt at feedback is met with dismissal or defensiveness.
Instead of building trust, the environment feels tense and transactional. Instead of supporting the crews, leadership seems disconnected from the day to day realities of the job. It’s hard to stay motivated when you feel unheard and undervalued.
The firefighters deserve better. The community deserves stability. And this department deserves leadership that lifts people up instead of driving them away.
Right now, the only thing spreading faster than a fire is the turnover at this place. Good people are forced to leave because of no change. Some describe it as a revolving door but it’s more like an open flood gate. The people here are drowning and the person holding everyone underwater is the guy at the very top.
Chiefs are politicians here that don’t take time to mingle with crews and when they do everyone has to walk on eggshells. If you’re actually a good captain and are thorough with your job inside and outside the station, you’re exiled and laughed at by your colleagues. A lot of cliques among shift personnel. I feel bad for the handful of good firefighters that excel at the job and not being a pos of a person because for the most part it’s buddies getting hired together and doing the bare minimum. Probies aren’t trained for the job just trained how to be the station do-bitch. And if you don’t kiss ass, even if you excel at all aspects of the job as a probie, you can basically kiss your job goodbye. Not to mention pines as a whole is just a glorified EMS agency. They don’t do much outside of running nursing home calls day in and day out. At least they have decent equipment. Pines is not the holy grail fire department it once was 20-30 years ago where people lined up around the block for a chance to interview
The training division of this fire department is being run by a group of retired, 50 plus year olds who are close personal friends to the fire chief, and it shows. These individuals already receive their golden pension and come back to double dip. Instead of allowing the next generation to take on the future of this department, They continue to teach outdated methods that no longer reflect current best practices in the fire service. Meanwhile, the motivated firefighters who are actively attending new classes, pursuing advanced certifications, and bringing back updated knowledge are routinely shut down. When those responsible for shaping the next generation aren’t actively growing themselves, the entire organization falls behind. All because the fire chief wants to take care of “his friends”. All to protect and provide for the chief’s inner circle rather than prioritizing the growth and readiness of the department.
Is the public aware that this department’s platform/ladder truck is almost always operated without a captain? What does that mean? It means a probationary firefighter with less than a year of experience is effectively placed in charge of one of the most critical and technically demanding apparatuses in the fire service. This truck is being run without seasoned leadership or adequate staffing all in the name of saving the city the cost of properly assigning a captain to it. And this is all signed off and approved by no other than the guy upstairs.
When asked about it, his response was that the platform is accompanied by other units on these high stress calls. But what happens on the day those additional units are delayed, committed elsewhere, or simply unavailable? What happens when a probationary firefighter and a newly promoted driver are left to manage a complex, high risk situation on their own? That’s not just a staffing issue it’s a serious public safety concern.
Being a young firefighter in this department has been demoralizing to say the least. In just the last few years, I’ve watched damn near 30 of my friends and coworkers walk away from this department, not because they didn’t love the job, but because one guy has made it impossible to stay.
When you watch motivated, talented firefighters leave year after year for neighboring departments that actually support their people, it says everything you need to know. Most weren’t people who ever planned on leaving they were pushed to the point where staying no longer made sense.
In this department, even promotions feel meaningless. Firefighters spend months studying for promotional exams, sacrificing time away from their families and putting in countless hours to earn the opportunity to move up. Yet even when you score higher and do everything right, you can still be skipped for no clear reason and no explanation, Simply because the fire chief decides so. This sends a great message that effort doesn’t matter here, and it destroys morale for the firefighters who have sacrificed so much trying to earn what should have been theirs
The saddest part is the potential this department has. With the right leader upstairs, it could easily be one of the best places to work. I’m glad the truth is finally coming out. Until leadership changes though, the cycle will continue. Unfortunately the people paying the price will be the firefighters who stay and the citizens who depend on them.
