Winter Garden single mom finds firefighting passion

Rappelling down the side of a seven-story building was easy for Erin Akers because she’s not afraid of heights, but confined-spaces training was a bit of a challenge for the Winter Garden resident, who is working toward becoming a firefighter.

“It was nerve-wracking,” she said of the latter training. “I have never enjoyed being in tight spaces, and to be blindfolded with our gear on (was worse). We were on air. You are surrounded by loud noises. People are screaming. They create what you could face in the real world.

“It’s something I feared the whole time, but I was able to conquer,” she said.

Akers had considered a career in firefighting as far back as high school but never pursued it. She held jobs as a legal assistant and in the retail industry, but none of these positions made her happy.

“Nothing I really felt I was contributing to the community with,” she said.

Before her father, David, died two years ago, he persuaded her to follow her dream.

“He was so encouraging, and I told him I was going to pursue it and not let him down,” Akers said.

David Akers was an officer at the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and often told stories of helping people. Erin Akers decided she wanted to do that, too. She has several other family members who do police work, including one on a SWAT team.

“I initially thought I would like to become a police officer, but (my dad) pushed me toward being a firefighter,” she said. “I guess he didn’t want me to be in so much danger.”

TRAINING DAYS

Akers took a 250-hour Emergency Medical Technician certification program last year at First Response Training Group in Orlando. The EMT is the entry level of pre-hospital emergency medical provider.

The class allowed students to work in conjunction with paramedics, nurses, physicians and others in healthcare and to make hospital rotations with experiences in an emergency department and ambulance.

In March, Akers started training at the Firefighting Academy at Lake Technical College’s Institute of Public Safety in Tavares. 

“We had to practice ladder skills, running up the ladder in our bunker gear,” she said. “It weighs about 75 pounds with your air tank on and all of your gear. We’d have to climb the ladder into a second-story window carrying a tool. We had to go down the stairs with the dummy — he weighed about 120 pounds. We had to practice hose drills where we had about a minute to get all of our gear on and deploy our hoses and knock down cones and make forcible entry. We had to have actual fire practice in a fire room, where they lit particle board so we could see (what happens).”

A seven-story tower served as the setting for rappelling practice.

“We had to go off the roof and down the side of the building,” Akers said. “You never know when you might have to escape out of a window and prepare for the worst.”

Akers also practiced extracting victims from a vehicle.

FIREFIGHTER MOM

Akers admits the training from March to May was tougher for her because she is older than the typical student in fire college. At 31, she was training alongside people who were, on average, 21 years old; some were just out of high school. Thirty-eight of the 41 who entered the program continued to the end. Just five were female, she said.

Akers’ mother, Donna Akers, has been a crucial part of this process. Erin Akers is a single mother to 6-year-old Liam, and her mother has rearranged her work schedule around her grandson’s school schedule so she can watch him while his mom is in training.

What does Liam think of his mother becoming a firefighter?

“He thinks it’s really cool,” Akers said. “He’s always said he wants to be either Indiana Jones or a firefighter, so I think he’s impressed a little bit.”

Having earned her state and national EMT certification and her state fire certification, she’s now submitting applications to fire departments in Central Florida. Two weeks ago, she passed the written exam for a local fire rescue unit and was preparing for the physical test. If all goes as she has planned, she could be a full-fledged firefighter by January.

Until then, she’s working in downtown Winter Garden the at Sacred Olive. Owner Carolyn Hill said she has so much respect for Akers and what she is doing for her family that she is offering a 15% discount to first-responders and members of the military.

“I wanted to take my appreciation for what she’s training to do and extend it to all the police officers, first responders and military as a small token for going through so much just to serve the public,” Hill said. “It is a noble job that does not get the merit it deserves.”

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DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?

Here are just a few sample questions from the written exam firefighters must pass. 

1. At 212 degrees Fahrenheit, water expands approximately how many times its original volume? 

A.  1,700

B.  1,200

C.  1,000

D.  800

2. What is the normal concentration of oxygen in ambient air?

A.  19.9%

B.  20.9%

C.  0.204%

D.  0.219%

3. Building construction is classified under multiple categories. Type 1 construction is what?

A.  Wood frame

B.  Heavy timber

C.  Non-combustible/lim          ited combustible 

D.  Fire resistive

4. Hazardous materials have nine different classification placards. What does a class 5 placard depict?

A.  Explosives 

B.  Corrosives

C.  Radioactive

D.  Oxidizer and organic               peroxides

ANSWER KEY: 1. A 2. B 3. D 4. D

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Contact Amy Quesinberry Rhode at [email protected].