Barber Named Firefighter of the Year

Gulfport Nominee for Annual Elks Lodge Event

By Monroe Roark

A member of Gulfport’s public safety team was honored recently by a local civic club for his service.

St. Petersburg Elks Lodge #1224 hosted its annual Law and Order Night the last week of February, recognizing police and fire department professionals from several local cities. At that event, the Elks named firefighter-paramedic Michael Barber “Firefighter of the Year” for Gulfport.

His shift commander Lt. Erick Fuchs nominated him. In a recent interview with The Gabber Newspaper, Gulfport Fire and Rescue Chief Rene Fernandez said he directed Fuchs to nominate someone from the C shift. Fuchs works closely with the first responders in that group.

Introducing Barber at the event, Fuchs listed many of Barber’s career accomplishments during his seven years with the department. He has become certified as a pump operator, fire officer, fire instructor, fire inspector, paramedic and EMT preceptor, and AHA CPR instructor.

“Mike is a cleared driver-engineer, acting lieutenant, Marine Unit operator and deckhand,” said Fuchs. He added that Barber works as part of the vehicle inspection committee and has taken the initiative to apply for several grants for the department. “He is a real go-getter.”

Before joining the team in Gulfport in 2016, Barber worked briefly for Pinellas County in ambulance service. He also worked with Sunstar. He has a total of 11 years in public safety.

This was the first time Gulfport Fire and Rescue participated in the Elks Lodge event in nearly a decade, Fernandez said. The Elks recognized four firefighters at this year’s event. The other three firefighters work in St. Petersburg, Pinellas Park, and Lealman.

Barber said he knew he would get the award before the event, although he was surprised when he first learned his supervisors planned to nominate him.

Fernandez was intentional with his plan to let Fuchs nominate a member of his shift.

“Since I’m more behind the scenes now, I let the officer who is on the road with those guys on that shift pick a candidate from that shift,” he said. “Next year I’ll rotate it to the A or B shift.”