Allow me to set the scene. This horror story begins in the kitchen at Station 99: a captain, a driver, and a bowl of cereal. One workplace-violence complaint later, “Cap’n Crunch” was born. Fast-forward a few years, and Cap’n Crunch is somehow elevated into administrative leadership. Over time, that disconnect only became more consequential. He was placed in positions overseeing battalion chiefs despite never having served in that role himself, leaving him responsible for supervising responsibilities he had never personally carried. Rather than narrowing that gap, the department elevated it. Today, that same individual sits as Fire Chief. The problem is not personality. The problem is judgment, priorities, and the effect those decisions have had on the organization.
Under his leadership, inexperienced personnel have been advanced into positions of authority while promotional eligibility standards have been reduced with increasing frequency, weakening the rank structure and diminishing the value of experience. Retirees who have been removed from fire operations for more than a decade have been retained in influential capacities, while internal personnel with current operational credibility, interest in development, and a vested interest in the future of the department are overlooked. That is not succession planning. That is institutional decay.
Members have also been given the familiar line that if there is equipment available that would make their jobs easier and the department does not have it, it is simply because leadership is unaware of it. But equipment, branding, and polished appearances do not resolve the issues most affecting this department. Chronic staffing shortages remain. Apparatus continue to run under conditions many view as insufficiently supervised. Alternative scheduling discussions such as 24/72 are brushed aside rather than seriously evaluated. Concerns about morale and mental health are acknowledged rhetorically, but not meaningfully addressed in practice.
Most telling of all, when the opportunity existed before the City Commission to pursue additional funding for personnel needed to properly staff apparatus, he declined to do so. That decision cuts through every slogan, every presentation, and every polished message. Leadership is measured by whether it protects standards, advocates for staffing, develops its people, and positions the department for long-term success. On those points, the record is becoming harder and harder to defend.
And members see it. They see a chief who is consistently most comfortable when he is echoing City Hall talking points rather than confronting them. They see an administration too willing to absorb whatever line it is fed by HR and special-projects leadership, then hand it back to the membership as though it were vision. That may play well in meetings. It does not play well in the stations. At this point, the frustration is no longer isolated and it is no longer quiet. The sentiment is building toward the kind of no-confidence moment that feels less like a possibility and more like an inevitability waiting for the right spark. When that day comes, no one should pretend they were not warned.
If the department looks increasingly polished on the surface while becoming weaker underneath, members are entitled to ask whether leadership has confused optics with progress.
— The Artist Formerly Known as Battalion 99 DH
Truly sad how one man is managing to run this place into the ground. Maybe it’s Napoleon syndrome, or maybe it’s the fact that deep down he knows he is underqualified for the position. For someone who failed a battalion’s test, he’s really managed to bite off more than he can chew.
This is someone who lucked himself into a position that he clearly was not prepared for. Leadership isn’t something you can fake, and it’s not something a title can give you. You can check boxes and climb the ranks, but real leadership comes down to who you are, how you treat people, how you handle pressure, and whether others actually trust and respect you.
It shows in the way you stand up for your people, make decisions, and take responsibility when things go wrong. You either have it or you don’t. And unfortunately, in this case, it’s clear we’re being led by someone who doesn’t.
Thank you for providing us with a platform to share the truth. We can only hope that the same commissioners and city employees who ask for our support when needed will look into the issues that this department is facing due to this one individual.
An open letter to city council:
It’s hard to put into words how heavy it feels to walk into shift and hear that yet another one of our best is leaving. It’s hard to keep showing up when morale is low, frustration is high, and trust in leadership feels broken. Our department is tired, angry, and disheartened.
A vote of no confidence made it clear: 94% of our members have said they do not trust the current chief. We sit and watch and watch as his own administrative staff seem displeased and tired, doing the best they can to try and keep things afloat while simultaneously being forced to do as he says.
Words of support from city officials like Commissioner Hernandez are appreciated, but they are not enough when the reality is daily burnout, and lost talent.
We test for promotion under reduced eligibility because we cannot keep up with the rate of turnover. People who haven’t sat in a position long enough to fully get comfortable in it, are testing to fill a position that they are under qualified for. What would the citizens of our city say about that?
