FL Man who Helped Save Boy in 2016 Becomes Firefighter
In 2016, a then-Florida high school student helped rescue a drowning boy. And on Friday, he fulfilled a childhood dream of becoming an Orange County firefighter.
“It's been a long day coming, but it feels good to start the career now,” Isaiah Caprice, 22, told WESH-TV.
Caprice participated in a small graduation event for the Orange County Fire Department after years of training. He had a passion early in life to pursue firefighting, but it was the incident four years ago that cemented that desire.
As a Winter Park High School student in August 2016, Caprice was with two friends at a resort when they saw a 6-year-old boy at the bottom of the pool. They quickly jumped in the pool to rescue the boy.
"That family would never be the same without that kid," Caprice told WESH. "We're just glad we got to keep that family whole."
The responding firefighters also left Caprice with a lasting, positive impression of the Orange County Fire Department. Years later, he remembered the station that had responded—Station 57—and knew he wanted to join that organization one day.
“They were just on their game," Caprice told WESH. "They knew exactly what to do, and I just wanted to be a part of that."