Apopka Fire Chief Wylam restructures Fire Administration at AFD

The Apopka Voice has learned through an inter-office email sent to members of the Apopka Fire Department on Tuesday that Chief Sean Wylam will announce several promotions at the AFD that will go into effect on October 2nd.

Members of the AFD and others with knowledge of the department confirmed the authenticity of the email.

"As we all know, in the 22-23 Budget, a dedicated Training Chief was approved. With this addition, we also re-evaluated the roles and responsibilities of Fire Admin Staff," Wylam writes in the email.

"Effective Sunday, October 2nd, 2022, we will be restructuring Fire Administration.

• Receptionist Rebekah Stewart will be promoted to Secretary Il.
• Lieutenant Jerry Maynard will be promoted to Division Chief of Life Safety. He will have the responsibility of managing all aspects of the health, safety, and wellness programs within the Apopka Fire Department.
• District Chief Sean Knapp will be promoted to Division Chief of Training.
  He will have the responsibility of managing the training and development within the Apopka Fire Department.
• Lieutenant Jeremy Holderfield will be promoted to Captain and serve as our Fire Inspector. He will have the responsibility of managing all aspects of Fire Prevention/Public Education within the Apopka Fire Department.
• After a transition period, Division Chief Brian Bowman will be reassigned to station 5 C-Shift as Lieutenant."

Apopka City Commissioner Doug Bankson was happy to see the AFD take fast action on the promotions.

"I’m pleased to know our fire department has acted swiftly to fill the need for our designated training and safety officers, and we are anticipating as well our first batch of new recruits that will soon begin to train," Bankson said. "Apopka has the greatest first responders, and this will make the best better moving forward. This is Austin’s army at its finest."

The promotions came a week after the Apopka City Council approved a budget that added 18 Firefighters, a Training Officer, a Health and Safety Officer, a Quality Assurance Officer, and retrofitting for the current fire stations to the 2022-2023 budget. The additional cost to the budget was approximately $1.2 million.