Once promoted we leave little room for error unless you’re in good graces with the Chief in that case he’ll turn a blind eye. If not you can guarantee a simple mistake can be detrimental. So you work in constant fear. In an already high stress job this makes matters worse.
It’s hard not to feel that the man at the top doesn’t care. While he’ll claim that we are a “family,” it increasingly feels like the only person who matters is himself. Our respected officers are forced to leave and start over taking knowledge and experience with them, while the ones left are killing themselves trying to fix the low morale he single-handedly created.
The community may never know the truth—that the people who provide the “Class 1 Service” he so proudly brags about are hanging on by a thread behind the scenes.
It begs to ask the question of whether or not the department can survive another few years under the current leadership.
Quite frankly I do not believe we can.
I’m tired of sitting idle. We need change. We need leadership that listens, values the people who show up every day, and puts the department above his ego and politics. The best thing he can do is resign. We need action that restores trust, morale, and the integrity of a department that our community relies on.
This is a plea. We cannot keep losing good people. We cannot keep carrying this frustration alone. The time for change is now.
Leadership you have a narcissist as a fire chief that doesn’t have a spinal cord. He’s a puppet from the city manager. He’s not a people person. Every Fire chief from other departments cannot stand him due to his attitude of knowing all. He’s doesn’t have any education to be in that position. Who can trust a narcissist and scumbag, 94% of the department vote that he need to go. He’s vindictive incompetent ignorant Chief he deserves to be fired micro management is his way or the highway. The department became a stepping stone to go to other departments
Save yourself the embarrassment. Don’t work here. You will be the laughing stock of the county and your mediocre paychecks won’t help soften the blow. They love to tell you that this department was once a leader in the county and even in the state. Training was meaningful and high speed. Our firemen were leaders in the area, teaching at the academies and colleges. Leadership that had a vision and made it happen. That reality died many years ago. Now we have no culture, no standard, and morale is so low that leaving for other departments is open talk at the dinner table.
The fire chief is weak, small minded, and has never been good at any part of the job. When you have no identifiable skill set and have never been particularly good at the job, how can you lead? You can’t. So instead of being real chief, you get overbearing disciplinary action and a tiny iron fist. The little fella syndrome is out of control. The high heel boots tell you everything you need to know. He chooses to lead with the 3 I’s of leadership.
Inexperience
Incompetence
Insecurity
To make matters worse, he has insulated himself with an administrative staff flush with inexperienced “yes men” who are too afraid to disagree with him. They are too afraid to lose a job where they come in whenever they want and are out the door by 3. They spend so little time at work they can problem claim a home office on their taxes. Frequently his administrators make their way downstairs just to complain to us about how bad it is and how they want want the chief gone. Talk about morale, huh? Sprinkle in some nepotism, harassment, and fraud and you have a recipe for what they do upstairs.
The department has lost more talented individuals in the last 10 years than it may ever see again. The retention/ turnover rate is atrocious, somewhere around 50%. No one cares to stay, just simply buy their time until they can find their forever job.
So again, if you care to feel valued, if you want to feel like you’re apart of something bigger than one man, if you take the job seriously, if you are passionate and want to be respected by your peers? do you want to work for leadership that inspires trust and confidence ? Leadership that knows what they’re doing? Then Avoid this place like the plague.
After years of watching how this department operates, I am relieved that my time here is almost over.
During my time here, I have seen officers deliberately build paper trails against firefighters through frivolous write-ups—not because those firefighters performed their duties poorly, but because they were targeted over insignificant uniform issues and petty technicalities unrelated to serving the public.
I have seen people constantly searching for something to report because throwing someone else under the bus made them appear to be better officers. Instead of resolving minor issues through a conversation, everything became documentation, discipline, or an excuse to involve a chief.
I have seen lieutenants have nearly every decision questioned and picked apart. Some voluntarily stepped down because they could no longer tolerate the constant micromanagement. This is the only department where I have watched people work for a promotion and then willingly surrender it because the position had become so miserable.
