East Lake Training Chief Honored By His Wife For First Responder Friday

Transcript

00:00We know the hard work and sacrifice they go through serving our community and keeping us safe.

00:06Let's honor another First Responder on 99.5 QYK.

00:11It is First Responder Friday. We've got Melanie on the phone today with us.

00:14Good morning, Melanie. How are you?

00:16Good. How are you?

00:17We are great. So we're excited to honor your husband, Matthew, today.

00:20Tell us how he serves our community as a First Responder.

00:23So my husband, Matt, started in the fire and EMS field about 16 years ago.

00:29He worked as a paramedic. He's worked for the SWAT team as a medic.

00:33He did continuing education for the county.

00:37And now he is a training chief at Eastlake Fire Department.

00:41Wow. Wow. So how many years is this total up to?

00:4416.

00:45Wow.

00:46Yeah. So he loves just being a part of the community and teaching and he just loves it.

00:54Now, is this something he got into like right out the gate, like out of high school or out of college?

00:58Or is it something that he kind of found a calling for later?

01:01Yes. He found it kind of just right out of high school.

01:05Started as a paramedic or EMT and then kind of like worked his way through the field and found like little niches that he was into.

01:14And like I said, now a training chief.

01:18Wow. He is busy.

01:20It sounds like his weeks and a lot of his time is spent doing all this.

01:24When you guys finally get some free time, what do you guys like to do?

01:29Really just hanging out with the family.

01:30We have two little boys, a five-year-old and a one-year-old.

01:34So, you know, whether it's just little things like swimming or going out together, just really being together is what's important to us.

01:42Probably just wants to spend some time chilling and relaxing with all that busy schedule that he has.

01:48Exactly.

01:49That's great.

01:50Well, Melanie, we're so excited that we got to learn about Matthew and we're so thankful for his service to our community.

01:55We want to do this.

01:56We want to give you a gift card from our friends at Crown Buick GMC, a $100 gift card,

02:00and another $100 gift card from our friends at Demesman and Dover Law Firm, a small way for us to say thank you.

02:06So hopefully you and the family and the two little boys can go have a great time and in the night out on us.

02:12Thank you so much.

02:13I appreciate it.

02:15We appreciate you.

02:16If you have somebody in your life who is a first responder and you want to brag on them a little bit, we'd love to get to know them.

02:22Hit up our website, 995QIK.com.

02:25Go to Tampa Bay's Hometown Morning Crew page and you can nominate your first responder in your life there.

02:30Go to Tampa Bay.