Jason Wheat is Florida’s “Firefighter of the Year.”
It’s a fact he was surprised to learn Tuesday, as he thought he was surrounded by news cameras for a workout video he planned to record with Orange County Fire Rescue Chief Otto Drozd for nutrition month. The department tricked him to maintain the surprise that he had won the Florida State Firefighters Association’s 2019 award.
“I didn’t prepare a speech because I was ready for a workout,” a stunned Wheat said after he got the news. “This is truly an honor.”
The 40-year-old firefighter was nominated by a Leon County firefighter, Eric Grajales, 35. The two met in 2018 near Gainsville during a statewide firefighter cancer-prevention walk during which Wheat walked 540 miles from Fort Lauderdale to Tallahassee.