I have seen battalion chiefs stripped of their bids as a demonstration of power—a reminder that regardless of rank or experience, management could still take away someone’s position whenever it wanted to make a point.
I have seen an officer face discipline for taking the crew across the street to grab a ****ing smoothie after a busy day. Crews are essentially confined to the station, apparently because it is “better for our public image”—the image this spineless fire chief cares so much about and, at this point, probably the only thing he has going for him.
I have seen harmless recreational activities hidden from the chiefs. Anything physical that could potentially result in an injury was treated as a liability and restricted or banned. Basketball and similar activities disappeared. The department bubble-wrapped its employees and then wondered why morale was nonexistent.
I have seen rules enforced simply because “that’s how we’ve always done it,” even when they made little operational sense. Questioning those practices was treated like insubordination rather than an opportunity to exercise professional judgment.
I have seen a firefighter written up for leaving a rescue during a medical call to assist at a nearby house fire, even though the patient remained stable and properly attended. A firefighter was disciplined for responding to a burning home because rigid policy mattered more than judgment, initiative, or responding to what the situation demanded.
I have seen an officer panic after a crew used common sense to assist a citizen with a minor situation. The citizen repeatedly expressed how grateful they were for the crew’s help, yet instead of feeling confident that they had done the right thing, the officer was terrified that their actions might have violated some policy. That is what this culture does to its officers: even when the person they helped is genuinely grateful, their first concern is whether a chief will punish them.
I have seen that same fear control EMS decisions. Everything was expected to become a transport because transports generated revenue. Crews could spend an excessive amount of time convincing people to go to the hospital even when those patients clearly did not want or need transportation.
Sometimes I wonder how many patients we have unnecessarily exposed to illness by transporting them to crowded hospitals for complaints as minor as toe pain—all in the name of “protecting and serving,” when in reality, that supposed concern for the patient often feels like little more than a disguise for generating profits through unnecessary transports.
I have seen crews perform every imaginable assessment on minor complaints—not because the patient’s condition required it, but because officers feared the consequences if they did not. Minor calls received complete cardiac workups and every available diagnostic test simply so nobody could later accuse the crew of missing something.
I have seen officers burn out their crews because they were afraid of criticism from above. Rank came with responsibility but very little genuine authority. There was no room to apply common sense, make a reasonable decision, and stand behind it. The message was always the same: do exactly what management wants, never question it, and expect nobody to defend you if something goes wrong.
I have seen chiefs inspect apparatus while searching for missing equipment or deficiencies that could justify corrective action. Accountability is necessary in the fire service, but this did not feel like accountability. It felt like management was waiting for somebody to make a mistake.
I have seen ordinary firehouse joking and camaraderie met with genuine disgust. The harmless messing around that ordinarily makes a station feel like a family was largely absent.
I have seen hazing that did not come from camaraderie or an attempt to help rookies improve. It came across as genuine dislike and malice. New firefighters received little guidance and were treated like garbage instead of being taught how to succeed.
I have seen firefighters skipped over on promotional exams because they supposedly “weren’t the right fit at the time”—with no objective reasoning, mind you. Sometimes, all they had done was say the wrong thing, express an opinion, or rub the chief the wrong way. A policy that may have once been well-intentioned has now been weaponized against the firefighters, allowing management to hold them by the balls and control their careers.
The clearest indication of this department’s condition has always been how its members talk about leaving. I cannot remember hearing anyone say they were not ready to retire. The overwhelming feeling was relief: people could not wait to leave and finally get away from the place.
Over the years, I have watched officers burn out, crews become afraid to exercise judgment, and employees protect themselves by reporting one another. I have watched people stop fighting for change because management made it clear that their opinions did not matter.
This department became a place built around punishment instead of trust, liability instead of judgment, and obedience instead of leadership.
I have seen the writing on the wall for a long time. Now that the end is finally in sight, I am simply grateful that my time here is almost over.
With all due respect Fuck you
Marcelino Rodriguez